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2017-18 Premier League Thread

Stoke named Paul Lambert as their new manager. Since being sacked byAston Villa, he had managed Blackburn and Wolves.
 
andyt said:
Stoke named Paul Lambert as their new manager. Since being sacked byAston Villa, he had managed Blackburn and Wolves.
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I once thought highly of Paul Lambert. Then I woke up and realized it was just a positive hangover from his career with Celtic.
 
The quest for an invincible season is over, and Man City's lead over Man U has been reduced to 12 points. The 3 promoted clubs are dropping like rocks, they're 14-16 in the table, and with the right results this weekend, Brighton could fall into the relegation zone. Here is matchweek 24.

Saturday:
Brighton v. Chelsea 7:30 NBCSN
Arsenal v. Crystal Palace 10:00 CNBC
Burnley v. Man U NBCSN
Everton v. West Brom
Leicester v. Watford
Stoke v. Huddersfield
West Ham v. Bournemouth
Man City v. Newcastle 12:30 NBC

Sunday:
Southampton v. Spurs 11:00 NBCSN

Monday:
Swansea v. Liverpool 3:00 NBCSN

No league matches next weekend, it's the 4th round proper of the FA Cup. League matches resume on Tuesday, January 30.
 
andyt said:
Watford have sacked Marco Silva, blaming Everton’s “unwarranted approach” to Silva in November “has seen a significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford FC has been jeopardised.”

https://www.watfordfc.com/club/club-statement-marco-silva
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Words fail.

How these ineptly managed clubs stick in the toughest league in the world year to year also eludes me.
 
jeffbear said:
Words fail.

How these ineptly managed clubs stick in the toughest league in the world year to year also eludes me.
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Ownership need to build hubris so that when they crash and burn, they do so in epic fashion. Like Sunderland.
 
They had Javi Gracia in the wings. He's never managed in England, but managed Malaga and Rubin Kazan for a total of 3 years, finishing mid-table all 3 seasons.

Gracia is Watford's 10th manager since June, 2011. Only 1 of them has lasted more than 1 year, Gianfranco Zola had 66 games from 7/12 - 12-13.

Man City still top the table by 12 points. Man U is 3 points up on Chelsea, who are 3 points ahead of Liverpool. Spurs sit 2 back after a draw at Southampton yesterday. Arsenal are another 3 back in 6th. Stoke climbed out of the relegation zone with a win for new manager Paul Lambert. Southampton falls to 18th. West Brom and Swansea are tied on 20 points. The bottome 11, from Watford in 10th to Swansea at the foot are separated by 6 points. It's gonna get crazy...
 
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Midweek matches after a FA Cup weekend. That means only 2 games on TV, the rest on the pay Gold package.

Tuesday:
Swansea v. Arsenal 2:45
West Ham v. Crystal Palace
Huddersfield v. Liverpool 3:00 NBCSN

Wednesday:
Chelsea v. Bournemouth 2:45
Everton v. Leicester
Newcastle v. Burnley
Southampton v. Brighton
Spurs v. Man U 3:00 NBCSN
Man City v. West Brom
Stoke v. Watford
 
andyt said:
Midweek matches after a FA Cup weekend. That means only 2 games on TV, the rest on the pay Gold package.
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Not much to peek the interest out of that lot anyway. I guess the south coast derby between Brighton and Southampton and the Spurs/United match will generate some buzz, but that's about as drecky as this league can offer up for matchups.
 
jeffbear said:
Not much to peek the interest out of that lot anyway. I guess the south coast derby between Brighton and Southampton and the Spurs/United match will generate some buzz, but that's about as drecky as this league can offer up for matchups.
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The weekend isn't much better...Arsenal v. Everton on Saturday at 12:30 and Liverpool v. Spurs on Sunday. North London Derby next weekend though but in the 7:30 am slot.
 
Man City is back up by 15 points after beating West Brom combined with a Man U loss to Spurs. Liverpool move into 3rd on goal differential after Chelsea lost at home to Bournemouth. Spurs are 5th, 2 points behind Chelsea, 6 points ahead of Arsenal. At the other end, Swansea beat Arsenal and climbed all the way up to 19th. West Brom fell to the foot, Southampton are 18th.
 
Match week 26. A whole lot of meh except the late match on Sunday

Saturday:
Burnley v. Man City 7:30 NBCSN
Man U v. Huddersfield 10:00 NBCSN
Bournemouth v. Stoke
Brighton v. West Ham
Leicester v. Swansea
West Brom v. Southampton
Arsenal v. Everton 12:30 NBC

Sunday:
Crystal Palace v. Newcastle 9:15 NBCSN
Liverpool v. Spurs 11:30 NBCSN

Monday:
Watford v. Chelsea 3:00 NBCSN
 
Monday's match turned out much more than meh. Roman's going to be making his biennial manager change soon.
 
Match week 27 opens with a roar with the North London Derby and ends with a whimper with slumping Chelsea hosting DFL West Brom on Monday. Note that NBCSN will have mostly Olympic coverage and some of the games are on CNBC.

Saturday:
Spurs v. Arsenal 7:30 CNBC
Stoke v. Brighton 10:00 CNBC
Everton v. Crystal Palace
Swansea v. Burnley
West Ham v. Watford
Man City v. Leicester 12:30 NBC

Sunday:
Huddersfield v. Bournemouth 7:00 CNBC
Newcastle v. Man U 9:15 NBCSN
Southampton v. Liverpool 11:30 NBCSN

Monday:
Chelsea v. West Brom 3:00 NBCSN
 
The three standout performances from the weekend for me were Aguero (duh, but he was incredibly dynamic), Dembele, and Shelvey. Jonjo was a mountain of calm in the Newcastle midfield, with no indication that he was going to go off the deep end at any point, which is unusual for him. He never put a foot wrong, absolutely a fantastic performance IMO. That being said... you watch City, you watch Liverpool, you watch Spurs, there's amazing dynamic interplay between the attacking players, intelligent runs, a sense that a brilliant goal is right around the corner. You watch United, they're just standing around scratching their butts. I really don't see them holding onto second, or even third. I think it's between them and Chelsea for the last CL spot on current trends.
 
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