Arsenal are going to be okay, Everton need a special delivery and Aston Villa look devoid of any fight.
Crisis over at Arsenal
Far be it from me to be agreeing with Gary Neville but he said over the weekend that nobody is calling for Arsene Wenger to be fired now. He’s right, and even though the Gunners lost 1-0 to Manchester City, they gave the league leaders the sternest test they have received at home this season in the Premier League.
But for an enforced defensive reshuffle, Arsenal may have held out for a draw. And but for a very narrow offside on RVP and a potential Micah Richards handball they may have won.
They still have problems. Theo Walcott was back to his unreliable worst and Andrei Arshavin came in and was even worse. But most of the rest of the team played like a team and they will win most matches if they play as they did on Sunday.
The title may be beyond them, but a top four finish is once again a realistic target for Wenger’s boys.
Bolton and Blackburn gear up for a showdown
When you see Bolton hosting Blackburn on the schedule you don’t usually get excited but with both teams losing again at the weekend, the bottom two’s clash tomorrow should be fantastic to watch.
Not fantastic in a footballing sense obviously but fantastic like watching a squirrel fight a rat over a discarded sandwich. Both teams were fairly abject this weekend (Bolton lost 2-0 to Fulham, Blackburn lost 2-1 to West Brom) so it is most likely to be 0-0 but with managerial jobs and ‘bottom at Christmas’ on the line, it should be a belter.
Landycakes can’t land fast enough
Everton have captured Robbie Keane’s team-mate Landon Donovan for another pit stop in Liverpool and the American is needed badly at Goodison. Against Norwich, Leighton Baines was great and he provided top-class service into the box but Tim Cahill looks knackered and Louis Saha was still not sharp.
The Toffees have just 16 goals in 15 games and it took a semi-flukey goal by Leon Osman to get a draw against the Canaries late on. They better hope America’s most lethal export since Jason Bourne is in the mood when he touches down in January.
Villa look limp
Alex McLeish is your stereotypical Scottish Premier League manager in appearance, accent and general scariness but his teams play like it’s all an act. Birmingham exited the Premier League in a whimper and it seems he is taking Aston Villa down the same route.
Liverpool got a fast start on Sunday but the response from the home side was as good as non-existent. They were missing Gabriel Agbonlahor and Darren Bent but the lack of drive in midfield or even the ability to look interested seemed beyond most of the Villa players.
That McLeish made only two substitions, the second in the 80th minute, shows he either doesn’t care or the bench he has is even worse than what was on the field. Either way, it looks very grim at Villa right now.
Roy who?
The unseemly ‘jilted lover’ routine of Roy Keane was all over Sunday’s papers but his former BFF rolled out of bed on Sunday, ignored it and sent his team out to batter QPR. It finished 2-0 to Manchester United, but it could have been a lot more. United are still not scoring enough, and the form of Patrice Evra has to be a worry, but the champions are keeping pace with City and Fergie will know that keeping the pressure on the boys in blue is the best he can do for now.
Phil Jones excelled again in midfield, as did his partner Michael Carrick. If they can get the former Spurs man to do what he did on Sunday more often (that goal was his first in 70 games) they can ignore the criticism of a former central lynchpin.
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