Premier League Fans, let’s get caught up.
Match Week 117/18 is officially in the books. The games are coming fast and furious over the Christmas break. Midweek games combined with Weekend games means we get double the fun with the Premier League. The big story of the past few weeks is Manchester City…and not the good kind of news. Manchester City is beatable, they are human, they have flaws, they will not dominate the league in 2018/19 like they did last year. They may still win, but it will be a race to the finish this year. The other big story is Liverpool. they remain unbeaten in the Premier League after 18 matches and have now taken a 4 point lead in the table. Impressive. It might just be their season, things are falling their way, late goals, amazing finishes, but a lot of soccer left as we are just at the halfway point in the league. the other big news is Boxing Day is coming. Get ready on Wednesday to catch some soccer. 10 games fill the schedule for this Christmas Soccer tradition in England.
Match Week 17 Recap
The feature match this week was the clash in Manchester United and Liverpool. One of the must see games of the year when these two traditional powerhouse clubs get together. It was the tale of two teams going in opposite directions. Liverpool surging to the top and Manchester floundering a bit in the mid table. The Jose Mourinjo watch was still in full effect during the week and as fate would have it, this marked his last game as Manchester United coach. The separation in on field performance between these two teams was striking. So much so that a few days after the game, Man U fired their enigmatic coach. Poor play, player revolts, fan frustration all boiled over in the loss. Jose Mourinjo’s third year curse strikes again and he is out as coach of the most famous club in England.
Let’s check out some highlights.
Klopp’s decision to insert Shaqiri was quite a move. He scores twice over 7 minutes. The Liverpool magic continues. Both goals off deflections, but a well earned victory. Night and day in terms of the quality of play on the field.
In other games the winners were: Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton, Tottenham, Watford, West Ham, Southampton with a huge win over Arsenal, and Chelsea.
Match Week 18 Recap
The weekend games produced some interesting results. There were no marquee match ups but there were some interesting scorelines. The big news was Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace. After taking a loss in Week 16 against Chelsea, folks figured Manchester City would get right back on a long winning streak. Not so fast says CP. In a rather shocking result, Crystal Palace, hovering around 14/15th in the table, shocked man City 3-2 and produced one of the biggest wins in their recent history as well as one of the top goals of the year….a stunning strike from Townsend. You will want to watch that few times…an upper 90 volley from 30 yards. Leicester City somehow got a win over Chelsea with only 24% possession. Chelsea really gave that one away. A cross bar and a post denying Chelsea after controlling the game. Manchester United hit for 5 goals in their first game without Mourinjo. The players seemed free and loose and played with passion missing under Mourinjo. Not to be outdone. Tottenham hit for 6 goals in a stunning offensive display against Top 10 Everton. Wow! When Tottenham is focused, they are really dangerous.
Let’s check out the highlights.
Other winners on the weekend include:
Liverpool 2-0 over Wolves. Liverpool now lead the premier League by 4 points and still undefeated in league play. Arsenal 3-1 over Burnley. Southampton 3-1 over Huddersfield. Bournemouth 2-1 over Brighton and Watford takes down West ham 2-0.
Race for the Title & Champions League Top 4
Win-Loss-Tie Liverpool
1-Liverpool 15-0-3 48 Points
2-Manchester City 14-2-2 44 Points
3-Tottenham 14-4-0 42 Points
4-Chelsea 11-3-4 37 Points
5-Aresnal 11-3-4 37 Points
6-Manchester City 8-5-5 29 Points
Watford, Bournemouth, Leicester City and Wolverhampton round out the Top 10. Everton dropped out of the Top 10 with back to back losses.
Relegation Zone
There are now 5 teams within 3 points of the 18th position and fighting to stay up. Southampton (15) and Cardiff City (14) currently safe but sitting just outside the relegation zone. The new bottom three:
18. Burnley 3-12-3 12 Points
19. Huddersfield 2-12-4 10 Points
20. Fulham 2-12-4 10 Points
Match Week 19 Preview
Game of the Week. It’s Boxing Day!
No marquee match ups, but what the heck, we get 10 games all in one day. Just enjoy some great soccer. Can Manchester City shake their mini slump against a surging Leicester City team. Cam Liverpool stay undefeated in league play.
Merry Christmas.