London looms large in this weekends big Premier League games. The top three non-London teams are all playing teams from the capital in a set of fixtures which may give us some clearer indication as to where the title is headed.
Only one of the six played on Saturday so this article serves as a review of one game and a preview of three.
SATURDAY
West Ham United v Liverpool
Of the top six only Liverpool saw any action on Saturday with the rest involved in big games on Sunday.
This gave them the chance to gain three points on their rivals, if only for 24 hours.
Their own inconsistency meant that, to move above Arsenal into fifth position even having played a game more, they had to beat West Ham United, away from home, by six goals or more.
Even with Liverpool’s undoubted attacking prowess, their bad defending coupled with an equally bad goalkeeper, made this a near-impossible task.
They did have a go at it though and, before the clock had reached 25 minutes, goals from Salah and Matip had given them a two goal lead and that was the score at half-time.
West Ham did threaten a revival for about a minute when they made it 1-2 through Lanzini, but it was very quickly 1-3, then 1-4 with goals from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Salah again.
In truth, with better finishing, Liverpool could have scored their required six or seven without breaking into a sweat, that’s how bad the home side were.
Here’s a full match report from a proper newspaper.
SUNDAY
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace
The early kick-off on Sunday is an all-London affair. These have always been games of little interest to anybody outside of the capital but Tottenham Hotspur are now quite an attractive proposition to watch, particularly on a Sunday morning when there is little alternative.
The other interesting question in this game is; how many goals will Crystal Palace concede?
In fairness to him, Mister Roy has managed to shore up his leaky defence to the extent that, after conceding a total of nine goals in consecutive visits to Manchester, they have only conceded four in the three league games since.
After a win, a loss and a draw, he will now be looking to take something from White Hart Wembley and the gut feeling is that he may get a point!
Here’s a game preview from The Guardian.
Manchester City v Arsenal
The second game on Sunday will feature Manchester City against Arsenal. It promises to be a good match but it really depends upon which Arsenal turn up.
If it’s the one we saw against Liverpool earlier in the season, then City could well score six or seven. Even a good Arsenal performance doesn’t guarantee they will get anything from this game and the wise money is very much on a City win.
Arsenal were the last team to beat City in a game back in April this year. That was the FA Cup semi-final and a repeat result would be very welcome for stubborn old man and his team. With City in scintillating form that repeat result is looking very unlikely.
Here’s The Guardian’s tale of the tape.
Chelsea v Manchester United
Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge are next up and the not-so-long-awaited reunion between those best of buddies Antonio Conte and José Mourinho.
Much was made of their behaviour during and after the last game in London but, unsurprisingly, the fickle British press hardly mentioned the managers during and after the last game in Manchester! Now why would that be, we wonder?
Anyway, this is a game United will feel they can win given Chelsea’s new found propensity to defend like Liverpool in blue.
United themselves don’t concede many goals and have the best defensive record in the Premier League. They can also expect to outscore their opponents in this game so two goals should certainly be enough to win it.
Here, again, is The Guardian on the subject.
So that, in something which bears absolutely no resemblance to a nutshell, is that, as they say.
Sunday’s article could be very interesting.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 