As
we approach the busy festive season, it’s time to take a
look at the current situation in the English Premier
League.
Surprisingly for many, Liverpool have maintained their
challenge although two recent results have cast doubt on
their ability to be clinical in those must-win games. An
impressive 1-3 win at struggling Blackburn came on the
heels of 0-0 draws when Fulham and then West Ham visited
in November. Those were four vital points dropped and
allowed
Chelsea
to make up their ground when Liverpool won at Stamford
Bridge. Bad results as they were, they completed a run
of four home games for Liverpool without conceding a
goal, with Marseille and West Brom being the other
visitors to leave Anfield with nothing.
Chelsea’s
pursuit ran afoul when two Robin van Persie goals
overturned a 1-0 deficit to take the London derby 2-1
for Arsenal. Chelsea recovered to beat Bolton this
weekend but all the buzz is about new manager Phil
Scolari’s, inability to win the big games. They’ve lost
to both Liverpool and Arsenal, and drawn with Manchester
United. They were knocked out of the Carling Cup by
Burnley, and were beaten 3-1 by Roma in the Champions
League. A 1-1 draw in Bordeaux in the same competition
was unimpressive too. Their away record has been their
saviour with an incredible eight wins out of eight,
scoring 21 goals and conceding just one.
Looming over them all are champions Manchester United.
The goals have been flying in with 28 in their last 12
league games, and the 1-0 win over managerless
Sunderland, while more of a struggle than was expected,
leaves them just six points behind Liverpool with a game
in hand. What’s more their ‘big’ games have all been the
away legs with visits to Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal
completed. They now have the big three to come at Old
Trafford in the second half of the season. Even recent
points dropped have been at Everton And Aston Villa,
which a title-winning team can probably handle
comfortably in a title-winning season. Their only
negative prospect might be a fixture pile-up. They have
the club world cup to look forward to in
Tokyo which means they will fall further behind in their
league program, and if this is compiled with injuries to
key players, a few extra points may be dropped.
Arsenal continue to blow hot and cold. They beat Wigan
on Saturday and were distinctly average in doing so, but
the week before they were far more impressive in their
2-1 win at
Chelsea.
They are hard to predict which makes writing about them
difficult without risking looking a fool in later
months. So let’s talk about Fulham instead.
Earlier in the season, many of my fellow “experts”
predicted them to be relegation certainties. However
with key striker Andy Johnson now fit and scoring goals
(four in the last seven games) and with the underrated
midfield powerhouse Jimmy Bullard leading the charge,
they have managed to haul themselves up the league to
ninth, based mainly on their home form. No-one except
Man United have won more home games. Their away form
however continues to be drastic with no away wins, a
feat only matched by Newcastle and Stoke.
On Humberside,
Hull’s dream season continues though. With 26 points in 16
games, Phil Brown’s team have exceeded all expectations
and are surely only five or six wins from early safety,
especially given the logjam that lies behind them.
Most of the remaining interest lies at the doom end of
the table where giants (in their own minds at least)
Newcastle
continue to struggle. Joe Kinnear appears to have
quieted the tumult at St James Park, but conceding a 2-0
lead at home to Stoke shows how fragile they are, and
they have now gone five games without a win. Ab Faye
equalized for Stoke a minute into injury time and in
doing so prevented
Newcastle
leapfrogging over Stoke. They remain level on points
with local rivals Sunderland and just out of the
relegation zone on goal difference. Beneath them in the
drop zone lie Blackburn Rovers and West Brom. Paul Ince
is quoted in the BBC as having been ‘boosted by his
team’s display’ but the board at Blackburn may be less
boosted by the league table. Ince may be about to follow
Roy Keane as the EPL’s latest managerial casualty if
they lose the
Lancashire derby at
Wigan next week.
Well that’s all for this week. We’ll be hoping to have
some big news on Sounders FC’s new manager next week and
will be taking in the Hinrunde (first half) of the
German Bundesliga before the New Year.
