Washout

It can't be good when the best result of the week for your teams is a rainout.  Not good news for any of the BFS home sides.  Well, that's not completely true as Aston Villla did manage a 4-0 spanking of Ajax to advance to the quarter finals of the Europa Conference League.  

Newcastle went down 3-2 at Chelsea and the score is a bit charitable given that the Magpies' second goal came in the closing minutes.  The stats don't look like a disaster but the second half felt like there was no way Newcastle could win.  All that trash talk about Chelsea is coming back to haunt me as we only lead the Blues by a single point and the bottom half of the table is beckoning.

Aston Villa fared worse, losing at home 4-0 to Tottenham.  The more distressing news was the straight red collected by John McGinn that will see him suspended for three games.  It was not a classic red card challenge but he did line up Udogi and came in with a lot of speed.  Villa still hold onto 4th but the margin is just two points. 

But the Union did the worst, falling 6-0 to Pachuca in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 tie.  We have nothing more to say about that one.  It does make one think that maybe sometimes a rainout, like we got with Seattle on Saturday night, is a good thing.

No Lead Is Safe

Sides in the bottom three spent the week making the case that any lead is the most dangerous.    Burnley were up 2-0 on West Ham but ended up with a 2-2 draw when Danny Ings scored in the 91st minute.  Sheffield United were up 2-0 on Bournemouth but also ended up with a 2-2 when Enes Unal scored in the, wait for it, 91st minute.  But Luton Town bested those two, taking a 3-0 lead on Bournemouth before surrendering four second half goals in a 4-3 loss.

Who's In First?

First place Liverpool played to a 1-1 draw with second place Man City (a decent watch) so who's in first?  Right, Arsenal, because they beat Brentford 2-1 and have a better goal differential than Liverpool.  We are set for what hopefully will be an interesting three-team race to the finish.  Sorry Villa and Spurs but at 8 and 10 points back of third, hard to see you guys being in it.  Actually, eight points is the biggest gap in the table right now.

A Quiet Weekend

The FA Cup quarterfinals mean we have limited action.  Here's the FA Cup lineup:

Subtract four hours to get EST for the matches.  Viewing will be limited to ESPN+.  The Magpies playing at The Etihad doesn't look enticing; Opta says 72% chance of Man City win, 16% it goes to PKs.  Chelsea and Wolves are solid favorites in their matches as well.  Even the Man United - Liverpool match is offering long odds for the home side; Liverpool are 49% for the win and 24% for a PK shootout.

That schedule still leaves us with four EPL fixtures.  Saturday at 11 (they haven't moved to daylight saving time yet) offers two relegation specials - Burnley v Brentford (Peacock) and Luton Town v Nottingham Forest (USA); we'll likely go with the latter.  A London derby featuring Fulham and Tottenham is the 1:30 feature match (on USA as NBC goes with The Players Championship).  Sunday has a good one with West Ham hosting Aston Villa at 10 on USA.

Having done so well in Mexico, the Union head south again to take on Austin at 8:30 on Saturday; that one is on "free" Apple.  

Yeah, still swamped with work so you're on your own for Champions League and other Europa stuff.  Also, with the international break after this weekend, we will take a week off.  We will be back for the EPL run-in, which Michael B and I have unilaterally decided begins with the first games after the March international break.