Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports
Match-day 16 of the Barclays Premier League would prove to be vital in regards to the title race. Coming into the weekend fixture list, Arsenal are still atop the table five points clear but travel plans to Manchester City could very easily put a damper on early mid-season celebrations. Everton looked to continue their impressive form as they host Fulham, Newcastle and Southampton would play out a battle of early season upstarts, Man United looked to bounce back against Aston Villa and Liverpool’s revitalization this season thus far would test itself against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Here is the review of the weekend fixtures and as always, an in depth look at our Pick of the Litter; Manchester City v Arsenal.
Cardiff City (16) v West Bromwich Albion (15)
One of many fixtures this weekend featuring two bottom half sides, Cardiff earned the full three points in a match that would spell the end of Steve Clarke’s tenure as West Brom manager. A goal from Peter Whittingham would be enough to insure the home side obtained a much-needed win in a match that was even throughout proceedings. Cardiff bumps up to 15th in the standings and faces the uphill task of traveling to Merseyside to visit high-flying Liverpool. West Brom drop down one place to 16th and look to bounce back at home against Hull City next.
Chelsea (3) v Crystal Palace (19)
A dominant performance on the stats sheet but not on the scoreboard would see Chelsea earn a 2-1 win over visiting Crystal Palace. Goals from Fernando Torres and Ramires would sandwich a strike from Marouane Chamakh (again? Surely this is a sign of things coming to the end). While Chelsea remain 3rd with the result, Palace jump up one spot to 18th on account of goal difference. Next on the fixture list for the Blues is a bus ride across London to rivals Arsenal, while Palace play host to upstart Newcastle United.
Everton (5) v Fulham (18)
The Everton renaissance under Roberto Martinez continued, as they dispatched Fulham 4-1 at Goodison Park. A goal inside the first 20 minutes from Leon Osman would stand until Dimitar Berbatov converted his chance from the spot (what a shocker). Everton would respond with their ever-growing belief in themselves with three goals in the last twenty minutes – Seamus Coleman, Gareth Barry and Kevin Mirallas goal scorers. Everton still remain an impressive 5th and will have a tricky away fixture next at Swansea City. Fulham fall to a woeful 19th and next have the joy of traveling to the blue half of Manchester in a match that the traveling supporter may not want to attend.
Newcastle United (7) v Southampton (8)
In a hotly contested and ill-tempered affair, Newcastle’s French Foreign Legion would play out a 1-1 draw with a cooled off Southampton side. The north v south fixture was littered with aggression and events on the sidelines toward the end in the match could have even come down to fisticuffs if cooler heads did not prevail. Yoan Gouffran saw his opener inside thirty minutes cancelled out by Jay Rodriguez, one of many Southampton attacking players that have impressed this season. Newcastle remains in a lofty 6th while Soton drop to 9th. Newcastle next travel to Palace while Soton host Spurs.
West Ham United (17) v Sunderland (20)
In a match that at first look would put you back to sleep on your weekend day off, this bottom feeder fixture ended up being more entertaining than one would first expect. It must be said that Sunderland got the better of West Ham and should have gone on to take the full three points, but it seems the Black Cats are destined to have nothing go the right way for them this campaign. The match would end in a 0-0 draw that still sees Sunderland the bottom club. West Ham remains in 17th just one point out of the drop zone. Sunderland next host Norwich while West Ham travel to Old Trafford to face United.
Hull City (12) v Stoke City (13)
Another match of two evenly matched teams in the table would produce the same result on the pitch, as Hull City and Stoke City play out a 0-0 draw at the KC Stadium. If not for keepers Asmir Begovic and Allan McGregor, this scoreline would surely read very differently as both shot-stoppers would make smart reaction saves to earn their clubs a point a piece. Both sides remain in 12th and 13th respectively and look forward to travels to West Brom (Hull City) and playing host to Aston Villa (Stoke City).
Aston Villa (11) v Manchester United (9)
Manchester United returns to winning ways this weekend as they dispatched Aston Villa 3-0. A brace from Danny Welbeck and a Tom Cleverly strike would guarantee the points for United though the score line will seem a touch flattering. Villa will consider it unlucky to not have converted one or two of the many chances they carved out over the course of the afternoon. United leapfrog Soton into 8th and will entertain visiting West Ham next as they continue the hunt for form. Villa still sits in 11th and travel to Stoke Rugby Club next.
Norwich City (14) v Swansea City (10)
In a performance that surely was taken from Arsene Wenger’s playbook from the past five seasons, Swansea City squeaked out a 1-1 draw at Norwich City. Possession abound for the Swans would not translate into end product as Nathan Dyer’s 12th minute opener would be cancelled out by Gary Hooper on the stroke of half time. To make matters drastically worse, Dyer would suffer a serious injury (suspected broken ankle) in the match – a telling blow for any push up the table manager Michael Laudrup was hoping to achieve in the coming weeks. Swansea sits in 10th at the end of the weekend and still is in search of consistency after a very impressive campaign last year, while Norwich still are the occupants of 14th in the table. Norwich travel to Sunderland next, while Swansea may consider investing in concrete freeway dividers as they play host to Everton.
Tottenham Hotspur (6) v Liverpool (2)
In what was the closest thing to a perfect ending of the weekend fixture list (well…not for Spurs fans), a Luiz Suarez inspired Liverpool thrashed Tottenham at White Hart Lane 5-0. Two goals from the Uruguayan hit man along with goals from Jordan Henderson, John Flanagan and Raheem sterling would pile the pressure on Spurs manager Andres Villas Boas and some would say his time at the helm is nearly up. Liverpool continue to impress under second year manager Brendan Rodgers and climb back up to 2nd in the BPL only two points behind leaders Arsenal. Spurs drop down to 7th in a year that was rife with high expectations after their £100 million summer spending spree. Tottenham will be looking to bounce back next as they visit Southampton, while Suarez and Liverpool host Cardiff City.
Match Day Pick of the Litter: Manchester City (4) v Arsenal (1)
An absolutely mouth-watering clash of Barclays Premier League giant’s leads the line of the this weekends fixture list as table topping Arsenal traveled north to high-powered Manchester City. Both sides would be using this match to solidify their title credentials in what would prove to be a high-octane and very entertaining match. Both City and Arsenal qualified for the knockout round of the Champions League as well as both being in strong domestic form – let’s quickly take a look at a few talking points coming into this match:
City Talking Points:
– Martin Demichelis starts again paired next to Vincent Kompany
– Both Kun Aguero and Alvaro Negredo start together upfront for City
– Costel Pantilimon is once again preferred over Joe Hart
Arsenal Talking Points:
– Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna declared fit and both given starting births
– Mikel Arteta dropped to the bench with Arsene Wenger preferring to go with a more creative midfield
– Santi Cazorla dropped to the bench – unclear if fitness or form related
In light of some personnel changes by both managers, here now are the starting XI’s for both sides:
City XI: Costel Pantilimon; Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis, Gael Clichy; Fernandinho, Yaya Toure; David Silva, Samir Nasri; Kun Aguero, Alvaro Negredo
Bench: Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner, Javi Garcia, Jesus Navas, Edin Dzeko
Arsenal XI: Wojciech Szczesny; Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Mathieu Flamini, Aaron Ramsey; Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere; Olivier Giroud
Bench: Lukasz Fabianski, Thomas Vermaelen, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla, Serge Gnabry, Nicklas Bendtner
Everyone in the BPL knows how strong Man City are at home – when they are firing on all cylinders, they are far and away the best attacking side in the league. This would be put on display with ruthless efficiency as Arsenal were dumped 6-3 in what must be considered a lack-luster performance (especially in the defensive third) by the Gunners.
City came out in the first half looking to improve their title credentials and from the off, they did just that. Complete dominance in the opening exchanges by City would see them win numerous set piece opportunities but they would fail to convert them, however they would still press on and be rewarded when in the 14th minute when Martin Demichelis headed on at the near post from a Samir Nasri corner – Kun Aguero would latch on to the nod on to fire home an inch-perfect volley at the far post to put City 1-0 up. Their dominance would continue up till the half-hour mark, when Theo Walcott would ring in his return (and news that his wife is expecting their first child) with the leveler. Mesut Ozil would pick up his seventh BPL assist (though throughout the match he was more or less invisible) as he found Walcott at the top of the box – his shot would take a slight deflection off Demichelis which would leave Pantilimon rooted to the ground and it was now 1-1…but not for long. In the absence of Kieran Gibbs, Nacho Monreal, who is usually a more than capable replacement, would be completely out of sorts all match long. Far too much space was awarded to City on Arsenal’s left flank and they would make them pay for it time and time again – this time it would be Alvaro Negredo to put City up 2-1 just eight minutes after Walcott’s equalizer. Pablo Zabaleta would get forward deep into Arsenal territory after an excellent diagonal ball from Yaya Toure and provide an excellent ball across the face of goal, which left Negredo with a simple tap-in past Szczesny. The play would result in Laurent Koscielny picking up a nasty deep gash on his knee and would force his removal – he would be replaced by Thomas Vermaelen, once one of the best center backs in the BPL but now relegated to a substitute role given the usual brilliance of the partnership between Koscielny and Mertesacker. City would carve out two more quality chances before the half-time whistle would sound – Arsenal were on the back heel and City looked good value for their lead at the break.
The second half would begin in much the same way as the first ended, however an unfortunate injury picked up by Aguero would see him off and replaced by Jesus Navas – the talented Spanish winger who still has yet to show the BPL the talent that he dazzled La Liga with for years but he would be a thorn in Arsenal’s side for the remainder of the match. City midfielder Fernandinho would score he first league goal for the club just after the substitution to put City ahead 3-1, who now looked all but certain to take the full three points off Arsene Wenger’s men. This would however kick-start Arsenal as they began to assert themselves in far greater spells than in the first half. Their efforts would be rewarded in the 63rd minute when Aaron Ramsey dispossessed Toure and charged forward into City territory – he would find Walcott who then dispatched a curling shot into the top right corner in literally the only place the gigantic Romanian shot-stopper could not get to. Walcott now had two on the season and while he was not influential throughout, did convert his chances when called upon (unlike Giroud who scuffed multiple chances over the course of the match). The one goal deficit would again be short lived, when three minutes later David Silva would convert from short range after Navas did well to find space down Arsenal’s weak left side again – City’s two goal lead would be restored and things would only get worse. It would not be for lack of effort however as Arsenal would still try to nudge their way back in it again. A stinging effort from Wilshere forced Pantilimon into a strong save to parry over the bar and sensing blood, Wenger made an uncharacteristically aggressive substitution when he took off Flamini and brought on promising German youngster Serge Gnabry in the 72nd minute – no doubt a move to counter James Milner coming on in place of Silva…Wenger must have sensed blood but this change would not bear the fruit he hoped. With added stability and the further weakening of Arsenal’s spine, City began to wrestle back any control Arsenal had managed to gain in the second half and created a host of chances as a result. They would cash in when Fernandinho bagged his second of the day and the season to give City a 5-2 lead in the 88th minute – Arsenal’s much talked about back-line had been cut to shreds by a highly mobile City attack from the first whistle. In an effort to get yet another one back, Walcott sprung into action with three chances in the beginning minutes of stoppage time. A resulting corner from one of them would lead to a Per Mertesacker consolation goal. However in the true fashion of this match, two minutes later City were awarded a penalty when Milner was brought down in the box – it would be converted by Toure to put the icing on the cake, as the match would end 6-3.
What can we take away from this match when we look at both side’s chances of hauling the BPL title away from Manchester United?
– City is fantastic at home averaging over four goals a match at their home ground, but only know one style of play. They lack a plan B as well as lack confidence away from The Etihad, as we have seen for the majority of this season. Brilliant in the attack and have a very strong spine with Toure and Fernandinho, but they are very susceptible at being broken open at any moment as they lack constant concentration. Their high-octane performances are brilliant to watch, but how sustainable could this be over the course of such a long season. Apart from Kompany, City needs a stronger back line as well. You cannot expect to win silverware by outscoring your opponent every match.
– Arsenal are in desperate need of two things; a striker who has a true killer instinct in front of goal and a central midfielder in the mold of Vieira or Song. Their midfield, while very creative, agile and mobile, lacks the required physical presence necessary in order to play sides like City – sides that have strong physical midfielders with excellent engines and work ethic. All too often, Arsenal’s central players will get shut down against team who possess those types of players. Most importantly, these two things highlight their need for depth – you cannot challenge the BPL or any cup competition without the ability to rest players but still have quality that can come in to replace an you could see how tired the Arsenal players were.
It will not get easy for Arsenal, as they are set to welcome Chelsea at the Emirates in their next league fixture. Anything but a win in that match may well see Arsenal’s lead at the top dwindle down to nothing, however currently they still remain top of the table on 35 points, but only just two ahead of their next league opponent. City is next away at Fulham in a match they should win easily, however we have seen how inconsistent they are on their travels this season. Never the less they jump up to third, three points behind Arsenal and one point behind second placed Chelsea.
As the transfer window is just around the corner, WAH will begin posting a piece everyday on each BPL team in what we feel those clubs should do during the January transfer window. Also on the horizon will be articles about Arsenal’s title chances (an in-depth analysis), what England’s 23-man squad would be if you purely were to base it off of domestic form and many others – hope you stay tuned with us!