This week saw Burnley, once again, become one of the top six, if not the big six. Once more it was at the expense of Arsenal, who have now fallen to seventh after their 0-0 draw with West Ham on Wednesday.
Burnley beat Stoke City 1-0 with a late goal and the pressure is very much on Mark Hughes at this moment in time. What he wouldn’t give for a couple of wins!
In fact, Tuesday was a decent night for both of the top six teams who had games because Chelsea also returned to winning ways with a convincing 3-1 win at Huddersfield.
That win took them level on points with Manchester United for 24 hours at least!
Wednesday night brought a routine win for Manchester City, the previously mentioned draw between West Ham and Arsenal, a comfortable-ish win for Tottenham, although Brighton had their chances, another 0-0 this time at Anfield where Liverpool couldn’t beat West Brom and an undeserved win for Manchester United against Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
So the top of the table sees City still eleven points ahead of United having disposed of Swansea in a manner that suggests they will not be caught.
United remain in second spot but will surely be glad to see the return of Paul Pogba after the weekend game against West Brom.
José Mourinho’s side look very laboured at the moment and are not easy on the eye. In fact, watching them at present is almost like a penance!
They were lucky to hang on to their 1-0 scoreline and have, yet again, David De Gea to thank for keeping it that way. In fairness, Phil Jones and Luke Shaw had good games as well but the rest of the “defence” may as well have stayed at home in the dry.
Third place is still occupied by Chelsea who remain three points behind United. Their win at Huddersfield was relatively routine but they still need to convince that they have the consistency to challenge for second place.
Still, with such a small gap, they will not be giving up just yet.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Brighton 2-0 to keep the pressure on Chelsea while Liverpool could only manage a 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion.
Jürgen Klopp must be tearing his fake hair out having found a way to stop his team conceding goals only to see them fail to score any!
So the three below Chelsea are Tottenham, Liverpool and Burnley who are really joint fourth although the superior goal difference of Spurs puts them ahead of the others. Liverpool are only four goals off fourth place and, if they can rediscover the scoring touch, especially as they now seem to have learned how to defend, they will fancy their chances of making up the difference.
Burnley are a further ten goals behind and, as most of their wins tend to be 1-0, are unlikely to get any higher if goal difference is the deciding factor. They need to keep winning and hope that their points tally will be enough at the end of the season.
Finally with regards to the midweek games, a quick mention for Stubborn Old Man, who took his team to face the Serial Loser at The London Stadium. There, he’s been mentioned!
It seems, however, that we may have to find a new name for David Moyes, particularly if he continues to frustrate the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal and actually stops losing games.
All attention now turns to the weekend which sees one big game when Manchester City take on Spurs at The Etihad. City should win this one meaning that Spurs will be the only top sixer to drop points. The rest all need to pick up three points if they wish to continue to be considered serious top six contenders.
United are away at West Brom, Liverpool are away at Bournemouth, Burnley are away at Brighton, Chelsea are at home to Southampton and Arsenal play Newcastle at The Emirates.
So out of those games there shouldn’t be any shocks or surprises but we will virtually guarantee you one thing; there will be at least one!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 