Pressure on Kenny, a tasty London derby and Bolton try to get back to normal in this weekend’s Premier League preview.
Red Alert
Cast your mind back just 26 days, to Liverpool’s Carling Cup success over Cardiff. The Kenny Dalglish era had its first trophy and all the talk was of Liverpool ‘kicking on’ from Wembley and nabbing fourth place. And asking whoever found Charlie Adam’s penalty in central Europe to return it.
Anyway, since then the Reds have lost to Arsenal, Sunderland and, most catastrophically, just two days ago, to QPR. Four defeats from their last six in the league, stretching back to the ‘handshake’ game against Manchester United have derailed all hopes Liverpool had of taking fourth and getting back in Europe’s top competition.
Fans are just about starting to grumble about Dalglish for the first time and while lowly Wigan should yield them three points this weekend, the pressure is building on Kenny, more from above than from the Anfield faithful. A few goals by Andy Carroll wouldn’t go astray this weekend either, as he takes over the flop of the season mantle from Fernando Torres, at least temporarily.
London falling
Rafael Van Der Vaart’s late header saved Spurs from a dismal fourth defeat in a row against Stoke this week. It didn’t save Harry’s lads from slipping below Arsenal though and with the Gunners looking very solid – at last – Tottenham need to get a win to put some pressure on their Norf Landan rivals.
In Saturday’s early kick-off they go to John Terry’s Chelsea and while the Blues are not a patch on the team of old, they are still a tricky bunch to beat. They too are eying up fourth and a win for Chelsea will put them just two behind Spurs with eight games left to play. Spurs are bottling quicker than Coca Cola at the moment and we expect Chelsea to knock another few pounds off Harry’s England salary with a win on Saturday.
This one’s for Fabrice
What would have been billed as a real six-pointer between Bolton and Blackburn is now a chance for some semblance of normality to return at the Reebok. Both sides are desperate for a win, of course, but the minds of the Bolton players will surely be affected by what happened to their team-mate Fabrice Muamba last Saturday.
Thankfully Muamba seems to be recovering and life goes on but this game will surely be played in a subdued fashion that nobody could have predicted last week. Blackburn are slowly pulling away from the mire, a tremendous achievement by Steve Kean, but relegation will be a secondary issue for most on Saturday.
Winner of discontent
Never forget that almost anything is forgiven in football if you do the job on the pitch. Despite his outrageous behaviour, Carlos Tevez was welcomed back into the Manchester City fold this week, set up the winner against Chelsea and now he’s the top man once again.
We fully expect Tevez to start ahead of Super Mario on Sunday at Stoke and with the Potters struggling now after such a gruelling season, City should be able to reclaim top spot from United for at least 24 hours.
Back to save the day?
Roberto Mancini has guaranteed the title this season and if he doesn’t manage it, you have to imagine he gets the boot. Winning away at Stoke is the real stuff of champions. The gutsy win over Chelsea was good, now back it up Roberto.
Dancing with the Devils
The last four visits of Fulham to Old Trafford have an aggregate score of 10-0 to the home side. The Cottagers may have defeated United a couple of times in London in recent times but they roll over like six-month-old Labradors in the reverse fixture.
We fully expect that trend to continue on Monday night. Fergie’s troops can smell the title and without any other distractions, apart from a sulking Dimitar Berbatov, they look nailed on to complete the job.
One other fact for you to know before you put this month’s mortgage payment on a home win. Fulham have the lowest number of away goals of any team in the top flight, with a measly eight in 14 games. Even goal-shy Wigan have managed 13. David De Gea might as well take the night off.
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