We Go Again! The Premier League thread

[Crimey]

This would be a huge day for Leicester if it stays like it is.

[Fernando]

3-0 Scousers - Firmino.

[Crimey]

Lallana has been immense this game. Making a point after rumours of him being sold in the summer.

[Fernando]

Arsenal 1-2 Swansea - Williams

4th Place is in the bag

[Hero]

Does anyone actually want to win the title this season?

[Guest]

we've blown the draw

[Fernando]

Stoke 1-0 - Shaqiri

I like how you sat back for 75 mins now got 10 to save a draw...

[Guest]

its just excruciating watching McClaren football. I will echo the words of Olly.....'we're doomed'

that swansea scoreline is horrifying too

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

John it's gonna be a heck of a race between us two and Sunderland to see who is just not quite as inept as the other two

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Five minutes added time, ffs arsenal at least draw

[NickisBHAFC]

You know when you play a hot girl at pool, and you try to let her win, that's what the title race feels like this season.

Interesting to see who is joining villa in the championship as well.

[NickisBHAFC]

Said a few seasons ago, Arsenal should of signed Ashley Williams. Justice.

[Fernando]

Five minutes added time, ffs arsenal at least draw

No chance, We always lose at home to Swansea  

I don't think we've won in 3-4 years at home vs them 

[Hammersmith harrier]

Ashley Williams is garbage.

[Fernando]

Man Utd 1-0 Watford - Juan Mata

No idea how this is happening been garbage apparently

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

So somehow Leicester have actually gained a point on their rivals this weekend, and they both play each other on Saturday

I have literally never a seen a team with less bottle than Arsenal

[Guest]

Pep could be in the Europa League next year at this rate

[Crimey]

United now level with City. 

Has Guardiola underestimated the size of his task?

[Hammersmith harrier]

Announcing Pep as the new manager so early is quite possibly the worst decision I have ever seen a top club make, the players nor the manager give a crap any more.

[NickisBHAFC]

Arsenal players in the changing rooms taking selfies?

[Fernando]

Doesn't matter we've hit peak Arsenal

Cech pulled his hamstring running up for a corner  

Literally can't write this stuff...

[Crimey]

Great win, probably the best performance of the season as well.

[Hero]

Good possibility that neither Manchester club make CL, while Leicester and West Ham do.

Crazy days.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Excellent win for the Hammers tonight - which has done Leicester a massive favour.

Even Stoke are only 5 points behind 4th placed Man City.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Atmosphere was great. It's not Millwall but as they've died and Spurs are Liverpool wannabes it's always nice to bring em down a peg or two.

And we deserved three points. Tottenham were dire. We were brilliant first half and should have been 2 or 3 up. Michael Antonio is so wonderful. And Reece Oxford came in and played well at the back for the last 20-25 in a tense game. We'll lose to Everton, it's what we do, but I'm chuffed. Slaven is a breath of fresh air and I wouldn't want anyone else.

[Duty281]

Ah Arsenal, you tease. Still going to conquer England, but taking their time in getting there!

And Leicester will struggle to finish in the top four, which is a great shame.

[sirfredperry]

This is the poorest-standard Premier League for many seasons. Possibly ever. Spurs and Leicester must take advantage as you can bet that Chelsea will come roaring back next year and that Arsenal and Manchester City won't be so inconsistent.

[Geordie]

And we'll not be in it so theres some more rubbish gone.

Hopefully Cashley will do us all a favour and leave aswell!

[Breadvan]

Huuuge reults for the Swans, altho it is 4 unbeaten in a row at the Emirates Big month coming up if Swans want to guarantee safety, playing Norwich, Bournemouth & Villa. have to aim for 8/9 pts at least.

[Hero]

Ah Arsenal, you tease. Still going to conquer England, but taking their time in getting there!

And Leicester will struggle to finish in the top four, which is a great shame.

How do you come to that scenario based upon them getting a draw whilst the three other contenders all lose?

[Duty281]

Ah Arsenal, you tease. Still going to conquer England, but taking their time in getting there!

And Leicester will struggle to finish in the top four, which is a great shame.

How do you come to that scenario based upon the getting a draw whilst the three other contenders all lose?

Leicester will collapse, and United will enjoy a glorious resurgence.

It will be a close battle for fourth between the two - currently Leicester have a ten point advantage, but the stresses may be too much for them. Looking further ahead, it's difficult to envisage them winning more than one of their last five games this season.

In the title race, Arsenal have a four point advantage, but City have a game in hand. Will be very close, but I believe Arsenal have a narrow advantage.

Tottenham have no opposition for third.

[Alistair]

Antonio has to be in with a shout of an England Cap?

[Hero]

Ah Arsenal, you tease. Still going to conquer England, but taking their time in getting there!

And Leicester will struggle to finish in the top four, which is a great shame.

How do you come to that scenario based upon the getting a draw whilst the three other contenders all lose?

Leicester will collapse, and United will enjoy a glorious resurgence.

It will be a close battle for fourth between the two - currently Leicester have a ten point advantage, but the stresses may be too much for them. Looking further ahead, it's difficult to envisage them winning more than one of their last five games this season.

In the title race, Arsenal have a four point advantage, but City have a game in hand. Will be very close, but I believe Arsenal have a narrow advantage.

Tottenham have no opposition for third.

Leicester may potentially buckle under the pressure of squeaky bum-time but to then presume Arsenal won't when they're currently on a 3 game losing streak and Wenger himself is admitting the side is suffering with confidence is a bit odd. They've got 3 wins in 11 games. That is not even remotely a title surge, it's the usual Arsenal spring collapse.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Antonio has to be in with a shout of an England Cap?

And how Mark Noble isnt baffles me even further this year.

AND Aaron Cresswell, Not picking Cresswell is basically saying "none of our players could link with him like Payet so we'll just pick a limited player".

Although I must say, Antonio is a terribly confusing player at times. Goes from graceful to clumsy in seconds, but works like a warrior and can do a bit of everything. Love him, absolutely love him, but whether he fits in the England setup i'm not sure.

[Alistair]

I've always rated Mark Noble, think he is grossly underrated.

Unfortunately it's the Woy factor. With the Euro's you should be going with the players who are in form and full of confidence. I'd rather see Antonio battle for 90 mins with the odd graceless stumble, than Raheem.

[dummy_half]

So 10 games to go of the season no-one want to win. Wonder what odds you'd have got on Monday that Leicester would only draw and increase their lead...

Bottom of the table looks fairly straight forward. Villa plus 2 of Newcastle, Sunderland and Norwich. A 6 point gap to Swansea and Bournemouth should be enough, and Palace's collapse came when they were far enough up the table to be pretty safe - probably need 5 points more.

Top of the table is ridiculous - I can't recall a season where at this stage so many of the title contenders have been in such scratchy form.

Taking the last 10 games form and projecting forwards (obviously not entirely informative, as the strength of opposition varies, but gives some idea of form) - Leicester and Tottenham finish on 76 points, giving Spurs the title on goal difference.
Arsenal 3rd
West Ham 4th
Man U 5th
Citeh 6th

Norwich and Newcastle down with Villa

[Stella]

Pep in the Europa league! Call me mr stupid but I still think Arsenal may sneak the league.

[dummy_half]

Stella

Obviously what I did above is not really a prediction, more a projection based on recent results. Looking at the fixtures coming up, I'd probably want my money on Leicester still - I think they have Man U and Chelsea to come, but much of the rest is mid-table teams who will knock off for the summer once they reach 42 points.

Not sure it's the poorest EPL season ever -I think Fergie's last season at Man U was pretty poor as well, given that they were very close to the record for most points in 38 game season despite being a pretty mediocre (by Man U standards of the previous decade or so) team.

[Stella]

Yeah wasn't questioning your prediction/projection. Imagine though if City do fail to get a CL spot, for when the top man arrives. I think they will mind.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I think the increased money means that the middle clubs have gotten stronger, meaning the top clubs are now dropping more points personally

[westisbest]

I think it's good for the league that teams like Leicester and Spurs have a great chance of winning the league and not the usual Manchester clubs, chelsea.

Also great to see Watford doing well.
Stoke pushing on.

All healthy competition.
What the league needs.
Having said that we ain't gonna be around much longer, so what the fk do I care

[dummy_half]

I think the increased money means that the middle clubs have gotten stronger, meaning the top clubs are now dropping more points personally

I think there's some truth in that, and also in that City's and Chelsea's strategy hasn't really paid off in the longer term - if you pay top dollar for players at their peak (27 -29 years old), you are likely to only get 2 or 3 seasons of them before a decline.
Man U going through a transition that started really a year or two before Fergie retired - some aging players, some dead wood, and a few signings who haven't been great for Moyes of LvG.

Really, given the struggles of the 3 above, this season should have been all about Arsenal. They have some of the finest players in the league (Ozil, Sanchez), not many obvious weaknesses in their first choice side and a manager who has a lot of experience at the top of the EPL.

Tottenham have done brilliantly on a combination of a couple of good signings and the development of s few young English players, while Leicester have shown what 'team' means - really a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Oh, and picking up cheap quality like Mahrez and Kante hasn't hurt them...

Actually, that's a further point - too often the top teams only seem interested in signing the established big name stars, and don't perhaps look for either the rising stars or those who have been somewhat overlooked previously, and who perhaps play fo rless fashionable clubs.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

There's a lot in the fact that if United, Chelsea or Arsenal buy someone for £7m, or even less, people don't care. There's no excitement and they are seen as filler. I think middle clubs like us have benefitted from big clubs going for the finished articles, the £20m+ certainties (that can never be certainties).

You look at Payet, Lanzini, Kouyate, Ogbonna, Reid etc. I think 10-15 years ago they'd have been snapped up by bigger sides. But the market has changed.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Also the so called "smaller clubs" have the money to buy these players as well now

[Hammersmith harrier]

I tend to think the overall standard has improved a lot and it is affecting the teams in Europe.

Look at Stoke for instance, go back 10 years and they would not have players like Butland, Bojan, Affela or Shaqiri, the top teams would rest their first team fairly confident of victory something they are now unable to do. The current established European superpowers can rest players against weaker sides (lots of them) which means they're fresher when it comes to the Champions League.

The Premier League's strength is also it's downfall.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Huuuge reults for the Swans, altho it is 4 unbeaten in a row at the Emirates Big month coming up if Swans want to guarantee safety, playing Norwich, Bournemouth & Villa. have to aim for 8/9 pts at least.

On a point of order (ie pedantry  ) It's not possible to take 8 points from three games.  A team can take 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 9 points.

[Hero]

Huuuge reults for the Swans, altho it is 4 unbeaten in a row at the Emirates Big month coming up if Swans want to guarantee safety, playing Norwich, Bournemouth & Villa. have to aim for 8/9 pts at least.

On a point of order (ie pedantry  ) It's not possible to take 8 points from three games.  A team can take 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 9 points.

Massive brawl in which the FA then deducts points from each side ala Utd and Arsenal from a number of years ago?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I tend to think the overall standard has improved a lot and it is affecting the teams in Europe.

Look at Stoke for instance, go back 10 years and they would not have players like Butland,  Bojan, Affela or Shaqiri, the top teams would rest their first team fairly confident of victory something they are now unable to do. The current established European superpowers can rest players against weaker sides (lots of them) which means they're fresher when it comes to the Champions League.

The Premier League's strength is also it's downfall.

Spot on Hammer

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Huuuge reults for the Swans, altho it is 4 unbeaten in a row at the Emirates Big month coming up if Swans want to guarantee safety, playing Norwich, Bournemouth & Villa. have to aim for 8/9 pts at least.

On a point of order (ie pedantry  ) It's not possible to take 8 points from three games.  A team can take 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 9 points.

Massive brawl in which the FA then deducts points from each side ala Utd and Arsenal from a number of years ago?

Well, I suppose Swans could aim for three wins and a one point deduction for a brawl.  Probably a risky strategy tho!

[Hero]

Hey three wins and a good ruckus would be good for team morale surely?

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