Hat Tricks, Braces and Caps

A great weekend for Aston Villa so let's go right to Dennis for the details:

Many lessons were learned from this very heartening win:

1. Watching soccer on a bigger TV is better than watching soccer on a smaller TV [ed note: Not only did Dennis get an AV win for his birthday, he got a new 50 inch TV].
2. AVFC can only bring the offensive heat when they concede within the first few minutes of the game (As the Men in Blazers would say, "Norwich scored too soon.")
3. Going to make a sandwich since "They won't score while I'm up anyway" is apparently the key to success in the BPL.
4. Benteke is clearly capable of scoring the highest quality goals, as seen in this weeks YouTubeable Moment.  Hopefully he can show these flashes a little more often to compliment his dominating aerial game.

Aston Villa once again have a crucial win on which they can hopefully build a late season run, though the last 4 goal explosion against West Brom didn't quite springboard them out of relegation danger.  At this stage of the season, every point is huge and earning 3 points against the team directly behind you in the standings is a dream scenario. 

Big win for Aston Villa and Benteke's first goal was a thing of beauty.

 
Busy times ahead. International friendlies mid-week.  FA Cup matches and regular EPL games this weekend.  And the MLS kicks off this weekend as well.  Hoo boy, going to be hard to keep track of it all.
 
Games in Hand

Most of the time EPL sides have all played the same number of games so the concepts of game at hand or being ahead in the loss column aren't major factors in reading the table.  But now rainouts, the Capital One League Cup and the FA Cup have combined to make hash of that.  Right now, Manchester City trails Chelsea by six points; Chelsea have a league match this weekend but Man City has an FA Cup match so they could possibly be down by nine points by next Monday.  Yet, they will have played three fewer matches; win all three of those and the Citizens will be in first based on goal differential.  Similar problems will affect analysis of the relegation race as well.  So beware as you view the standings.


Words (definitions from dictionary.com)

Hat trick - Ice Hockey, Soccer. three goals or points scored by one player in one game.  As in, Schurrle scored a hat trick to lead Chelsea to a relatively easy victory over Fulham.

Brace - a pair; couple: a brace of grouse. As in, Benteke (Aston Villa) and Remy (Newcastle) both had a brace of goals in leading their sides to 4-1 victories.

Cap - British Sports. a selection for a representative team, usually for a national squad.  As in, many EPL players will being earning caps this week as they make appearances for their national teams.

 Headbutt - butt with the head.  As in Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is looking at a likely season ending suspension for his headbutt of a Hull City player.  Really to call it a headbutt is a bit extreme; it looked like more of an attempted head shove.  But Pardew did lead with his forehead, he's had other incidents and does appear to prone to outbursts.  A lengthy suspension is in order.

The EPL Race

Sorry Luke and Michael P, but the most notable event of the weekend, at least as it pertains to the EPL table, was Arsenal's loss to Stoke City.  For some reason, this fixture has presented problems for the Gunners, as they have won just four times in the last 10 trips to Stoke.  Arsenal drops to four points behind Chelsea with the loss.  Liverpool had a surprisingly easy time against Southampton and move into second with their 3-0 win on the road.  Everton kept faint Champions League hopes alive with a 1-0 over West Ham and the suicide watch in Erdenheim was called off when Tottenham were able to scrape by Cardiff City 1-0.  The scoreboard says 4-1 road win for Newcastle over Hull so what's not to like?  Some gift goals, manager Alan Pardew ejected, a bit of luck not to be down early (though some of that was Krul's excellent work in goal), to mention a few things.  Still, it was a strong showing, especially from the offense, that cements their hold on 8th place. 

Manchester City took the first major competition of the year with a 3-1 win over Sunderland to claim the Capital One League Cup.  It will be interesting to see if a congested schedule in the coming months because of FA Cup, Champions League and EPL matches takes a toll but right now, the Citizens still have a shot at all four competitions.

Michael B will likely provide comments on the Atletico-Real Madrid derby that ended in a draw.


What to Watch

Good luck this weekend keeping track of what's on.  There are just five EPL matches but there is plenty of soccer otherwise between FA Cup "quarterfinals" and MLS openers.  Of the EPL matches, Chelsea vs Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Saturday at 12:30 looks like the highest quality; a draw would be a pretty good result for the Spurs I would think.  Manchester United will look to keep hopes for Europe next year alive as they travel to West Brom.  The Cardiff-Fulham, Crystal Palace-Southampton, and Norwich-Stoke matches all have implications for the race to avoid relegation.

FA Cup action starts with Arsenal hosting Everton at 7:45 Saturday morning.  Three more matches follow on Sunday, with Sheffield United (not Wednesday) hosting Charlton at 8, Hull City home to Sunderland at 10 and Manchester City hosting Wigan at 12.

MLS action includes the Red Bulls away to Vancouver (Chris K tells me RBs will be sitting many key players and is not expecting much from the match) and Philadelphia Union at Portland.  I have read a few MLS prediction blogs that suggest the Red Bulls are a contender for the MLS Cup while the Union has gotten a few shout outs for a playoff spot.

Oh yeah, and the US plays the Ukraine at 2 pm on Wednesday.

And yet, with all this soccer, neither Newcastle or Aston Villa have a match this weekend.