Aston Villa, the worst team in EPL history could have their inevitable relegation confirmed this weekend if results go against them. The club is an utter mess and goodness knows when they will manage to regain their top flight status. It’s a sad state of affairs and it makes my life harder next season as predicting Aston Villa 0 Whoever They Are Playing FC 4 will no longer be an option for my “Three For The Weekend’!
Crystal Palace 3 Norwich 1
Palace are now 14 league games without a win but I have seen a lot of them lately and they are, by a country mile, a better team than the four below them trying to drag the Eagles into the relegation scrap. Norwich picked up a huge three points last weekend against Newcastle.
Seven points from their last three games have seen them put some daylight between themselves and the two North East clubs trying to catch them but they are still no good things to avoid the drop and I fancy they will get battered as Palace finally get the win they have been waiting for. Norwich have had 14 trips to Selhurst Park since they left with a win and that won’t change on Saturday. The Eagles bashed them 3-1 at Carrow Road on opening day and can repeat the dose for us today.
Sunderland 1 Leicester 1
Claudio Ranieri has engineered more away wins than any other Premier League boss this season and Leicester have ground out four 1-0 victories on the spin. They appear to coping with the intense pressure that is on them admirably well but they visit a Sunderland side scrapping for their lives on Sunday. Both managers would probably take a point from this, especially Sunderland if they know that Norwich have been turned over on Saturday.
At this stage of the season that fact could be key because if the game is deadlocked inside the last 15 minutes its unlikely either will decide to throw caution to the wind. Sunderland will need to pick up three points over a weekend soon rather than the one they have reaped on their last four match days but Big Sam will no doubt be targeting four points in their next two games as his target and the one can come on Sunday before they go to Norwich next Saturday for a huge relegation battle.
Tottenham 3 Manchester United 1
United are in danger of being left behind next season in the same manner they have this. While the dithering over LVG continues, both Chelsea and Manchester City have effectively begun their pre-season for next year’s campaign already. It’s been 15 long years since Spurs beat United at White Hart Lane but there is a perfectly good explanation for that, United were a better side than the Lilywhites going into every one of those meetings.
Not anymore, they may never get a chance to get as close to the title as they have this season and like Arsenal will rue this missed opportunity to win the league if Leicester see it out but that still shouldn’t detract from the improvement Mauricio Pochettino has made in North London. The warning signs for Manchester United were there to see on the opening day of the season when they beat Tottenham 1-0 courtesy of a Kyle Walker own goal in game that they managed just ONE shot on target in ninety minutes. After a lull following his explosive arrival Antony Martial has found some form with three goals in his last four so they may be capable of getting on the scoreboard but Spurs are simply a better side and should prove it.
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