Premiership Weekend Preview
By guest writer: Ashley Williams (@A_Will83)
What a massive weekend ahead if you’re a football fan. Midweek saw Sunderland somehow go from looking like they were going to be hammered, to getting in front and almost pulling off the impossible to then still grabbing a point against Premiership favourites Manchester City.
This has massive implications for the title race. Whilst City would be out of the race entirely had they lost, surely dropping two points has cost them. Their fate is no longer in their hands. They need to win all remaining games and hope Liverpool and Chelsea both drop points in their final four games. Jose Mourinho’s men play in the evening game on Saturday against the current bogey team, Sunderland. Could the Wearsiders upset the odds again twice in a row against two of the top three sides? They nearly pulled off an upset at Anfield last month too. Liverpool go to Norwich where it seems customary these days for them to allow Luis Suarez to bag a hat trick.
Should Chelsea manage to grab the spoils this weekend then it looks like the decider could very well be at Anfield on the 27th of April. With City having dropped points Liverpool could now afford to draw that game at home providing they can win their other 3 games. Man City seem to have injury doubts after the Sunderland game to Zabaleta and Aguero. Chelsea have no real injury concerns. Liverpool will be missing Henderson due to his sending off last outing v Man City. Sturridge is fighting to prove his fitness to play some part against Norwich.
Chelsea and City keep saying the pressure is on Liverpool. They say Liverpool have not had to handle this type of pressure before. There is something Chelsea and City seem to have forgotten. Liverpool’s target for this season was 4th, not the title. Liverpool have little pressure on them. They aren’t under the microscope for spending lavishly the past few season.
Liverpool are not being investigated by UEFA due to the possibility of them trying to exploit the Financial Fair Play rules. UEFA will likely only fine or possibly ban teams from European competition for a season or two. Any kind of punishment should really be filtered to the teams domestic competitions since they will use the players in the competitions to try and achieve continental qualification.
Man City have already cracked under the pressure and their play on the pitch isn’t as slick as it had been earlier in the season. Chelsea are not playing sublime football but what they are doing is grinding out results. Something they and Liverpool are doing.
The next 10 days, 2 games, will almost certainly define the winners of the title. Hold on to your hats, there’s still a mini roller-coaster of emotions to go through yet.
Follow me on Twitter: @A_Will83
