Two jousting sides are rushing towards the point of crisis, becoming freer and more fearless as the Premier League finish line approachesAnd still they come. It is one of footballs great truisms that the league table never lies. But it can tell the odd half- truth.There will be an insistence from some quarters that one of Manchester City or Liverpool has to lose this thrilling Premier league title race, that there must be a slip, a choke or a stumble. Except, sometimes that story does not quite fit the facts. Do either of these teams look like losers yet? Related: Jrgen Klopp: players came up with Cardiff corner routine at half-time Related: Manchester City win Spurs rematch as Phil Foden...
Its awards time for the most incompetent teams in the Premier League, from those who cant take throw-ins to others who revel in needless yellow cardsWelcome to the Guardians fifth annual index of ineptitude, a catalogue of calamity, a prospectus of the piss-poor.As each season draws to a close, the best moments, players and teams of the year are all charted, celebrated and cheered. Which means that what comprises most of the rest of the Premier League experience is missed. Related: The Premier League teams ineptitude index 2017-18 Continue reading...
Hard for Manchester City and Spurs to serve up another classic, Everton can cause trouble for Manchester United and Chelsea fans should lap up Eden HazardBefore the run-in even started, Liverpool looked like they might be consumed by nerves during it, so tentative were their performances against Leicester, West Ham and Manchester United. But they battled hard to avoid disaster, and now that the run-in is actually under way, are playing like a team who expect to be champions, either riding their good form or maintaining the patience and composure necessary to force the issue. Against both Tottenham and Chelsea, they could easily have flapped in frantic, frenetic style, but instead were able to increase intensity without sacrificing control, which...
Liverpool and Manchester City are neck and neck but it is too early to call this the most exciting season in living memory“It is,” Jürgen Klopp said, “the most exciting season for years.” We’ll be the judge of that, sunshine. The strangest thing about Klopp’s assertion, leaving its veracity to one side for the moment, was that he said it at the start of November, when every team in the Premier League still had 28 games to play. It was like declaring a fresh if vigorous shoot in the vegetable patch the finest carrot in the land, when it might still fail to flourish or be consumed be pests – and there remains an outside chance that it’s a parsnip.Five...
Jordan Henderson is thriving in his more advanced role under Jürgen Klopp after years spent filling in where requiredOne of the hallmarks of great drama is when a previously unheralded character turns out to have a significant impact on the denouement that, in hindsight, seems inevitable (Gendry? Samwell Tarly, perhaps? Or maybe one of the surviving direwolves?). Jordan Henderson may be Liverpool captain but, a fortnight ago, who really thought he might have a major say in the playing out of the title race – and that it would be positive?Liverpool weren’t nervous exactly but five minutes into the second half against Chelsea on Sunday, they were perhaps just at the stage of thinking they needed a goal soon or...