I was at the beach for a week so did not watch either the City nor the Chelsea game. The Blues are in such disarray that we'd have had to be in very poor form not to have taken three points off them. We were good, apparently, especially in the first half, so we got back to winning ways. I was not expecting such an easy time at St James's Park, though, and so it proved. After ten minutes, I was telling my wife that we were being played off the park. But the men turned it around and we got a well deserved three points in a very tough place. This was only the second home game the Magpies lost. Both teams missed very good chances to score. Toon hit the posts twice and Martinelli hit the crossbar. Both keepers made some excellent saves from close range. It could have been 4-3 at least. But as the game wore on, I thought the Gunners looked more in control. Arteta finally switched Zinchenko out for Tierney early enough. The Scotsman is a much better defender, and our Ukrainian was tired. There was plenty of lovely football from both sides; it was one of the games of the season.
We're still a point behind City and they have a game in hand. They'd have to drop five points (a loss and a draw) or more in their final four games, and we;d have to win all three of our games, for us to pip them to the title. Yes, thjey have to play Real Madrid twice in there, but City has won ten league games in a row and put Bayern Munich to the sword recently. They will probably win all four of their games. Newcastle is still in good position for top four. Let's take a look at the table:
Brighton and Liverpool seem to have the best chance of overtaking either Man U or Newcastle to crack top four, but they'd need help. Spuds have a shot, but a faint one. Their most likely outcome is a date with the Europa Conference League. That might actually give them their best chance at silverware anyway, come to think of it. West Ham's deserved win over United today makes them safe. Southampton looks doomed, so two of Leicester, Leeds, Forest, and Everton will be playing in the Championship next season. With one point separating them, it's anybody's guess who will survive.
I should mention the excellent performance of Kiwior, our new CB, who is playing right CB in place of Holding, who was filling in for Saliba. Holding didn't make any obvious errors, but Kiwior seems to be a step up, despite his being a lefty (like Gabriel). He'll be a mainstay in our defense for years.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm at it, I'll praise the rest of the team too. Jesus was lively up front and our wingers gave their outside backs a torrid time. Jorginho played better defense than I thought he would. And our captain Odegaard was magnificent. It was a spiky game with plenty of incidents: hard fouls, pushing, elbows, harsh words, and more. Xhaka was heavily involved in the physical stuff, natch.
And Ramsdale was superb in goal!
ReplyDelete