Tag: Premier League

Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal has seen Manchester United out to 1/4 to win this years Premier League.

With Chelsea visiting Old Trafford next Sunday and the goal difference now level, all of a sudden United don’t look the nailed on certainty they did a couple of weeks ago. The 1/4 on United is currently available with Stan James, William Hill and Bet365, any takers at that price?

Even if Chelsea were to win at Old Trafford I still think the run in favours United as they then have an away trip to Blackburn, before the chance to improve their goal difference with a cricket score at home to Blackpool on the final day.

Chelsea are at home to Newcastle and away at Everton in their corresponding fixtures, I wouldn’t like to be going to Goodison on the final day of the season needing a result.

I would have to agree with Alex Ferguson this week that his side should have had a penalty, but so should Arsenal. There may have been a slight element of doubt in the referees mind with the Owen penalty claim, but how Vidic’s handball was missed I don’t know.

It was good to see Aaron Ramsey scoring again, it was a comfortable finish, but I’ve seen them sort of chances missed by many a so-called top class player before.

The top 4 now look safe with Arsenal and Man City winning, Tottenham’s only issue now is stopping Liverpool taking 5th place when they meet at Anfield on Sunday 15th.

Elsewhere and West Ham look finished now, in truth they have looked gone for a few weeks now. Their mini revival ended at half-time in the home game against Manchester United and they have now lost their last five games, they have managed to pick the worst time of the season to run back into crap form.

I have never really got Avram Grant as a manager, but amazingly I imagine some other club will after he is shown the door this summer. It never ceases to amaze me how failed managers like him keep getting rehired. I thought he handled himself well during the clubs recruitment drive at Christmas, but that was as a person, not a manager.

The Hammers are 1/3 to go down with Coral, surprisingly they are not as short as Blackpool who are 2/7, this is probably due to the fact that Ian Holloway’s men have to travel to Tottenham and Manchester United, with a home game against Bolton sandwiched between.

I was amazed they kept a clean sheet on Saturday, this cost me a fair bit as I layed 0-0 half time and had also backed over 2.5 goals on their game, how did that donkey Kenwyne Jones miss that open goal?

Although not mathematically impossible, it now looks like Aston Villa and Sunderland are safe after Wigan and Wolves both failed to win at the weekend, I’d be very surprised if Birmingham aren’t safe also. Blackburn got a lifeline and like Birmingham they have goal difference on their side.

Not sure which way it will go at the bottom though, Wolves and Wigan both have winnable games remaining which could drag Blackburn back in, West Ham are gone and Blackpool look to have a mountain to climb.

One thing I do know for certain is that Blackburn would be safe had Sam still been in charge.

I think it was a case of injuries catching up with Arsenal on Saturday. If two of Walcott, Fabregas and Van Persie had been fit to play then I believe that Arsenal would have broke down Sunderland’s resolve and put more pressure on Manchester United ahead of their game at Anfield tomorrow.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Arsenal bottled it, but they did blow a great chance and if they are to win the league then they won’t do it by drawing games like that, this was one of those games that Manchester United would have scraped a 1-0 victory in.

If Arsenal don’t learn how to do it fast, then it will be another unsuccessful premiership campaign for them.

At the bottom I didn’t see West Brom’s 3-1 win coming, I did write that I fancied 2-1 either way, but also that there was no way that this game would produce more than 3 goals.

I obviously got that wrong, I also said it would probably be a crap game, well the 2nd half certainly wasn’t crap, it was great entertainment. Birmingham’s league form seems to be disappearing at totally the wrong time.

Only on Monday was I listening to the likes of Andy Gray and Richard Keys on Talksport suggesting that McLeish could be in the running to be Alex Ferguson’s replacement at Old Trafford, no chance on current form. They are totally in a relegation battle at the moment.

A side finding form at the right time is West Ham, they must be one of the form teams in the premier league at the moment. I looked at their odds against Stoke and seen they were better than Evens, but due to the fact it was Stoke they were playing I thought I would leave it. Stoke are just one of those teams that I don’t like backing against.

The battle at the bottom is getting tighter, Blackpool, Birmingham, Blackburn and Wigan are all struggling, while Wolves, West Brom and West Ham are starting to pick up results.

Wolves have their chance tomorrow against Spurs, they may well fancy their chanes as Harry Redknapp’s team may have one eye on Wednesday’s champions league 2nd leg match with AC Milan.