I’m not a fan of Monday Night games. The weekend seems to drag on without any proper football (for proper read as Fulham playing) and then not getting home till well past Gatesy’s bedtime on Monday night. But was the wait worth it this time round?
Probably not. Still we got to see some records being made. Carragher made his 666th appearance for Liverpool and we got to see the fastest Premier League goal of the season. And to add to that we got to see some limp, lifeless defending from our lot. What more could you ask for on a Monday evening?
After the game Sparky said:
“We maybe made them look a bit better than possibly they are.”
How did we do that? Going into the game Liverpool had won four from their last five and demolished Newcastle last weekend and came to the capital so confident that they left Carroll at home due to having a bruise. Though I suppose our left back setting up two of their goals and our keeper palming in the third possibly could be classed as a helping hand.
Despite an improved showing after the break when Bobby showed up it still didn’t look like we worried the visitors too much. The defeat ended our run of scoring three goals a game at the cottage and stopped us equalling our best run of home wins in the Premier League to date.
It was all going on at both the top and bottom of the table. After the league being all done and dusted a few weeks ago, suddenly it wasn’t again. So that lot from down the road travelled up to Old Trafford for what Sky described as the title decider. Having only dropped two points out of the last 35 they made the trip with a spring in their step only to have it knocked out of them within a minute of the whistle. Hernandez opened the scoring, and with captain Vidic scoring for the home side, they could only muster a scrappy consolation goal from Fat Frank. With Man Yoo only now needing a single point from their final two games it once again appears all over up there.
Cue talk of Ancelotti getting the boot.
Despite having the best away record in the top flight, Arsenal slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Stoke. It mathematically ended any hopes the Gunners still had of crashing the title party before a ball was kicked in Manchester, though they could still gazump the blues for second spot.
In the fight for the final Champions league spots Man City slipped up with a 2-1 defeat at Everton. Yaya Toure gave the visitors the lead before Old boy Distin and Osman made sure the points stayed at Goodison. David Silva deserved to finish on the winning side, receiving applause from everybody inside the ground on several occasions and even from the opposition gaffer too:
“We set out to try to contain Man City but it is very difficult to contain David Silva.
“I think he is as good as anyone in the Premier League at the moment.”
While Spuds picked up just a point at home against Blackpool. Is it a good point for the Sea-Siders, or two dropped? With it being so tight down the bottom we might have to wait until the last balls been kicked this season to see. It’s probably not great for Spuds who are now a couple of points behind Liverpool in the race for a Europa League place. Though with games against Man City tonight and a trip to Liverpool coming up its still in their hands.
Alongside Blackpool fighting for Premier League football next season, ‘Stam managed a draw against fellow relegation candidates Blackburn with a late Hitzlsperger strike. All had looked so rosy for Rovers after Roberts gave them an early lead too, especially with Samba being everywhere whenever ‘stam bore down on goal. Robbie Keane missed a golden opportunity to nab all three points when he muffed up a lovely chance.
The longer term picture isn’t looking great for the ‘ammers either, according to their chairman, David Gold:
“The fans should know though this club is in a worse financial position than any other in the country, All the debts are football or bank debts secured on the stadium and training ground, so there is no route via administration. West Ham really is a club where the football and bank debts exceed the value of the club. “
Add that to the fact the owners can’t be bothered to travel to away games and they’ve announced they’ll let their England internationals move if/when the go down, it could be a lot of fun over in the East London slums. Still, it amuses me and I’m considering doing a Blackpool on the final day of the season…
Wigan notched up a useful point away against Villa, while in the Black Country derby Wolves walked away with the spoils beating neighbours 3-1 and moved out of the bottom three by a point. Newcastle beat Brum 2-1 and Sunderland pulled out an away win at Bolton to end a poor string of results. Zat Knights late own goal gifted them a 2-1 win and secured their Premier League place for next season.
Our Monday night mauling leaves the Whites sat in tenth place with two games left to play. It’s a bit of Sunday afternoon action for us next when we pop up to the midlands and visit St Andrews for our penultimate game of the season. If all goes well we could end the campaign up in the dizzy heights of 7th and worst down to the depths of 15th place realistically. And let’s not forget, every place we climb is worth £1/2m in prize money. Or perhaps Sparky’ll decided to screw the cash and blood some youngsters in our remaining fixtures?
