 |
| The margin by which Brighton get to stay in the EPL |
9:20 Saturday - Crystal Palace are in and Stoke are out after the Eagles come from behind 2-1 win.
11:50 Saturday - Bournemouth and Watford are now safe, and somehow, incredibly, West Brom are not yet eliminated. Bournemouth and Watford went the easy route with wins over Swansea and Newcastle respectively. And staring at elimination, West Brom somehow got a goal in stoppage time to best Tottenham 1-0 and stay alive, at least for another 90 minutes. West Ham surprised Leicester 2-0 but were not safe yet. Despite the loss to Bournemouth, Swansea still control their own fate and will survive by beating Southampton and Stoke in their final two fixtures.
2:20 Saturday - Southampton have just blown a chance to make a big step towards safety. Leading 1-0, the Saints surrender a goal to Everton in the 96th minute and turn three points into one. Not only do they remain at risk, the result has implications elsewhere. That last minute goal means West Brom are still alive until at least Tuesday. And West Ham are now safe.
Sunday - Nothing as dramatic as yesterday but Huddersfield grab a totally unexpected point from Man City, at the Etihad no less; it's a welcome point but they are still at serious risk. Chelsea's 1-0 win over Liverpool means that the Blues are still in the hunt for a Champions League spot, close on the heels of both Tottenham and Liverpool.
The weekend ends with Huddersfield, Southampton, Swansea and West Brom not out of the woods. The Baggies predicament is bad, as they need a Swansea-Southampton draw on Tuesday, a win next Sunday against Crystal Palace, a multiple goal loss by Southampton to Man City and a Swansea loss to Stoke. BFS Oddsmaker, Lloyd Christmas, explains their situation.
 |
| Gabbiadini sends Southampton to safety |
4:40 Wednesday - Huddersfield are in after a second straight improbable draw, this time against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That result, combined with Tottenham's uninspiring 1-0 win over Newcastle, means Spurs are now guaranteed a place in next year's CL.
So all that's left to determine are the final relegation spot, which comes down to Southampton and Swansea and the final Champions League spot, which will go to either Liverpool or Chelsea. A win or a draw for the Southampton against Man City OR a loss or draw for Stoke against Crystal Palace keeps Southampton up. Even a Southampton loss and Swansea win would require a ten goal swing in goal differential to save the Swans; so a pair of 5-0 results would do it. Sure.
For the CL side of things, Liverpool get the spot with a win over Brighton or a Chelsea loss or draw to Newcastle. A Liverpool draw and Chelsea win would leave them with equal points but Chelsea would have to eliminate a 15 goal differential; Newcastle defense has not been that shaky all year so it pretty much has to be a Chelsea win and Liverpool loss for the Blues to sneak in.
Manager of the Year
Recall last week we suggested that any of Rafael Benitez, Sean Dyche or Pep Guardiola would be worthy of the designation. This week the nominations came out and those three are on the list. Also nominated were Roy Hodgson, Chris Hughton and Jurgen Klopp. Also not bad candidates but I would stick with one of my original three - probably going with Dyche.
Here To Stay
With the Huddersfield draw, all three of this year's promoted sides - Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield - will stay up for another season in the EPL. This has happened twice before since the EPL was formed in 1992. Fulham, Bolton and Blackburn managed to stick around after the 2001-02 season while QPR, Norwich and Swansea did it in 2011-12.
A Nice, Civil Beatdown
That''s how The Philly Soccer Page described the Union 0-3 loss to Toronto FC. We really do not need to elaborate. Wednesday's 0-1 loss to Columbus was, actually I can't say because I only saw the highlights. I had tried to set the DVR using the remote FIOS feature, which has worked fine in the past, but was unable to record this match. Should I be grateful that FIOS messed up and saved me from two hours of bad soccer? So the one-game winning streak ended and once again the team seems headed in the wrong direction. I fear that when we look up after the World Cup ends in mid-July, the Union season will also be over.
BFS Home Sides
For those keeping score at home, you might note that BFS favorites - Newcastle and the Union - lost four times between Friday and Wednesday, managing just one goal between them. Yeah, good times.
The Newcastle viewing wasn't really all that bad, except for the first half at Watford. The Magpies were lucky to be down just 0-2 at halftime but were clearly the better side when play restarted. Ayoze Perez continues to frustrate and amaze; as bad as he was in the first half, his second half goal was a technical gem. At Wembley, you could argue that for the most part, Newcastle were the better side, playing solid defense with surprisingly effective counter attacks in the 0-1 loss to Spurs. The difference came down to Harry Kane being a higher quality finisher than anyone on Newcastle. This is a known issue - Newcastle need to spring for a top level striker if they want to avoid the relegation battle every year. Hopefully we will hear shortly that Benitez is signed for the long-term and upgrades are underway.
Turning to Union-on-Delaware, well, things just aren't that rosy. Our new designated players - Accam and Dockal - simply aren't making a difference. That's being kind, especially to Accam. Jim O'Leary at Philly Soccer Page has this article arguing that the problem is not that the Union are cheap but rather how they spend the money. You have to say he has a good point - the Union finished poorly last year so they spent about $1.5 million to add Accam and Dockal. He also details other high cost acquisitions that have not paid off. So they have spent money, just maybe not wisely. Fair points in comments section that cheap can also mean failing to spend on human and physical infrastructure (e.g. scouting, training facilities, etc.).
The fire Jim Curtin drumbeat continues as well. I have been mostly a defender, suggesting that he just doesn't have the same quality horses as the others. But I am starting to be persuaded that maybe he does have to take some share of the blame if players are not improving under his tutelage. Trotting out the same lineup doesn't make a lot of sense either. Might as well see if some other players might make a difference, or, if sitting out a few matches lights a fire under some of those not performing at their best.
Weekend
All EPL matches are Sunday at 10 am. Four have potential consequences. Liverpool host Brighton (NBC) needing a win or maybe just a draw to secure Champions League action next year. Chelsea travel to Newcastle (NBCSN) and must win and hope for a good result Merseyside. Southampton host Man City (SyFy) and would like a point but really just need to keep the Citizens goal scorers from running amok. And Swansea play Stoke in Wales (CNBC) and need their goal scorers to run amok while hoping for a favorable outcome down south.
The Union continue their road trip with a match in Montreal Saturday at 3 pm. We'd love to see them get a draw out of this given that the Impact haven't exactly set the league on fire this year. But, the Union have failed to secure a point in four tries on the road and have yet to score outside of Talen Energy Stadium. So, we will not hold our breath.
No comments:
Post a Comment