We are about to kick off Match Day 27 so let’s do a quick recap of Match Day 26 to get you in the mood.

Race for the Top 4.  Things holding a bit steady but some action in the 2-3-4-5 race.  Manchester United has created a bit of a gap on 3-4-5.  It is starting to look like the only excitement will be the winning margin for Manchester City…will it be a record…and who will finish in 3-4 and earn Champions League positions for next year.  Liverpool sits in third, Chelsea has had two really bad games losing 3-0 and 4-1 in back to back contests and is floundering a bit. Tottenham has closed the gap on 4th.  Only 3 points separate the 3 teams.  This should be tight the rest of the way with 12 games remaining.  Chelsea has had some serious injury issues and has been playing without a striker for a number of weeks and it shows.  Pressure on the coach and team to get a result this weekend. Arsenal with a win last week to also close the gap a bit from 6th place.

Manchester City 22-3-1 69 points

Manchester United 17-5-4 56 points

Liverpool 14-9-3 51 points

Chelsea 15-5-6 50 points

Tottenham 14-7-5 49 points

Arsenal 12-6-7 45 points

Game of the week. This is an easy one.  Liverpool v. Tottenham.  It was a pretty average game for the first 80 minutes. Everyone predicting fireworks and attacking soccer and a 4-3 results, but at 80 minutes it was just 1-0.  The one goal was a gift on a really bad back pass from a defender that was turned into an easy goal.  but then….after 80 minutes…it turned into maybe the best game of the season.  Two of the best goals of the year….penalties…PK’s, missed PK’s, late goals, and when you thought there was no more drama, a goal on basically the last play of the match.  Wow.  15 minutes of pure drama and excitement that more than made up for the first 80 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxD0FmavJQo

So wow.  The Wanyama goal was epic.  Outside of the boot on a half volley and it was ferocious.  The Salah goal was sublime.  Intricate footwork.  Players frozen in place as he danced around them and then the ability to lift it over the goal keeper.  It reminded many people of Messi in his prime.  Wow!  And also some controversy.  Was the first PK offsides…yes.  Was it a dive…maybe.  Was the second penalty a good call….most don’t think so.  Really good stuff in the last 15 minutes.

Race for the Relegation Zone.  The bottom had some movement.  Southampton has exited the bottom and now sits at 15th with 26 points.  We have a new member of the group.  Stoke City.  Here is where we stand. Very tight here.  One point, a draw, can get you out of the Relegation Zone.

17. Swansea City with 24 points.

18. Stoke City with 24 points.

19. Huddersfield with 24 points.

20. West Bromich Albion with 20 points.

Big Matches This Weekend

Tottenham v. Arsenal is huge.  A 5 v 6 match up that could be a factor in the Top 4 Race.

Chelsea v West Brom will be interesting.  Chelsea with back to back losses playing the 20th rated team.  A win is critical for them but they are in a funk.  Can they snap out of it?

Okay soccer fans, we are complete with match Day 25 and this morning kicked off match Day 26.  If the mid-week results and this mornings results are any indication…things are starting to get a little more interesting. Let’s take a look at where things stand.

Wrap up of Match Day 25

Race for the Top 4.  The race to finish in the top 4 has stabilized a bit with 6 contenders.  Really its a race for 2-3-4 place spots as Manchester City still has a healthy lead.  Maybe starting to wobble slightly…more on that later.  The positions have changed slightly as Liverpool and Chelsea have been flip-flopping between third and fourth in recent weeks.  Liverpool has had two rough weeks and as reported in an earlier post, and took a shock loss to last place Swansea City at the end of Match Week 24.  Not to be outdone, Chelsea (hard to write this since they are the team I support) took an equally baffling loss to 12th place Bournemouth on Wednesday 3-0.  Chelsea in a mini-crisis this week with multiple injuries to their best players, a short squad due to transfer moves and a controversy brewing whether their coach, Antonio Conte, will last the year.  They need a win in a bad way on Monday.  Tottenham is starting to look very dangerous for a top 4 finish and has a huge fixture against Liverpool this weekend. Arsenal…well….they don’t seem to be making a move…holding steady at 6 and no real momentum right now after letting go their best offensive player in the transfer window, Alexis Sanchez. Here is the points race going into the weekend.

Manchester City  22-2-1  68 points

Manchester United  16-5-4  53 points

Liverpool  14-8-3   50 points

Chelsea  15-5-5   50 points  (4th on goal differential)

Tottenham  14-6-5   48 points

Arsenal  12-6-7   42 points

Race for the Relegation Zone.  Last week heading into the final match of the week, here were the bottom three. Swansea City (17), West Bromich Albion (20) and Southampton (22).  On Monday, Swansea beat Liverpool, still amazed to write that, and picked up three VERY LARGE points.  Seems much bigger than 3 to beat a top 4 contender. So after all the matches and the wrap up Match Day 25 , here is where we stand heading into the weekend.

17. Huddersfield with 24 points.  This is the critical position.  17 or higher keeps you in the Premier League.

18.  Southampton with 23 points.

19. Swansea City with 23 points.

20. West Bromich Albion with 20 points.

Here is the part that makes this really fun to watch. Look how close the point totals are just outside the relegation zone.

13th place Crystal Palace has 26 points. 14th place Newcastle has 24. 15th place Briton has 24. 16th place Stoke City has 24.  So if you are Swansea City in 19th and being relegated, just one win and three points could move you all the way up to 13th place.  Amazing.  Just 1 win might keep you out of the relegation zone and in the Premier League.  These are very high stakes, lots of money in play. It’s going to be intense last part of the season.  38 games, so still about a third of the season to go.

Team of then Week: Swansea City. After languishing in last place the entire season, firing their coach and looking like dead.  Swansea City in consecutive weeks beats Liverpool 1-0 and Arsenal 3-1.  Might be the best week in their Premier league history.  That is a 20th place team beating #3 Liverpool and #6 Arsenal in back to back weeks.  Amazing.  Did I ever tell you this league is the best in the world and the toughest in the world. Crazy good for Swansea City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqL4m-aPek&feature=onebox

Big Games this Weekend.

Tottenham vs. Liverpool has big ramifications for the Top 4.  Must see TV tomorrow.

West Brom vs. Southampton has huge implications on the Race for Relegation.  18 vs. 20…but someone might walk away with 3 BIG points if there is no draw.

Chelsea vs. Watford.  Chelsea really need a win to calm things down..for the team…the fans…and the manager.  Come on Chelsea!

Match Day 26 Update.

As of the writing of this post we have some results to share.  The first game of the weekend might be a sign of a crazy weekend.

Manchester City 1 – Burnley 1.  We all certainly expected a Man City victory, but Burnley, who sit in 7th are a quality club who play hard every week.  A great result for Burnley, and a slight wobble we discussed earlier for Manchester City.

Here are some highlights.  Man City pressed Burnley the whole game but only could get 1 goal.  What a goal it was by Danillo.  A big miss by Sterling on a tap in goal at the 53 minute mark of the second half and then a late half volley off a great cross for the equalizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUCmGIgtjYY

Should be a fun weekend of games.  And of course there is another “football” game this weekend I have been told.  A boring affair between the Eagles and Patriots.  They actually get to use their hands..weird!  Hope the commercials are good!!

The 4th Round is in the books for the FA Cup.  Let’s take a quick look at the results and how the next round is shaping up.

Sheffield Wednesday 3 v Reading 1

Manchester United 4 v Yeovil Town 0

Leicester City 5 v Peterborough 1

Southampton 1 v Watford 0

Coventry 1 v MK Dons 0

Hull City 2 Nottingham Forest 1

Milwall 2 v Rochdale 2   Teams will play again to determine who advances.

Sheffield United v 1 Preston 0

Briton 1 v Middlesbrough

Huddersfield 1  v Birmingham 1 Teams will play again to determine who advances.

Notts County 1 v Swansea City 1  Teams will play again to determine who advances.

Wigan Athletic 2 v West Ham 0

Newport County 1 v Tottenham 1 Teams will play again to determine who advances.

West Brom 3 v Liverpool 2

Chelsea 3 v Newcastle 0

Manchester City 2 v Cardiff City 0

So we have 12 teams who have booked their ticket to Round 5 and 4 games will be replayed to determine who advances.

Biggest Shocker of Round 4

Toss up between two.  Liverpool losing to West Brom.  A top 4 team losing to the team ranked 19th in the Premier League.  This is a big disappointment for Liverpool coming off a week where they lost to the 20th ranked team in the Premier league Swansea City.  A really bad week for Liverpool.  The other candidate is the Tottenham tie against Newport County. A Top 5 team in the Premier League getting a tie against a 4th Tier team ranked 92nd and likely to get relegated to the 5th division next year.  Shocking.  Newport County scored first and had a 1-0 lead at half.  Tottenham did not score until the 84th minute.  Wow.  Almost a really, really huge upset.  Classic Davids vs. Goliath.  Look for Tottenham to close this out playing at home on the replay….but you never know.

Of the 12 confirmed teams, (4 replays to go) here is how is sorts out.

Premier League Teams (7): Manchester United, Leicester City, Southampton, Briton Hove & Albion, West Bromich, Chelsea, Manchester City

Championship Level (3) : Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City

League 1: Wigan Athletic

League 2 : Coventry

Final 4 teams may add some more underdog candidates with 2 League 2 teams still alive as well as Championship and League 1 teams alive. Division 2-3-4 teams.

A few highlights from Round 4

Chelsea v Newcastle.  Marcos Alonso.  I never get tired of seeing goals like these!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUCmEpNBqjc

Kane saves Tottenham from a huge embarressment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv8VulP1duU

Really pretty fortunate for the flick on to land at Kane’s feet.  What a touch.  Son with the outside of his right boot as he flies into the air and flicks it to the back post.  Newport was crushed, devastated, as it comes in the 84th minute.  6 minutes from an epic victory. Devastating tie and almost the biggest upset of the tournament.  So close.

The 4 replays will take place February 6-7 and then we will be down to final 16 teams and the 5th round draw to determine the next round of games to get to the Quarterfinals.

Match Week 24 Wrap Up

Match Week 24 completed on Monday this week.  In the last blog I shared that Liverpool , in position #3 going into the week, was playing last place Swansea City, ranked 20th of the 20 teams in the Premier League.  I shared that after the win, Liverpool would hold their top 3 spot and keep their recent run of quality play going.  They had been in excellent form and were cruising up the league table.

Have I also shared that the Premier League is the hardest soccer league in the world…have you heard that yet.  The result of the game is below.

Liverpool 0 Swansea City 1

Holy Toledo, the last place team in the Premier League just beat the 3rd place team in the Premier League and held them scoreless.  Think about that for a minute.  Imagine the Minnesota Vikings or Jacksonville Jaguars (in theory the 3rd best team in the NFL) getting beat by the Cleveland Browns and also getting shut out by the Cleveland Browns.  Does not seem likely it would ever happen, but it routinely happens in the Premier League.  This was a stunning result and  a real buzz kill for the momentum Liverpool was building in the league in the race for the Top 4.  They now sit in 4th, 3 points behind Chelsea and only 2 points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur….I just like saying that name, the Tottenham Hotspur.

Caraboa English Football League Cup

The semi-finals of the EFL Cup were completed this week and we now have the match up for then first Trophy of the Year, Manchester City vs. Arsenal in February for the finals.  Arsenal came from behind 1-0 to beat Chelsea 2-1 on Wednesday.  No secret I am a Chelsea fan and for most of the first half they dominated the game. They only needed a tie to advance based on away goals results.  The early lead was a good sign….but then this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C31rg2W0QU

I have watched a lot of soccer games, as I am sure you have as well.  I have never seen it happen before, not even close.  A triple header, with a double deflection of two Chelsea players and then…if that was not crazy enough…it loops over the top of the goal keeper like a perfectly headed ball.  But it wasn’t…it was just the luckiest, most unlikely goal I have ever seen.  And the Arsenal player, Monreal, is celebrating like he did something amazing.  I don’t know if he realized what occurred.  He thinks he headed it in I guess, but it went off two other players first.  Just dumb if you are a Chelsea fan.  Just dumb!  The official scorekeeper called it an own goal off Rudiger.  1-1 and maybe a sign it was just not meant to be for Chelsea. But at 1-1 Chelsea still advance.

But then this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIjTQZM21bc

Clearly, it was not Chelsea’s night.  After a pretty bizarre goal, Arsenal scores another dumb goal.  If you watch the video, you will see the player out wide right makes a cutback move and then attempts to pass the ball to the top of the box.  It was designed to be a layoff with the hope the player at the top of the 18 could get off a shot.  What does happen is the ball, ricocheted off Rudiger, the Chelsea defender, yes the same Rudiger that just had the own goal, and directly into the path of the Arsenal midfielder Xhaka, for a toe poke goal.  The deflection went like 90 degrees the other direction, not just a glancing deflection, but it goes the opposite direction and right to the Arsenal player.  Like a perfectly delivered pass.  Unreal and again, as a Chelsea fan, just dumb!  I guess pretty cool for fans to see crazy goals, just no so cool for Chelsea.  Two very strange goals and obviously, just not their night.  The soccer gods did not want them to advance to the finals.  Chelsea had a break away later in the game with their best player breaking free around the 18 to go 1 v 1 with the goal keeper.  A pretty good chance he will score to even the game at 2-2.  Again, their best player, strong, physical, great balance.  What happens, the player, Eden Hazard, trips and falls.
Was not touched, did not dive, just lost his footing and fell down.  Must have been some Arsenal grass goonies that tripped him. It was strange on what was for Chelsea, a strange night.  Congrats to Arsenal, but man, that was unlucky!  The only good news, you are not Antonio Rudiger.  What a tough night for him.

FA Cup Round 4

16 games scheduled between Friday and Sunday to complete the 4th round.  After Sunday we are down to the Quarter Final match ups.  Will there be some upsets, I will update you next week if some lower tier under dogs shocked the world!

Match Week 24 of 38 is almost in the books.  Let’s take a closer look at the results and impact.

Race for the Top 4

Things were calm at the top for the first time in a few weeks.  League leaders Manchester City , along with #2 Manchester United, #4 Chelsea and #6 Arsenal all posted wins. One game remains tomorrow with #3 Liverpool playing bottom three Swansea City.  Looks like the top will be unchanged this week.  Chelsea have a chance to resume third on goal differential based on then 4-0 thrashing of Briton on Saturday.  The only wobble in the weekend was #5 Tottenham who were drawn by Southampton and dropped a few points, now 5 points out of 4th place.

Race for the Relegation Zone

Things are heating up in the relegation zone this week with one team making a move out of the bottom three.  Stoke City with a huge 2-0 win over Bournemouth to move from 19th to 17th and currently clear of the zone.  The bottom three, assuming Swansea City can’t pull the huge upset over Liverpool tomorrow will be:

Swansea City   17

West Bromich Albion   20

Southampton 22

One win is huge at this point as the point differential from 12th place Bournemouth with 25 points to 18th place Southampton is only 3 points.  It’s going to be an interesting race to stay in the Premier League.

Goal of the Week Nominations

Some nice goals this weekend but a few I wanted to share with you.  In the Chelsea vs. BH&A game there were two incredible goals.  First up was Willian with a magical goal to go up 2-0.  I counted 6 one touch passes including two back heel passes leading to a one time smash into the corner of the net.  Impressive. The great Spanish National teams coined the phrase Tika-Taka to describe this intricate, quick passing between 2-3 players.  The defense can’t keep up and it is really pretty to watch when it works.  This goal is a great example.  You can see the goal at the :30 second mark in the video clip.  The second goal is in the same game.  A beautiful long pass from Musonda Jr. to a streaking Victor Moses to make it 4-0.  The thing to watch here is the amazing touch and quick shot to beat the keeper.  I am amazed at the ability of these players to pinpoint long passes and also amazed at their ability to touch trap these same passes and then deliver a shot.  Incredible stuff! the Moses goal starts at the 2:38 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtB2ksDQCxk&feature=onebox

The last nomination is in the Liverpool game.  A sweet build up goal by Lacazette.  Similar to the Willian goal with amazing interplay and quick one touch passes.  More Tika-Taka.  Not as much one touch passing but a nice back heel to create space. Starts at the 1:08 mark of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJvO3XmXmyo&feature=onebox

Liverpool finishes off the week tomorrow.  Check it out!

With the league in full swing and now passed the halfway point let’s check in on a few of the other competitions in the English Soccer world.  In addition to the League title, teams are fighting to win some hardware in two other competitions.  One very prestigious, the FA Cup, and one focused on the top divisions, the EFL Caraboa Cup, and not quite as significant.

Let’s take a look.

The EFL Caraboa Cup

Much like youth soccer, there are league games leading to a Championship and also tournament options to consider. In the English Football system, one of the annual tournaments is the League Cup.  It is a competition among the top 4 divisions in the system, the Premier League, The Championship Level and League 1 and League 2 that started in 1960.  .  A total of 92 teams can enter each year with the winner gaining entry into the Europa League tournament and also $100,000 pounds.

The competition, starting in early August, is down to 4 teams competing in a 2 game (home and away) format. The first round games are complete.

Manchester City 2 v. Bristol City 1

Chelsea 0 v. Arsenal 0

The next round is scheduled for January 23 and 24th.  Finals are scheduled in February or March pending the teams schedules.  Bristol City is the underdog, coming out of the Championship level, while the other 3 teams are all in the top 6 of the Premier League. Bristol will have its hands full to advance, needing to win the next leg by 2 goals to advance on aggregate. Arsenal v Chelsea is a bit simpler, win and advance.  For those nerds like me, Caraboa is an energy drink.  They are the current tournament sponsor and also have a sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC.  Generally, people in England just refer to this as the League Cup.

The FA Cup

This is the grand daddy of English soccer tournaments.  It was started in 1870 and has run continuous since then.  The winners purse is $2,000,000 pounds.  Yes, that’s 20 times larger than the League Cup.  Some serious cash for the winning team. Entry is available to the top 10 divisions of English football.  It is 100’s of teams who can gain entry into the tournament.  In theory, the local pub team in England can enter and win.  Not likely….but just knowing you could win makes this a really cool event with great history!  In 2011, over 700 teams entered the competition.  Crazy!  Due to the size and scope of the tournament, it starts in August each year and the finals are in May.

Here is what they are playing for…plus that cash we mentioned earlier.

Currently 32 teams remaining as we enter the 4th Round of the Cup. 13 from the Premier League and still 2 from League 2, the 4th level of football. Some serious underdogs.  The next round of games in the last week of January, down to 16.  If any of these lower level teams survive in the Quarter Finals, then we will have a real story on our hands.  There have been 7 winners from the second level in Cup history…let’s hope we get another giant killer this year.

How about some great goals.  Check out the video on Top 10 Goals in FA Cup history.  I was more curious about those uniforms.  Some serious baggy jerseys and some really short shorts.  A little scary.  What were they thinking?  Thank goodness they got this fixed over the years. But you can’t deny these skills.  Steven Gerrard with two wonder strikes. Wow! Top goal is Chelsea…of course!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mlLNDKPUxA

Match Day 24 for the Premier League licks off tomorrow.  Manchester City will try to get another streak going and a real battle to get into the top 4, positions 2-3-4 is brewing between 5 clubs.  Should be interesting. Check it out!

Match Week 23 Update

Well, as discussed yesterday, the game of the week did not disappoint. an instant classic.  Drama, great goals, a comeback, the home crowd was intense.  The story line was significant…undefeated Manchester City against surging Liverpool. A top 4 clash for the ages.

Let’s go right to the highlights in case you don’t know how this one went down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZT6bHpGQ7k

Wow…what a game.  An early wonder strike gets Liverpool the lead but Manchester City fights back for the late first half goal.  You figure they will find a way to keep their record intact. But then the crazy 9 minute stretch from 59:00 to 68:00 where Liverpool scored 3 really amazing goals and hit the post once.  Firmino, Mane and Salah all delivered. The energy in their stadium was electric…Manchester City was going down for the first time this year.  But wait…someone forgot to tell Man City.  An equally crazy 10 minute stretch toward the end of the game got fans pretty nervous.  Goals at 84:00 and one in extra time made it 4-3 with still 3 minutes to go.  And then the penalty at the 94:00 minute mark.  A great kick by Kevin De Bruyne and a diving header by Sergio Aguerro and the ball is tracking on goal.  Looked like it was in…but no…just wide. Wow.  Some fans in that stadium and fans on TV for Liverpool must have freaked out in that moment.  Hearts were racing everywhere.  That was really close to a goal and an amazing comeback.  It was not meant to be on this day.  Liverpool, surging in the past few weeks, takes down Manchester City and moves into 3rd in the table.  Man City has its first wobble of the year.  And the fans…an instant classic and probably the best game in the Premier League this year.  Wow!

A Tale of Two Teams.  Liverpool becomes the team of the week and to counter their amazing week, we have the team under the most pressure in the league, Arsenal.  A team with amazing history who are floundering.  A manager under pressure, top players looking to sign elsewhere in the transfer window, and now a 2-1 loss to the team ranked 17th and near the relegation zone, Bournemouth.  A terrible result for the team and manager.  Pressure building on the club to fire Wenger.  Should be an interesting few weeks for the London club and one of the most popular clubs in the World. Bournemouth up to 13th with the win. A huge result for them.

Original Post

Match Week 23

The week is almost in the books with the Saturday games completed.   38 weeks in the season so pushing past the halfway mark in the season as well. No classic must-see match ups today as the big game is tomorrow as Liverpool face off with Manchester City in a match up of #1 vs. #4.  Liverpool with the chance to hand Man City their first defeat of the year and climb over Chelsea into 3rd.  Chelsea with a poor recent run of games has dropped points recently, with a few ties and has moved from second to 3rd and maybe 4th after tomorrow.

Race of the Top 4

Unchanged in the past few weeks with Manchester City rolling along with an insurmountable lead….per the experts…and still undefeated this year.  Manchester United and Chelsea in second and third but with a few ties in their recent games to only secure 1 point and put no pressure on Man City.  Liverpool hovering in fourth and closing while Tottenham look to be dangerous again and are closing on the top 4.

The Relegation Zone

Here is where all the fun is for the rest of the year…who will fight their way out of the relegation zone. The bottom three is unchanged but the points are changing a bit.

Swansea City in last with 16 points fought hard for a 1-1 draw and a valuable point to get to 17 against Newcastle United, currently 6 points ahead of them in 14th position.  West Bromich Albion, currently in 19th position with a huge win this weekend against 15th place Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0. they are up to 19 points and only 2 points from 17th. Bournemouth (17th) and Stoke City (18th) both play tomorrow against top 4 teams, so a tough ask, but a win or draw would be important points.

The Transfer Window

Things slowing down a bit after the big Coutinho move to Barcelona but still two weeks left and some teams looking for reinforcements.  Please Chelsea, can you secure a striker to help Morata and Hazard.

A Little Saturday Fun with Skills & Tricks

I hope to add some local footage with the U15 Girls now back in training…a little weekly juggling video to challenge the girls and show off some skill.

Manchester City v Liverpool tomorrow.  10:00 A.M. CST.  Take a few minutes from your busy day and check it out.  I will have some highlights for the rest of you.

Quick update on Week 21 of the Premier League.  We have been discussing the amazing run of Manchester City all year.  Thru 20 matches they were 19 wins and 1 draw.  They had an 18 match winning streak and were on 58 points, a record setting pace for points in a season and also with a 14 point lead just past the midway point of the season, also a record lead.  So what happened today?  They were playing the 17th place team in the league, Crystal Palace.  Top team on a record pace against the 17th placed team, just barely above the relegation zone.  A blowout right, 3-0 or 4-0 would be the expected result in a game like this.

But hey, this is the Premier League…anything is possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRyFnK1tfo

Pretty amazing really, the 17th placed team ties the best, and probably should have won.  Premier League is really hard….have I said that before.  As well, some seasons you just get the feeling things are destined.  Manchester City just continues to find ways to win and in late games when they are at risk,  have found ways to get a late goal.  Today, it was the PK save to keep their unbeaten streak alive.  Luka Milivojevic, the Crystal Palace player who took the penalty, had never missed a penalty as a CP player, 5 for 5 over his career with Palace.  Automatic…right…wrong.  It was a really awful attempt, kicked it low and right at Edison, the MC keeper.  Really no chance to score.  The PK was a bit soft so maybe fair he missed it.

There was some bad news for Manchester City coming out of the game.  In a perfect season so far, they now will face a bit of adversity to keep their record point total and remain undefeated.  Two key injuries.  Their most effective striker this year, Gabriel Jesus, and their best midfielder and maybe the best midfielder in the Premier League, Kevin DeBruyne, both went out of the game with injuries.  Jesus with what appears to be a leg or knee injury.  DeBruyne was blown up late in the game and unclear the status of his injury.  He was stretchered off, so could be serious. Man City are deep and have quality players to drop in like Sergio Aguero so likely they don’t miss a beat…but…this is the Premier League.  Maybe a loss is on the way.  I’ll be watching!

Manchester City is now 19-0-2 after 21 weeks.

Here are a few other record setting seasons they are chasing.

Chelsea 2004/2005.  29-8-1 for 95 points.  Only 1 loss on the entire season.  95 points is the current points record in Premier League. The team went on to have 49 matches without a loss into the next year.  One of the top teams in Premier League history.

Arsenal 2003/2004.  26-0-12 for 90 points.  The only team to go undefeated in League play in Premier league history.

Chelsea 2016/2017. 30-3-5 for 93 points.  Most wins in a Premier League season at 30.

Manchester City has the opportunity write their name into the record books in 2017/2018.

Week 22 starts Monday.