Ger McCarthy
WINNERS
Manchester City
WHEN the chips were down City’s multi-million pound squad responded with a courageous display to see off in-form Arsenal and record an eighth consecutive home Premier League victory. Bitter rivals Manchester United had earlier grabbed top spot following a routine win but a City side still smarting from an early Champions League exit produced a thrilling display to quickly regain the number one position.
Roberto Mancini put off-field headlines of Christmas party shenanigans and a training ground bust-up involving (surprise, surprise) Mario Balotelli to one side and orchestrated the Citizens most impressive 90 minutes of the current campaign. When City’s nerve was questioned Mancini’s players responded in the best possible fashion and the blue half of Manchester remain favourites to claim the title heading into the New Year.
Luis Suarez
THE Uruguayan international spent most of the week locked in a private disciplinary hearing with Liverpool and FA officials explaining the origin of alleged racist remarks made to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra. That difficult backdrop to Sunday’s 2-0 away win at Aston Villa made Suarez’s individual performance all the more impressive. The Liverpool striker did not score in the one-sided victory but twice rattled the upright and produced an all-action display reminiscent of a previous owner of the famous number seven jersey, Peter Beardsley, during his Anfield hey-days.
No other Premier League player has hit the post or crossbar more than Suarez this term (five times) and Liverpool have now hit the woodwork a total of 16 times in 2011-’12*. So important is Suarez to the way Liverpool play that any potential ban emanating from the current inquiry would have a devastating effect on Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top four.
Wayne Rooney
BARELY 53 seconds had elapsed at Loftus Road when Wayne Rooney connected with a diving header to divert Antonio Valencia’s cross into the net for Manchester United striker’s 11th league goal of the season. Rooney’s third strike in two games has formed the genesis of Alex Ferguson’s side’s mini-revival since bowing out of the Champions League at the hands of FC Basel 1893.
It isn’t just Rooney’s goal scoring form that has returned rather his infectious attitude, work rate and ability to knit midfield with attack which has coincided with an upturn in the Old Trafford club’s form. As with Van Persie at Arsenal and Silva at Man City, Wayne Rooney is the creative attacking catalyst and his health/form will be pivotal to United’s chances of retaining their Premier League crown.
Dutch goalkeepers
IT should have come as little surprise that the Premier League clash between Newcastle and Swansea ended scoreless on Saturday afternoon with Michel Vorm and Tim Krul in goal at either end of the pitch. The two Dutch goalkeepers have each been in tremendous form this season with Vorm in particular catching the eye having produced eight clean sheets in sixteen league outings. Both Alan Pardew and Brendan Rodgers will have their hands full preventing some of the continent’s top clubs from prising away their prized goalkeeping assets in the January and summer transfer periods.
Stoke
TONY Pulis deserves huge credit for guiding Stoke City to a fourth successive Premier League victory for the first time since 1981. The imminent arrival of Primera Liga side Valencia to the Britannia Stadium for a Europa League tie in the New Year underlines why it is good time to be a Stoke City supporter. Pulis’ sensible transfer dealings has seen the Potters rise to eighth in the standings and on current form there is little reason to doubt Stoke’s ability to secure another top ten finish.
Wigan
JORDI Gomez’s equaliser two minutes from time earned relegation threatened Wigan Athletic a merited draw at home to Chelsea at the weekend. Roberto Martinez’s side moved within a point of squeezing out of the relegation zone and the Spanish manager will take great heart from the battling display which ended high-flying Chelsea’s recent run of form. James McCarthy’s deep-lying role in midfield nullified many of Chelsea’s attacks while the tireless running of Victor Moses and Jordi Gomez offered a constant outlet in the final third of the pitch. If Wigan can reproduce similar displays over the Christmas period then the most unlikely escapes from relegation could materialise for a second consecutive season at the DW Stadium.
LOSERS
Theo Walcott
THE England international winger has shown flashes of brilliance during the 2011-’12 campaign but if ever Arsene Wenger needed Walcott to impose his searing pace and undoubted ability it was at the Etihad Stadium against table-toppers Manchester City. Instead the Arsenal winger looked a pale shadow of the player who burst onto the international scene only a few short years ago by scoring a hat-trick for his country away to Croatia.
Walcott was up against Argentinean international full-back Pablo Zabaleta yesterday but failed to make any impression before eventually being hauled off with 21 minutes to go. It is not clear whether Walcott was upset at his own personal display or the fact he was being replaced by the equally ineffectual Andrei Arshavin when leaving the field of play.
Wolves
MICK McCarthy’s Wolves crashed to a fourth home defeat of the 2011-12 campaign and the Midlands club have managed just 3 points in their previous five Premier League outings. That’s relegation form and Wolves latest loss was met with a chorus of boos from the Molineux faithful at the conclusion of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Stoke. Wanderers face Norwich in a must-win game tomorrow night before travelling to Bolton next Saturday for an equally important fixture. McCarthy knows his side simply have to pick up some points in their next two matches otherwise his job could be on the line.
Owen Coyle and Steve Kean
IT is surely only a matter of time before both Owen Coyle and Steve Kean receive their marching orders from Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers after another dreadful set of results for the two relegation threatened clubs this past weekend. Both are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premier League with a combined total of 19 miserly points and the simple truth is that neither side looks like getting out of the drop zone under their current management. It’s a little ironic then that Blackburn host Wanderers at Ewood Park on Tuesday night in a relegation six-pointer where the losing manager might well be looking for a new job come Wednesday morning.
* Stats courtesy of Opta
Follow Ger McCarthy on Twitter: @offcentrecircle
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/AIFWILEbBIg/post.aspx
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