Weekend fixtures
SaturdayBurnley vs. Southampton
Chelsea vs. Hull
Crystal Palace vs. Stoke
Leicester vs. Man City
Sunderland vs. West Ham
West Brom vs. Aston Villa
Arsenal vs. Newcastle
Sunday
Man Utd vs. Liverpool
Swansea vs. Tottenham
Monday
Everton vs. QPR
There is an increasing strain on the face of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. His beaming white smile has not been flashed anywhere near the number of times it was last season. Habitually a beacon for positivity, the Northern Irishman cut a particularly downtrodden figure on Tuesday night in the wake of this campaign's latest setback, as all that the side fought for in 2013-14 went up in smoke before the end of the calendar year.
It was anticipated that the Anfield effect would be enough to rouse these underperforming Reds players in their final Champions League group game against Basel, but again they were listless and got what they deserved: barely a draw. Regardless of who left and who arrived in the summer, or the so-called challenges involved in a return to the competition after a five-year absence, Rodgers should have guided his team into second place behind Real Madrid, considering their group consisted of Basel and Ludogorets.
Which is the weakest part of Liverpool's team?
A case in point are Manchester United, who have somehow strung together a run of five top-flight wins despite their displays not meriting such a sequence. Most recently they triumphed at Southampton as their two shots on target ended up in the back of the net and handed them a 2-1 victory that lifted them to third in the table. Third! At least their manager Louis van Gaal was frank in his assessment of his team's 90 minutes: "The performance was not good enough -- we were the lucky team."
"For us the solution is simple -- we have to be better in our performance level" was Rodgers' rather broad resolution for Liverpool. Perhaps of greatest concern, putting the Luis Suarez sale aside and the failure to improve an already brittle defence, is the lack of chances created. Opponents are hardly being made to work hard to stifle the Reds, a team famed for its dizzying movement last campaign. Certainly, Liverpool's 3-0 win at Old Trafford in the corresponding fixture last term feels a lot longer ago than March 16, 2014.
Under pressure: Arsene Wenger
It was very Arsenal to lose at Stoke as they did but also very Arsenal to respond as they did at Galatasaray three days later. When it mattered in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger's team's susceptibility for defensive incompetence, combined with gutlessness, saw them concede three times in the opening 45 minutes at the Britannia. In a Champions League game that meant not much, though -- the Gunners impressed and scored some excellent goals. Ergo, all is right in the Wenger world.
Now, Wenger did not warrant the frankly classless verbal barbs from those at Stoke-on-Trent station that followed the 3-2 loss, although if you sift through the lack of respect shown there are grains of agitation not without cause. Some will, of course, counter that Gunners fans are acting with a sense of entitlement, that regular Champions League qualification is a reward not a right. But that is to miss the point. Stagnation is the nub of the issue at the Emirates -- that, with Wenger at the helm, a resistance to being true winners remains.
A home match against Newcastle awaits on Saturday evening, the Magpies with their tails up after ending Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season -- a result probably met with a deep sigh of relief in North London as it meant their 2003-04 record remained unique. A grotesque start was the Gunners' undoing at Stoke, not dissimilar to last season's away meetings with Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea, casting concern that a regression instead of progression is indeed setting in. Far better will be demanded by an increasingly disenchanted Gunners faithful.
Finding form: Manchester City
Maybe the Premier League title race isn't a foregone conclusion after all? (It still probably is.) Chelsea's loss at Newcastle and Manchester City's 1-0 win over Everton cut the Blues' lead at the summit to three points and widened it from third spot to five, which rubber-stamped this season as the two-horse race it was predicted to be. It really has been a good week for Manuel Pellegrini's side as, after their fourth victory on the spin in the league, they then booked their place in the knockout phase of the Champions League with an impressive win at Roma.
Pellegrini said of the news the Argentine, who has scored 19 goals in all competitions this term, will be out for up to six weeks: "Our team doesn't depend on one player." And, although the statistics suggest otherwise, City can probably take comfort in his absence coming during a seemingly favourable, albeit hectic, run of fixtures: Leicester, Crystal Palace, West Brom, Burnley and Sunderland. Caveat Aguero's injury with the return of the wonderful David Silva and Pellegrini's words don't seem too daft.
Statistically speaking (via Opta)
- Only Everton v Liverpool (20) has seen more red cards than Liverpool vs. Manchester United of all fixtures in Premier League history (15)
- Angel Di Maria has 20 goal assists in 2014 -- more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues
- Newcastle United have won just one of the last 14 Premier League matches against Arsenal (W1 D5 L8), and have lost the last five on the bounce
- Olivier Giroud has netted four goals in four Premier League appearances against Newcastle
- Manchester City have only had more points at this stage of a season in one previous campaign (2011-12 -- 38 points)
All hail Big Sam Allardyce and his fourth-placed West Ham United. To think his future was in serious doubt towards the latter part of last season -- this campaign (see Alan Pardew at Newcastle) really is one of renaissance. The Hammers' 3-1 win over Swansea was a third in succession and, after just 15 matches of 2014-15, they are a mere 13 points short of 2013-14's points total of 40. There's surely a part of everyone that would love to see Allardyce doing his thing in the Champions League. Watch out, Europe's elite (and Sunderland on Saturday), because Andy Carroll's coming to get you.
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