- Ahead of the Premier League’s midweek action, we look at several talking themes, including the competition for European spots.
Ahead of the Premier League‘s midweek action, we look at several talking themes, including the competition for European spots, Ineos’s Manchester United, and a high-stakes Merseyside Derby.
Chelsea without star Palmer
Cole Palmer has so far scored 20 goals in the English Premier League this season. Photo/ NewsBytes.
The revelation that Cole Palmer is a serious doubt for Chelsea’s London derby against leaders Arsenal on Tuesday will worry the Blues. Leading the Premier League in goals (20) and assists (9), the 21-year-old has been the bright spot on an otherwise uneven squad this season.
In Chelsea’s most recent league match, he netted four goals, and in his past five Premier League games, he has ten goals. His extraordinary skill has driven the club’s finest performances, so it will be interesting to see how Chelsea manages without him.
With Palmer out, Chelsea’s season hasn’t had many bright spots. However, Mauricio Pochettino’s team, which hasn’t lost in eight Premier League games, will have an opportunity to improve without him when they travel to the Gunners.
Race for Europe is on
Aston Villa in a previous match. Photo/Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
The main story of the run-in may be the title race, but the fight for continental competition is getting more and more competitive. The top five are virtually certain, but there’s an interestingly close group of contenders behind them. Newcastle is presently in sixth place, which guarantees them a spot in the Europa Conference League before they play Crystal Palace this week.
But sixth place will advance to a slot in the Europa League group stage if Manchester City defeats Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Manchester United trails Newcastle on goal differential and has the option of finishing in sixth place or winning the FA Cup to earn a spot in the Europa League.
West Ham’s humiliation against Crystal Palace has damaged the team’s ambitions, but Chelsea has slowly re-entered the race. With a game remaining and three points behind Newcastle and Manchester United, the Blues’ eight-game winning streak might enable them save their European football this season.
Work for Ineos at United
Jim Ratcliffe. Photo/Daily Post Nigeria
Although Ralf Rangnick’s tenure as Manchester United‘s interim manager is mostly forgotten, his remarks on the scope of the team’s rebuild have come to pass.
‘You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are,’ he said that month.
‘Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart.”
Anthony was the one who, if anything, this weekend symbolized Manchester United’s institutional downfall. The winger provoked Coventry, a team that incurred a third of his £85 million transfer fee, as several refused to celebrate the shootout victory against the lower division team. This season, he has only contributed one goal to the Premier League, and it was awkward.
In recent years, United has squandered and wasted money, and new investors It may be necessary for Ineos to disband this team and start over. You can’t develop on flimsy grounds, therefore you might have to take some financial knocks.
Big stakes at Merseyside
The Merseyside Derby is known for intense emotions, but seldom does it have as much on the line. Points are valuable to both sides, but for very different reasons. Liverpool needs a faultless finish to the Premier League season as the fight for the championship comes down to the wire following a shocking loss to Crystal Palace earlier this month.
The Reds overcame a moment of indifference with a 3-1 victory against Fulham on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp now has to decide whether to start Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah again. After coming off the bench to open the match against Fulham, when Cody Gakpo looked great and Diogo Jota scored, both players have since lost their way and failed to have an influence on the game.
Everton’s thrilling 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest has given them some breathing room out of the bottom three, but Sean Dyche’s team is still very much in the hunt. A win against their bitter rivals would put them five points above the relegation zone and would be a major step in maintaining their Premier League standing. At Goodison, a lot is on the line.
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