Steven Gerrard and Liverpool know the deal: win out and they are Champions.
Editor’s Note: Guy Bailey will write columns for The Yanks Are Coming throughout the Barclay’s Premier League season where he discusses the happenings overseas in the world’s most popular sports league. Guy offers a unique perspective on the league as a Brit who lived for a long while in the United States before moving back to Teeside in the past year. He can be reached at guyrbailey@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter all EPL season at @guyrbailey.
There are two constants at either end of this league. At one extreme, Liverpool keep winning and finally hit the front with five games to go. Including Chelsea and this weekend Man City at home. The maths are now simple – win those games and they’re Champions. They needed some help to win at West Ham last weekend with two more penalties but this is starting to have an air of inevitability about it.
Similarly Arsenal now look a shadow of the team that was still in contention for the big prize a month ago. After a mauling at the hands of a rampant Everton at the weekend, they’ll now do well to finish 4th. Even an FA Cup final appearance may not be enough to prolong Wenger’s tenure if they end up in the Europa League with Spurs and Man Utd next season. Utd who lived the Champions League dream of eliminating Bayern for all of 15 seconds are left to contemplate their first season outside the big tournament for 19 years.
Wenger’s criticism of Everton and the loan system ignores the development of players like Naismith.
As for Roberto Martinez and Everton, TYAC’s own Neil W. Blackmon is finally dreaming his Champions League dreams out loud, as the Toffees have six consecutive victories and, according to Merseyside impresario and Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, “are playing the best football he’s seen since taking charge.” Heady stuff. But it was refreshing midweek to see St. Roberto of Martinez scoff off Arsene Wenger’s loan-system criticism of Everton as “ridiculous.” Short background: Wenger said Everton were the perfect illustration of how unfair the loan system was– winning with players they didn’t purchase and who they obtained because they were never considered a serious threat by those who loaned it to them, etc. If this sounds like misguided criticism by Wenger, who has a team playing mediocre football and a bit of grumpy old man to him because of it– it is. The true object of Wenger’s criticism ought to be the clubs that loan the players out, not the teams that receive them like Everton.
The worst part of Wenger’s “grumpy old man” criticism: it diminishes the play of footballers who are Everton’s, like John Stones (aka Lou Gerhig) in defense, admirably filling in stealing Phil Jagielka’s (aka Wally Pipp) job and Steven Naismith, who may–as Everton superfan and ESPN/Men In Blazers personality Roger Bennett points out–be the “best crap footballer we’ve ever seen.” Meanwhile, while Lukaku has helped Everton’s cause immensely– one wonders if Jose Mourinho and Chelsea would be in such a tough predicament at forward if they had…what did “the Special One” say…”a real striker?” The answer to that question is somewhere at the bottom of a Demba Ba goal-scoring dogpile.
Fulham-Norwich City has huge relegation implications.
At the other end the other constant is Sunderland starting brightly then melting like butter on a waffle as Spurs this time put five past them and present Tim Sherwood with a fine leaving present. Jozy Altidore, of course, continues to go poorly, and this time it was so bad Poyet sent him out with the U-21 side, where he played terribly by most accounts.
Norwich find themselves looking down the barrel again after losing at home to West Brom, a result which cost Chris Hughton his job with five games to go. The first on Saturday is at Fulham who after winning at Villa themselves now look most likely to survive from the dead men. Norwich have the look and feel of a team going down– off the field chaos is usually a precursor– but a win today would quell those critics. These two face off at the cottage on Sunday in the biggest weekend of the footballing calendar. Two FA Cup semi-finals, one relegation playoff and the first championship eliminator within 48 hours. You’d best be getting up early because you don’t want to miss this…
As noted, Guy Bailey writes on the Barclay’s Premier League for The Yanks Are Coming. Want more Guy Bailey? We highly recommend his new book, Blessay From America, a collection of writings made while living in America, where he married a southern belle and saw his son born, which you can purchase here.