Match Week 26 – Man City Sunk

Match week 26 has been splintered into a whole weeks’ worth of fixtures, with a couple still to come, but alas here are the roundups from those played so far. The relegation battle continued to heat up, Liverpool marched on and Manchester City decided to become the Saracens of football.

First, Goodison Park saw the possibilities under a Carlo Ancelotti revolution, with Everton running out three-one winners against Crystal Palace. Despite the amazing moment where Benteke finally scored, Palace struggled to maintain any form against the dominance of an Everton side hoping to aim high next season. Richarlison will possibly be eyeing a move to Barcelona and shone as if in anticipation of a dream move. On the same day, relegation fodder Watford and Brighton drew a match of two halves, the first belonging to Watford before Brighton’s assertive second half. Watford remain in the bottom three, whilst Brighton continue to deny their title of “Premier league Basement Boy’s.”

Sheffield marched on towards Europe, coming from behind to win two-one against Bournemouth who certainly must be set for the drop back to the championship with their form. A dismal season so far. Sheffield, aiming possibly for Europa League, could now be in contention for Champions League after Manchester City’s sponsorship regulations breaches. Now no one ever suspected this did they… ok they’ve been suspected for quite a while! Wolves and Leicester drew a bore nil-all draw save for Choudhury’s stupid red card, unlucky to be honest, and shared the spoils. Ndidi needs to return to implement more balance for Leicester to smash the remaining fixtures.

Southampton, despite their form and massively improved season, saw themselves downed by bench-player Vydra, who ran the pitch with the ball to score a sensational solo goal and secure the points for Burnley. On the same day, Liverpool saw them take a further step towards the title through Mané’s 100^th Premier League goal, beating Norwich one-nil. Norwich remain bottom and likely to return to the Championship. Liverpool now only need four more wins to secure the title, meaning an enthralling encounter at Goodison Park could see them smash their closest rivals and lift the trophy. That would be something!

Aston Villa fought hard and long but succumbed to Tottenham as they lost three-two at Villa Park. Alderweireld scored twice (one for each side) as Son stole the spoils in the 94^th minute. That same day, Arsenal awoke from their long-time slumber to smash Newcastle four-nil. Even Mesut Özil scored, that’s how bad Newcastle were. Pépé looked the talisman part that Arsenal have needed for several years but could not hide the still serious issue underlying Arsenal’s mid-table position: Defence!

Still to come, Chelsea versus Manchester United, and fresh from their European punishment Manchester City versus West Ham United.

Match Week 24 – YEEESSSSSSSSS!

Back again with the best bits from match week 24, including the race for survival, the race for European football, and the race for biggest disappointment of the last decade. Also, can’t forget to mention a few times that Leicester finally won again!

To start, the bottom of the table. Aston Villa beating Watford through a 90+5 minute goal from Tyrone Mings after Troy Deeneys headed effort had put Watford’s first in. It took Manchester City reject Douglas Luiz to get Villa back on track before Mings struck late. It’s heating up down there! Another important relegation battle saw Bournemouth take on Brighton, rolling out three-one winners after seven games without a win. Callum Wilson was on target to secure the victory after goals from Harry Wilson and an own goal from Pascal Gross. Aaron Mooy’s goal gave some consolation to Brighton fan’s, who can’t complain with their team’s performances having seen how they’ve performed in recent seasons.

Attempting to keep up the efforts of the South Coast, Southampton beat Crystal Palace, the same team who held Man City to a two all draw previously. A little bit embarrassing for Pep Guardiola I would think. Redmond and Armstrong secured the victory within 50 minutes, as Palace simply wasted their opportunities. Now, remember #SteveBruceOut? Safe to say Newcastle fans are swinging now, and Florian Lejeune will end up with a statue at this rate! They came back from two-nil down to score two goals in the 90+4 and 90+5 minutes. Lejeune stealing in for two within a minute. Ancelotti needs time with this rubbish Everton squad, but that was simply embarrassing.

Sheffield United performed admirably in their game against Man City, losing one-nil despite an inspirational performance from Dean Henderson. Honestly where’s his England call-up. With Pickford’s form, Henderson deserves to start in the next friendlies. Talking of England call-up’s, when will Vardy accept the call? Seeing how rubbish Kane is, he is what the country needs up front! Chelsea drew two-two with Arsenal despite Luiz’s sending off. How they let Arsenal back in can only really be compared with THAT Gerrard slip. Tottenham run out lucky two-one winners in their match against a Norwich side still rooted to the bottom of the table. Shame if they go down, they possess some nice attacking play but a defence like play-doe.

Manchester were at it again… losing two-nil to Burnley at Old Trafford for the first time since 1962! It was nothing short of shambolic, but they will accept the second as a wonder goal from Rodriguez. Leicester puled off a four-one win over a poor West Ham side whose only goal came from a Noble penalty. Ayoze Perez was on fire, but I am praying Vardy’s injury isn’t too serious! Finally, Liverpool. Two-one winners against a spirited Wolves side, with a game in hand. If Liverpool throw this away, they will never live it down!