HALFWAY through October 2015 and following a hard-fought 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane, Tottenham are seventh in the Premier League, Liverpool tenth. Jurgen Klopp says 0-0 “is not my dream result, but it’s OK”, while Mauricio Pochettino says: “In football you need to be clinical.”
MANCHESTER CITY have beaten Watford twice this season in the Premier League. It was the same last season – when City scored six at Vicarage Road. The season before? City scored five on Watford’s turf. In fact, to find a Watford victory over Man City, you have to go back to 1989.
BEARING in mind what has just occurred in Liverpool and Amsterdam, it could sound audacious to say with certainty that Manchester City will secure their second consecutive Premier League title tomorrow. But they will.
Ten days before Christmas, Manchester United announced Chris Smalling had signed a contract extension until 2022. A platitude from manager Jose Mourinho was wheeled out to validate this curious piece of business. Forty-eight hours later, following a 3-1 cuffing at Liverpool, United sacked Mourinho. Smalling did not play, he was injured.
IT IS a game of errors, the current Belgium and former Wigan and Everton manager, Roberto Martinez, always says. Maybe he learned that at Motherwell.
FIVE weeks ago Leicester City lost 4-1 at home to Crystal Palace. The defeat left Leicester 12th in the Premier League, eight points above the relegation zone. Today, Leicester could go seventh should they win at Huddersfield Town. If relegation was in the background then, European football is in the foreground now.
IT will soon be April and Tottenham Hotspur have not won a Premier League game since February 10. Liverpool, meanwhile, are top of the table having lost one league game all season. When the two meet at Anfield tomorrow, there is therefore a logical expectation about the outcome.
ON the crest of a wave, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes confident, blossoming Manchester United back to north London tomorrow. In the midst of a slump, Unai Emery has his wilting Arsenal waiting anxiously for the visit.
It never takes much for the word to re-appear - a bad performance here, a surprising defeat there – and, sure enough, “Spursy” surfaces again.
Liverpool are not top of the Premier League. They are second behind Manchester City on goal difference. After a weekend away with the FA Cup, then diverting matches in Europe, it is probably worth remembering that sobering fact.
