Last week we linked Newcastle with the R word yet now after a win at Crystal Palace, they sit 8th in the table. The Union finally saw their unbeaten streak broken but they did get a point on the road later in the week. Fourth tier Fleetwood Town pulled off what might be the greatest upset in any English Cup competition.
We Needed That
While not as deadly as The Emirates, Newcastle haven't exactly shone brightly at Selhurst Park recently either. They were outplayed by Palace in the first half but got busy right after the second half whistle. At 47 minutes, Murphy sent a perfect cross that Osula could not help but put in the goal. You can see it here as this week's YouTubeableMoment. Willock nearly made it 2-0 minutes later but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside. No matter, as soon after Harvey Barnes got one that counted. Palace certainly had their chances in the final 40+ minutes but Hornicek effectively dealt with the few that did not go soaring over the cross bar. Ah, here's a familiar situation - Palace had the better xG at 1.81 to 1.15.
Jaissle sent out significantly reworked line up for this one. The back line featured Schaar, Burn and Dedic to go with Lewis Hall rather than Botman, Thiaw and Miley. That paid off. He also put Osula up top instead of Fernandez-Pardo and was rewarded for that too. Nico Gonzalez had a solid game in the defensive midfield, providing some insight as to why he was so highly sought after. And, Lukas Hornicek finally looked confident in goal and provided some key saves.
So maybe this is a side still working to figure out who they are as opposed to relegation fodder.
City No Longer Perfect
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Jackson making Villa look good despite what Dennis or I say about him
Martin Rickett/Press Association |
Speaking of being out xGed, Man City had 1.99 to Aston Villa's .64 but it was the Villans who got the 2-1 win, handing the Citizens their first loss of the year. Two clutch goals from Nicolas Jackson offset Haaland's tally. Regular readers know that both Dennis and I have ragged on Jackson for several years running; he's highly rated but just too inconsistent a scorer for our tastes. So there are slightly mixed feelings as his recent performance may be proving us wrong even as he's helping Aston Villa move up the table. We are working on the theory that Jackson got his reputation working under Emery and is finding his scoring touch after being reunited with his former coach.
Arsenal pretty much ran over Everton 2-0 so City and the Gunners are now level on points at the top.
Carrick Hanging On By A Thread
Though we didn't see the match, the stats suggest there was nothing fluky about Bournemouth's crushing 3-0 defeat of Man United at Old Trafford. United did have better possession and led in shots 15-9 but the Cherries had more shots on goal (4-3) and did better on expected goals 2.27 - 1.01. Embattled manager Michael Carrick seems to have survived the defeat, though the stories circulating suggest the support from ownership was not overwhelming and might not last should the Red Devils fall to Chelsea this week.
Liverpool's fortunes look to be improving as they snagged an important 2-0 win over upstart Brighton. That's two straight league wins plus two recent CL victories and a shoot-out win over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.
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Shaky debut for Mike Penders as
he punches the ball into his own goal |
Good news for Tottenham fans too. Spurs notched a 2-0 over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a place where they win maybe once a century. Not to take too much away from the win, Chelsea were the architects of their own downfall. The first tally was an own goal by keeper Mike Penders, who is filling in for the injured Emi Martinez (out six weeks with fractured jaw); he attempted to punch a cross out of the box but sent it into his own goal instead. Cole Palmer then got sent off for a second yellow (he was lucky to avoid a straight red earlier) and Spurs took advantage, with Mathys Tel salting away the win with a nifty shot at 87 minutes. This was a chippy affair, with 28 fouls (14 a piece) and seven yellows.
Not Minnows But Cods
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Oh my Cod, we did it: Fleetwood players race
to celebrate their shootout win over Arsenal
Photograph: Jon Super/Reuters |
Arsenal had looked to draw the easiest opponent in the Carabao Cup Fourth Round, getting to face Fleetwood Town FC, currently 18th in League Two. That's a difference of 84 places in the English football hierarchy. In these cup competitions, they always warn you about the minnows, or in this case The Cods. Fleetwood struck first but when Arsenal scored at 50 minutes, one expected the underdogs o fold. They did not and took the match to a penalty shoot out (in the early rounds they don't play extra time). The Fleetwood takers went 5 for 5 and sent the Gunners home to wonder how they lost despite outshooting their hosts 15-2 and having more shots on target (5-2).
Here's the decisive miss by Guimaraes and the winning kick by Conor Haughey.
Newcastle started almost the same line up from Saturday as they faced Everton in their Carabao Cup fixture. They won the statistical battle but lost 3-1 on the scoreboard. Can't say I'm tremendously disappointed with the result. I would much rather see them win the league contest with the Toffees on Monday.
Two other matches went to a shoot out, with Man City besting Brighton and Liverpool defeating Chelsea. Aston Villa played a largely rotated line up and mostly looked disinterested in a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth. Bradford looked better than their League One rival Peterborough in a 2-0 win, Sunderland bested Brentford. and Palace squeaked by Fulham. The quarters on December 15th look like this:
Crystal Palace - Sunderland
Liverpool - Bournemouth
Man City - Bradford City
Fleetwood - Everton
The Streak Ends
The Union lost for the first time since spring, falling to the New England Revolution 1-2. Possible explanations for the loss include:
- the Revolution are a good team
- the U were missing Cavan Sullivan, who sat out with an ankle injury
- they sent too many shots over the cross bar
- most of their crosses went right to NE keeper Matt Turner
- Jeff H and Steve had Primo hoagies instead of the usual sausage sandwich; yes that sounds like a violation of
advice from Crash Davis but I had a chicken cheese steak last week and they still got a draw with Charlotte so we're heavily discounting this factor
The Boys in Blue did rebound with a 0-0 draw at league leading Nashville. From what I saw, this looked like the correct result; neither team had many decent chances. I guess Bender did have a pretty good chance to score on a great cross from Quinn Sullivan but hit the keeper.
The point clinches at least the play-in playoff spot.
Busy Again
The Premier League has an incredibly crowded Saturday, a disappointingly skimpy Sunday and a dreaded Monday match for Newcastle. There is midweek action in Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
The early Saturday match (8:30 instead of 7:30 because we haven't fallen back yet) is an intriguing one with Chelsea hosting Man United. The Blues are in fifth despite three losses in eight matches and Carrick's Man United look in total disarray. Recommended if you like car crashes.
For some reason the schedulers piled five matches into the 11 am slot. I will likely go with Hull - Ipswich, two of the pre-season relegation favorites who currently sit 10th and 12th in the table. Coventry versus Sunderland is a true relegation battle as they are 19th and 20th in the table. Other choices are Bournemouth - Leeds, Brentford - Nottingham Forest, and Man City - Brighton.
The NBC feature match at 1:30 is a London derby between Spurs and Crystal Palace; on paper this looks like a chance for Spurs to continue their progress. We get a bonus 4 pm fixture at 4 pm on Peacock with Aston Villa hosting Fulham; as with Spurs, this looks like a chance for Villa to creep up the table some more.
The crowded Saturday calendar leaves us with but one Sunday fixture. At least it's a good one with Liverpool hosting Arsenal. Even with the match at Anfield, Arsenal are still decent favorites at 41/33/26.
The match week ends with Newcastle hosting Everton at 3 pm on Monday. So far this season, the Magpies have lost two Monday matches by an aggregate 2-8. Still, Opta likes their chances at 47/27/26.
The Union are in Cincinnati for a 2 pm match. A draw with their hosts would guarantee them 7th or better, meaning they would not have to do the single elimination wild card playoff. A win would improve their chances of getting to fifth, which would likely mean their round one opponent would be Chicago instead of Miami or New England.
League play continues Tuesday through Thursday for the various European competitions. Unfortunately two of the most interesting fixtures for us are both at 3 pm on Tuesday. Aston Villa will host Barcelona in the Villans toughest Champions League test so far. At the same time Man United will face off against Roma at Old Trafford. We have questions like will Carrick even be the manager at that point or if he is, will a loss to Roma be the end for him?
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