Title Race Reopened?

A very interesting round of midweek Prem matches has the football world number-crunching: with 5 games left to play, Chelsea have pulled themselves into second place, leapfrogging Arsenal on goal difference. Both London clubs are on 64 points, 6 back of United. What's more: United must play both clubs-- Arsenal away, Chelsea at Old Trafford. If you can't do the math, I'll help: if United lose both of those games, that's six points dropped.

Still, even the most romantic Gunners or Blues fan would have to admit it is United's title to lose, which is something Fergie doesn't do. United very rarely lose in the final months of the season, particularly when they are in pole position. One could make the argument that this United team is considerably weaker than the Red Devils historically have been, particularly on the road. Check out this statistic to demonstrate that point:

MAN. UNITED
HOME: 15 W, 1 D, 0 L: 46/48 Possible points.

AWAY: 5 W, 9 D, 3 L: 24/51 Possible points.

Chelsea have the best form at the moment, with Arsenal pulling a-- well, an Arsenal-- and coughing up the lead THREE TIMES against Spurs yesterday in a fantastic London Derby. With all these factors, will United cough up the lead in the final five games? And if so, to who?

Let's look at their run-ins, in reverse order (for suspense)..

Arsenal:

Bolton (A), Sunday 24 April
Man Utd (H), Sunday 1 May
Stoke (A), Sunday 8 May
Aston Villa (H), Sunday 15 May
Fulham (A), Sunday 22 May

The Stoke and Bolton away fixtures are the games that Arsenal ALWAYS struggle with, and I don't see that changing in a squad with a completely deflated mentality. I think they'll draw at home against United, and lose to Stoke away. Draw at struggling Bolton, squeaking out wins against Fulham and Villa. TOTAL: 8 pts.

Chelsea:

West Ham (H), Saturday 23 April
Tottenham (H), Saturday 30 April
Man Utd (A), Sunday 8 May
Newcastle (H), Sunday 15 May
Everton (A), Sunday 22 May

Chelsea are hitting form at the pivotal moment, and their run in is the easiest. They'll have a big win against West Ham and crucially win at home against Spurs. I think they'll show up charged for the United game, but it won't be enough, only ending in a draw. A win against Newcastle, and a draw against Everton away to round out a relatively disappointing season. TOTAL: 11 pts.

Manchester United:

Everton (H), Saturday 23 April
Arsenal (A), Sunday 1 May
Chelsea (H), Sunday 8 May
Blackburn (A), Saturday 14 May
Blackpool (H), Sunday 22 May

The Arsenal and Chelsea fixtures will be difficult, but Ferguson will scrape draws in both. Everton will fight hard but lose at Old Trafford. The two relegation threatened teams at the end of the fixture list will be tough, but not tough enough. Two wins. TOTAL: 11 pts. So..

FINAL TABLE

1) Man United: 81 points

2) Chelsea: 75 points

3) Arsenal: 72 points

And just for fun:

4) Man City

5) Tottenham

There you have it: the end of an exciting season, as I see it. We'll see how it all shakes down. Props to Jose Mourinho on the Copa del Rey crown, who one day will rightfully own the title of the best football coach ever. And to Gareth Bale, who took home the PFA Player of the Year despite fading in recent months.

Feel free to share your comments!

Torres: the Problem and the Solution

Much has been written, spoken, and slurred about in pubs regarding a certain Spanish striker who now wears the blue number 9. Fernando Torres, as I'm sure you know, has not scored since signing for Chelsea. And two games before that when he was wearing a Liverpool shirt.

Now, I would be lying through my teeth if I said I was not worried by this development. Obviously, I'd have preferred Torres to net a hat trick against Liverpool in his debut, kiss the badge, and then tattoo the Stamford Lion on his pretty cheek in celebration. Instead, we've had a dejected, off-form striker who has been on the outskirts of most of the games he's played in blue.

With all that said--Torres will score. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he will score today, against United, in the Champions League quarters. (NOTE THE TIME OF THIS POST, in case I'm right) El Nino has proven that he is a world class striker, and once he bags one, the whole world will shut their mouths.

But why has Torres been struggling so mightily? It's a difficult question without a simple answer. For one thing, he wasn't fit when he came to Chelsea. This, combined with a long league season immediately after a long World Cup run, means he is nowhere near 100%. In addition, Carlo has been extremely inconsistent with his formation and tactics since Torres signed, most likely to try and fit him in. Although this has allowed Torres more minutes, it would be difficult for any player in any position to adjust to such an ever-shifting squad.

The biggest obstacle for Torres, though, has been Didier Drogba.

As a Chelsea fan for many years, I have been often frustrated by Drogba's petulance. On some occasions, his talents and raw power have justified his on field maturity-- which seems even more out of place when you see his soft-spoken, intelligent interviews off the pitch. But this childishness combined with his dip in form has caused Drogba to be desperate, and in his desperation he has prevented his new teammate from settling. He won't pass to Torres, he won't work with him, he won't make the runs or put in the effort he ordinarily does. Torres is a threat to Drogba's status as a legend in Chelsea blue-- and Drogba knows it.

The solution to Torres' drought may yet be Yossi Benayoun. The little Israeli playmaker has been injured for months, but returned on the weekend and will feature tonight, I suspect. He and Torres dovetailed brilliantly at Liverpool, and that little bit of understanding is all that Torres needs to get that ball across the line. Finally

Watch for it tonight. My prediction: 1-1 tonight. United go through. But Torres scores.

Don't Call It A Comeback

It’s been quite some time since WSOTA had a post, but I’m looking to bring some life back to the old blog. It’s been an interesting year in the Prem, so there’s not a whole lot of time for nostalgia… but enough to say that it’s good to be back.

A quick recap: -Obviously, coming off a World Cup year, players looked a bit dull early on and have looked more than a bit fatigued as the season’s passed. The usual suspects (Ferguson, Redknapp, Wenger, et al.) are clamoring about the restructuring of international friendlies to mostly deaf ears.

-An additional official on each end line has been added to European competition. In all the games I’ve watched, they’ve made a grand total of zero calls and made no impact whatsoever. Oh—and goal line technology still doesn’t exist.

-Chelsea came roaring out of the traps after the summer and looked like they were going to run away with the trophy… until they hit the worst skid they’ve had in a decade, and fell out of the top 4. United have been how they always are: ruthlessly efficient, consistently getting results and consistently scoring goals after the 85^th minute. They have lacked a bit of flair and attacking prowess at times, though, despite Berbatov picking up some slack in the early months. Arsenal were pushing them hard for a bit, but then reverted back to what they always do and imploded: crashing out of the CL, losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, and taking big blows to their title hopes all in the space of about 10 days.

-Man City, United’s “Noisy Neighbors”, have been a Jekyl and Hyde show all season. Led by the swaggering Tevez (who has either professed his love for City or announced his retirement each weekend), they’ve been brilliant on some days and toothless on others. At this stage, they look likely to finish in the top four, which Mancini will swear was his only goal. City and Liverpool both crashed out of the Europa League, by the way.

-Liverpool drudged along in the bottom half for most of the season, but have mounted a late fight back. Luiz Suarez (I’ll talk more about transfers in a sec) has been brilliant, and they’ve climbed into the top 6. But a European place looks out of reach. Still, credit to King Kenny for turning things around on Merseyside.

-Spurs have been much like City, although Spurs fans won’t like that comparison. They show up for big occasions and look dazzling, but then can’t score on relegation sides. Bale has been scorching for them, terrorizing Inter Milan on their way to a good CL run that has surely ended in Madrid. Van der Vaart also looked like the signing of the season early on, with he and Modric providing tons of creativity and Lennon and Bale setting fire on the wings. All that said—they’ll still finish 5^th and miss out on the CL.

-TRANSFERS: Where to start? As mentioned above, I’d say Van der Vaart is still in pole position to be signing of the season, but Suarez for Liverpool looks promising, and Chicharito Hernandez has been in great form for United. My personal favorite signing: Stephane Sessegnon for Sunderland, whose pace and dribbling has been spectacular. A few clubs lost their minds in the January window: Villa spent 25 million on Bent, Liverpool spent 35 million on Andy Carroll (who still had a month of injury left), and West Ham nearly bankrupted themselves on Wayne Bridge’s wages. Still scratching my head on that one. Unfortunately though, the biggest transfer dud has been Chelsea’s: 50 mil on Fernando Torres. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

-There’s been a lot of talk about the Prem being “weaker this year”, because the gap between the top teams and the cellar dwellers is smaller. It’s all a load of hooey: of the 8 teams left in the CL quarters, 3 are English, 2 are Spanish, 1 Italian, a German and Shakhtar, this year’s over achievers. Pretty standard stuff. I think the tightness of the table speaks to the strength of the Prem, not the weakness. And whatever the cause, it’s a positive thing—I much prefer to follow a League where 5 teams are in for the title from the start, instead of two.

Whew. That’s a big recap. It’s been an eccentric football year for sure, but some things never change… Rooney’s still behaving like a shaved ape, Arsenal are still ‘too immature’ to challenge, Messi’s still unplayable, and Nicklas Bendtner still thinks he’s the best striker in the world.

Stay tuned with WSOTA. We’re going full speed ahead.

Rooney, Messi, and the still Special Mourinho

It’s been over a year since the last blog post, but Wrong Side of the Atlantic is going to come back with a bang. And how could it not? We’re in the midst of the most gripping Premier League season in recent memory and the World Cup is just about 2 months away.

So let’s get cracking.

Over in the EPL/BPL/Best-League-in-the-World, it’s a three horse race, again. And although I have REFUSED to admit it until now, Arsenal are genuine contenders. True, they generally hit the stumbling blocks in the next couple of weeks, but they certainly don’t look like it. One thing that sets them apart from Utd and Chels: no talisman striker. You can choose to look at this as a blessing, because they’re not over-reliant on one player (see: Manchester United, who look like a pub team when Rooney’s not on the pitch), or a curse, because they don’t have a player who is consistently getting them that magic mark of a goal every two games. Somehow or another, the Gunners are keeping up, despite their own Nicklas Bendtner’s best attempts to miss every shot on goal he gets.

On the other side of London, the Blues have just come through their worst week this season. Bear in mind; if this is your first time reading this blog; I am a die-hard Chelsea fan. I make no apologies, for I am a firm believer that I can give objective, genuine analysis while still overtly supporting my boys. Although they have been breaking my little heart lately… in the past 7 days, Chels have crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of our old gaffer, Jose Mourinho, and then dropped two VITAL points in the title race against lowly Blackburn Rovers. Now, the Inter loss I can take. Don’t get me wrong, I’m dying for Champions League success just as much as JT is. But it was almost nice to get knocked out by a team who simply outplayed us, instead of dumped out by a dubious call or a 94^th minute goal.

The Rovers draw is the one I can’t understand. Many pundits said in the lead-up, and the post match, that winning in Lancashire isn’t easy, particularly when Big Sam plays with such negative tactics. But the bottom line is this: after an early Drog goal, we went to sleep. It’s well publicized that the instinct to kill off teams is crucial in a title challenge, and we didn’t have it.

This becomes increasingly worrying for one reason: Rooney. The guy is literally unplayable. The worst part of it all is that he decided he want to start scoring WITH HIS HEAD. Old Shrek is about 5 foot nothing, and built like a garden gnome, but somehow, he’s plunking in buckets of goals from his rapidly-receding hairline. My not-so-bold prediction: if he stays fit, Rooney eclipses Ronaldo’s 42 goal mark.

Finally, I would be a fool to post this without mentioning Leo Messi. Let me give you some numbers on Messi:

· 11 goals in his last FIVE games. Including two hat tricks… in as many games.

· 34 goals in all competitions. (Rooney has 33)

· 5’ 7”. 148 lbs. 22 years old.

This is what his manager, Pep Guardiola, has to say about Lionel. And check out his goals against Valencia, particularly the first one.

Poor old Droggy would be leading the fight for the Footballer of the Year any other season, but plain and simple, it’s gonna be a dead sprint between the Argentine and the Scouser, which should make for some beautiful viewing in South Africa. Keep checking back in the coming weeks for all you need to know from the world of football, and please leave your comments without hesitation.

ALSO: take a second and go check out my good friend Jon's blog, The 7 Day Weekend. Probably the funniest/most random/addicting blog I've stumbled upon yet.