Relegation Dogfight Over?
When Newcastle look back over where it all went wrong this season, the obvious place to start is this: they are the only Premier League side who failed to beat Aston Villa this season. Every other side in the division has beaten arguably the worst side in Premier League history, but Newcastle on Saturday afternoon limped to a tepid 0-0 draw, which coupled with a phenomenal win against Chelsea for Sunderland, means that if the Black Cats pick up two points from their last two games, against Everton at home on Wednesday night and away at Watford on Sunday, they will stay in the Premier League and Newcastle will be relegated in their stead. What a difference the four points Newcastle have dropped to Villa might mean. What a difference those two points dropped on Saturday might mean. This was only Villa's sixth Premier League clean sheet, a side that before the game had shipped 72 goals at an average of two a game.
That said, Villa deserve a lot of credit for the way that they approached the game, playing a wide five at the back that sufficiently nullified Newcastle's strengths. And although they made a few defensive errors in the second half, Newcastle were unable to take advantage.
Meanwhile, at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland were beating Chelsea 3-2 despite falling behind twice, in a truly astonishing game of football, in which second half goals from Borini and Defoe somehow turned around a dire situation for the Black Cats, after Matic put Chelsea back in front right on half time, after a thunderbolt from Khazri had cancelled out Diego Costa's opener.
It really was an incredible comeback from Sunderland and weak as Chelsea are at the moment, it took real heart, fight and guts to turn around that game, whilst across the country Newcastle were showing none of that against truthfully, inferior opposition.
There's still a lot of work for Sunderland to do and they cannot get complacent, as they still need either two draws or a win from their final games, should Newcastle find their way past a Spurs side who have completely and utterly lost their heads, following a 2-1 home defeat to a Southampton side still battling for a top six place. But their final games are against a hapless Everton side, who are staring down the barrel of another bottom half finish, with a meagre points total at that, and a Watford side who offered almost nothing in terms of attacking prowess against us, and in general look a shadow of the side that they were before Christmas.
But that said, no game in the Premier League is a given, especially for sides languishing down the bottom and we all expected Newcastle to sweep aside Villa, so maybe there is hope yet for Rafa Benitez's side.*
*Not really Rafa's side and it seems grossly unfair to pin any of this colossal mess on him, but then he did just mastermind a 0-0 draw with Villa, which given the players at his disposal is still a poor result.
European Dogfight Alive and Kicking
At the other end of the table, the European dogfight is well and truly alive and kicking. With the top three all but sorted now, the pressure is on to secure 4th through 7th. And almost all of that pressure is focusing on Tuesday's game between West Ham and Man United. Southampton beating Spurs, coupled with West Ham's collapse against Swansea, could be very good news for Man City, and bad news for United, because now the pressure is on West Ham. With Southampton ahead of them in the league and Liverpool snapping at their heels, unless West Ham beat Man United, then it's likely that they'll go into the final round of fixtures 8th, with the hardest game of the three.
And it really was a collapse for West Ham, as they were battered 4-1 by a resurgent Swansea side who might yet even, incredibly, finish in the top half, despite being relegation threatened for a solid portion of the season. The middle 8 of the Premier League, between Chelsea in 9th and Bournemouth in 16th is crazily congested, and it's going to be fascinating to see who finishes where.
But of course, the most important battle is now for the fourth and final Champions League spot, and it's the two Manchester clubs who are scrapping over it, as United effectively relegated Norwich with a 1-0 win, a cool finish from Juan Mata after Rooney did well not to make a mess of the initial chance. Meanwhile City were unable to see off Arsenal despite leading twice, as the vulnerability in their defence without Kompany was once again exposed, the shocking Mangala once again the culprit.
The result means that if United win both of their remaining games, they'll secure 4th, and City will be consigned to the Europa League. Pep Guardiola will not like that one bit. You would thoroughly expect United to beat Bournemouth on the final day, which once again leads us back to Tuesday's game against West Ham. For both teams the equation is relatively simple: win both of their remaining games to secure European football. For United this is fourth, for West Ham it's sixth. But they cannot both achieve these goals unless they are helped out by other teams. And since you would expect, indeed both of these teams have to expect, Liverpool, Southampton and City to all win on the final day, (coupled with a victory for a most likely full strength Liverpool over Chelsea on Wednesday) it seems unlikely that both of these teams can get what they want. Something has to give.
And tomorrow night, something will give. Personally, I'm rooting for a draw, allowing City to take fourth and Liverpool to finish sixth, but if West Ham win and finish ahead of us then I won't cry about it, since I'm gunning for Champions League anyway.
But make no mistake, a United win would be an absolute disaster for Manchester City. And, you know, those of us who don't particularly like United. But although Pep Guardiola's pull should still bring the top players to Man City, this is the worst possible time to slip out of the Champions League.
It looks like Newcastle won't be the only side looking back on a costly 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Finished as you were in the rugby.
- North v South? Consider me intrigued.
- Roooooooooot. And YJB. Partnership.
- Murray lost to Djokovic. Again.
- It's wrong to finish this blog without mentioning Joe Allen.
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