The fight against Relegation

With there being only 4-5 games of the English premier league left it was imperative for Newcastle to pick up there first premier league win since the 6^th of February (1^st win in 8 games) when they beat West Brom 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mitrovic. Strangely enough Rafa Benitez decided to not go with Mitrovic (8 premier league goals) who has been effective for him since he took over at Newcastle and opt with Cissѐ who at this point had only one premier league to his name this season. Rafa talked about how his side had shown “passion and commitment”. That was definitely on show last Saturday and they will need the same today if they are going to defeat a Manchester City side who have seemed to click since the return of Kevin De Bruyne from injury. Newcastle however tend to before better at home then away with 5 of their 7 premier league wins coming at the St James’ Park.

Beating Man city will be a hard task for the magpies but they will be full of confidence with their win against Swansea. In their last six meetings against each other Newcastle have only beaten City once and that was away in the league cup in 2014. Newcastle will need to keep it tight tonight but with their only 2^nd clean sheet in 18 games coming on Saturday, all signs point to a Manchester City win as they push to solidify a place in the top four.

Sunderland on Song

Sunderland’s win on Saturday over Norwich was a crushing and demoralising blow. The 3-0 win drags Norwich right back in to the thick of the relegation fight. If they had beaten Sunderland they could have gone seven points clear but now they are just one point ahead. Advantage Sunderland as they have a game in hand and the better goal difference (-18). Defoe is looking inspirational for Sam Allardyce. He is a natural born goal scorer, a predator, a poacher a fox in a box he will get you goals. They traded Jozy Altidore a player who had just one premier league goal to his name in two and a half seasons of English football for Defoe in the January transfer window in 2015 he got goals last season and he is doing the business again. Himself and Borini caused havoc for the Norwich defence. Out of all the sides fighting relegation Defoe has the most goals this season with 13.

And lastly it was disappointing to see Aston villa getting relegated at Man Utd but it has seemed inevitable for the last couple of seasons. My only hope is that Aston Villa’s owner Randy Leaner sells the club swiftly, as well as selling players who don’t want to be there and bringing in new additions and a manager who has vast experience of the Championship which is an extremely difficult league to get promoted out of.

The fight against Relegation

With there being only 4-5 games of the English premier league left it was imperative for Newcastle to pick up there first premier league win since the 6^th of February (1^st win in 8 games) when they beat West Brom 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mitrovic. Strangely enough Rafa Benitez decided to not go with Mitrovic (8 premier league goals) who has been effective for him since he took over at Newcastle and opt with Cissѐ who at this point had only one premier league to his name this season. Rafa talked about how his side had shown “passion and commitment”. That was definitely on show last Saturday and they will need the same today if they are going to defeat a Manchester City side who have seemed to click since the return of Kevin De Bruyne from injury. Newcastle however tend to before better at home then away with 5 of their 7 premier league wins coming at the St James’ Park.

Beating Man city will be a hard task for the magpies but they will be full of confidence with their win against Swansea. In their last six meetings against each other Newcastle have only beaten City once and that was away in the league cup in 2014. Newcastle will need to keep it tight tonight but with their only 2^nd clean sheet in 18 games coming on Saturday, all signs point to a Manchester City win as they push to solidify a place in the top four.

Sunderland on Song

Sunderland’s win on Saturday over Norwich was a crushing and demoralising blow. The 3-0 win drags Norwich right back in to the thick of the relegation fight. If they had beaten Sunderland they could have gone seven points clear but now they are just one point ahead. Advantage Sunderland as they have a game in hand and the better goal difference (-18). Defoe is looking inspirational for Sam Allardyce. He is a natural born goal scorer, a predator, a poacher a fox in a box he will get you goals. They traded Jozy Altidore a player who had just one premier league goal to his name in two and a half seasons of English football for Defoe in the January transfer window in 2015 he got goals last season and he is doing the business again. Himself and Borini caused havoc for the Norwich defence. Out of all the sides fighting relegation Defoe has the most goals this season with 13.

And lastly it was disappointing to see Aston villa getting relegated at Man Utd but it has seemed inevitable for the last couple of seasons. My only hope is that Aston Villa’s owner Randy Leaner sells the club swiftly, as well as selling players who don’t want to be there and bringing in new additions and a manager who has vast experience of the Championship which is an extremely difficult league to get promoted out of.

Don't hold back in the Europa league

These days winning the Europa league just isn't about adding another cup to the trophy cabinet, the UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino confirmed in May 2013 that the winners of the Europa league will be going into next year's champions league. Sevilla fc took full advantage of this route beating the Ukrainian side Dnipro 3-2 in the 2014 final. Sevilla have flourished in this competition winning back to back Europa league titles (2013,2014). In the 2015-2016 Football season Spain became the first country to have five teams in the Champions league.

Both Man Utd and Liverpool are both on this quest to try to qualify for the champions league via the Europa league. In the Premier league table Man Utd are 6 points behind Man city in four place while Liverpool are nine points but due to both there inconsistent form qualification via the league seems to be pulling further and further away even if it is still mathematically possible.

Gone are the days of rotation and playing the youngsters both Man Utd, Liverpool and Tottenham will be playing full strength sides to progress further into the competition, they cant hold back and i'm predicting all teams to win and to go through.

For me personally I think Liverpool's game is the trickiest simply because of the league cup final at Wembley against Manchester City on Sunday. I think that Klopp will play strong sides for both the game tonight and Sunday,So how refreshing was it to hear yesterday of Daniel Sturridge's pledge of commitment to Liverpool. His goal to game ratio despite his injuries is phenomenal. He's missed approximately 614 days however he has scored 45 goals in 75 appearances. He's crucial not only in terms of his finishing but his pressing up the field. 

I'm predicting a 3-1 win for Liverpool with Sturridge to score a brace!!

Arsenal vs Barcelona Preview

I found myself laughing uncontrollably when my manager told me about a church in Nigeria praying for Arsenal to beat Barcelona tonight. It's almost as though they had been watching the Sunday supplement on Sky sports over the weekend. Matt Law one of the sports journalists on the show said this "They (Arsenal) need to just pray, Barcelona are 32 games unbeaten-it's Harlem Globetrotter football we've been seeing in recent weeks." The odds seems so heavily stacked in their favour and the facts definitely support this notion. The last time Barcelona suffered a loss was way back in October last year. Meanwhile over the course of that time the famous trident MSN (Messi, Suarez, Neymar) have scored bucket-load of goals, 91 goals in all competitions to be infact. The main question is can Arsenal beat Barcelona and what would be there plan?


 If we look into the last 5 games between the two sides Arsenal have won and drawn once, losing three times,but it's not all gloom and doom the game they won was at home in 2011 thanks to goals from Van Persie and Arshavin( what happened to him??). Arsene Wenger was right in telling his players to go for it, down below is 5 keys which must be implemented in the game for Arsenal to record a famous win over Barcelona.


 1) Be patient. That's easier said then done the truth of the matter is Arsenal won't have the sort of possession they do in the premier league they will have to patient and pick their moments.

 2) Take your chances

 In the game against Hull,Arsenal had 24 shots(11 on target ), they have to be clinical because they won't be afforded many chances against Barcelona.

 3) Stay compact but break with pace

 Arsenal's defensive shape will be crucial tonight, they have to deny players like Messi and co any space in between the lines. Pressing them at the right moments,but when they win the ball back they will need to counter with pace to get right at Barcelona.

 4) Be wary of the away goal

 Conceding too many goals at the Emirates stadium tonight could end the tie prematurely. Of course MSN are in great form, but Arsenal can't afford to be giving out any free gifts on the field.

 5) My last and key plan is closing down and stifling Sergio busquets.

Since Xavi left Barcelona he is more than ever there crucial passing clog. Highly effective and supremely underrated troubling the impressive midfielder may open the door for Arsenal in the game

August premier league review

The month of August was pure perfection for Man city who recorded 4 wins out of 4. Scoring 10 goals and their defence boasting a record of 4 clean sheets to go with there impressive form. Man city spent big over the summer and for me the pick of their transfers could be Kevin De bruyne. Yes 55 million is a huge amount of money and a club record fee for City but he comes with an impressive CV in the bundesliga since he left Chelsea in January 2014. He racked up a whopping 20 assists last season for Wolfsburg equalling a league record. The so called big teams in the league have all had stuttering starts; Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, and arsenal have all looked unconvincing.

No one would of ever predicted The champions sitting 13th in the league after 4 games. Losing to both Crystal palace and Man city comprehensively, in a game in which saw Mourinho describe the outcome as a "fake result". Chelsea conceded the fewest goals (32) last season and only lost 3 times however the defence that was looking resolute and solid now looks very leaky. It would be very premature to think that Chelsea are out of the premier league race but it's vital that they win today at Everton. 

Since the season started last month I've been hugely impressed with Swansea and Leicester City and with Gomis, Mahrez and Ayew (The first two players are joint top goal scorers in the league with Callum Wilson all scoring 4 goals). Both Swansea and Leicester City remain unbeaten in the league.

Gomis has gone from strength to strength since Bony's big money move to Man City and becoming a starter in the Swansea side. In his last 8 seasons at Lyon he always scored at least 10 league goals a season. 

Man Utd vs Liverpool is always a game of great magnitude. It's a big game and Jamie redknapp was right in saying that neither side can afford to lose, both lost before the international break and a victory for either side could kick start their season. I'm hoping for a Liverpool win but realistically it will be a draw, final score 2-2. 

Big players big plays

 Thus sayeth the King, just pass me the ball. With 1.6 seconds left on the clock and with Derrick Rose levelling the game with a lay up previously Lebron took it upon himself to take the shot and win the game. His coach had called another play but that's why Lebron is called the king he scratched that and made the play, he can nail the big shots in the big pressure moments. Lebron would deffo agree his shooting wasn't completely on point last night and he did concede a lot of turnovers but his moment of magic won the game. Interestingly enough now he has the same amount of buzzer beaters in the post season as Micheal Jordan which is 3 hmmm interesting. 

Last Friday Austin Rivers was amazing really taking the game to the Rockets and cooking up a storm in the absence of Chris Paul he had a massive 25 points in the Clippers 124-99 win. Last night the Rockets had a unusual tactic fowling Deandre Jordan relentlessly forcing him to the free throw line. It was crazy Deandre Jordan set an NBA record of 28 free throw attempts in the first half!! All in all he had 34 attempts acoring only 14. Now the tactic seems reasonably considering Jordan converted only 39.7% of free throws in the regular season, Kevin Mchale said he did it to "muck up" the game and disrupt the flow of the clippers but it seems that the rockets where just truly out of it on both the offensive and defensive fronts. There punishment was a 128-95 loss and it looks now very likely that my beloved clippers will be advancing to the next round of the playoffs but never say never the Rockets could come back, if they can pull themselves together. 

Lacklustre Liverpool

To say I was annoyed last weekend is an understatement Liverpool could of closed the gap on the top four teams but instead they drew. It's all well and good having 73% of possession and 22 shots but these days Liverpool are struggling for goals massively. In fact the 22 shots on goal don't tell the true story because only 4 of those where on target the same amount that West Brom had with around half the number of shots, precisely 10 to be exact. Rodgers said Liverpool where outstanding he said ""I thought they were excellent. We didn't get the win, but our overall game was outstanding," He did admit to the goal threat being a problem, I'm not ranting in this blog just stating the facts and letting you the readers take what you want from it. 

Liverpool then lost 1-0 to hull midweek on the Tuesday. Everton had done Liverpool a favour by beating Man Utd 3-0 on Sunday a win over Hull would have cut the points difference between Man Utd and Liverpool to 4 points however Liverpool lost and with that a place in the champions league seems to have eluded them. Again it was the same old story, like a broken record large amount of possession (69%) shots on goal 12 (9 on target) but no goals. Second successive game with Liverpool not scoring. It almost seems like the back to back losses of Man Utd and Arsenal back in the March and April period knocked the stuffing out of the reds and they truly haven't recovered. 

When Liverpool had conceded the opening goal of the game i wasn't surprised that it would lead to a defeat. During this season Liverpool's ability to equalise has been very poor. According to soccerstats its at 18%. Yes goals have been a problem everyone could see that when Suarez has left but other strikers have not be fancied. Funnily enough the combined forces of Balotelli, Borini and Lambert have the same number of goals as Origi who Liverpool bought and loaned this is abysmal. On Tuesday night Messi, Suarez and Neymar took their tally to over 100 goals for the season. Liverpool couldn't manage any against hull.  

I'm not angry or upset I've accepted my fate as a Liverpool supporter for this season no champions league which was the minimum aim. I'm just mind boggled Rodgers knew Suarez was leaving and unless I'm mistaken and this isn't a huge kept secret but Sturridge is very injury prone. He is a quality striker but he gets injured far to much, however this season has been like a freak nightmare. Rodgers knew this and gambled massively, yes squad players where needed for a this season where Liverpool took part in the champions league but Liverpool needed proven quality not young talent. Everyone knew they where in for Sanchez but after that didn't work they should have pushed for other top strikers and proven stars. Sturridge was put on a pedestal to be some sort of saviour but that has flopped and his understudies have been poor. 

206.5m spent on transfers since the summer of 2012 and only 2 have been hugely fruitful is again mind boggling. This summer will be crucial for Liverpool if they have a poor start again I can see Rodgers getting sacked I don't want that to happen but there are huge demands at a top club like Liverpool and we all know how cut-throat the world of management can be!