Reluctant Striker

Saturday 4th March, 2023 Man City 2 vs 0 Newcastle, 12.30 Arsenal 3 vs 0 Bournemouth Aston Villa 2 vs 0 Crystal Palace Brighton 2 vs 1 West Ham Chelsea 1 vs 1 Leeds Wolves 1 vs 1 Tottenham Southampton 1 vs 1 Leicester, 17.30 Sunday 5th March, 2023 Nottm Forest 1 vs 2 Everton, 14.00 Liverpool 2 vs 1 Man Utd, 16.30 Monday 6th March, 2023 Brentford 1 vs 1 Fulham, 20.00

Not sure what the best final would be. The Manchester derby, or winner of a Manchester semi vs Brighton, Grimsby, Sheffield United or Blackburn. Spurs have to be furious with themselves. On their day they can & do compete with either Manchester club.

It may well be a case of what stage the Manchester derby happens. But, Brighton, Fulham & Spurs are all comfortably top half. So still 5 of top 10. I'm sure they'll all be hoping for a trophy.

I see there has finally been a UK-EU agreement on Northern Ireland. That seems like it may just be accepted by all the political parties of Ireland. Supposedly involving a green lane for Britain to supply into Northern Ireland, for Northern Ireland use only. Anything to continue on into the rest of Ireland / EU, still subject to checks. When it all kicked off several years ago I expected country of origin & decision on EU/UK at business level to be part of the answer. Why it's taken quite so long is utter insanity.

Interesting. I'd never realised who they were. It's had better names. Coca Cola, Milk, Littlewoods, Rumbelows.

He just doesn't sound sexy enough for Top 6 or 4. And there'd probably have been more excitement if he'd gone from Wolfsburg to Man United, without the Burnley & Turkey visits inbetween. And there does seem to be some kind of global shortage of proper goal scoring number 9 strikers.

Yes, I'd agree the Top 3 seems to be it's own mini league. But Spurs, Newcastle & Liverpool all still have plausible hopes & expectations.

Not sure I'll ever feel entirely content seeing Man United add to their trophy collection. And they move 1 win of this trophy ahead of Villa now.

The chance is on again for Chelsea to be in the bottom half next weekend. I keep thinking of it because Villa have been the final straw for a few 21st century Chelsea managers.

Had a proper review of Everton - Villa. And I do think Unai Emery's team selection paid off. Douglas Luiz & Kamara central & deeper. As they have been. McGinn & Ramsey slightly ahead & tucking in. Felt like it helped ensure we weren't overrun in the middle, though Onana & Iwobi continue to impress me. Everton could still have easily gone ahead, but Martinez & Mings both did well when called on. And if Everton just had better finishers too it could have been at least both sides on the scoresheet. I really do think Dyche perhaps needs to think about trying something a bit out of the ordinary, up front, because just stacking the midfield & hoping to get a 1-0 may not quite be enough. Against the nearer rivals more so perhaps. And disregard any lazy expert opinion that McGinn is out of position. For the team. He isn't. He arguably doesn't make the 1st choice 11. But in a game like yesterday we were using him more like how Scotland would tend to. With 3 of him Bailey, Ramsey or Buendia, they can make it 4-2-3-1 when it suits to. And maybe this was the opponent & venue to keep Buendia back.. before he came on & played the ball to McGinn (who's knee was taken out first from best angle) & confidently finished on his weaker left. Hopefully more of the same for a while.

If DCL remains injured. And Maupay or the youngster (Simms?) just aren't cutting it. I wonder if Dyche will go proper old style & play an emergency striker. A centre defender as the number 9. He'd be taking a risk, as nobody else does that these days.

I may let myself start feeling like that from 35+ points. Leicester & West Ham can suddenly batter someone. And Wolves have so many good footballers, they are just as surprising to me, for being down there. But then Leeds have some exciting players & off to a good start with the new manager. And Everton perhaps just came up against Villa at the wrong time. And the luck just wasn't with them today. Unless Forest sink dramatically, it seems there will be at least 1 of the heavyweight contenders.

On face value of the result, Arsenal should be content with any win at Leicester. I do feel Leicester's win at Villa Park was more emphatic. They are still more than capable of returning to their form of recent seasons. Certainly a very strong side for 14th.

West Ham 3 up on Forest.

Certainly sounds a 2 sided match going on at Everton. Just in the minutes before the opener, apparently Mings cleared off the line & Pickford had tipped a shot/header onto the post. New Villa record for Ollie Watkins. Only player to score in 5 consecutive Premier League matches. He really has stepped up very well since Ings left.