Premier League Review Week 35 (Part 1): Newcastle Have Hope

Premier League Review Week 35 (Part 1): Newcastle Have Hope

In this week’s Premier League review Newcastle fans retain hope after another battling display this time against Man City; Man Utd take advantage of their neighbours slip up with victory at home to Palace, and Liverpool stomp all over Everton.

Premier League Review Week 35 (Part 1): Newcastle Have HopeNewcastle fans are starting to believe the unbelievable after their players put in a second sterling performance on the spin with a battling 1-1 draw against an under par Man City side.

Newcastle came into this tie on the back of their first win under Rafa Benitez knowing a victory would see them emerge from the doldrums of the bottom three for the first time since December.

But let’s have a reality check here. Man City came into the game on a run of five unbeaten in all competitions since the return from injury of Kevin De Bruyne, and Newcastle have lost all of their previous 12 clashes against City, and six of their last eight against everyone they have faced.

Rafa Benitez will have been hoping that Manuel Pelligrini’s men had one eye on their Champions League Semi-Final clash against Real Madrid, and I think that’s what happened. Newcastle may have battled well, but City didn’t turn up tonight despite the return of their talisman Vincent Kompany.

Sergio Aguero scored his 100th Premier League goal of his career to put City ahead in the 15th minute. It has taken him 147 games to pass that milestone, and only Alan Shearer got there quicker (124). The Newcastle boss will be furious when he sees the replay because the Argentinean was clearly offside.

City couldn’t keep the lead, though. Vurnon Anita scoring his first goal in over two years in the 31st minute to hand Newcastle a point. It’s four points from two games. They are now one point behind Sunderland, and two points behind Norwich, although Sunderland has a game in hand.

Newcastle’s remaining fixtures:

Liverpool (A)

Crystal Palace (H)

Aston Villa (A)

Spurs (H)

FA Cup Final Dress Rehearsal?

Man Utd faced their potential FA Cup Final opponent’s Crystal Palace in a match they had to win if they were to have any chance of pinching that fourth spot from either Arsenal or Man City.

With City dropping two points away to Newcastle on Tuesday night, and Arsenal doing likewise at home to Palace on Sunday United had a fantastic opportunity to claw two points back and they didn’t let it go to waste.

Palace has never beaten United at Old Trafford in the Premier League, and they never looked likely to break that duck. Especially not with a rampaging Wayne Rooney back in the starting lineup for the first time in two months.

United didn’t take long to take the lead, and it was a shocking start for Palace. Matteo Darmian fired in a cross-searching for Jesse Lingard, and Damien Delaney took a swipe at it only to slice the ball into the back of the Palace goal.

United was in full control of the match for the entirety of the first half, but needed a second goal to settle those nerves, and it came in the 55th minute after Darmian controlled a clearance on his chest at the edge of the box and smashed a half-volley past Speroni in the Palace goal.

So United win two-nil to close the gap on Arsenal to one point (The Gunners have a game in hand), but I’m not sure if that’s good news for United fans, because if they do grab that final Champions League spot, then Louis Van Gaal might keep his job.

Liverpool Hammer Everton

The 226th Merseyside derby was as one sided as you are ever going to see. It was the 194th league meeting between the two making it the most-played derby in English football.

During that time, 26 players have been sent off, and that figure rose to 27 after Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori received his marching orders in the 49th minute for a horror tackle on Divock Origi. However, by that time they were already two goals down thanks to the Belgian and a second of the week for Mamadou Sakho.

Origi was stretchered off after that tackle. Daniel Sturridge replaced him and duly hammered his seventh goal against Everton in the 60th minute after being put through on goal by Lucas. Philippe Coutinho sealed the 4-0 win 15-minutes from time with a smart shot from the edge of the box.

Here are the rest of the results:

Results

Newcastle 1 v 1 Man City

West Ham 3 v 1 Watford

Liverpool 4 v 0 Everton

Man United 2 v 0 Crystal Palace

To Be Played (Thu 21 Apr)

Arsenal v West Brom

To Be Played (Sat 23 Apr)

Man City v Stoke

Bournemouth v Chelsea

Liverpool v Newcastle

Aston Villa v Southampton

To Be Played (Sun 24 Apr)

Sunderland v Arsenal

Leicester v Swansea

To Be Played (Mon 25 Apr)

Spurs v West Brom

Premier League Title Winning Odds (Courtesy of Bodog)

Leicester -225

Spurs +160

Champions League Qualification Odds

Arsenal 1/9

Man City 2/9

Man Utd 11/42

Premier League Relegation Odds (To Join Aston Villa)

Newcastle 3/10

Norwich 4/11

Sunderland 3/4

Premier League Standings

1st. Leicester – 73 pts.

2nd. Spurs – 68 pts.

3rd. Man City – 61 pts.

4th. Arsenal – 60 pts.

5th. Man Utd – 59 pts.

6th. West Ham – 56 pts.

7th. Liverpool – 54 pts

8th. Southampton – 51 pts.

9th. Stoke – 47 pts.

10th. Chelsea – 44 pts.

11th. Everton – 41 pts.

12th. Watford – 41 pts.

13th. Bournemouth – 41 pts.

14th. West Brom – 40 pts.

15th. Swansea – 40 pts.

16th. Crystal Palace – 39 pts.

17th. Norwich – 31 pts.

18th. Sunderland – 30 pts.

19th. Newcastle – 29 pts.

20th. Aston Villa  – 16 pts.