Week 30 of the English Premier League sees Chelsea stutter for the first time since taking over at the top of the table, Spurs take full advantage with victory over Burnley, and much more.
I think the exact words I used when analysing the Chelsea versus Crystal Palace fixture went a little something like this:
It doesn’t matter how many stats you throw at this one, Chelsea will win because they are the better side and have home advantage.
So this morning I look like a mug, but I won’t be the only person who would have wagered their marriage on a Chelsea home win. Before facing Crystal Palace, the champions-elect had won their previous 13 home games and had only lost once against Palace at Stamford Bridge in the club’s history.
Despite Palace coming into the tie on the back of three straight wins without conceding a goal, and Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha playing exceptiona
lly during the international break, the bookies still had Palace at +1100 for the win.
And those odds would have grown longer than Pinnochio’s nose after playing with his morning wood after Chelsea took the lead in the fifth minute. Cesc Fabregas, who started in place of Willian, began and finished the move that was the first goal Sam Allardyce’s new-look defense had conceded in 297 minutes of football.
The goals were about to rain in, but fortunately, for Palace, they equalised, within four minutes to prevent that from happening. Wilfried Zaha, who had scored an incredible individual goal for the Ivory Coast in midweek, swivelled on a six-pence before shooting past Thibaut Courtois. It was the Ivorians sixth goal of the season.
Christian Benteke was another player who came back from the international break with pockets full of confidence after scoring twice, and it was the Belgian who put Palace ahead and ultimately won them the game.
Once again it was Zaha wielding the magic wand. He threaded the ball through to Benteke, and a momentary pause put Courtois on his arse long enough for Benteke to dink it over his horizontal frame and into the back of the net.
Chelsea dominated possession from that point onwards and should have had a penalty when Andros Townsend clearly used his arm to deflect a shot wide, but they could not breach a defense pinned together by the excellent Mamadou Sakho, and the cat-like Wayne Hennessey.
Spurs Take Full Advantage; City Don’t
There has been a lot said about Spurs falling apart now Harry Kane is out of action, but the stats show a different story. Going into this difficult away tie at Burnley, Spurs had won four and drawn three of the Premier League games they had lined up without him.
Those stats are mainly due to an impressive season from Son Heung-min, and the midfield goals supplied by Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.
But Son had to sit this one out after a long flight back from his international duty with South Korea. That allowed a rare start for Vincent Janssen, but once again the Dutch striker failed to find the net, and I fully expect him to leave the club in the summer.
Burnley came into the tie on the back of six unbeaten home games on the spin, winning five, and it was a tough old battle until Eric Dier scored his first goal since Dec 2015 from a corner in the 66th minute.
That goal gave Spurs added zest and Dele Alli poured forward in search of his 15th goal of the season, but for once the England star didn’t have his shooting boots on, despite plenty of chances.
Spurs always needed to a second goal to secure the three points and it came from the bench. Son replacing the ineffective Janssen to score his eighth goal of the season after an inch-perfect cross from Alli.
The victory moves Spurs within seven points of the league leaders, and with Chelsea facing both Manchester clubs, Spurs and Everton in a busy month of April, who knows?
The Champions League Race
Liverpool moves six points clear of Manchester United and one point clear of Manchester City in the race for Europe’s premier competition after beating Everton in a bone crushing Merseyside derby.
Everton had not won at Anfield since 1999, and when you looked at their inexperienced line-up, you wondered if they had the teeth to change that. They didn’t, but ultimately it had nothing to do with the bite and more to do with class.
Liverpool was simply the better team, and goals from Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi made sure Liverpool won the game with ease. Everton youngster Matthew Pennington made a tie of it for 60-minutes with his first league goal in the top flight, 
but Everton, as good as they have been this season, still struggle when facing the top sides.
And it was an important win for Liverpool after Man Utd dropped two points at home to West Brom. With big Zlatan, Paul Pogba, and Juan Mata out of the side, I predicted that the Reds would find it difficult to get past West Brom’s stubborn defense and that’s what happened in this dull goalless draw.
The main thing to take away from this game, United’s eleventh draw of the campaign, was the decision to leave Wayne Rooney on the bench despite being devoid of so much firepower.
United’s neighbours, City, failed to beat an under-fire Arsenal in a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Emirates. Leroy Sane put the visitors ahead in the fifth minute, Theo Walcott equalised five minutes before the break, but Sergio Aguero restored City’s advantage two minutes later. Shkodran Mustafi salvaged a point for Arsenal from a corner in the 53rd minute ending their run of two straight defeats.
The Relegation Battle
Sunderland is now 1/50 to remain in the Premier League after another defeat, this time away at Watford. You can’t lose against teams like Watford if you are going to escape the drop. Sunderland, and their manager has given up. You could even argue the case that David Moyes didn’t fancy it from the moment he took charge.
Sunderland has now failed to find the net in five league games after a Miguel Angel Britos header in the 59th minute made sure Watford fans worried about being dragged into the relegation fight could chill out. It was his first league goal for the club since signing from Napoli, two seasons ago.
With Crystal Palace beating Chelsea, Hull needed three points against West Ham if they were to maintain their slim hopes of survival and they did so despite going a goal down to an Andy Carroll chest and finish in the 18th minute.
Hull has turned the KCOM Stadium into a fortress. In fact, Marco Silva has not lost a home game for any club he has managed in the past three years, including taking thirteen points from fifteen since replacing Mike Phelan at the turn of the year.
Hull went into the half time interval behind, but after a change of formation and personnel, Hull tore West Ham apart in the second half. They got their just rewards thanks to goals from Andrew Robertson and a late winner from Andrea Ranocchia.
The defeat was West Ham’s fourth on the trot, and that means Slaven Bilic is now the 6/5 favourite for the sack less than a year after guiding the Hammers to their best Premier League finish.
With both Hull and Crystal Palace both winning on Saturday, the Sunday afternoon tie between Swansea and Middlesbrough was a must win game, but neither side could find a spark of ingenuity to pull it off. In the end, a goalless draw did nothing to enhance either side’s promise of survival.
The Best of the Rest
Part time Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare staked a big claim to become a permanent fixture in the hot seat after becoming the first English manager to win his first four Premier League games in charge.
Leicester beat Stoke by two goals to nil thanks to incredible strikes from Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy. It was Vardy’s eleventh goal of the season and his fourth in this last four league games, including two assists.
And finally,
I predicted a high-scoring draw between Southampton and Bournemouth, calling it one of the games of the weekend. What do I know about football? Neither side could find the back of the net in another dull and drab tie.
Week 30 Results
Liverpool 3 v 1 Everton
Chelsea 1 v 2 Crystal Palace
Man Utd 0 v 0 West Brom
Leicester 2 v 0 Stoke
Watford 1 v 0 Sunderland
Burnley 0 v 2 Spurs
Hull 2 v 1 West Ham
Southampton 0 v 0 Bournemouth
Swansea 0 v 0 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 2 v 2 Man City
Premier League Table
1. Chelsea – 69
2. Spurs – 62
3. Liverpool – 59
4. Man City – 58
5. Man Utd – 53
6. Arsenal – 51
7. Everton – 50
8. West Brom – 44
9. Stoke – 36
10. Southampton – 34
11. Bournemouth – 34
12. Watford – 34
13. Leicester – 33
14. West Ham – 33
15. Burnley – 32
16. Crystal Palace – 31
17. Swansea – 28
18. Hull – 27
19. Middlesbrough – 23
20. Sunderland – 20
