I’ve been watching the Premier League for years and years now and like to think I’m pretty well versed in the ins and outs of the what to expect from the world’s greatest football league. However, even I’ve been surprised with how quickly things have changed on a massive scale and on a weekly basis this season; that trend continued this week.
Good Week For: Stoke (Finally end their miserable run of form with a win away at QPR), Norwich City (Look to have secured their Premier League status with a win over Reading), Tottenham (Fantastic comeback against City to spice up the battle for Champions League football)
Bad Week For: QPR (Must surely be condemned to Championship football now), Everton (Looked to be climbing into the top-four fight but have fallen away again in the last 7 days), Liverpool (In the aftermath of this week’s Hillsborough Tributes, was Suarez’s antics really what Liverpool needed to see?)
Speaking of things that have changed, QPR fans must wish that things would start changing drastically soon before it’s too late as Stoke condemned them to their 18th league defeat of the season. Stoke weren’t exactly the Premier League’s form side coming into this match either but yet they made light work of Harry Redknapp’s side who, by Redknapp’s own admission, now see their survival hopes lying “in tatters”. Goals from Peter Crouch and Jonathon Walters saw Stoke canter to a 2-0 win although a more confident and in-form Stoke side would have destroyed QPR in this fixture.
A side who have seen a change in fortune in recent weeks is Sunderland. Paolo Di Canio has really changed things around at the Stadium Of Light and they continued to upset the apple cart with a 1-0 win over Everton on Saturday. Everton were not without their chances in this match though but just weren’t clinical enough in their endeavours as Sunderland, fronted by superb performances from Seb Larsson and Stephen Sessegnon, took the occasion by the scruff of the neck. By half-time that combination had led to the opener as Larsoon supplied Sessegnon to allow him to strike past Tim Howard from range in a goal-scoring effort similar to his goal last week against Newcastle. The score-line would have surely increased in the second half had it not been for some superb saves between the sticks from both goalkeepers.
Luis Suarez is one of the few constants in the Premier League as his brilliance has been a fixture in this season’s league action. However as well as his brilliance, he’s shown his wild side on a number of occasions and on Sunday his performance was a demonstration of both of those characteristics. In a match that should’ve been about Rafa Benitez’s return to Liverpool or the result’s impact on the league standings, it ended up being all about Suarez. The match ended in a 2-2 draw but it’s the fact that Suarez got a stoppage-time equaliser that rattled Chelsea cages. The Uruguayan sunk his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic earlier in the game and escaped punishment therefore Chelsea fans felt aggrieved that he was the one who threw a spanner into their Champions League qualification works. Suarez has since apologised and the FA are reviewing footage before taking any action.
Tottenham, meanwhile, dished out some drama of their own as they scored three in the closing stages of their clash with Manchester City to beat the reigning champions 3-1 at White Hart Lane. Both sides needed victories in order to keep their title and champions league hopes alive respectively but ultimately it was Tottenham who came out on top thanks in large part to the returning Gareth Bale. This led to an end to some of the drama that we’ve been experiencing for quite some time now as Manchester United regained their Premier League crown after beating Aston Villa 3-0. Robin Van Persie, who has been the catalyst for United’s title bid all season, got on the score-sheet with two early goals (the second of which was stunning)before settling affairs with his hat-trick after 32 minutes to secure United their 20th league title.
Elsewhere in the league, Norwich sent Reading packing as they defeated the Royals 2-1 at Carrow Road. Goals from Ryan and Elliott Bennett were enough to see the Canaries through to the win despite a consolation goal from Gareth McCleary. Norwich now seem destined for safety whereas Reading’s fate also seems sealed as they’re rooted to the foot of the table and look to have no way out.
Arsenal continued their hunt for Champions League football with a 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Per Mertesacker got the goal for Arsenal on the stroke of half-time with a diving header to finish off Lorient Koscielny’s effort. The goal will surely be seen as a response to the criticism Mertesacker’s been subjected to in recent weeks by the media. Ruiz and Berbatov were again doing their all to help Fulham claw their way out of trouble but it wasn’t enough as Arsenal held on for the victory.
West Brom and Newcastle played out a 1-1 draw in a very physical encounter at the Hawthorns. Yoan Gouffran opened the scoring for Newcastle as they really took the game to West Brom in the opening exchanges as they looked to put the misery of last week’s derby defeat to Sunderland behind them. The impetus didn’t stay with Newcastle for much longer than the first half though as West Brom fought back relentlessly and equalised however were unfortunate to only come away from the game with a draw.
Wigan looked to continue their fight against relegation in their clash with West Ham at Upton Park. However they were stopped in their tracks after a 2-0 defeat to West Ham. Wigan have played quite well over the last few weeks but against the better teams and away from home they really need a 10-15 goal a season striker who they can depend on to convert some chances for them as that lack of cutting edge has killed them for a couple of seasons now.
And to close for this week, Swansea and Southampton played out one of the most entertaining 0-0 draws of the season at the Liberty season in a show of brilliant football. These two sides are almost certainly safe this season and next season it will be very intriguing to see how good these sides do in action next season. Stay with us here to see which sides we won’t be having the pleasure of seeing next season as they relegation battle draws closer and closer to the end for another season.
Results:
Queens Park Rangers 0 – 2 Stoke City
Sunderland 1 – 0 Everton
Liverpool 2 – 2 Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur 3 – 1 Manchester City
Manchester United 3 – 0 Aston Villa
Norwich City 2 – 1 Reading
Arsenal 1 – 0 Fulham
West Bromwich Albion 1 – 1 Newcastle United
West Ham United 2 – 0 Wigan Athletic
Swansea City 0 – 0 Southampton