Peter Anderson ⚽ The race for fourth is fast becoming the defining part of the Premier table this season. 

The top three have been nailed on since the first weeks and, barring a disaster for Chelsea over the Abramovich goings on, the top three will finish in the top three. 

The bottom three also look nailed on at this point, Norwich and Burnley have looked doomed all season and as Watford fell into the bottom three just as Newcastle's money was beginning to make a difference, it looks likely that Watford will stay in the bottom three. Brentford have finally halted the rapid drop by winning the last two games, while Leeds sacked Bielsa and the new man has clocked up his first win to keep their heads above water. Everton look bereft of form but with so many games in hand and most of their remaining games at Goodison I would expect the Toffees to stay in the league for next season. Having said that I can't see Fat Frank being there for much longer, though I hope he proves me wrong.

So, with the top and bottom threes looking pretty set that just leaves the race for fourth. Currently in the hot seat is Arsenal. And going on current form I would expect to see them there at the end of the season. Man U and Spurs look too inconsistent, West Ham look fatigued and Wolves look a little short of that spark needed to make the Champions League for next season. 

If Arsenal make it then they will have thoroughly deserved it. They couldn't have had a worse start to the season, losing their first three games, and nobody then gave them any chance of rescuing the season. But we must give big kudos to Arteta for getting them up and running. He had some difficult choices to make, most notably getting shot of his troublesome captain Aubamayang in January, who was challenging his authority. It has paid off as they are now on a fine run of form after a difficult January when they went out of both cups and lost to City in the league. Since then, they have won five games in a row in the EPL, taking them to the heady heights of fourth, knocking Man U down to fifth.

On Sunday I watched the Gunners dismantle Leicester. They were sensational. With a solid centre half pairing of Gabriel and White, and Thomas Partey finally showing the form he had at Atlético, this gives them a great defensive platform for their young talent to show off their skills in attack. Young Saka, Martinelli and Ødegaard are playing some fantastic stuff and Smith-Rowe, Pepe and Nketiah can't even get a start. Arteta has done wonders at Arsenal and should be in the running for manager of the year. If he can secure a UCL spot for next year that would greatly help him bolster the squad over the summer, then we might see an Arsenal challenging for the EPL again sooner than we thought.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

Gunning For Fourth Spot

Peter Anderson ⚽ The race for fourth is fast becoming the defining part of the Premier table this season. 

The top three have been nailed on since the first weeks and, barring a disaster for Chelsea over the Abramovich goings on, the top three will finish in the top three. 

The bottom three also look nailed on at this point, Norwich and Burnley have looked doomed all season and as Watford fell into the bottom three just as Newcastle's money was beginning to make a difference, it looks likely that Watford will stay in the bottom three. Brentford have finally halted the rapid drop by winning the last two games, while Leeds sacked Bielsa and the new man has clocked up his first win to keep their heads above water. Everton look bereft of form but with so many games in hand and most of their remaining games at Goodison I would expect the Toffees to stay in the league for next season. Having said that I can't see Fat Frank being there for much longer, though I hope he proves me wrong.

So, with the top and bottom threes looking pretty set that just leaves the race for fourth. Currently in the hot seat is Arsenal. And going on current form I would expect to see them there at the end of the season. Man U and Spurs look too inconsistent, West Ham look fatigued and Wolves look a little short of that spark needed to make the Champions League for next season. 

If Arsenal make it then they will have thoroughly deserved it. They couldn't have had a worse start to the season, losing their first three games, and nobody then gave them any chance of rescuing the season. But we must give big kudos to Arteta for getting them up and running. He had some difficult choices to make, most notably getting shot of his troublesome captain Aubamayang in January, who was challenging his authority. It has paid off as they are now on a fine run of form after a difficult January when they went out of both cups and lost to City in the league. Since then, they have won five games in a row in the EPL, taking them to the heady heights of fourth, knocking Man U down to fifth.

On Sunday I watched the Gunners dismantle Leicester. They were sensational. With a solid centre half pairing of Gabriel and White, and Thomas Partey finally showing the form he had at Atlético, this gives them a great defensive platform for their young talent to show off their skills in attack. Young Saka, Martinelli and Ødegaard are playing some fantastic stuff and Smith-Rowe, Pepe and Nketiah can't even get a start. Arteta has done wonders at Arsenal and should be in the running for manager of the year. If he can secure a UCL spot for next year that would greatly help him bolster the squad over the summer, then we might see an Arsenal challenging for the EPL again sooner than we thought.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

7 comments:

  1. Fat Frank - that caused a chuckle

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  2. Replies
    1. Anthony

      Thanks for that link.

      I have got to know Anthony Clavane, the journalist and author mentioned in the piece, quite well as he lives in Wivenhoe which is four miles or so from me.

      I would make the following points:

      What made Don Revie so allegedly obsessive about money ("Don Readies") and what may explain his supersitionism was a chromic insecurity born out of growing up in real poverty as a teenager in 1930s Middlesbrough where the family was often subjected to means tests due to his joiner father experiencing frequent periods of unemployment. He also experienced a near premature end to his footballing career (and possibly his life) due to a nose bleed at age 21. His neuroses very likely transmitted itself to his players in Cuo semi-finals, finals and title deciders which partially explains why we were runners up in so many competitions in that era. By contrast Alex Ferguson, whose management style and ethos most closely resembles Revie's in this age, had a secure background through being a union stop steward in Govan shipyards.

      Definitely Bielsa is a secular saint for all at Leeds United. It is to be hoped that by avoiding the drop he will forever remain so. I am not sure if Leeds Utd can be accurately compared to Atletico Bilbao and Newell's Old Boys. Leeds is a Rugby League city and a major RL powerhouse at that. It is Newcastle and Sunderland, as one club cities with no sporting competition, whose identity is rather more tied up with its football clubs. But our support can be as fanatical as any other club.

      Generations of Leeds supporters have unconsciously internalised the insecurity of the Revie persona; the financial implosion and near death experience of the 200os gives rather more substance to the notion that we are 'cursed'. We do not have to be but I really do not want to go through the torture of the Norwich game on Sunday; I fear that I may have to again before the season is out.



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    2. there is an article in that Barry

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  3. The Arsenal V Liverpool game will be a cracker . City's nil all last night gives the Reds a chance of winning the title # Twists & turns

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  4. That's SIR Frank Lampard to you , you bloody heathen!

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  5. Liverpool won in the style of Champions tonight. But Arsenal still favourites for forth spot.

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