From Liverpool to Arsenal: Premier League Midweek Preview

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With the major leagues around Europe getting over another demanding weekend of highs and lows the English Premier League is back on track with a host of games on Tuesday and Wednesday. This is because the weekend was taken over by the FA Cup. These Premier league fixtures look irresistible as the league title is still on for some, then there is the scrap for a Champions League place and relegation is open to a few clubs too.

TUESDAY

Arsenal will take on Watford it what is expected to be a home win. The Gunners are currently in 2nd place and a win here could see Arsene Wenger’s team put genuine pressure on Chelsea. Arsenal have won their last 5 games at home and have only lost 1 game at the Emirates all season.Watford in mid-table has drawn 3 of their last five games.

The pressure is on Leicester City to start collecting points and fast as they head to tricky Turf Moor to play Burnley. The Premier league champions are just five points from safety and losing this game could see them getting sucked down to the danger zone.Burnley have been terrific at home where they have won their last 4 games in a row and based on home matches only would be the fourth best team in the league.

If Tottenham want to stay with the chasing pack and have a possible title chance they must travel to Sunderland and get all three points. On the face of it this should be a straight forward win for the north Londoners. Sunderland have lost 4 of their last 5 matches and have conceded at least 2 goals per game in their last five matches. Tottenham have looked superb in January, scoring 4 goals on three different occasions.

The big match today is of course the meeting of Liverpool and Chelsea. The home team have been in meltdown since the turn of the year, slipping in the league, knocked out of the FA and EFL Cups, it has been back to the drawing board for manager Jurgen Klopp. Many believe that a loss here would scupper any chances of a league title as they would drop 13 points behind the leaders Chelsea. The Blues have the best away record in the league.

Wednesday

Manchester City have all the qualities to beat their opponents West Ham United as was seen in the FA Cup when they destroyed the Hammers 5-0. However in the league it hasn’t been all plain sailing for Pep Guardiola’s side, in fact some believe considering the money spent in the summer the return has been rather poor. City are now down to 5th place and 12 points behind Chelsea. They have won just 1 match in their past four games. West Ham West Ham have been in good solid form and have risen to 10th place well within safety of the relegation zone.

Manchester United will be expected to beat Hull City- with the team finding a rich vein of form, the players finally look settled. And unpredictable Everton will face a tough and tricky trip against Stoke City.

Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp go into meltdown after FA Cup loss

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No wins since New Years Eve, dumped out of the EFL Cup in the semi-finals and now knocked out in the FA Cup fourth round, Liverpool have officially gone into meltdown and coach Jurgen Klopp will be soul searching as to what has gone wrong with his talented squad.

In December Liverpool were 2nd in the league and one of the genuine favourites to catch up to Chelsea and give the Blues a run for their money, not so much now. Two draws and one loss has seen the team go into limbo- in more realistic terms 2nd to 4th and 10 points now adrift of Chelsea. Now both Manchester teams are lurking behind them and even a Champions League finish could be under threat.

Out of the two recent draws, one could be forgiveable- going to Old Trafford and claiming a point is nothing to be ashamed about, but the 2-2 draw at bottom placed Sunderland who have lost 15 of their 22 games thus far was the start of what would become a worrying decline for the Reds.

More surprises were to come- an expected 3 points at home to Swansea was squandered too easily, when they went down at home losing 3-2. The EFL Cup was supposed to be the bounce back, the rest bite that Klopp and his players needed. It was a semi-final against Southampton over two legs, the prize a possible Wembley final with arch rivals Manchester United, and yet the Saints beat them at their own game. Over 180 minutes they played disciplined, well calculated football, taking their chances, of which they had two glorious ones and scoring both times, thus each match was won 1-0, in a very, one could argue Italian way. The bottom line is that not only were Liverpool failing in the league they were also out of a cup.

On Saturday Liverpool had another chance to redeem themselves in the FA Cup over championship side Wolves. Not only would they be installed as instant favourites but also had the advantage of being at home. This was supposed to be the game where Liverpool start from scratch, re focus, get the good win here and build confidence for the next few weeks. After 55 seconds Klopp and his side were 1-0 down, at half time Wolves had doubled their lead.

Towards the end as expected Liverpool ramped up the pressure claiming a goal back through Divock Origi, and had they managed a late equaliser, they wouldn’t have deserved it. Klopp head in hands was disbelieving, though one could argue he was partially to blame for picking a clearly weakened squad.

Next for Liverpool is none other than Chelsea, here at Anfield in a crunch game in the Premier League that could see the visitors go a cool 13 points clear of Liverpool, which if the nail is in the coffin right now, the hammer would be applied with defeat.

What now for Klopp, who had a heart for heart talk with all of his players, it was supposed to be a clear the air talks, but right now that air is clearly polluted.

 

 

Top Five Fantasy Football Midfielders – Serie A – Round 22

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Serie A is back this Saturday, and almost all top clubs are expected to register easy wins this game week. Juventus will travel to Sassuolo while AS Roma will head to Sampdoria. Continue reading

Top Five Fantasy Football Strikers – La Liga – Round 20

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Our La Liga striker list is dominated by the usual suspects from Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top end, but none of them comes cheap. In the standout fixture this game week, Real Sociedad visit Real Madrid on Sunday night. Continue reading

Top Five Fantasy Football Defenders – Premier League – Week 23

Victor Wanyama
Last week saw only two teams out of top-six picking up maximum points. London clubs Chelsea and Arsenal occupy top two spots following wins on Sunday while the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester clubs all dropped points. Continue reading

Top Five Fantasy Football Goalkeepers – Premier League – Week 23

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With the Premier League taking a break this weekend due to a round of FA Cup fixtures, we take a look at the top performing goalkeepers so far this season. Continue reading

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is proving the doubters wrong in Premier league

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It would have been easy to have suggested that when Manchester United signed a then 34 year old Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a one year £200,000 a week contract that the English club had panicked and simply brought in a player that had seen his best days. But Ibrahimovic is proving in his debut season with the Red Devils the doubters wrong.

The Swede who has had an illustrious career started pre season with a bang and continued that form for the first month of the new season, before an inevitable dip. But the confident No.9, has sprung into action once again and his form his arguably on a par with his time at PSG where he scored 156 goals in just 180 appearances.

At United Zlatan currently has an impressive return of 19 goals from 30 games in all competitions and 14 goals from 21 Premier league matches. He is just 1 goal behind Chelsea’s Diego Costa and Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez, this is evidently good going from a 35 year old.

The deadly Swede as he is known has always proven himself at clubs such as Inter Milan, Juventus, Milan and PSG- and with Zlatan comes the bonus of trophies- his teams always win trophies. Initially signed on a one year deal it seems almost certain that United will retain the player for another year especially if Jose Mourinho can guide United to a Champions League finish. It was first thought that United who got Ibrahimovic as a free agent from PSG would use the players services just for 12 months so he could pass down his experience to the younger players such as up and coming Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial who was also bought from Ligue 1 when he came from Monaco. But now it seems Zlatan will be used for much more than that, to fire United to glory in one shape or another.

After scoring the all important equaliser over rivals Liverpool a few weeks ago Zlatan will not only have his eye on trying to win silverware for United but also to become top goal scorer in England which will add to his achievements in Serie A and Ligue 1. And he has just  been named Premier league player of the month- so the road ahead seems like a bright one for the outspoken striker.

 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic all time stats:

Malmo 1999-2001 – Played 47  Goals 18

Ajax    2001-2005 – Played 110 Goals 48

Juventus 2005-2006  Played 92  Goals 26

Inter Milan 2006-2009  Played 117  Goals 66

Barcelona 2009-2011  Played 46  Goals 22

AC Milan 2011- 2012  Played 85  Goals 56

PSG 2012-2016         Played 180  Goals 156

Man Utd 2016- Present  Played 30 Goals 19

Total:  Played 707  Goals 411

 

Wayne Rooney breaks Manchester United goal scoring record

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Bobby Charlton’s 43 year goal scoring record for his beloved Manchester United was finally broken when Wayne Rooney scored his 250th goal in the dying seconds against Stoke City in an exciting and frenzied finish.

It had been a record on every United fans lips come the start of this season as the odds were very much in favour of the former Everton player achieving it. And when it came it was a beauty a free kick with one of the final kicks of the game against a strong Stoke side that looked like they would get all three points. Not only did Rooney get a personal record but he saved his side from losing a crucial match. One could still say it was a bitter sweet day for Rooney given that United dropped further behind in the quest for a league title. If Chelsea win tomorrow United will be 14 points adrift.

Of the record Rooney said after the game, “It’s difficult at the moment to be over-pleased because of the result – two points dropped – but in the grand scheme of things it’s a huge honour for me. It’s something I never expected when I joined the club but I’m really proud and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”

United boss Jose Mourinho was very happy for Rooney and hinted that now his striker has the record he can clear his mind of it. Stoke City manager and ex United forward Mark Hughes said: “Sir Bobby’s record stood for 40-odd years and a lot of good strikers have been and gone in that time and not got anywhere near it. Clearly we didn’t want to have it happen today but it is fair to say he has done that throughout his career. You only have to give top players one opportunity. He had to produce a ball that was right on the money and that’s what he’s done. United players through the years have to score goals right at the death and at that late stage you think maybe the game is slipping away from them. The little bit of magic from Wayne has got them something from the game.”

Rooney who joined the club from Everton in 2004 will be hoping to continue his goal scoring antics as United face a genuine fight for a top 4 finish and a Champions League place, this ahead of course of resuming their Europa League campaign next month.

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