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Well wow…what an afternoon it has been in the Premier League this afternoon! from what looked to be a day of certain results came about shockers and changers that have left fans speechless….well Manchester City, Sunderland and Aston Villa fans anyway, hope you enjoy.
I will look at each game in order of what I think was the best to the not so interesting and didn’t have a massive effect on things
(ALSO, SPOILERS)
1) Sunderland vs Aston Villa (Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 4)
Be honest…who saw that result coming? Well maybe the most hardcore Aston Villa fan did but I bet about 95% of you didn’t, I mean Aston Villa have only scored 4 goals away from home before this game started, yet today, they SCORED 4 in the first half! a result that leaves Aston Villa 6 points clear of the relegation zone which is very important and it also means big trouble for Sunderland as well because there team looks a shambles, with strikers who couldn’t hit a barn door if they were 5ft away from it and they just let 4 goals in from the least scoring team in the Premier League…not to mention the majority of Sunderland Fans went home or to the pub to drown there sorrows at half time, humiliating today…a performance worthy of the Championship…well the bottom of the Championship, seriously…Blackpool would have put up more of a fight then Sunderland did today.
This result is 1st on my list this weekend mainly because…this game was expected to be the most boring game of the day, along with Leicester vs Hull, it surprised everyone and it had significant meaning for the bottom of the table, especially since the top place is most likely decided already, unless Chelsea massively screw up. If I were a fan of Sunderland, I’d have thrown my season ticket away as well, I mean…it’s probably not going to be pretty from here on out, sad to say.
As for Aston Villa fans, I hope you enjoy yourselves on the way down from Sunderland, wouldn’t be surprised if people were getting drunk on the buses and trains as they travel south tonight, a very good win and you’ve had all season to wait for a win this big (unless you count the F.A Cup win)
2) Burnley vs Manchester City (Burnley 1 Manchester City 0)
Earlier on in my predictions, I said that Manchester City would be too pre occupied with there clash with Barcelona next Wednesday but I also said that the game would be a draw, I really believed that they still had enough to get a draw at Turf Moor tonight but alas, it amazingly was not meant to be. A fantastic shot from George Boyd in the second half condemned City to there 5th defeat of the season and gives Arsenal a chance to leapfrog them into 2nd place as they are now only 1pt behind them. As for Burnley, this win is vital and will give the club hope that they can really survive and still be in the Premier League next season, a game that has important significance for both ends of the table and opens up chances for other clubs. All I can say to City is, either beat Barcelona on Wednesday or your season will be extremely close to being over so tread carefully Pellegrini or you just might be looking for a new club in the summer but from what I can see, many City fans will be wanting that.
3) Arsenal vs West Ham (Arsenal 3 West Ham 0)
Next we go to the Emirates where Arsenal defeat West Ham comfortably 3-0 and go only a point behind 2nd place Manchester City but at this time, City hadn’t played Burnley yet so The Gunners will likely have imagined that City would have easily beaten Burnley and the unlikely chance of getting 2nd would just be a dream alas, that dream became reality which makes the win today one of the most important wins of the season so far, ending a successful week for the Gunners. It also makes tomorrow’s game with Man U vs Spurs important, if Man U fail to win then there hopes of a top 4 finish a difficult task with Southampton, Liverpool and Spurs breathing down there necks and it would make Arsenal’s life easier to not have Man U right behind them so tomorrow is very important indeed but for tonight, Arsenal fans breathe in relief and move on to next week with there important clash in the south of France against Monaco, the same result will see them through but that also means Monaco can’t score or it’ll all be over.
4) Crystal Palace vs QPR
Well this game was another surprise for me, I didn’t see Palace dominating as much as they did and expected quite a fight from QPR but that didn’t happen today which means that Crystal Palace are 8 points away from the bottom three which must be an amazing feeling if your a Palace fan and a couple of more wins will likely guarantee their place in the Premier League next season. As for QPR, things look bleak. Apart from a screamer of a goal which was awesome, not much else can be said about their performance today, it was poor and not worthy of the top English League, I guess money isn’t all that, if spent right. 4 points from freedom isn’t awful but if they continue playing like this then it won’t matter, they’ll be playing Huddersfield, Leeds and Blackburn next season at this rate, unless something changes, soon.
5) West Brom vs Stoke (West Brom 1 Stoke 0)
Well I called one game right today (Apart from the Arsenal one) Tony Pulis just has that thing that makes any club he goes to perform well and I see West Brom having a good conclusion to this season, relegation won’t be on there minds, if anything I can see Pulis wanting to push for Europe next season (as long as West Brom let him have some Transfer Funds, we all remember what happened the last time someone said No to him) only one goal in this one but enough to secure the win but this loss won’t leave Stoke in any kind of trouble so they’ll move on from this with little to no effort although they will be annoyed that there 3 match unbeaten run is now over but it could be worse, they could be near the bottom and this loss happen, although their push for the Top 6 looks unlikely now (have you seen who’s up there, I doubt any of them will slip up)
6) Leicester vs Hull (Draw 0-0)
Not alot to say on this one, nothing much was expected and both teams failed to deliver a surprise today, which looks worse on Leicester than Hull as Hull had a player sent off so the Foxes had an advantage for much of the second half but couldn’t capitalize and unfortunately, I now believe that Leicester will indeed be playing in the Championship next season but I’ll guarantee that a Leicester fan would tell me otherwise.
If I were at the game today, I’d have either gone home after 60 mins or fallen asleep in my seat, I feel bad for all the Hull fans who had to come all the way down from the North, only to be bored for 90 mins by a poor performance (unlike Aston Villa fans who were likely getting drunk in celebration for a win on there way back to Birmingham)
Overall a good day of football with some good twists that have made it all interesting, it’s all to play for at the bottom, well apart from 20th place, 19th and 18th are still undecided but for me Leicester are gone. Chelsea play Southampton, Newcastle have Everton and Manchester United play Spurs tomorrow while Liverpool have Swansea on Monday.
Until then
Keep it real
The Northern Light 