Chelsea v Watford (8pm)
Chelsea have officially won the title. Watford are playing for pride, as they could finish anywhere between 17th and 9th still. Realistically, I don't think this will be much of a game of football, but it is Chelsea's first game at the Bridge since winning the title and Watford don't really have much fight, nor have they played particularly well lately, with four straight defeats, so I guess Chelsea will probably still win.
Prediction: 1-0 Chelsea
Arsenal v Sunderland (7:45pm Tuesday)
One team who very much still has everything to play for is Arsenal, who need realistically six points from their last two games to have a hope of securing top four. Either way, they need to go out and beat a Sunderland side who can at best hope not to finish rock bottom of the table. Either way, this is one of the league's best teams who need a win, vs one of its worst who are already sunk without a trace. Arsenal should win easily.
Prediction: 3-0 Arsenal
Man City v West Brom (8pm)
Whilst West Brom are nowhere near Sunderland levels of fodder, they nevertheless have nothing to play for, have just two points from their last seven games, and are travelling away to one of the top teams in the league, who still need two wins to be certain of a top three finish, and one win to nail down a top four spot. City have looked very hot lately, and I expect them to continue that as they sprint to the finish.
Prediction: 3-1 City
Southampton v Man United (7:45pm Wednesday)
Man United's end of season run has been very stagnant, as they've won just 7 of their 17 league games in 2017, with 8 draws, including 4 draws and just 13 points from their last nine games, and they're now four league games without a win. They're pinning their hopes on the Europa League, having scraped through to the final with a 2-1 aggregate win over Celta Vigo. As a result they'll continue to rest players for that game, whilst Saints have been in patchy form all season long, but will still be looking to secure a top eight finish. This should be a pretty drab game in truth.
Prediction: 1-1
Leicester v Spurs (7:45pm Thursday)
On paper you'd say this is an easy one. Spurs turn up, play their best, roll over Leicester, moving on. But it probably won't be that straightforward. Leicester's home form is very strong, and their general form under Craig Shakespeare has been very impressive, whilst Spurs' away form, particularly against strong sides, is what has cost them the title. Spurs have picked up just one win against the current top ten away, and that was at Southampton. So on balance, especially as Spurs have nothing to play for, I'm going for a draw.
Prediction: 2-2
Crystal Palace 4-0 Hull
Hull's relegation to the Championship was confirmed in humiliating style, as Crystal Palace ran riot in their final home game of what has to be considered a successful season, all things considered. Given that they looked in serious relegation trouble around the January/February period, Sam Allardyce keeping them up is an achievement.
For Hull, however, this was the worst case scenario. Swansea's 2-0 win over Sunderland left them needing 3 points to have a slim chance of staying in the Premier League next weekend, and Hull fell apart inside 3 minutes, as Ranocchia's awful swing at a bouncing ball gifted Wilf Zaha a goal to put Hull behind and Palace ahead. From there, Hull pressed, but simply put had no quality in the final third. They had 70% of the ball, but only had 9 shots, none of which hit the target.
They were however, slightly unlucky with a couple of decisions, first for Palace's second goal, as Zaha appeared to handle in the build up, and shortly afterwards when Jason Puncheon handled the ball inside his own area, but no penalty was given. But if Palace rode their luck, then they deserved to, and more importantly Hull thoroughly deserved to lose.
The second goal was a simple corner routine, a cross headed in by Christian Benteke who was impossible to handle all day. He may have cost Palace £30m, but his 15 goal return has certainly kept them in the league. And it was Benteke who freed Schlupp for the third goal, as a wild hack from Dawson gave away a stonewall penalty, and Milivojevic relegated Hull by putting the ball in the back of the net. And finally, Palace rubbed salt in the wounds by adding a late fourth, substitute Van Aanholt slotting in after a fluid move.
The most damning thing for Hull is how they managed to be completely toothless and completely inept defensively, despite controlling the possession. In the middle third they were the better side, but they were woeful in the final third, creating no clear cut chances at all, and shambolic in their own third, as Palace's sharp counter-attacks tore them apart time and again.
Marco Silva has done a brilliant job to drag Hull close to survival, but truthfully, he had too much to do. Hull's away form is the worst in the division and in this game they were never close to a Palace side that have one of the worst home records in the division, and are hardly title contenders, barely escaping relegation themselves. Hull had every opportunity to stay up, but lost 2-0 to Sunderland at home, and then in this game were summarily thrashed. They deserve to be back in the Championship next year, whilst Palace and Swansea just about deserve to stay up.
West Ham 0-4 Liverpool
As ever, I've already posted my match review elsewhere, but it was great to see Sturridge and Lallana back, fantastic to see Coutinho pulling the strings from a deeper role, and Klopp's formation change worked a treat, as Liverpool tore strips off an admittedly wretched West Ham side. The offside line for Sturridge's goal was absolutely horrendous, nobody got close to Coutinho for the second, and for the third goal, five West Ham players jogged back whilst six Liverpool players were sprinting past them, creating a massive overload. It really was awful defending.
West Ham have had a poor season, and look set for a low mid-table finish, as one of the cluster of clubs cemented in the middle of the pack. Considering that this was supposed to be the season that they properly challenged the top six, they've gone significantly backwards and wasted a lot of money in the process.
As for Liverpool, this was a massive result, which takes the pressure off slightly in some ways, but in other ways puts in back on the Boro game on the last day. They've been terrific in clutch away games, with four straight away wins, conceding just once in the process. Now they just need to turn around their home form, as they have just two points from their last three home games.
Spurs 2-1 Man United
Truthfully, this game was a bit of a non-entity, as I thought it might be. Spurs were cemented 2nd, United cemented 6th, and neither team showed much in the way of desire or quality in the second half. Nevertheless, it was the final game at White Hart Lane and Spurs were easily the better team, with goals from Wanyama and Kane, both off set pieces, wrapping up a comprehensive victory, despite some good counter-attacking play from Martial carving out a goal for Rooney.
Things started well for Spurs, as Rooney mis-timed his jump, allowing Wanyama a free header from six yards to put Spurs 1-0 up just after the five minute mark. And as they struck early in the first half, so too in the second, as a deft touch from Kane diverted Eriksen's free kick into the back of United's net. In between Spurs had had notable chances, with Son having the pick of them, to kill the game.
But the second half was played at a genial pace, with the crowd creating a party atmosphere that not even Rooney's near post flick could ruin. Ultimately, Spurs held on without much fuss, condemning United to all but a guaranteed 6th place finish, barring a spectacular collapse from Arsenal, and giving Spurs themselves a cushion as they hit the 80 point mark to nail down 2nd.
For Spurs, this has been a season of real improvement, and there's no shame in running up short to an unrelentingly brilliant Chelsea team, who have won 25 of their last 30 games, picking up 77 points out of a possible 90 at over 2.5 points per game.
As for United, their season hinges on the Europa League final. Now they can spin that however they like, but having spent £150m in the summer, and starting the season as 2nd favourites for the title, to not ever challenge for it and to never look like finishing in the top four is a really disappointing league campaign, even if they can redeem their season in the cup competitions.
If you were to ask me right now which of these teams stands a better chance of silverware next season, I would hands down say Spurs.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Hamilton bounced back with an exciting win in Spain.
- Sarries clinched back to back European titles.
- Monaco have won Ligue 1. Congratulations.
- Bayern produced an amazing comeback to beat Leipzig 5-4. Unreal.
- Pakistan win in the Windies. Easy as you like.
No comments:
Post a Comment