Those of us who like to see ourselves as sporting experts feel worthless at times like these. After Manchester Utd’s shock defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday, one would assume the HarryRedknapp’s giant killing Pompey would have no trouble overcoming the premiership’s whipping boys- Watford.
Lesson number 1- Never assume anything in the premiership. An embarassing 4-2 defeat followed as the hornets stung a jaded Portsmouth outfit who seemed to be buried in the joy of their previous game’s aftermath.
Even Harry “Houdini” Redknapp didn’t know what to make of it as he said “We worked hard against Manchester United and defended well, but couldn’t do it here. I don’t know why.”
Despite his attack on his team’s performance he was quick to ignore talk of a poor focus. “There was no hangover from the United game. We just threw away a chance to really get ourselves into a good position today.”
The premiership race is now the most exiting since the turn of the century as Man Utd’s lead was reduced to 3 points this weekend with the daunting task of a trip to Stamford Bridge still lloming in the darkness.
Due to the seeming unpredictability of the premiership, this blog will now have a weekly feature of match previews and predictions to really see if you can beat the bookies with the form book. My early guess is no but only time will tell.
Pardew has brought the spirit in the club through the roof, similar to that in the club around the time of a certain Mr. Curbishley. It seems the disjointed days of Les Reid are long gone. Under Reid there were rumours of a squad outing organised by Reid to boost the fading team morale, however, only three players turned up.
Although the Valley is finally brimming with positivity, Manchester City have looked strong in recent weeks particularly in defence. City have been poor all year especially in attack. If Samaras or Vassell started getting a few more goals, City could be a top eight side.
Elsewhere, Everton host Fulham in a game which I feel will be a score draw. Both sides have been in mixed form recently, most notably Fulham who could still get dragged into the relegation battle if they fail to pick up points soon.
With all focus being drawn to the bottom of the table, Manchester Utd and Chelsea have had some welcome relief from the media with speculation of Thierry Henry’s future at Arsenal stealing the headlines.
Henry is unsettled acording to reports
Despite the rumours, Aresene Wenger dismissed the story as “created”.
“He asked me whether I’d read the newspapers. I’d not heard about his story. But it’s completely invented. He’s clear, he wants to stay. I’m clear, I want him to stay. So that story has been created” said Wenger. So Arsenal fans everywhere can breath a sigh of relief. But surely it will hardly be another few days before the rumour mill starts questioning the Frenchman’s future again.
Why do Arsenal need him to stay? – well videos speak louder than words
As of now, my plan is to focus on the remaining 6 weeks of the Barclays Premiership season. As I played around with a number of potential topics in my head, it struck me that not only does the time period suit the assignment but the reality that the current season has easily been the most exciting in nearly a decade makes it an extremely deserving topic.
Although the premiership is already widely covered by online media, I don’t intend boring reader’s with match reports from two days ago. As someone who aspires to be a sports journalist, I hope to bring my own slant to the apropriate issues.
Keeping up to date with news everywhere else, I shall also give a more personal angle to the way I feel the season will go and is presently going. However. don’t bet on my tips…you have been warned.
I aim to use links, videos and images- the plan is to keep all readers entertained. Suggestions are always welcomed so don’t be shy.
Enjoy,
Waldo
What’s so great about the premiership you say???Have a look…
