All we have to do is win all our games!
As the season draws to a close, there is excitement at both ends of the Premier League table, the complexion of which seems to change game by game. Despite our imbalanced and moderate performance and a draw at struggling Wigan (who have taken 4 points off us this season), Arsenal could only draw at home to Manchester United, which does still leave Spurs in control of their own Champions League destiny.
All we have to do is win all our games, and we're there! Oh, trouble is, one of those games is at Chelsea, where we haven't won in decades. Not much hope there, then eh?
However, who'd have thought that Newcastle would concede six at home to Liverpool and that Villa would slam six past a Sunderland side recently re-invigorated by the arrival of Paulo Di Canio?
Those results mean that Sunderland, Newcastle, Villa and Wigan can all be classed as relegation strugglers this week, and if things should stay that way, Arsenal have yet to play Wigan and Newcastle in their last two games, whilst Chelsea have a trip to Villa on May 11th (Cup Final Day), three days after playing us. Villa might be particularly keen to gain some revenge for a horrible 8-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge last December too.
This week-end, while we host Southampton, Chelsea are at Old Trafford, and Arsenal are at QPR, who might yet feel they have a point to prove.
So, despite my pessimism after the Wigan game, there is still hope, although there is no doubt we have been stumbling along recently.
There were plenty of votes (148) but few comments about Saturday's game, and I think we can sum up the man of the match result by saying that Tom Huddlestone was the best of a bad bunch. I'll be writing a bit more about Big Tom in my review of the month later, which may hold a surprise or two for some of you!
· See this week's "Spursometer" in full
Results 27-29.04.13
Man City 2-1 West Ham
Everton 1-0 Fulham
S'hampton 0-3 West Brom
Stoke 1-0 Norwich
Wigan 2-2 Spurs
Newcastle 0-6 Liverpool
Reading 0-0 QPR
Chelsea 2-0 Swansea
Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd
A. Villa 6-1 S'derland
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man Utd 35 27 4 4 79-36 43 85 C
===========================================
2. Man City 34 21 8 5 61-31 30 71
3. Chelsea 34 19 8 7 68-35 33 65
4. Arsenal 35 18 10 7 66-36 30 64
===========================================
5. Spurs 34 18 8 8 60-43 17 62
===========================================
6. Everton 35 15 14 6 52-38 14 59
7. Liverpool 35 14 12 9 67-42 25 54
8. West Brom 34 14 6 14 46-44 2 48
9. Swansea 34 10 12 12 43-44 -1 42
10. West Ham 35 11 9 15 41-49 -8 42
11. Fulham 35 10 10 15 44-53 -9 40
12. Stoke 35 9 13 13 31-41 -10 40
13. S'hampton 35 9 12 14 47-57 -10 39
14. Norwich 35 8 14 13 33-54 -21 38
15. S'derland 35 9 10 16 39-51 -12 37
17. A. Villa 35 9 10 16 42-64 -22 37
16. Newcastle 35 10 7 18 43-66 -23 37
===========================================
18. Wigan 34 8 8 18 39-62 -23 32
19. QPR 35 4 13 18 29-56 -27 25 R
20. Reading 35 5 10 20 37-65 -28 25 R
