• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2013-14 Premier League Thread

As this week-end is F.A. Cup fifth round, so here are the tables heading into the 27th round the week-end after this one.

Can't believe Liverpool are that close to the top three. Home matches upcoming vs. City, Chelsea and Spurs. If we can take all three of those "six pointers" we might well contend for league honors.

POS
LPCLUBPWDLGFGAGDPTS
1
shim.gif
(1)Chelsea26176348212757
2
shim.gif
(2)Arsenal26175448262256
3
shim.gif
(3)Manchester City25173568274154
4
shim.gif
(4)Liverpool26165566323453
5
shim.gif
(5)Tottenham Hotspur2615563632450
6
shim.gif
(6)Everton25129437261145
7
shim.gif
(7)Manchester United26126841311042
8
shim.gif
(8)Southampton2610973729839
9
shim.gif
(9)Newcastle United26114113238-637
10
shim.gif
(12)Swansea City2677123336-328
11
shim.gif
(10)West Ham United2677122833-528
12
shim.gif
(11)Aston Villa2677122736-928
13
shim.gif
(13)Hull City2676132531-627
14
shim.gif
(14)Stoke City2669112741-1427
15
shim.gif
(15)Crystal Palace2582151834-1626
16
shim.gif
(16)Norwich City2667131939-2025
17
shim.gif
(17)West Bromwich Albion26412103038-824
18
shim.gif
(18)Sunderland2566132538-1324
19
shim.gif
(19)Cardiff City2657141944-2522
20
shim.gif
(20)Fulham2662182658-3220
 
The Premier League returns after a week-plus-long hiatus for the F.A. Cup fixtures last week-end. The 27th round fixtures?

Saturday 22 February 2014
12:45 Chelsea v Everton Stamford Bridge
15:00 Arsenal v Sunderland Emirates Stadium
15:00 Cardiff v Hull Cardiff City Stadium
15:00 Man City v Stoke Etihad Stadium
15:00 West Brom v Fulham The Hawthorns
15:00 West Ham v Southampton Boleyn Ground
17:30 Crystal Palace v Man Utd Selhurst Park

Sunday 23 February 2014
13:30 Liverpool v Swansea Anfield
13:30 Newcastle v Aston Villa St. James' Park
16:00 Norwich v Spurs Carrow Road

What a big game for Everton. If they lose any more contact with the top four, they'll surely not make the Champions League. Spurs face a tricky tie at Carrow Road to stay within sight of the top four as well. The rest of the top four all have home fixtures against relegation-battlers.
 
A tricky tie at Carrow Road? Canaries have won 1 of their last 6 at home while Spurs have picked up 16 points in their last 6 road matches.

Chelsea/Everton, Liverpool/Swansea and Norwich/Spurs are on NBCSN. All the others are on Live Extra.
 
andyt said:
A tricky tie at Carrow Road? Canaries have won 1 of their last 6 at home while Spurs have picked up 16 points in their last 6 road matches.
Click to expand...

Just the time for Spurs to drop one, when the other side's been struggling to find home form and needs the match to stay above the relegation zone.
 
Cali Ed said:
Just the time for Spurs to drop one, when the other side's been struggling to find home form and needs the match to stay above the relegation zone.
Click to expand...

It's not like they've made a habit of doing that over the last, oh, forty years or so.
 
Today's results so far
Saturday 22 February 2014
Chelsea 1 - 0 Everton Stamford Bridge
Arsenal 4 - 1 Sunderland Emirates Stadium
Cardiff 0 - 4 Hull Cardiff City Stadium
Man City 1 - 0 Stoke Etihad Stadium
West Brom 1 - 1 Fulham The Hawthorns
West Ham 3 - 1 Southampton Boleyn Ground

This West Ham team looks SO different from the abomination they trotted out in December to get blown out of the F.A. Cup and League Cup in successive matches. And don't look now, but Hull have climbed up to 11th. What a thrashing.
 
Cali Ed said:
Just the time for Spurs to drop one, when the other side's been struggling to find home form and needs the match to stay above the relegation zone.
Click to expand...

HNIM said:
It's not like they've made a habit of doing that over the last, oh, forty years or so.
Click to expand...

Norwich 1-0 Spurs
Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 4-3 Swansea

Wild one at Anfield. Reds blew the lead 3 times before Jordan Henderson's 2nd, on a goal that should be mandatory viewing by all young players on the importance of following your shot.

Spurs get 60% possession but only manage 1 shot on goal. Snodgrass scored in the 47th minute and Canaries held on for dear life in the last 5 minutes.
 
I mean, I guess I should have explained my comment more. What I knew: Norwich are a desperate team just above relegation zone, manager on hot seat, Spurs having just completed tough Thursday Europa tie in Dniepro, Ukraine. What I didn't know (and what commentators mentioned a few times): the poor quality of the pitch Spurs played on taking a toll on their legs.

Or maybe, it was just a gut feeling. Norwich has managed to somehow avoid relegation since their promotion a few years back despite limited resources. But that result worked well for my Reds, giving them just that much more breathing room between 4th and 5th.

Right now, though, most of Reds Nation is anxiously awaiting the return of Lucas and Mamadou Sakho. Without them, our defense looks to be in shambles because it IS in shambles. We won't be able to outscore our opposition by netting four goals (for the 9th time this season) in every match.

But I will say it's a beautiful thing to see that we've become the most prolific team in the Premier League.
 
Tables after Round 27

POS
LPCLUBPWDLGFGAGDPTS
1
shim.gif
(1)Chelsea27186349212860
2
shim.gif
(2)Arsenal27185452272559
3
shim.gif
(3)Manchester City26183569274257
4
shim.gif
(4)Liverpool27175570353556
5
shim.gif
(5)Tottenham Hotspur2715573633350
6
shim.gif
(6)Manchester United27136843311245
7
shim.gif
(7)Everton26129537271045
8
shim.gif
(9)Newcastle United27124113338-540
9
shim.gif
(8)Southampton2710983832639
10
shim.gif
(10)West Ham United2787123134-331
11
shim.gif
(11)Hull City2786132931-230
12
shim.gif
(12)Swansea City2777133640-428
13
shim.gif
(13)Aston Villa2777132737-1028
14
shim.gif
(17)Norwich City2777132039-1928
15
shim.gif
(14)Stoke City2769122742-1527
16
shim.gif
(15)Crystal Palace2682161836-1826
17
shim.gif
(16)West Bromwich Albion27413103139-825
18
shim.gif
(18)Sunderland2666142642-1624
19
shim.gif
(19)Cardiff City2757151948-2922
20
shim.gif
(20)Fulham2763182759-3221

West Ham 10th and Hull 11th. Didn't see either of those teams being there at the start of 2014 yet here we are. :)
 
Villa are in free freaking fall at this point, with an offense that seems land locked and a defense that leaks only a few goals ... but at the worst possible times in the game. Their one January move (Bertrand on loan) gave them a little bit more threat down the wing and more speed in the back, but has failed to really have much impact. They either need to get Benteke going or else stare down yet another cliff hanger relegation battle in the coming months. Ugh ... this is frustrating. I dunno how Wigan supporters managed it for like four straight seasons.
 
Cali Ed said:
I mean, I guess I should have explained my comment more. What I knew: Norwich are a desperate team just above relegation zone, manager on hot seat, Spurs having just completed tough Thursday Europa tie in Dniepro, Ukraine. What I didn't know (and what commentators mentioned a few times): the poor quality of the pitch Spurs played on taking a toll on their legs.
Click to expand...

Saw an article that speculated that the long term interest of Spurs might best be served by missing the Europa League next year. The financial payoff is relatively miniscule and the potential for domestic damage significant. They have a tough schedule for the next month, with the return match at home against Dnipro on Wednesday and then Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the league. However, 4 of their next 6 matches are at home and one of the roadies is a Derby match at Stamford Bridge, so travel won't be a big issue.
 
There's little upside for the typical Europa League participant from the EPL. It's a long, drawn out tournament, the level of competition is a LOT higher than your fans think it is and unless you have the resources of one of the bigger clubs it's a complete grind for your domestic campaign.
 
Villa used to basically throw the competition each season they were in it. Most teams lose money in it or make very little and it's a huge drain on the domestic competitions with all the extra games and travel. I see only two possible ways of fixing it, give the winner of the Europa league an automatic place in the Champions league next season or scrapping the competition altogether and bringing back the cup winners cup.
 
andyt said:
Starting with 2014-15, the Europa League champion gets a spot in the Champions League group stage.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...inners-given-Champions-League-place-UEFA.html
Click to expand...

Which will certainly make it tougher to justify tanking ... but maybe not enough so that the smaller budget clubs won't do it anyway. Bottom line ... you pretty much need Champions League resources to campaign in Europa League, but get a quarter of the TV revenue with which to do so. It's basically a bigger scale version of the English Championship flight. Do we go great guns at promotion in hopes of a big payday or spend within a reasonable budget and muddle along where we are.

Tough calls.
 
The other wild card in the Europa League is the teams that bounced out of the Champions League coming into the knockout round of the Europa League. Their schedule is much more compressed too. There is only a week between the legs of the knockout stages, instead of the 3 that the UCL teams get.
 
Only 8 matches this weekend, with the Capital One Cup final between Man City and Sunderland. The Manchester Derby and Sunderland/West Brom are postponed.

Saturday:
Fulham v. Chelsea 10:00 NBCSN
Hull v. Newcastle 10:00
Stoke v. Arsenal 10:00
Everton v. West Ham 10:00
Southampton v. Liverpool 12:30 NBCSN

Sunday:
Tottenham v. Cardiff 11:30 NBCSN
Swansea v. Crystal Palace 11:30
Aston Villa v. Norwich 11:30
 
Everton 1-0 West Ham United

Fulham 1-3 Chelsea

Hull City 1-4 Newcastle United

Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal


Just a minor note from the Hull vs Newcastle game...... Alan Pardew was sent off for HEADBUTTING one of the Hull players...... you don't see that often from the manager.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top