Saturday January 30th, 2010
Fulham 0-2 Aston Villa
This result really surprised me considering Craven cottage has been some sort of fortress for most visiting teams. I watched parts of this game while watching Birmingham Vs. Tottenham and two other games simultaneously and was quite surprised how quickly the score line went from 0 to 2 in the Villans column.
All I can say is Aston Villa are like a smoking gun! They always seem to perform to expectations but then run out steam towards the end of the race. I’m firmly expecting them to do the same. Fulham on the other hand bagged another successive loss which drops them out of the top half of the table.
Hull 2-2 Wolves
A relegation six pointer as they say, this ended up a pointer for each team and that doesn’t do any of them much good. Mick McCarthy during his post-match interview in his usual inaudible/unenthusiastic voice says ‘a point is a point’.
Wow Mick, that is so, so deep. The relegation battle is so tipsy turvy that one point drops a team right in the mouth of the lion or a point pushes right outside it’s cage.
That’s what Mr. McCarthy was probably referring to.
Liverpool 2-0 Bolton
Dirk Kuyt – one of the most hardworking players on the Liverpool side gave the home side something to cheer about from a hard fought assist from the $20million ‘El-Principe’ – Aquilani. One thing worth mentioning about this game is that Liverpool seems to have found their fighting spirit. They showed some level of confidence they lacked in previous games. The question now is can they keep this up till the end of the season.
I think they will be fine clinching the top four spot but it will be contingent on keeping the shape and form of the team with the level of confidence they have found. I’m just wondering if Owen Coyle is beginning to question why he left Burnley?
West Ham 0-0 Blackburn
Blackburn under Sam Allardyce have become an unpredictable team lacking consistency in results. This is the same Blackburn side that kicked Chelsea out one of the cup competitions but struggle against teams like Wigan and the likes. West Ham with the new owners has started making moves to bring in new strikers one of which is Benni McCarthy. I like Benni. I think he is a very good player and a decent individual. So I’m hoping he’ll find all the success he’s looking for at West Ham and help them escape relegation.
Wigan 0-1 Everton
The most inconsistent side in the Premiership showed why they are well deserving of that name as Wigan literally gave up the ghost in the last few minutes of the game. Everton have been known to be aerial threats with the likes of Fellaini, Saha, and Tim Cahill.
So why on earth Cahill will be left unmarked from an Everton corner on the 82nd minute of the match beats my understanding.
Good result for Moyes’ boys who have clawed their way back to the top half of the league table where they belong.
Birmingham 1-1 Tottenham
This was a game I was looking forward to and I must say eventually it didn’t disappoint. I like the resurgent Birmingham with Two strikers upfront and will choose them over any other London team side except Arsenal.
As much as Spurs have help the fourth position in the league and have made noise about it, they are beginning to show that they probably don’t know how to handle the pressure at that level.
This draw keeps them in fourth place but I won’t be surprised if they don’t stay there for long due to their lack concentration till the end of the game.
Burnley 1-2 Chelsea
Burnley at home to Chelsea was another game within my scope of viewing pleasure (or so I thought). I have become a keen observer of our rival teams’ results home and away as a way of keeping tab on how many points gap we’ll (Arsenal) need to close up and if it becomes an impossible task or not. I was hoping this would be a draw which would help Burnley in their relegation battle but most importantly would have been two points dropped by the league leaders (would have read a better headline too!).
But it wasn’t to be because the potential league Champions have potential match winners albeit the same player who grabbed all the headlines for the wrongs reasons for his indiscretions off the pitch. Brian Laws took on the Burnley Managers job with high expectations. Wonder where reality fits in his expectations now?
Sunday January 31st, 2010
Manchester City 2-0 Portsmouth
Most observers of the game would say this was an expected result so I won’t dwell so much about the result but the post match interview by the Pompey Boss – Avram Grant. The Portsmouth boss tried to dispel rumors about his future at the club but made a statement that frankly if I were a Pompey fan would really be worried.
He said “….before we were living day by day, now we are living hour to hour..”.
Might not be a fan of the club, but it’s humane to feel for the supporters of this club and wish them all the best.
Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United
What can be described as a golden opportunity to back to the top of the table and put pressure on the other contenders for the league title, but Gunners have a way of screwing things up even when it’s their favor.
Counter attacking play at it’s finest by Manchester United and lack of team play, communication or unity coupled with outright defensive collapse from the gunners best describes this game.
This result leaves us 5 points behind the leaders (who also still have a game in hand) and we face them next week.
This was a disappointing result for all Arsenal fans. One we want to forget as quickly as possible.
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