Chelsea toothless without Tammy Abraham, Everton better than results suggest and clever Jonjo Shelvey helps LiverpoolAfter a medley of mid-table finishes, could this be the season Crystal Palace return to the top half? They finished 10th four years ago under Alan Pardew and after victory at Burnley are part of a chasing pack on the tails of fifth-placed Tottenham. The win stopped a worrying rot of five games without victory and, with Wilfried Zaha having come to the fore in recent outings, there is plenty for a painfully inconsistent Palace to build on. December looks kind, too, with Bournemouth the visitors to Selhurst Park on Tuesday before matches against Watford, Brighton, Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton. After a quiet start...
Flawed City defence meets hapless Newcastle attack, Leicester can end Silvas service and only a miracle can save EmerySteve Bruce said Newcastle were too passive during Mondays sorry defeat at Aston Villa. One thing he can actively do about that is drop Jonjo Shelvey, who was irrelevant in midfield at Villa Park. With Sean Longstaff available again after suspension, and Matty Longstaff in line for a return to the starting lineup, Shelvey should be parked on the bench. Bruce probably wishes he could also make changes up front to try to exploit Citys defensive flakiness. There is not often a good case for starting Andy Carroll but this time there are two: Citys fragility and Joelintons haplessness. At least Allan...
Chelseas goalkeeper was uneasy around a stunning penalty save but the hosts missed a golden opportunity late onThe man who can teach any bird to sing silenced a football stadium, but not for long. Instead as the final, wild, open, epic minutes went by this place was as loud as anyone could remember it, more than 40,000 people standing to applaud, almost as exhausted as the men collapsing to the floor before them. It seemed almost absurd to think then, at the end of those last seven minutes of additional time when two teams were on the edge, knowing that a win would put them through and a defeat would pretty much put them out, that this place had ever...
A great game to watch between two sides who prefer to attack partly because their defences are liable to drive managers madThere was a great deal of swash and buckle in this game. Encounters between top-four sides are often dull, cautious affairs but Chelsea and Manchester City at the moment could not be boring if they tried.True, there were enough defensive mistakes to drive both managers mad and remind everyone they were not necessarily watching the most refined level of football, but in terms of entertainment the evening was a high-class hoot. Each side knew they were capable of hurting the other and took it in turn to launch precision strikes of increasing audacity so that long before the end...
When Mourinho is in the dugout you have to keep one eye on the pitch and one on the touchline. He is pure box office On Thursday I bumped into a couple of friends of mine, both dyed-in-the-wool Spurs fans. Before I even spoke to them, their shoulders slumped in unison and they let out a joint groan. It was as if they had just been summoned for collective root canal surgery. Its not going to end prettily, they grumbled.Hang on, I said. He hasnt even started. Continue reading...