North London Derby

Saturday morning (7:45 am) will see Tottenham host Arsenal in the continuation of perhaps English football's fiercest rivalry.  Citing historical results gets a little tricky because you have to decide whether to count all competitions including FA Cup, League Cup, when the two teams met outside of the first division and even friendlies (which seems counter to the spirit of a derby but there have been 26 friendlies, the last one in 1990).  The two sides first squared off on November 19, 1887 but that was a friendly; the first division 1 clash occurred on December 4, 1909.  Counting all meetings, Arsenal has won 104, Tottenham 91, with 60 draws.  Counting only division one and premier league (including FA Cup and League Cup, the numbers are 74 Arsenal wins, 54 Tottenham wins and 45 draws.

This particular meeting is quite important as both clubs are in the hunt for a Champions League spot.  The winner could be sitting in fourth by Sunday afternoon.  It's probably slightly more critical for Spurs, who sit in 6th, two points behind the Gunners, to get a result but both really need the points.

Aside from being a real derby, the match is also a Monday Night Basketball derby for Michael B (Tottenham) and Luke P (Arsenal).  Both have sent me emails in the days leading up to the contest.

From Michael B:

I caught the West Brom v Spurs match yesterday morning via NBC Sports streaming.  It was exciting and enjoyable, and relaxing in that the goals came early as opposed to the 89^th minute or stoppage time via Eriksen.  Great and encouraging development from the Vertonghen/Fazio central defensive team over the last couple of weeks.  I take back what I said about Spurs and their "annual disappointment."   Pochettino’s insistence on conditioning might make them strong at the end of a long match and season.  I'm beginning to think that Spurs have a better chance to get a top 4 league spot for next year’s Champions League.  Kane is long and very athletic and if he can continue to shoot as well, then he may be a serious keeper – until the money comes calling from Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona.  Eriksen may be too good to keep as well .  Right now, if I had to choose one of them, I'd lean towards Kane because I think Eriksen is more replaceable (though it took some time to get Eriksen as a somewhat suitable replacement for Modric).

From  Luke P:

I'd like to go into a lot of analysis and delve into matchups and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each club, but I'll just stick with the laser-like focus of "F Spurs."

Well there you have it - you can skip the pregame analysis and sleep an extra 45 minutes on Saturday.

Maybe Aston Villa Should Try Dubai

So Newcastle spend their week off training in Dubai and return to put a 3-0 hurting on Hull City.  The team that couldn't even find the target, let alone the back of the net, got two stunning strikes from Remy Cabella (gif left) and Sammy Ameobi plus another deflection goal from Gouffran.  They were lucky on a number of occasions that Hull didn't put the ball in the net.  And shortly after Cabella had put them in front in the 40th minute, Hull apparently leveled the match in stoppage time; but no, Ahmed Elmohandmady  Elmohamady had clearly directed the ball, a la Maradona, into the goal.  Okay, so it was handball, no big deal - except for his insistence on his innocence which is clearly refuted in this week's  YouTubeableMoment.  Frankly, the Magpies looked worse in most aspects of the game than they did against Southampton two weeks ago.  But the finishing was good and that made all the difference.

Aston Villa's fortunes were not as positive as their scoreless streak continued in a 0-5 loss to Arsenal.  Saw this match and the score is about right.  Not much went right for the Villans.  Dennis adds his comments, assuming we can shake him out of his funk, below.

Does anybody even want to read about this match?  Do I even want to think about it for one more second?  Did I even really watch the whole thing while it was on the TV in front of me?  Will Aston Villa ever score again?  Will the Villans get relegated? The answers: no, not a chance, I read comics for most of the second half, doubtful but we can always pray for an OG, and it sure looks like it.  We wasted months worth of goals (quite literally - we haven't scored since Dec 20th) in our FA cup win, can't put together anything that might resemble a high-school JV offense, and are not in relegation position right now because of a start to the season that looks more fluky [ed question - flukey?] by the second.  I guess our new signings, Gil and Sinclair, looked fine, but at this point, Lambert might just be rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  A 1-0 victory over Chelsea started our late push last year and it is probably too much to hope for a reprise this season.   


The First Sunday in February

Is kind of like Groundhog Day for referees in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Every year on this date, we emerge from our houses, meet at a hotel in King of Prussia to take the recertification test and if we see an 80% or higher on our exam, there will be 12 more months of refereeing.  The studying paid off and I got a perfect score. To be honest, two years ago, they changed the required score from 70% to 80% but made the exam a lot easier.


David vs Goliath - The Replay

 On Tuesday Cambridge traveled to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the replay of their fourth round FA Cup match.  Recall that Cambridge, a 4th division side, had held MUN to a scoreless draw a few weeks ago.  I was also set to have the ending of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to roll here, especially after Cambridge went down 0-2 by the 31st minute.  But they hung in there and the match wasn't really put away until the Wilson netted a third goal for the Red Devils in the 73rd minute.  No massacre here, at least not like, say, Arsenal-Aston Villa.  My basic point still holds though - if David had only fought Goliath to a draw, he would have been smoked in the rematch because he wouldn't have been underestimated by his much bigger opponent the second time around.


The Window Is Closed

A very uninspiring January transfer window.  Hard to see that any moves were game changes.  As expected, Newcastle added no one and sent five players on loan to Rangers in the Scottish league, owner Mike Ashley's other team. 


Derbies and More Derbies

Aside from the aforementioned North London derby, we also have the Merseyside derby with Everton hosting Liverpool at Goodison Park - Saturday at 12:30 on NBC.  Though we won't be watching, I understand that Real Madrid and Atletico square off at 10 am on Saturday as well.

No live streaming for me this week as Newcastle's match versus Stoke City at St. James' Park is on NBCSN at 8:30 on Sunday.  The two sides 10th and 11th respectively, with Stoke ahead by two points.  Every reason to expect a close but likely low scoring duel here.  We note that Papiss Cisse continues to lead the EPL in goals per 90 minutes with 1.3; Frank Lampard is second with 1.1, and Aguero, Costa and Remy are tied for third with 1.0.

Hard to see Aston Villa getting out their rut against Chelsea.  Other top of the table fixtures include Man City hosting Hull (should be easy three for the Citizens), Manchester United at West Ham (tough match for both) and Southampton traveling to face the Harry Redknapp-less QPR.  In the relegation zone, key matches are Burnley-West Brom and Leicester-Crystal Palace.

Reminder - don't forget there are mid-week games next Tuesday and Wednesday.  For key matchups, look no farther than the absolutely critical contest between...Aston Villa and Hull City.  A loss is pretty close to a disaster for either.