With all postponed matches now caught up, Manchester City have recaptured the league in the Premier League and sit a solitary point above Liverpool with three matchdays remaining.
The Reds should momentarily leapfrog City when they host and surely beat Huddersfield first-up on Saturday morning, but it should also be a soft kill for City when they travel to Burnley.
Well, well, well. It seemed like the writing was probably on the wall but now it’s confirmed; Liverpool is second with only three matchdays remaining. City’s 2-0 win over United, a bittersweet one for the Red Devils’ faithful saw them take the vital three competition points required to leapfrog the Reds. With the matches played ledger now square, Liverpool simply need to win their remaining three fixtures and hope something happens to City. You might be wondering why I’ve said absolutely nothing about this match but come on. It’ll be a flogging.
Arsenal’s hilarious loss to Wolves midweek has made a top four berth all but a certainly for Spurs and they will take another big step towards securing third by beating West Ham. Understandably, their two most-recent league losses have come by the swords of Liverpool and City, but they’ve been pretty faultless otherwise. They face a Hammers side who have all but checked out for the season and who are winless in their last four league matches.
Yuck, yuck, yuck. Fulham are relegated and Cardiff are nearly relegated. Neither side has had any impact on the league this season and honestly, it would be better for both to go an rebuild in the second tier. Given they are only two points behind Brighton, Cardiff are still a chance of surviving but they need to win everything, realistically. I don’t think that they will do that, but this is winnable, and they are over the odds.
Still mathematically a chance of relegation, but Southampton really should be safe, and they can confirm another season by beating the Cherries in Week 36. They’re winless in their last two but have recorded quality results against clubs who have since franked the form and they meet a pretty inconsistent Bournemouth side that has managed only one win during their last five.
Betting suggests that It’s going to be one of the better matches of the week and I tend to agree. There’s been a lot to like about the way both Watford and Wolves have gone about their work this season and only a single point separates them on the ladder. Their recent form in particular reads very similarly, but there is no doubt that Wolves have had a tougher go of it recently and boy, will they be flying after destroying Arsenal. This will be played at Vicarage Road and I genuinely believe it will be one of the better draws that we’ll see this season.
Another potentially great match is slated to play out between Palace and Everton this week and both clubs have genuine claims on winning. The Toffees hit another gear from Week 30 onwards and while they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Fulham, they responded with a 4-0 thrashing of United. They meet a Palace side that has gone win, loss, win, loss for nearly the who season, but her were last seen delivering Arsenal a defeat on the road. This is going to be a ripper.
Mat Ryan’s Brighton are in serious danger, so what better time to draw the league’s most untrustworthy side? What a terrible time to fall out of form. I thought New Zealand’s ability to toss the America’s Cup away at the eleventh hour was impressive, but Brighton appear to be on the fast and narrow towards doing the Premier League equivalent. Hopefully for the sake of keeping another Aussie in the Premier League, they line up against the Newcastle that drew with Blackburn, not the Newcastle that beat Manchester City.
Will Leicester become the next side to deliver Arsenal a flogging? It would be nice to think so, particularly when it would almost certainly cost the Gunners a Champions League berth AGAIN. Losses to Crystal Palace and Wolves have been hilarious enough and while they do arguably faced a more dangerous side in the form of the Foxes, it’s tough imagining them being bested on three-consecutive occasions. This is perhaps the first time that they haven’t just blindly been given a $1.50 quote by the bookies and I’m happy to take the value.
In seasons prior to the last one, I would have 100% backed City to bottle their chances of winning the Premier League by losing to a club like Burnley. Winning under pressure was not their thing. Now however, they are one of the world’s best sides and you simply cannot claim to be one if you lose when the going gets heavy. $1.13 is probably unders, but they will be winning this and taking one of three required steps towards lifting another trophy.
Should be the match of the round, but who know given everything that is on the line with City and Liverpool and more importantly, how piss-poor United have been recently. Boy they responded to their Champions League exit; a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Everton and a comfortable loss in the Manchester Derby – things are really looking good for a top four finish. Chelsea can drive another nail into the coffin by winning, but I’m not sure they have the stones either.