Will Arsenal or Liverpool suffer a hangover, will Spurs ever beat United and could Keith Andrews finally sink AVB. There’s a lot to watch out for this weekend in the Premier League.
Momentum, mo’ problems
First off, apologies to Notorious BIG for butchering his line but this weekend’s game between Liverpool and Arsenal poses a few issues for Arsene Wenger and Kenny Dalglish as both men arrive at this match on the crest of a wave.
Liverpool won their first trophy in six years on Sunday. It was also the first pot of the John Henry era and the first Dalglish won since his return to Anfield. Arsenal produced arguably their best ever display at their new home as they thumped Spurs 5-2 on the same day so the mood must be high in both camps.
But both need to keep it up. Arsenal are in fourth right now but only by the skin of their teeth. Any slip ups between now and the end of the season could spell a year away from the Champions League. Liverpool too need to be in that top four and can’t afford to let the real sense of a new dawn at the club dissipate so quickly. It should be a cracker with so much at stake.
When ‘Arry met Alex
To say Tottenham are rubbish whenever they play United is an insult to pieces of garbage everywhere. Spurs haven’t beaten the Red Devils since a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane at the tail end of the 2000/01 season, when United already had the title wrapped up and had their suitcases for their holidays packed.
Since then they have played 25 times and Spurs haven’t won one. They may be a bit better under Harry but they are still a bit flaky too, as evidenced last Sunday. With Manchester City likely to crucify Bolton at the Etihad, United need a win. If past history is any predictor of future performance, they will get it.
Stars in stripes
Last weekend’s North London derby was pretty special so the Tyne-Wear derby has a lot to live up to this weekend. All Irish eyes will be on James McClean again as the Irish football public try to will him onto the plane to Poland like some massive Derren Brown mind trick.
But there are other things to watch here too. The Newcastle attack is one of the finest in the Premier League and Sunderland shipped four last week in a very poor defensive display at West Brom. If the Magpies click, at home, they could romp away here. It could be a busy one for John O’Shea and Co.
Andrews to unsettle AVB’s stomach?
We have been hugely impressed by Keith Andrews play this season. Playing a bit closer to goal he has was banging them in for fun at Ipswich and he has carried that form with him to West Brom, where he has two from two. He’s not exactly Frank Lampard but he is doing a passable impression.
Keith ‘Goal Machine’ Andrews
This weekend he comes up against the original, as Chelsea come to The Hawthorns. As if you needed to be told, all is not well at Chelsea and AVB seems to be on a week-to-week chopwatch at this stage.
The Blues banished Bolton 3-0 last week but West Brom look to have finally discovered some home form under Roy Hodgson. We will be watching how Keith does on Saturday with great interest.
Big Eck in big trouble
When he rocked up at Villa Park, he was about as welcome as a tax inspector at his former home Ibrox. Since then things have gone downhill for Alex McLeish. With Richard Dunne out for a while, Robbie Keane back in L.A. and Darren Bent out for the season, that downhill slope has gotten even steeper of late.
This week he travels to face another embattled Scot, in the shape of Steve Kean. He is still the man in charge at Blackburn and they have been showing some flickering signs of life of late, even if they remain in the bottom three.
A win would lift Rovers out of the mire and drop Villa right in it. If that does come to pass things will get even bleaker for McLeish.
