In this weekend’s Premier League preview, we think it’s too early to give up on Fernando Torres and Spurs, but fear that it could be the end of the road for Mick McCarthy.
Could Manchester United be the red rag to reignite Fernando Torres?
After a half-decent performance against United in the FA Cup and a goal during the week, some people think that Liverpool’s Andy Carroll is a man reborn all of a sudden. If that rather lazy logic is anything to go by, then surely all will be forgiven by Chelsea fans should Fernando Torres prove the matchwinner against the Red Devils on Sunday.
It will take a lot more than one performance for the Chelsea fans to be convinced, but United should be warned because Torres has done well against them in the past. He was a regular goalscorer against them in his Liverpool days and was the one striker that used to give Nemanja Vidic nightmares.
Even when guilty of one of the worst misses of all time at Old Trafford earlier in the season, he looked sharp, as he has done on plenty of occasions this season. The finishing touch is patently lacking at the moment, but we have a hunch that he’s far from finished yet.
Time for Everton to kick on
One thing you can almost count on in the Premier League – like Arsene Wenger saying he didn’t see a controversial incident involving his own player or that there’ll always be more than four minutes of injury time at Old Trafford if United are losing – is that Everton will have a bad start to the season.
The Toffees have been playing catch-up in the second half of the season for a few years now before finishing strong and it looks as if this year will be no different thanks to their efforts in the transfer market over January. The last-minute capture of Steven Pienaar was a real coup, as was the temporary signing of Landon Donovan.
We have yet to see what Nikica Jelavic is made of, while so far Darron Gibson seems like a shrewd piece of business, showing that although he mightn’t have been Old Trafford standard, he was never as bad as was often made out. Everton are tenth at the moment, but we expect them to make a big push between now and the end of the season, starting away to Wigan this weekend.
Spurs not out of the race just yet
Following their terribly dramatic loss to Man City a fortnight ago, Spurs were all but written off as title contenders, moving out to 25/1 in the betting and seemingly destined to disappear with little trace.
Everton showed during the week, however, that there are plenty of twists and turns to come and should Manchester United conceivably lose to Chelsea and Spurs manage to beat Liverpool on Monday night, ‘Arry’s boys will be within two points of second place again.
With these two around, anything’s possible for Spurs
Beating Liverpool at Anfield is no easy task and we’d still doubt their capacity to stick with the top two when things get really tight, but with Bale and Modric in the team, you just never know. If you believe, they can still be backed at 14/1 for the title, which could earn you enough money to set up a Monaco bank account in the name of your own dog.
The writing’s on the wall for poor old Mick
The situation at Wolves at the moment has all the signs of an impending managerial departure. The fans’ anger is being vented louder and louder by the week, there has already been a false alarm over McCarthy’s actual sacking, while the latest report to come from Molineux is that owner Steve Morgan felt compelled to read the riot act to the players following an insipid display against Liverpool in the week.
McCarthy has come across tired and fed up in interviews of late and although he managed to bring in a few players in January, it might be too late to stop the rot. As he might say himself in his lazy Barnsley drawl, Mick’s backside is in the bacon slicer and it may be only a matter of time before the handle is pulled.
Time for QPR to get some bang for their buck
Everton might have done the best business, but QPR were certainly the loudest during the transfer window and they need a fairly instant return on their investment. Djibril Cisse has already made an impact and Mark Hughes will demand that Bobby Zamora justify what were apparently outrageous wage demands.
The most interesting signing of the lot could prove to be Taye Taiwo on loan from AC Milan and he already had a pretty eventful debut, getting booked and providing an assist against Aston Villa in midweek. It’s good that both he and Cisse appeared to have adapted fairly quickly, because with only three points separating them and the relegation zone, they need a rapid rise up the table as quickly as possible.
