Premier League Round 26

[Gagh]

Has just concluded with the last two day's set of matches.


Aston Villa 1 Man Utd 1
Villa scored first, Man Utd equalised through their tenth(!) own goal of the season. Nani was then sent off for a two footed challenge, because he's a spunk bubble, and Utd were forced to settle with a point.

Arsenal 1 Liverpool 0
Arsenal stopped Liverpool's mini comeback to form with a winner 18 minutes from time courtesy of Abou Diaby. It will be a welcome break for a team so outplayed against Man U & Chelsea. They will be improved if Chamakh comes to the club as is anticipated.

Everton 2 Chelsea 1
Chelsea slipped up against an average Everton side courtesy of two Saha goals - he could even afford the comfort of having a penalty saved. This will be somewhat unfortunate for the potential champions, who have now had their lead trimmed to one point (could have been worse if Utd had won, huh?)

Wolves 1 Tottenham 0
Redknapp's big-spending side again showed their annual inconsistency in losing to teams of Wolves' calibre. The Champions League spot of 4th place is beginning to become more difficult to approach, with Man City, Villa & Liverpool all eyeing it with equal measure.

Other games
West Ham 2 Birmingham 0
Blackburn 1 Hull 0


Yesterday
Fulham 3 Burnley 0
Man City 2 Bolton 0
Portsmouth 1 Sunderland 1
Wigan 1 Stoke 1


Meanwhile, my home club, Portsmouth, were today given a 7 day stay of execution from being wound up by, uh... my employers, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

The club is £60m in the red, owes money left right and centre, and has had as many owners (4) as they have had wins in the league this season. The club has been horribly mismanaged, and the less said about the greasy mits it has passed through, the better.

If they go insolvent (and today's hearing pretty much declared them to be insolvent anyway), they will be docked 10 points. Both will be a first for a top flight club.

 

[Mentalist]

Massive result for the Arsenal after one of the most torrid weeks as an Arsenal fan in quite a while.

Although I dissagree that we were outplayed by Chelsea. United slapped us about for 90 minutes but in the Chelsea game we were undone by having a hobbit as a makeshift center forward (who was massively unlucky not to equalize from a accidental save from Cech's boot) and a woeful Clichy and Denilson combined performance. We totally bossed them in midfield and would probably have won if VP was fit. Oh well, all is past now.

A 9 point gap looked too much to stage any sort of comeback from but we are now within 5 of United and 6 of Chelsea and we have played all of our big fixtures. If we can go on a streak there is an outside chance of us being back in contention though I admit that it is a big big ask at this point. But maybe not so big as it was 2 hours ago

 

[Gagh]

Massive result for the Arsenal after one of the most torrid weeks as an Arsenal fan in quite a while.

Although I dissagree that we were outplayed by Chelsea. United slapped us about for 90 minutes but we were undone by having a hobbit as a makeshift center forward and a woeful Clichy and Denilson combined performance. We totally bossed them in midfield and would probably have won if VP was fit. Oh well, all is past now.

A 9 point gap looked too much to stage any sort of comeback from but we are now within 5 of United and 6 of Chelsea and we have played all of our big fixtures. If we can go on a streak there is an outside chance of us being back in contention though I admit that it is a big big ask at this point. But maybe not so big as it was 2 hours ago

To be fair, I did only see the first half of the Chelsea match, and Arsenal were certainly outplayed in that. Arshavin was repeatedly shrugged off by Chelsea's back four, as he struggled to show any impact whatsoever. Poor guy, trying to do it all himself.

BBC comments today had a few Arsenal fans texting in criticising Bendtner for diving. It really feels as if his time at the club is becoming shorter by the minute.

If Man Utd had won today, instead of having to suffer Nani's idiocy, they'd be two points ahead and level on games for the first time since well before Christmas. As good as Nani's performance was against Arsenal (and it was truly brilliant - especially for him), this shows his inconsistency for what it is. At least with Valencia in the side, United seem to get better delivery, more goals, and more effort. Time to go, methinks.

United still have to play Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City, and knowing their complete inadequacy in big fixtures, I still reckon Chelsea will win the league this season.

 

[Mentalist]

Nani was truly brilliant against us. I was pacing up and down cursing why he had to, and I believe this is verbatim: "WHY DOES HE DECIDE TO GET SO FUCKING GOOD WHEN WE ARE FUCKING PLAYING UNITED THE FUCKING PORTUGUESE NANCY BOY!"

Valencia is a very gifted player though, I admit. I rate him really highly. He looks really stable on the ball and coasts in to space with some great vision. When people stop unfairly comparing him to Ronaldo he will get even better.

 

[curiousa2z]

I wish I has seen even one of these matches.

bah to Arsenal on beating Liverpool!