Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 33 (5 Games Left)
Photo Credit: Evening Standard
Midweek:
Watford 4-1 Fulham
Wolves 2-1 Man United
Chelsea 3-0 Brighton
Man City 2-0 Cardiff
Tottenham 2-0 Crystal Palace
Weekend:
Southampton 1-3 Liverpool
Newcastle 0-1 Crystal Palace
Huddersfield 1-4 Leicester
Bournemouth 1-3 Burnley
Everton 1-0 Arsenal
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham
Pretty Sure That 4 Different Teams Have Occupied 3rd Place In The Last 2 Weeks
Not a full slate of matches as we had FA Cup semi-final matches this weekend but more twists in turns in the 3-6 spots on the table. Apparently no team wants the last 2 Champions League spots. Here’s the top 6 as things currently stand with only Liverpool and Chelsea through 33 games.
Where do you even start with what Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal have been through the last few weeks? I’ve never seen this much turnover at the top of the table and even though I’m a Chelsea fan, I’m loving it. Usually by this point in the season the title is close to being wrapped up if not already, and most of the top 4 spots are pretty set with maybe 2 teams battling for a spot. But here we are, Chelsea with 5 games left and United, Tottenham and Arsenal with 6 games left and we are looking to take this thing down to the wire. Chelsea have made the biggest leap since the international break with 3 straight wins, granted 11th place West Ham was the best of the bunch. But getting results from the bad teams is just as important as the good ones. United who had climbed up to 4th and were level on points with 3rd place have hit a rough patch losing 2 of their last 3 against Arsenal and Wolves, and are now back in 6th place. Also how about Wolves knocking United out of the FA Cup 2-1 and then defeating them 2 weeks later in the Premier League 2-1 as well. I’m sure Wolves fans are on cloud 9……..well maybe not. Tottenham have finally ended their winless streak by picking a win over Crystal Palace last Wednesday and somehow manage to stay in 4th due to Arsenal’s Sunday loss against Everton. We are literally all over the place at the moment and somehow Chelsea sit 3rd granted it’s with a game in hand on the rest, but that at least puts pressure on them to pick up a result. With 5-6 games left, I’m sticking with my midway point prediction of Tottenham and Arsenal grabbing those top 4 spots. I’d say that they definitely have the advantage as far as strength of schedule.
FA Cup Semis
In the first semifinal game of the weekend, Man City dominated the game as many expected but only squeaked out a 1-0 win over Brighton, courtesy of a 4th minute goal from Gabriel Jesus. Again, Man City were in complete control of the game but they left the door open for an equalizer when you only score one. In the end, Man City moves on to the FA Cup final and keep their hopes of the quadruple alive. Also good news for City on that front as they now don’t have to worry about the FA Cup until May 18. That’s a date that City fans will hope that the Premier League has already been wrapped up by.
And on May 18, Man City will face Wolv….Watford. Sorry about the near slip up, I knew that Wolves were up 2-0 in the 80th minute and thought surely they could hang on. And they probably could have had it not been for one man. That man’s name is Gerard Deulofeu. Former Barcelona academy player who just never was able to stick around enough in the Barca first team. Granted that’s not a dig at Deulofeu, I mean look at those Barca squads over the past 5 years. But with Watford trailing 2-0, they decided to bring on Deulofeu and boy did he turn this match on it’s head. Just look at this goal.
Watford were then able to grab a second goal in the dying minutes of stoppage time courtesy of a penalty from Troy Deeney. Then after that comeback of and all the momentum in the world heading to extra time, you just knew that Watford were advancing. And advancing they did as Gerard Deulofeu would add to his tally with a 2nd goal in the 104th minute to send Watford to the FA Cup final for the first time since 1984. Again, that match will be on May 18th at Wembley Stadium. I’ll definitely be pulling for Watford. Always good to see smaller clubs get some glory.
Other Thoughts:
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi could be the saviors to the Chelsea season. Since the international break Sarri has given RLC and CHO more playing time and so far that’s led to 3 victories, which is our second longest winning streak behind when we started the season with 5 straight victories. I’m honestly forgot and am shocked that we started the season with 5 straight wins. Also don’t sleep on Ross Barkley. Some Chelsea fans chose to not like Barkley for some bizarre reason but he’s been good for most of the season and he played really well over the international break and in the West Ham game when he picked up a great assist.
Sticking with Chelsea, how could I not mention the goal by Eden Hazard against West Ham. Let’s enjoy it while we can Chelsea fans because he only has a few more games left in a Chelsea shirt.
Liverpool continue to squeak out wins that past Liverpool teams definitely would have choked away. Liverpool needed another goal in the final 10 minutes of their game against Southampton to break the tie and get all 3 points. Liverpool starting to get these team of destiny vibes. Would be a real shame though if something happens to them. Real shame.
We got Champions League and Europa League back this week with quarterfinals matches Tuesday-Thursday. We got Man City vs Tottenham and Liverpool vs Porto on Tuesday and then Man United takes on Barcelona on Wednesday. Chelsea and Arsenal are back in Europa league action on Thursday with Arsenal in a very intriguing matchup against Napoli. I’m kind of surprised them didn’t try to matchup Chelsea and Napoli considering the story line there but instead we will take on Slavia Prague.
Thanny