Better Than Last Week

Except for the Union, a pretty good set of results for the weekend.

The Magic Elixir

There truly is no better medicine for what ails an EPL team than playing Sheffield United.  Poor sequence of results?  Front line in a scoring drought?  Get yourself a fixture with the Blades and soon you'll be feeling like a million bucks or pounds or euros or whatever currency they use in England.

Isak got two more at home and is just two behind Haaland
in the race for the Golden Boot (Photo:Getty Images)

Newcastle were the latest to benefit from that gift of the schedule makers.  Yeah, they gave up the first goal, still looked a bit listless and the score was 1-1 at halftime.  For some unknown reason, I remained optimistic, thinkin they were going to be just fine.  And indeed they were, scoring four second half goals for an easy 5-1 win.  That gives them 13-1 aggregate score over the two contests with Sheffield United this year.  

Results elsewhere were uniformly helpful.  Man United could only draw 1-1 with Burnley, at home no less, so we gained two points on them.  West Ham surprising grabbed a point against Liverpool but it still means they dropped two on Newcastle.  Chelsea also drew so we put another two points between the Blues and us.  Brighton lost and are now nine points back.  The flip side of that is Bournemouth are now just five points back.  Still, after the loss to Palace, this week put Europe back on the agenda.

Fates Were Sealed

The weekend's results also settled some things, mostly in the relegation battle.  Sheffield United's loss to Newcastle means they are going back down to the Championship Division.  Everyone above Nottingman Forest are now guaranteed to stay up (looking mostly at you Everton).  So the relegation fight is now between Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Burnley.  

Aston Villa cannot win the title but can also finish no worse than fifth.  Sunday was St. Totteringham's Day, as for the second straight year, Tottenham will finish behind Arsenal.  In other news, Michael B announced he no longer follows the EPL.  Man United will finish no higher than 5th.  Everyone from 13th on down is out of Europe, as we now know that Italy and Germany will get the additional Champions League berths for next year.

[Post publication I watched Chelsea's 2-0 win over Tottenham.  That helped Villa's chances for fourth but did put the Blues just two points behind Newcastle.]

VAR Fainting Couch Is Getting Crowded Again

Oh FFS. In the 95th minute against Aston Villa, Chelsea had looked to score the game winner, completing an improbable comeback from 0-2 down.   You can see the play here as this week's YouTubeableMoment.  The announcers knew it was a foul.  I think everybody not connected with Chelsea knew it was a foul.  Apparently referee Craig Pawson did not.  VAR Chris Cavanaugh sent Pawson to the monitor, who needed little time to see his error.  No goal and the match ends in a draw.

Cue the outrage.  Check out this from Pochettino:

"Me and you and everyone in the stadium watching the game, they didn't see a foul on the pitch and then VAR changed the decision of the referee. For me that was a normal challenge. The decision was there and that's it," Pochettino told broadcaster TNT following the 2-2 draw.

"For me, it damaged a little bit the Premier League and English [football]. If we want to be the best league in the world it should be protecting the spectacle and the decision ... [it] damaged myself, damaged my team, my players, the fans," he added.

Uh, Poch, your argument is damaged somewhat by the fact that both announcers called it a foul the moment it happened.  In their weekly review of VAR decisions (available here), ESPN sees it as pretty cut and dried too; 

Yet it's hard to see how the VAR could ignore this level of contact, and it should have been given on field by referee Craig Pawson. Even though he had a clear view of the incident, his judgement was still incorrect -- so this isn't re-refereeing the game.

Chelsea would not have been in that situation in the first place had they taken advantage of their scoring opportunities (looking at you Nicholas Jackson).  For the year, Chelsea have the 5th highest negative differential between actual goals and xG.  Work on finishing not whining.

Nottingham Forest Complain Again

After their 0-2 loss at home to Man City, Forest management noted that they had warned PGMOL, that the fourth official assigned to the match - Tom Bramall - had once visited Manchester and said "he had a real good time."  In comments after the match on X, Forest officials said "we warned you this was a problem", noting the Bramall had caused Forest striker Chris Wood to miss two clear cut scoring chances. 

Some or all of the above may not be true.

Union No Longer Unbeaten

So apparently my not watching the Union has nothing to do with their performance.  I missed both Saturday and Tuesday and they lost both.  Saturday was a 1-2 loss to Real Salt Lake in which the U surrendered the winning goal in the 89th minute.  On Tuesday, they fell behind Seattle 0-3 in the first half.  They rallied with two in the second half but could not get the equalizer.  

 So now the U sit seventh, although they do have a game in hand.  

Limited Viewing

Going to be a tough weekend as I will be in Lewisburg for a track team reunion Thursday through Saturday, then recording a concert in Aston on Sunday. Hoping I can get to see one or two matches on replay after everybody's gone to bed.

Not that the fixtures are all that enticing but there is some good stuff.  Liverpool vs Tottenham at 11:30 on Sunday looks to be the best.  Nottingham Forest get to play Sheffield United, a great chance for three points; that's Saturday at 10 am on USA.  Chelsea -West Ham at 9 on Sunday has implications for the European spots.

The title contenders have what look like winnable matches - Arsenal host Bournemouth (7:30 Saturday on USA) and Man City have Wolves at home (the NBC feature match at 12:30 on Saturday).

Newcastle have a great chance to solidify their hopes for Europe as they play Burnley (10 am Saturday on Peacock).  Similarly, Aston Villa can tighten their hold on 4th as they travel to face Brighton on Sunday at 9.

The weekend is bookended with a Friday match between Luton and Everton and a Monday contest between Crystal Palace and Man United.  In the one match with no implications, Brentford play Fulham at 10 am Saturday.

Champions League semi-final second legs are mid-week with all to play for.  PSG host Dortmund on Tuesday, trailing 0-1.  Bayern are at Real Madrid on Wednesday with the score all even at 2-2.  Aston Villa, after a poor effort on Thursday against Olympiacos, are looking at 4-2 deficit for the second leg of that Europa Conference League semi. 

The Union have an early six-pointer against 8th place DC United.  That's at 7:30 Saturday on "free" Apple.

Sigh, all this soccer but limited opportunities to watch.