Saints’ recovery has them back on track
NOT THAT LONG ago, Southampton were in free-fall. At one stage, in early January, Ronald Koeman’s side dropped to 13th and the following weekend they were eliminated from the FA Cup thanks to a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
Now, it’s all changed.
Quietly, they’ve built themselves back up and are unbeaten in their last six games ahead of a meeting with Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
The biggest reason for the up-turn? A tight defence.
As much as they’re unbeaten in their last six top-flight encounters, they’ve kept six consecutive clean sheets.
Their recovery sees them in sixth place, one point behind Manchester United and Europa League group stage qualification is well within their grasp.
A glance at their remaining fixtures sees a collection of very winnable assignments (Bournemouth, Sunderland, Newcastle, Aston Villa) and with goals being shared around, there’s a shared responsibility to the cause.
Alan Pardew & Palace have every reason to be concerned
Earlier this month, Alan Pardew revealed that he feared a relegation battle should Crystal Palace fail to beat Swansea.
They drew and followed that result up with another loss to Watford.
The team has picked up just three points since the turn of the year and, right now, they’re the worst side in the league with a points-per-game average of 0.6. From their last ten top-flight games, they’ve won once but the biggest concern is where the turnaround is going to come from.
Currently, their season is being saved by an FA Cup run – Palace’s last outing was a 1-0 victory over a second-string Spurs side.
The most damning stat, however, is that despite adding so much depth to their squad during the summer and beginning the season so brightly, they’re joint-top scorer is centre-back Scott Dann with five goals.
The likes of Bolasie and Zaha have flattered to deceive, playing in drips and drabs and failing to show any sign of consistency.
There are some big tests ahead though, perhaps most worryingly of all, there are also some potential relegation six-pointers to contend with too.
Will Manchester United learn their lesson from last October’s hammering?
You’d forgive the usually calm and composed Louis van Gaal for coming out in hot sweats on Saturday evening.
Arsenal tore his United side to shreds last October with a blistering and brilliant first 19 minutes. Alexis Sanchez scored twice while Mesut Ozil added another as the Gunners had the run of the Emirates Stadium.
It was bewildering to see how United engaged Arsenal instead of relying on their counter-attack to find holes. They were picked to pieces and the strategy failed miserably though Petr Cech did pull off a great save just before the break to deny Anthony Martial which may have changed things.
With van Gaal such a stubborn personality, it will be intriguing to see how he lines up his side on Sunday afternoon, especially considering his depleted squad.
United’s young guns impressed on Thursday and the team’s qualification to the quarter-finals of a European tournament will elicit a confidence. But it’s hard to know how much of the performance against Midtjylland was down to adrenaline. And it’s hard to know whether Memphis Depay’s delightful contribution was a temporary deviation from crushing disappointment or the start of something genuinely exciting.
Once again, van Gaal and his side have quite a few questions to answer this weekend.
Leicester are over the worst of it but is that a good thing?
Since the last-gasp loss to Arsenal, the league-leaders have had two weeks off to mull it over.
With twelve games left in the season, they can take a look around and realise the worst is over…in theory.
Their remaining games throw up a multitude of struggling sides and some mid-table also-rans. There are two difficult away treks to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge but everything else seems very agreeable.
With the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham also set for continued European distraction for a while longer, there seems no reason not to expect Claudio Ranieri’s side being there or thereabouts come May.
And perhaps that’s the biggest concern for the team.
The expectation is now on Leicester to win games, starting with Norwich this weekend. The Canaries are without a victory since 2nd January and have been in dismal form ever since.
This is a game that should mean an easy three points for Leicester. But if they stumble, it’s inevitable their run-in will go a certain way.
Injuries a testament to Spurs’ season but could cost them
It’s back-to-back London derbies for Tottenham in the next few weeks while they have a European tie against Borussia Dortmund to navigate too.
Currently second in the league, it has been a superb campaign for Mauricio Pochettino and shows what can happen when a young, intelligent manager is given time to develop a squad.
Still, it’s a thin group and frantically fighting on both domestic and European fronts has inevitably led to injuries.
Moussa Dembele and Harry Kane both missed Thursday’s win over Fiorentina and the former is expected to be sidelined for the next few weeks.
Facing Swansea at White Hart Lane this Sunday, a win may take them to the summit, depending on how other results go.
But they can’t afford to lose any more key players with so much on the line and so many high-profile fixtures on the horizon.
It’s about as pointless a fight as I can imagine to be honest. Crolla doesn’t even have a puncher’s chance as he’s not a particularly heavy hitter.
@Edmund Spencer: not a snowball’s chance in hell of beating him.
I don’t begrudge him the payday, he’s served his time and seems like a good guy. Mandatory challenger too so he’s arguably earned it.