In this week’s Premier League review we see Newcastle climb out of the bottom three for the first time since Christmas, Man City inching closer to that Champions League spot despite getting stuffed, and Leicester has to wait one more night to celebrate being champions.
Leicester City will win the Premier League if Spurs fail to beat Chelsea on Monday night.
The Foxes visited Old Trafford on the weekend knowing that victory would have seen Wes Morgan hold aloft the most unlikeliest of Premier League titles in the contest’s history.
Not since a Brian Clough inspired Nottingham Forest swept all before them in 1977-78, have we witnessed such a Cinderella story. It would have been the stuff of incredible irony had they won the trophy at the home of the most famous Premier League club in history. However, with Jamie Vardy watching from the stands, instead of running riot on the pitch, I think things will work out perfectly for them before the end of the season.
What do I mean by that?
All of Leicester will want Chelsea to snuff Spurs out at Stamford Bridge on Monday night. It doesn’t matter how they cross the finish line, as long as they cross it. However, winning, without playing, doesn’t half take the shine away from the achievement. If the script writers could make one more adjustment to this fairytale, it would be to allow Spurs to scrape a win, leaving Leicester with the incredible opportunity of winning the league in front of their home fans on the weekend.
If that happens, they will have to do it without another vital part of their vertebrae missing. Vardy will be back from suspension, but Danny Drinkwater will replace him on the naughty boy step after getting sent off for two bookable offences during the 1-1 draw with United.
It was a tough game for Leicester. Missing Vardy, they had no outlet up front, with the industrious Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki playing a deeper defensive role than the one Vardy is accustomed to playing.
United, who were chasing that fourth and final Champions League spot, were dominant in the first half, but they couldn’t capitalise on Anthony Martial’s 8th-minute goal. 15-minutes later and Captain Morgan turned up in the box to head home a Drinkwater free kick and the teams went into the break all square.
It was a controversial match. Wayne Rooney and Marouane Fellaini were both lucky to stay on the pitch. Fellaini will almost certainly receive a ban when the Premier League sees him elbowing Robert Huth in the mush after the big central half pulled his Scouse wig.
“You only see acts like that in sex-masochism,” Said Van Gaal after the game.
There should have also been some penalties. Firstly, PFA Player’s Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez should have been awarded one after he outsmarted Marcos Rojo in the box only for the United defender to send him sprawling to the turf under the not so keen eye of the referee.
The second penalty should have gone to United. It involved the Danny Drinkwater sending off when he pulled Memphis Depay back after the Dutch forward carved his way into the Leicester penalty area from the right. His foot was clearly on the line. The referee decided to play safe and award a free kick.
The draw means United now need Man City to throw away their Champions League spot. Leicester will not be looking to Chelsea to do them a favour at Stamford Bridge.
Southampton Destroy Man City at St Mary’s
If Man City are going to throw away their Champions League spot, then Man Utd had better hope their fiercest rivals beat Real Madrid and secure their berth in the Champions League final, as it seems distraction is the only way United will make it to the grandest European stage of all.
Manuel Pellegrini was incensed that his tie with Southampton wasn’t brought forward 24-hrs to allow more preparation for his historical semi-final clash at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night. In reaction, the Chilean virtually changed his entire side from the one that eked out that goalless draw in the first leg.
It showed. City looked like a rusty sieve. The City backline springing leaks ruthlessly exploited by Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane in a powerhouse performance for Europa League-chasing Southampton.
The alarm bells clanked away in the first few minutes – Shane Long hitting the side netting with a daisy cutter that had Joe Hart beaten. However, they were two goals to the good after a magnificent three-minute spell involving Tadic, Mane, and Long. Firstly, Tadic chased a lob over the defence, hooked it back into the penalty area, and Tadic was far too quick for the creaking bones of Nicolas Otamendi, toe-poking the ball past Hart in the 25th minute.
Three minutes later and the Saints were 2-0 to the good. Once again it was that man Tadic who was the provider, and this time, it was Mane who broke free of the City defence to smash the ball past Hart. City went into the half time interval 2-1 down thanks to a scrappy headed goal from their young striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
Mane scored his second goal in the 57th minute, after tapping the ball in from the six-yard box, after Virgil van Dijk’s header had cannoned off the crossbar. Then two hat tricks of differing varieties as Tadic secured his third assist of the game to put Mane through on goal to score his hat-trick in the 68th minute putting Southampton 4-1 ahead. Tadic is one of only four players to have three assists in a Premier League game twice in a season. They were Mane’s 9th and 10th Premier League goals.
City managed to pull one back in the 78th minute courtesy of an Iheanacho screamer. The young Nigerian has given Pellegrini something to think about ahead of the Real Madrid clash. He plays, he scores. With David Silva sidelined through injury he could be the perfect replacement.
The Saints keep marching on; they move ahead of Liverpool after the Europa League semi-finalists lost 3-1 away to Swansea.
Newcastle Climb Out of the Relegation Zone
With Leicester looking a dead cert to lock up the Premier League title; Man City seemingly tying up the Champions League berth, and nobody giving two hoots about Europa League qualification, all eyes are on the £100m battle to stay in the Premier League.
Where would Newcastle be if Rafa Benitez was drafted in to take over the Geordie controls earlier than he did?
They look a solid outfit since the Champions League winner joined the club, and he seems to have found a star in Jamaal Lascelles and woken the beast in Andros Townsend.
The plan is a simple one. Newcastle needed to win their last three games and hope that Sunderland and Norwich do them a favour by self-combusting. They can scratch one of those wins off the list after a cracking free kick from the rejuvenated Townsend handed the Magpies a 1-0 win over an ailing Crystal Palace.
Don’t let Palace’s presence in the FA Cup final fool you. Here is a side who are falling through the Premier League rafters like a rock. Pardew’s defeat in his first return to Newcastle since leaving them 16-months ago is another sad indictment for a club who started the season so promising. They are 2016/17 relegation fodder for sure.
If Townsend was the match winner at one end of the pitch, Karl Darlow was filling in the same role at the other end. Moussa Sissoko gave away a daft penalty when he handled the ball in the area. Former Newcastle favorite Yohan Cabaye, who was a boo boy victim from the first minute to the last, stepped up to silence the fans, only to see his tame effort saved by the Newcastle keeper. He was the first Newcastle goalie to save a penalty in four years. Townsend has now scored four goals in 11 games. A slightly better average than his three in 50 for Spurs and Roy Hodgson will be seriously considering taking him to France in the summer.
With Stoke conceding four goals in their last three games, Mark Hughes rang out the changes at the Britannia Stadium. Peter Crouch made a rare start, and he caused Sunderland all sorts of problems, both in the air and with his touch.
Sunderland was unchanged for the fifth straight game. They have been playing well. They don’t lose often, but Big Sam’s men are fast becoming the league’s draw specialists with only Spurs, West Ham, and Everton drawing more.
It was a must win for Sunderland, and Stoke made it that much harder when Marko Arnautovic scored his 11th goal of the season after Crouch appeared to climb all over Younes Kaboul to nod the ball down for the Austrian international. Sunderland fans had, even more, to moan about when Geoff Cameron clearly handled the ball in the penalty area, but once again the referee failed to see the misdemeanour.
Then with time running out the ball found its way into the feet of Jermaine Defoe just inside the penalty area, Cameron upended him, and the ref pointed to the spot. Defoe put the ball away with ease. It was the 94th minute. It was Defoe’s 14th goal of the season, and many believe he is the reason Sunderland will stay up. At the moment, they remain one point behind Newcastle in 18th place with a game in hand.
Norwich is the favourites to join Aston Villa in the Championship. They look flimsy, lightweight, and are wasteful in front of goal. The Canaries failed to capitalise on a divided Emirates Stadium. Certain sections of the fans were demanding that Arsene Wenger steps down from his position at the club while others were defending him.
The anarchy in the stands rained down to the pitch. Norwich was dominant in the first half, but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. Nathan Redmond was the main culprit.
Arsenal is always going to score. If you can’t do likewise, you are going to get beat. That’s what happened after Wenger sent Danny Welbeck onto the pitch in the second half and he repaid him with a smart finish to send the Gunners above Man City into third spot. Norwich is up shit creek, but for the time being, they still have a paddle.
Here are the rest of the results:
Results
Watford 3 v 2 Aston Villa
Newcastle 1 v 0 Crystal Palace
Stoke City 1 v 1 Sunderland
West Brom 0 v 3 West Ham
Everton 2 v 1 Bournemouth
Arsenal 1 v 0 Norwich
Swansea 3 v 1 Liverpool
Man Utd 1 v 1 Leicester
Southampton 4 v 2 Man City
To Be Played (Mon 2 May)
Chelsea v Spurs
Premier League Title Winning Odds (Courtesy of Bodog)
Leicester -2500
Spurs +1200
Premier League Relegation Odds
Sunderland -150
Newcastle -175
Norwich – -700
Champions League Qualification Odds
Man City – 400
Man Utd +333
West Ham+1200
Premier League Standings
1st. Leicester – 77 pts.
2nd. Spurs – 69 pts.
3rd. Arsenal – 67 pts.
4th. Man City – 64 pts.
5th. Man Utd – 60 pts.
6th. West Ham – 59 pts.
7th. Southampton – 57 pts
8th. Liverpool – 55 pts.
9th. Stoke – 48 pts.
10th. Chelsea – 47 pts.
11th. Everton – 44 pts.
12th. Watford – 44 pts.
13th. Swansea – 43 pts.
14th. West Brom – 41 pts.
15th. Bournemouth – 41 pts.
16th. Crystal Palace – 39 pts.
17th. Newcastle – 33 pts.
18th. Sunderland- 32 pts.
19th. Norwich – 31 pts.
20th. Aston Villa – 16 pts.
