Where does the time go? It seems like it wasn’t so long ago that we were envisioning a possible 12-point gap separating us from Man City. We never quite reached that pinnacle, and now we’re staying into an abyss: just three points separate us from our harriers going into a climactic clash on Wednesday. It’s not just Man City, either. Those other Mancunians briefly overtook their neighbors, further tightening things up among the top three. Thankfully for my carpal tunnel, a gap has widened just a touch, sparing me the need to expand this week’s roundup beyond the top four. Now that the throat-clearing is done, let’s down to business.
1. Arsenal (16W 3D 2L: 51 pts.)
Oh, hang it all. Why are we even trying? Who are we fooling? Only ourselves, it seems. Everyone else knew we’d bottle it, and some of them (such as Lee “I forgot to do the one thing my job requires” Mason). Seeing that we hadn’t been hard done by for at seven or eight days, Mason decided to angle for a promotion by completely ignoring the fact that Pinnock may have been and Nørgaard certainly was in an offside position for Brentford’s equaliser. Howard Webb is said to be so furious about this and other “human errors” that he’s summoned all PL officials in on Tuesday for a review. Something tells me that chewing out some retired referees isn’t going to dramatically improve their ability to use technology, but I’m feeling a bit put out by the fact that almost every point we’ve dropped thus far has been the result of inept refereeing and/or VAR. Still, scoring just one goal is going to expose us to their ineptitude, and we have more ability to control that than we do the Lee Masons and Mike Deans of the world…
2. Man City (15W 3D 4L: 48 pts.)
Pep Guardiola has seized on the stunning, um “news” that Man City may be guilty of some kind of financial peccadillos to try to rally both his jaded squad and his sated fans. Outraged that somone somewhere might actually investigate the spending that he’s always relied on to get to and stay at (well, at least near) the top, he might have been satisfied to see his players overrun Aston Villa on their way to a 3–0 halftime lead…but from there, their sense of urgency more than petered out. Villa found what felt at first like a consolation goal but kept pressing and almost exploited City’s sloppiness, with Coutinho forced a difficult save from Ederson and Duran hitting the woodwork late on. Will this have given them the catharsis they need, or will they crave more? We’ve been eyeing each other up all season. It’s about time we go toe-to-toe.
3. Man U (14W 4D 5L: 46 pts.)
I was about to concede that Man U have started to feel like an irresistible force, such has been their improvement since they shed roll after roll of sweaty disgusting flab from their payroll just before the World Cup, but a funny thing happened on the way to double-check the table: they’ve been in exactly the same form Arsenal have been in over the last six weeks. I just wonder how well that’s showing up in the media. I’m sure they’re handling it with characteristic objectivity. Having completed a very rare two legs against Leeds (I thought that was a UCL/UEL thing?) with a comfortable win at Elland Road, Man U did briefly occupy second. It must be said that they’ve played one more than City and two more than Arsenal, but we have to admit that this three-horse race has tightened. With one eye on their Europa Leage play-off against Barcelona and another on their Carabao Cup final against Newcastle, can they keep their eye on the Prem? (that has half-clever, that).
4. Newcastle (10W 10D 1L: 41pts.)
We may be starting to see a few cracks appear in that previously productive plan at almost never losing but only rarely winning. Draws are nice, especially if you can claim one at your opponent’s ground and they’re above you. Far better than losing, at least. However, when your plan consists of drawing with anyone regardless of where you play and they sit in the table, a certain disadvantage arises, especially when those above you manage to win more than once a month. After a strong run before the World Cup that included eight wins from nine matches, Toon have won just once from their last six while taking five draws. That air of impregnable invincibility seems to have waned ever so slightly after they’d conceded in consecutive matches for the first time since October (when their combined scoreline was 9-2 anyway). Still, one can never write off a side that need only increase its scoring ever so slightly to start turning those draws into wins.
Ah, the ol’ carpal tunnel’s kickin’ in. That’s a shame. I can’t quite shake the feeling that it might be psychosomatic or at least seasonal allergies. Whatever it is, I can’t quite stomach the idea of looking any lower at the table.
More seriously, Tottenham have played 23 matches and trail Newcastle by two points. They didn’t really do any serious business in January other than a couple of loans. Conte’s list of reasons for leaving sooner rather than later seem to grow by the week, and Levy might be regretting holding on to Kane rather than selling him to fund a massive rebuild last summer. I honestly don’t see anyone in that squad I’d have at Arsenal, not even Kane (although it would be sumptuous to see him win his first trophy with us). From there, there’s enough separation to suggest that Brighton, Fulham, Chelsea, and Liverpool will be fighting for a Europa League spot without troubling those fighting for a Champions League spot.
Right. Let’s leave at that for now. Much to do in the next few days and precious little time.