It's all to play for with 17 games to go (for Arsenal anyway). Man City, Liverpool, and Chelsea (in that order) look like taking the automatic Champions' League spots. But positions 4 through 8 are a virtual tie. #4 West Ham and #5 Man U have played more games than the pack of Arsenal, Tottenham, and Wolves just behind them. Spurs lost a chance to put themselves in good position today by losing to Southampton. When these five teams play each other, it'll decide who goes to ECL, Europa League, Europa Conference, or nowhere. I've been skeptical about West Ham, and hope they fade. United is too talented to drop far, aren't they? Wolves have a thin squad; can they hang with the richer clubs? Speaking of thin squads, Arsenal left themselves no room for injury problems by clearing out squad players while buying no one. Tottenham ought to be playing better; I hope they continue being so Spursy.
Sadly, Newcastle seems to have bought their way out of relegation in the last window. Everton is in free fall and may save one of Norwich or Burnley from the drop; I think Watford is doomed.
Mid-table seems to be a popular place, as crowded as the European slot chasers, with the potential for either making a run at 7th or dropping into a relegation battle.
It's going to be interesting.
Crystal palace continues to be unimpressive, drawing Norwich today 1-1. Zaha scored a brilliant goal, then later on looked ridiculous when missing a penalty kick, practically tackling himself when doing so.
ReplyDeleteI saw that on the highlights reel. I don't like the way he reacted to the miss. Conceding that early goal was a killer. Norwich could just defend after that. I remember when Milovojevic used to take your penalties; he was excellent. I guess he was not on the field.
ReplyDelete