Premier League
I don't really have the time or space to preview every league game like I did on Tuesday, as I want to talk about rugby and cricket as well, but I can give every game at least a tertiary glance. There are 8 league games on today and two tomorrow. So let's start with the early kick off.
City v Leicester
This is the big one, the top two, the two title favourites*. The blues of Manchester vs the blues of Leicester. On paper, this is one that City should gobble up but then Leicester haven't been tearing up the script this season so much as pointing and laughing as they ride a motorbike through a flaming hoop and boil the script writers in a vat of acid. It's been that sort of season. Honestly? I still think Man City will win today. Aguero is hitting top form, they have a lot of firepower in their midfield and I think that they have more big game experience. But then this is what Leicester do. They take games that they really shouldn't be winning and then they win them. So who knows? It's that kinda season. I think 2-1 City, but it could easily be 3-0 Leicester.
*Technically Arsenal are still second favourites with the bookies but I'm choosing to ignore this dubious fact.
Chelsea v United
This game is more interesting for what's happening off the pitch than on it, and even then, most of the on the pitch intrigue is about how bad both of these sides have been. But no, this game is interesting because Jose Mourinho (younger readers may remember him as the Chelsea manager who orchestrated their league title last season) is in talks to replace Louis Van Gaal at Manchester United. As a Liverpool fan, this fills my heart with dread. As much as I dislike Van Gaal, there's something warm and fuzzy inside of me that loves watching United flounder under him, whereas under Mourinho they'd probably be good again. Not good enough to win the title with Guardiola and City's billions in town, but definitely better than us. On the pitch? I'm probably not going to watch this game, I wouldn't recommend anyone watches this game. There's a chance it'll be good, but it'll probably be 0-0 again.
The Relegation Battle
There are a lot of tight games in the lower end of the table today. A couple of months ago, you'd have said Villa v Norwich would be an easy win for the visitors, but Villa have been marginally less terrible since Christmas and Norwich have been dire. You'd still say Norwich are favourites, but I'd back Villa to nick a point. So let's say 1-1.
Let's also say 1-1 for Newcastle vs West Brom, as neither of these sides are particularly good at scoring goals. West Brom have a superior defence to Newcastle, but I'd argue that Newcastle arguably have greater firepower. Either way, I think that they'll cancel out.
And I'm putting Swansea under this bracket as well, although I think that they'll certainly be backing themselves to pick up three points against a Palace side in a hopelessly bad run of form.
The Rest
Southampton v West Ham is an interesting one: two sides in good form and playing well, despite a really sticky patch earlier in the season for Southampton. They have the home advantage, so I'm going to back Saints to nick this one.
Spurs play Watford as they look to continue their charge towards at the least a top 4 spot, if not more. Watford aren't in the best form, picking up just 4 points from their last 6 games, but a win against Newcastle and a draw against Chelsea will have lifted their spirits somewhat. I think they'll make a game of it, but Spurs should win.
Stoke vs Everton promises to be a fascinating game of football. How can you predict what either of these two teams will do next? This one will be very very close, and I could see it ending a 2-2 draw, but both of them have the firepower to make things happen. For fatigue reasons, I'm going to say Everton are the more likely to nick it.
I'm looking at Bournemouth v Arsenal and saying that there's no way Arsenal shouldn't win this. But it's February. And it's Arsenal. So who knows? As much as Bournemouth deserve credit for their season so far, and they're in decent form, this is an away win banker. It's all about Arsenal. If they turn up, and they play well, they'll win. It's just a question of if they will.
And then there's us. I'm prepared for another torrid, lackluster home display that is manifestly uninspiring but we should still win by 1 or 2 goals.
Six Nations
I mostly covered the Six Nations yesterday, but I thought it would be nice to go over the individual games of this weekend. Starting with France v Italy. This is the sort of game that could have been a real, real problem for France coming directly off the back of their butchering at the hands of New Zealand if it was in Rome. But it's in Paris. And Italy always struggle away from home. As much as I want Italy to go out and cause this wounded France side some real problems, the simple truth is that Italy aren't good enough to do so. I'm expecting a comfortable France win.
Meanwhile, the biggest game of today is Scotland vs England. Murrayfield will certainly create one hell of an atmosphere for the Calcutta Cup and Scotland will be inspired by their World Cup performance, even if it ended in undeserved tragedy. But even if the Scottish are resurgent, you have to say that England have the stronger team, the better players, and Scotland haven't scored a try against them at Murrayfield in over a decade. England should still take this.
Ireland vs Wales, however, is one match which could end up having a huge say in who wins the Six Nations. It's in Dublin, which should really help the Irish get up for this, and they're usually very quick out of the blocks. But they've had a lot of key players retire, and they still have a very long injury list, and it's Wales who come into this game as a more solid unit and they are bigger and more experienced than this Ireland side. I'm going to agree with most of the pundits on this one, and say that Wales should just edge it. But it's in Dublin, so who knows.
South Africa v England ODIs
The other day I talked about the strength of England's batting, but today is a day to talk about their bowling as they reduced South Africa to 262-7. And there are several talking points here. First of all, let's start with the positive and four wickets for Reece Topley, as he took 4-50 off of his nine overs. It was a very positive bowling performance from him, and he led the line as England reduced South Africa to 64-4 off the back ten overs, a fine display. And Ben Stokes also showed his prowess with the ball, establishing himself as a vital all-rounding cog in the England machine, taking 2-54 off his nine. Adil Rashid also put in a good display, with 1-43 off his ten.
What was interesting about this bowling display was the lack of overs for Chris Jordan. When Stokes gets a proper bowl, at least one of the main seamers has to miss out and whilst David Willey only bowled seven today, Jordan was the main man to lose overs, only bowling five and shedding 0-33 in them. But, in Jordan's defence, he took a fantastic catch, that wasn't just huge in terms of its technical skill, but also in terms of the context of the match, with AB De Villiers on 73 and about to tee off and South Africa 205-3 in the 41st over.
The big talking point though from this match is a couple of very controversial dismissals that went England's way. First, JP Duminy, who was out LBW, although the ball was miles away from hitting leg stump. It was one that the umpire should never have given, but he did and South Africa had already used up their one review. As far as I'm concerned, they can have no complaints. Umpires give howlers occasionally and that is what the review system is for, not the marginal decisions (like the De Kock one that went against them) but the howlers. If they'd saved their review for the right moment, Duminy would have been given not out.
Where I do have a lot of sympathy for South Africa is the Rousseau dismissal. This time it was England reviewing a not out decision that it has to be said, wasn't a howler. It wasn't obvious whether the ball hit the bat and it wasn't obvious whether the sound was made by the bat hitting the ground or the bat hitting the ball. But despite a lack of clear evidence, the decision was overturned and Rousseau had to walk.
That said, 263 is a very, very chaseable total, especially for a side that hit 400 last time out. There shouldn't be a lot of pressure either, as England's top order are very good at setting up totals. Joe Root in at three and Eoin Morgan who will be in either at four or five, are the sort of players who can stick in and they only need to go at five runs an over. South Africa have dug themselves a hole here, with a lot of help from some terrific bowling, some absurdly good catching and, frankly, some dreadful umpiring.
The Hard and Fast Section
- The honeymoon period is over for Katie Swan.
- Klopp has appendicitis. Hope he's okay.
- I'm live on RaW 3-5 covering the Liverpool game.
- SAM reckons today's City/Leicester game decides the title.
- Sutton: "Celtic are regressing under Delia". Well duh.
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