No last day drama although there was plenty of opportunity. No win for any of the bottom 9 clubs and that really sums up the season and perhaps Hull’s Phil Brown would be better off keeping quiet rather than coming out with rubbish such as his TIgers are remaining in the Premier League on merit. Phil, yes you did get more points than Newcaslte, but 35, 3 less than 1 per game is nothing to crow about.
Someone who does deserve some merit is Jussi Jääskeläinen with Bolton’s keeper not only making his 400th appearance during the season but he also played every minute of every Premier League game.
Despite the season still being warm there has been a flurry of activity. Pompey and Sunderland are taken over by new owners and there’s a new manager for Sunderland and Chelsea at least, and may be Pompey. Apparently, the Black Cats are interested in Steve Bruce and he’s interested in Sunderland although we can’t for the life of us work out why there is this mutual attraction.
As for the Blues, of course they really want to keep Guus but given that’s not likely, Chris thinks that David Moyes is more likely than Ancelotti, especially if Everton beat Chelsea in this week’s FA Cup final - he also thinks that will happen. It’s obviously been too long a season.
Well, here we are, the final week of the season and whilst all is done and dusted with the title race, it’s far from over at the bottom.
United’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal was enough to see them clinch a 3rd Premiership on the trot and an 11th in total. Read that again, and then think about it. That’s an incredible feat and something worthy of praise, which is why Rafa’s decision not to congratulate Sir Alex is both baffling and disappointing.
It might get even tougher for the Man U haters if they win the Champs League in Rome next week, for a League Cup Treble (Community Shield and World Club don’t count!). Difference of opinion on whether they will though.
So from the cream to the absolute barrel’s bottom. The bottom 5 all deserve to go down but unfortunately only 3 can go. There’s a gazillion permutations, even one that has Boro staying up, which will mean a Sunday afternoon of transistor radios and calculators (or maybe just a smartphone). Our best guess is that none of them win and the current bottom 3 remain as the final bottom 3.
Oh, and there’s a story of love and football.
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So, here we are, the penultimate week of the Premier League and it looks like the top is all but resolved - United only needing 1pt from their remaining two games and will no doubt want to wrap things up in their last home game this weekend against the rapidly disintegrating Gunners. Maybe Wenger’s already out shopping for next season.
Perhaps he’s also being joined by Rafa as a season that promised so much has delivered nothing, again.
Down at the bottom, it’s still all to play for but thanks to Newcastle’s victory in the game to decide the worst team in the NE they now find themselves with a chance of redemption but it’s far from a gimme. Goal difference at the moment, it could still all be to play for next weekend (and let’s hope so).
What we’re not so happy with though is the scheduling which massively favours Sunderland and Portsmouth, who will know what the situation is before they play on Monday night. If the conditions are right then it may be the most tedious 0-0 draw of the season and both teams will be very happy.
Perhaps the Premier League have been too busy working out what makes a fit owner and coming up with a “home-grown” plan that keeps Uncle Sepp’s 6+5 plan at bay but has no impact on the existing teams, to make the fixture list more equitable.
Referees in the headlines again this week but largely as victims and certainly the way they are currently treated and the tools they are given is mkaing their position untenable. And as for the Respect campaign? What a joke! Hopefully, UEFA come down hard on Chelsea and Drogba in particular.
All of this somewhat masked the fact that Utd very comfortably beat Arsenal to progress to successive CHampions League finals and thanks to Iniesta (and not the referee) we have the final that neutrals wanted.
Meanwhile back in the EPL pretty much nothing changed as the top 8 all won and the bottom 8 all lost. The only team to make a move was West Ham who moved back into the all-important 7th spot and final Europa League spot. But it’s close. Man City, Fulham and Spurs are all but a point behind.
With 3 games left, then, every game is critical and whilst this weekend has another Super Sunday with a Manchester derby and Arsenal playing Chelsea all eyes will be on Monday’s game on Tyneside as Boro visit St James’ Park. Has there been a bigger game in the recent histories of these two clubs? Probably not and this is a game where both clubs need to win - it’s not going to be for the faint-headed.
Ryan Giggs somehow got PFA Player of the Year, Jurgen Klinnsman got the boot from Bayern Munich, could he be on the way to City?, and Serie A decided to go Premier League. And poor old Harold Webb has been under the spotlight for his awarding of a penalty in the Man Utd / Spurs game which Harry et al maintained was the turning point - not the fact they conceded 5 goals in 45 minutes.
At the top it’s pretty much the same old story with the Big 4 all winning and keeping things as you are - 2 more wins for Utd and they could be home and this week fixtures don’t look like shaking anything up anything at all. At the bottom still all to play for and we wonder whether there’s a miracle in the offing for West Brom? This week’s game against Spurs may well convince us one way or the other.
It may be May but it’s definitely not merry the NE and with Boro playing Man Utd, Newcastle away to Liverpool and Sunderland home to Everton it doesn’t look like getting better anytime soon. And with Hull away to Villa. we’ll need a huge upset for any movement around the relegation zone.
And, it’s a NW derby this weekend as Wigan play Bolton. But who cares? Certainly not us.
No doubt Bolton’s chairman is thinking with his wallet with his absurd suggestion for a 2-tier Premier League. Quite how this would improve the English game (and not be seriously detrimental to Socttish football) is not clear but no doubt the details of this crazy scheme will come out soon.
Was this the week that the Premiership was decided? We’ve thought that before and have almost ended up with egg on our faces so we’ll be a little more cautious this time but certainly the advantage is back with United after Liverpool’s second 4-4 draw in a week. All of which leaves the Reds looking at another frustrating and fruitless season.
Guus has conceded that Chelsea’s draw with Everton has ended their faint hopes but with the FA Cup and the Champions League the season is far from over for the Blues.
So, the excitement is largely at the bottom and it’s looking grim for Newcastle and they have a huge game this weekend against Pompey. A win’s a must even if it won’t get them out of the bottom three.
Amongst the veritable goalfest, a solemn occasion with the 20th anniversary of the Hillsbrough tragedy, an event that saw 96 Liverpool fans lose their lives. It’s worth watching some of hte reports on the BBC website just to see how much this means to the people of Liverpool.
On the field, of course, it’s been far from solemn as defences have largely been AWOL, goalkeepers seemingly suffering from some sort of confidence-eating pandemic and goals a plenty. Eight teams scored 3 or more goals in the weekend’s fixtures. So, Utd continue to win ugly and Liverpool convincingly but seeing as there are no bonus points for style it all matters for little. Suffice to say that’s another game ticked off and Utd still have that slender 1 point lead and that game in hand.
Maybe Arsenal will define Utd’s season. Opponents in the Champs League semis, they’re still to play in the Premiership run-in, they could also help Utd by beating Liverpool on Tuesday, and who knows they may even face-off in the FA Cup final.
And with Boro being the only team in the bottom 11 to win, things are looking no clearer down at the bottom, except that Alan Shearer will be in no doubt of the enormity of his task after his Newcastle side stole a point they barely deserved at Newcastle.
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This week the Big 4 showed why they are the Big 4. Both Man Utd and Liverpool pull results out of the fire, Chelsea successfully nullified any emotion at St James’ Park and Arsneal cruised past pretenders Manchester City.
And perhaps a new star was born as the previously unheard of 17 year-old Macheda scored a corker to get his first and win that game for United.
Meanwhile down at the bottom, it’s only West Brom that is preventing a North East trifecta in the relegation zone, with Boro and Newcastle the wrong side of the relegation Plimsol line and Sunderland just above it, although Hull with just one win in 14 are threatening to gatecrash the party.
Just when you’re thinking that the relegation battle is sorting itslef out, Mike Ashley has to throw a spanner in the works and has somehow managed to convince Alan Shearer to take over as Magpies coach for the last 8 games. Now the Geordies have something they haven’t had n a long while : hope.
Which is what the likes of Stoke, Pompey (incredibly 3 of their players started in the England team overnight), Blackburn, Hull and Middlesbrough probably didn’t want.
At the top, the nerves as Utd and Liverpool swap opponents. Can Fulham achieve memorable back-to-back wins against the top two? Just how will Villa respond to their drubbing at Anfield, can Utd get the win they so depserately need to steady the ship. With Liverpool playing a day earlier anything from the Fulham game will see them top overnight. WHo’d have thought that 3 week’s ago.
So emotions will be running high across the country but they’ll be strataspheric at St James Park and poor old Chelsea just won’t know what will have hit them.
Phew! We make it to the end of the show, despite Mark’s narcoplexy.
And what a weekend to review. Man Utd losing back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since 2005 and extraordinary when you consider that they’ve only just broken the record for longest time without conceding a goal.
So, it’s 1pt and despite the game-in-hand, Mark thinks the title race is back on.
Whilst down at the bottom the race for relegation is definitely on and Newcastle have managed to work themselves into the frame. In fact, the North East is really well represented with Boro 3 pts below Newcastle and Sunderland 3 pts above. But maybe Newcastle’s saving grace is the continuing poor run of Hull City and their run-in which sees them play 4 of those involved in the relegation battle.
And this week also threw-up more examples of daft rulings and referees who would have been ably assisted by technology.
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