ARSENAL MIGHT NEED TO BE AFRAID: Well contrary to what their manager Arsene Wenger believes the Gunners might need to be afraid of their opp...
ARSENAL MIGHT NEED TO BE AFRAID:
Well contrary to what their manager Arsene Wenger believes the Gunners might need to be afraid of their opponents on Saturday.
Waving off Ryan Shawcross' comments about the dislike of Arsenal by Stoke City fans, Arsene Wenger would clearly be aware of the physicality of the game at Britannia and his team's single victory there since 2008.
The Gunners' consolation would be that the Britannia has been less than intimidating as compared to past seasons but with the Gunners having unconvincing wins too, the balance might just still be there of finesse meeting fear.
HERE COMES THE CYCLE, NEWCASTLE:
Starting the season in the worst possible way ever, the Toons were able to bounce back with five straight wins after losing seven in a row, and now the Toons, just like the Real Business Cycle theory, are likely to start their downward trend and it gets worse with Newcastle welcoming Chelsea to St. James Park.
Alan Pardew was able to succeed against Chelsea last season but with the form Jose Mourinho's men are in this season, Newcastle are in for a treat with Arsenal, Tottenham in the League Cup, then Sunderland, Man Utd, and Everton to follow.
Would Alan Pardew be able to put the brakes to an inevitable cycle by beating an unbeaten Chelsea side?
SACK RACE FOR ALAN IRVINE:
At the early season you would not think of Irvine being the first to go, Alan Pardew probably being the first to see the axe or Nigel Pearson as well. After 14 games now, West Brom find themselves in 16th position, 3 points off the bottom, and the crowd at Hawthorns are crying for a win given their four losses in a row run.
West Brom travel to KC Stadium to face Steve Bruce's Hull City and a loss there would only make for the West Brom faithful to cry for something more than a win but head.
The last time these side met it was a league cup encounter with West Brom scoring two goals in the last couple of minutes to secure a 3-2 win over Hull. Alan Irvine can only pray for two things at the moment, a deja vu or a healthy P45.
PERSONAL, VERY PERSONAL:
Southampton welcome Man Utd to St. Mary's on Monday night, and with successive losses to Man City and Arsenal, a loss to Man Utd would only make the Saints fall further.
Southampton are currently facing serious injury crisis and Man Utd ARE facing similar crisis.
But the talk of the game would be the long standing feud between Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman. Koeman worked under LvG during the Man Utd's boss spell at Barcelona, and the relationship started to rot between the two when the LvG was director of football at Ajax and Koeman the manager there.
Both never reconciled properly after their departures from Ajax and Monday night would be a show of power play. Football is more than a round leather ball, you know?
SURPRISE ELEVEN:
Rotations have been part of Brendan Rodgers' agenda this season, and it just bows down to reasons which we can't figure out and which him he decides are valid enough to warrant those rotations.
Liverpool need to beat Basel in the Champions League to progress to the knockout stages and would need his best men in that game, energetic and prepared but three points also in the Premier League is key for Liverpool so as not to fall totally off in their struggle season against Sunderland.
Who starts, who rests, which is more important progress- to the knockout stages or securing next year's continental ticket? The Reds have played four games in the space of about 9 days and no surprises if key men are left out of this fixture against the Black Cats.
Written by:.@ChukaMVP