The Premier League relegation battle

The Premier League relegation battle

All eyes may be on Manchester United and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League but at the bottom something equally as interesting is happening. On Monday May 11 Newcastle face Middlesbrough at St James’ Park and the loser will almost certainly be playing their football in the Championship next season.

To add extra spice to the occasion it is also a local derby and there will be a lot of tension in the North East on Monday night. They played out a very dull 0-0 draw at the Riverside earlier in the season but we should see a better game this time around, or at least a few goals. Neither side can afford to draw to be honest and they should both risk throwing men forward.

It is a little surprising to see Newcastle in the situation they’re in to be honest. At the start of the season I doubt many would have offered betting advice on a team with Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen and Mark Viduka in the side being in the relegation dog-fight. However, Martins has suffered various injuries through the season while Owen and Viduka have looked shadows of their former selves and have failed in front of goal.

Boro did ok last season but they let key players go and didn’t replace them. The biggest mistake was not finding a replacement for keeper Mark Schwarzer when he moved to Fulham and trusting youngsters Brad Jones and Ross Turnbull to step-up to the starting eleven. Both look capable keepers but they’re not top-class as Schwarzer was and that is a major reason why Boro are where they are. They also seem to have no quality up front despite spending a massive £12million on Afonso Alves from PSV. The Brazilian just hasn’t delivered though and he has only found the net seven times this season – a very poor return for such a high price.

It is a very tight game to call but I’m going to go against the Premier League betting odds and suggest Middlesbrough should win this one. They’ve played the better football over the past few weeks and will know this is their best chance to get out of trouble. Newcastle’s preparation has also been disrupted by in-fighting with midfielder Joey Barton being suspended by the club. Whatever the outcome, it should be a great game and it will be played like a cup-final.

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Premier League: Latest News

Premier League: Latest News

After all the hype about Liverpool getting back into the title race it looks as if Manchester United have all but sealed the title now. Manchester United saw off Portsmouth 2-0 in midweek while Liverpool played out an unreal 4-4 draw with Arsenal.

That draw with Arsenal all but ended Liverpool’s title hopes and their odds have rocketed, so if you do still fancy betting on them to do it you’ll get a good price! The game did demonstrate one thing in particular though – the explosive talent of Andrey Arshavin. I’d seen the Russian maestro play for Zenit St Petersburg and Russia before and I always knew he was a top-talent. He has been playing well for Arsenal but up until that game questions had been asked about his fitness – he answered those and then some by popping up with four goals. It really was a classic game of football, with Liverpool pressing and Arsenal sublime on the counter-attack, both sides needed to win but unfortunately the game didn’t produce a winning goal.

For all their good work Liverpool could, and probably will, end the season without a trophy. The FA Cup final will see Everton take on Chelsea and the betting odds will be firmly in Chelsea’s favour. However, if anyone outside the ‘big four’ is capable of beating Hiddink’s Chelsea it is Everton. They have hugely impressed me this season and if boss David Moyes can keep his side together and perhaps add a bit more quality they could well gate crash the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season.

At the other end of the table Newcastle look to be in real trouble and will need to pick up maximum points in their remaining three home games. They face Portsmouth, Fulham and Middlesbrough at home but their away ties are at Liverpool and Aston Villa – where I don’t fancy their chances much. West Brom look well out of it at the bottom now, they’re nine points adrift with five games left and, despite manager Tony Mowbray’s insistence they can get out of it, I think they’re gone. Middlesbrough have picked up four points in two games but they face Arsenal and Manchester United in their next two games and I can’t see them getting anything out of those fixtures. If a team is going to get out of it someone else has to drop and that could well be Hull City. Hull have been in a shocking run of form lately and if they don’t pick up results soon they could be heading back to the Championship after just one year in the Premier League. Wolverhampton Wanderers are the first team to win promotion to the Premier League this season, they’ve stormed the Championship and are under the guidance of former Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy. McCarthy is a fairly decent manager and it will be interesting to see how the Wolves do in the Premier League next season.

I’ll round off my Premier League update with some bizarre news. Bolton chairman Phil Gartside wants to submit plans to split the league into two, with a two-tier system with 18 teams in each league. It would be a dramatic overhaul of British football and the plans include Scottish sides Celtic and Rangers joining the English league. If the plans are to go ahead he would need the backing of 14 out of the 20 Premier League chairmen, so it seems fairly unlikely. I don’t like the plans myself, I quite like the system the way it is, but to be honest I doubt that he’ll get the backing he needs to pursue this weird idea.

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Premier League News: the title race heats up and a legend returns to Newcastle

Premier League News: the title race heats up and a legend returns to Newcastle

Come ogni settimana, eccoci all'appuntamento tradizionale con Gareth. Ecco le ultime dalla Premier League, il campionato inglese, raccontate dal nostro esperto britannico. A te la parola, Gareth!

The Premier League has been an exciting place over the last couple of weeks. Manchester United surrendered their lead at the top of the table to Liverpool, even if it was for less than 24 hours.

Liverpool were within two points of United going into last weekends fixtures and with their game against Fulham on the Saturday night they had the opportunity to overtake United at the top. They made hard work of it but the Israeli Yossi Benayoun scored a last gasp winner to send Liverpool to the top of the table.

United faced Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday and the betting odds were stacked against Villa, who have been in a very bad run of form lately. However, in the 75th minute Villa had a 2-1 lead and were the better side for the majority of the game. United turned their lead on its head though, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Macheda. Macheda is a 17-year-old Italian, United bought (or stole) from Lazio and he made an immediate impression in his first game for Alex Ferguson’s side. His first touch was sublime and he hit his shot on the turn, curling it into the corner of the goal. It was fantasy stuff from the 17-year-old and it looks as if, yet again, Ferguson has acquired one of Europe’s top-prospects.

At the other end of the table West Bromich Albion and Middlesbrough are both heading towards relegation. West Brom saw themseleves on the wrong end of a 2-0 score line against fellow strugglers Stoke, while Middlesbrough were hammered 4-1 by Bolton Wanderers. They both face massive uphill struggles to get out and having seen both sides play this season I doubt many will be betting on their survival. Newcastle United occupy the third relegation place and they face a very difficult run in. Newcastle have appointed former England legend, and the clubs all time top goal scorer, Alan Shearer to take over managing the team for their final fixtures in a last ditch attempt to secure survival. Shearer has no experience as a manager but he should instil a bit of passion into the side, whether or not that will be enough to keep them up is open too debate but personally I think it could be a case of too little to late. Newcastle face Stoke at the weekend and it is a massive game for both sides, should Stoke win they will have pretty much secured their own survival and Newcastle will have a massive task getting out of the bottom three. If Newcastle win the game it could be the kick start they need, but only Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton have managed to win away at Stoke this season so it is not an easy task for Shearer.

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Premier League Round Up

Premier League Round Up

Ancora una volta siamo giunti all'appuntamento con Gareth, che ci porterà a conoscenza delle ultime sulla Premier e ci darà delle chicche importanti sul mercato inglese. Come al solito, non mi dilungo e lascio la parola al nostro esperto...a te Gareth!

It has been quite a week in the Premier League. Last weekend Liverpool hammered Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford giving them a glimmer of hope in their bid for the title. Then this weekend the almost unthinkable happened, as United lost 2-0 away at Fulham and Liverpool comfortably saw off fifth placed Aston Villa 5-0 at Anfield to take them within a point of United. Liverpool now have a superior goal difference which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

Liverpool’s task is still not an easy one though, United still have a game in hand meaning they still need to drop points in two games for Liverpool to stand a chance of claiming their first title in 19 years. United are still the betting favourites to clinch a third consecutive league title. Chelsea blew their chances to take the title by losing 1-0 away at Tottenham Hotspur and to add to their woes top-scorer Nicolas Anelka has been ruled out for up to three weeks with a foot injury.

Villa’s loss and Arsenal’s 3-1 win away at Newcastle put some space between the two sides. Villa had been in pole position for a shock place in next season’s Champions League but it looks as if Arsenal have picked up a run of form at the right time. Andrei Arshavin has been outstanding since his move to the Emirates and for me he has made a lot of difference to an Arsenal side that looked fairly average before he joined. When Cesc Fabregas and Thomas Rosicky return from injury and Eduardo is fully fit again they will be even better and should mount a decent challenge for the title next year.

At the wrong end of the table things are getting a lot worse for Newcastle. Stoke managed a win over Middlesbrough while Newcastle lost to Arsenal meaning they slipped into the bottom three. West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers all but ended their survival hopes and they’re now seven points adrift of safety. Middlesbrough are also in real danger and sit four points away from safety, they have only won one league game in 2009. It is starting to look like it will be West Brom and Middlesbrough and any one from Newcastle, Blackburn, Stoke, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Hull and Bolton but things can always change.

The ‘English domination’ (as the British media are calling it) of European football saw four teams in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Liverpool have been paired with Chelsea for the fifth year in a row and they both have a hard task as either Barcelona or Bayern Munich await them in the semi final. Personally, I’m not sure anyone will be good enough to beat Barcelona this season and I think they should be able to win the Champions League. Of course luck is very important in cup competitions but based on quality I think Barca are better than all four English sides in the competition. Manchester United face Porto and Arsenal face Villareal in their quarter finals. I would expect both English teams to go through but I quite fancy Arsenal to overcome United in the semi-final. The Gunners will not be favourites with the sports betting odds but they do have a good record against United this season I think they could cause a minor upset.

Of the teams competing to get into the league it looks as if Wolverhampton Wanderers will be champions at the end of the season. Birmingham are in pole position to join them but Reading and Sheffield United are also close and could easily beat them too it. Promotion is decided by the top two teams going up and the next four teams compete in play-offs to decide the final promotion place. The teams currently occupying those places are Reading, Sheffield United, Burnley and Cardiff. Reading are perhaps the better side but once you get to the play-offs it is a bit of a lottery and I would be hard-pressed to pick a winner.

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Premier League news: Tight at the bottom.

Premier League news: Tight at the bottom.

Eccoci al consueto appuntamento, su Citysport, con Gareth. Il nostro esperto ci parlerà delle ultime notizie provenienti dall'Inghilterra e dalla massima serie calcistica britannica, la Premier. A te la parola, Gareth.

Before Christmas the Premier League was shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons at the top of the table for a very long time. It looked as if Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea were all going to be challenging for the title at the end of the season and Aston Villa were well placed to mount a title bid themselves. Things changed though and it now looks as if Manchester United have all but wrapped the league up, with Liverpool and Chelsea losing a lot of ground.

The bottom of the table looks a little more interesting though and there is still betting to be done on who will face the drop. West Bromwich Albion look like they’ve pretty much gone, they’re four points adrift of safety and their performances have been pretty poor to say the least. Aside from West Brom it could be any other two from a whole host of teams.

Middlesbrough have been shocking lately and I’m not convinced of the quality of their squad. I have no idea how Stewart Downing gets into the England side and he hasn’t been playing well for Boro either lately. They upset the sports betting odds this weekend though with a massive win over Liverpool (which all but ended their title aspirations) and it is results like that which can change a team’s season. Boro have a hard run in though, they face Manchester United and Arsenal in their last five games as well as a derby with Newcastle United.

Stoke City, another newly promoted team, have been grinding out results but they’re still in the thick of it. Their home form is brilliant and they’ve taken down Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Britannia Stadium but their away form is shocking. Stoke are still yet to record an away win and if they can pick up their form away from home they should be able to stay up.

Blackburn Rovers have flourished under new boss Sam Allardyce but it will still be a massive job to keep them in the league. I’ve still not been convinced by their performances but they are picking up points now and in truth their squad probably has more quality than the rest of the teams at the bottom. In Roque Santa Cruz they have one of the best strikers in the league and his goals should keep them in the division.

Hull City enjoyed a fantastic start to the season but they’re in free fall now. I just can’t see them picking up enough points to survive in their last eleven games even though they’re still three points out of the relegation places. They bought Jimmy Bullard in January but he played just 45 minutes before he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and that was a massive blow.

Portsmouth, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are still not out of it but I would be very surprised if any of these teams were relegated. At a push Sunderland are still not out of danger but with 31 points they should have enough points on the board by the end of the year to stay up. The battle for the title may have been all but decided but the relegation issue is wide open and I don’t think we’ll know who is going down until the last day of the season.

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Managerial changes. News from the English Premier League.

Managerial changes. News from the English Premier League.

E' venerdì e Citysport fa un salto in Ingilterra, in Premier League, per carpire le ultime notizie provenienti dalla massima serie calcistica britannica. Questa settimana, dopo aver analizzato le principali trattative riguardanti i giocatori inglesi, è tempo di parlare di allenatori. Come sempre sarà Gareth, il nostro esperto, a illustrarci le ultime scoppiettanti novità.

It has been quite a busy week in English football. Both Chelsea and Portsmouth have sacked their respective managers with Chelsea already finding a replacement in Guus Hiddink, who will continue in his capacity as Russia’s manager whilst in charge at Chelsea.

Portsmouth boss Tony Adams was the bookies favourites with their sports betting odds to be axed first but Luis Felipe Scolari just about beat him to it by a few hours. There is no doubting Scolari’s ability as a coach but it just didn’t click with him at Stamford Bridge. He has since admitted he had ‘no relationship’ with the players off the pitch and rumours circulated that he had no respect in the dressing room. The tabloid newspapers have reported that Petr Cech, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba told Roman Abramovich he should be sacked and it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened. Drogba has been frankly awful all season and he is Chelsea’s most influential player when he is on form. His lack of form is the biggest reason for Chelsea’s league position and there chances of winning the league are very slim.

Scolari’s replacement, for the time being at least, is Dutchman Guus Hiddink. Hiddink will continue as Russia’s coach and he has said he expects to stay just until the end of the season but he could stay if he achieves any kind of success at Chelsea. Candidates have already emerged as to who could take on the job full time in the summer but it looks like AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti is the favourite, with West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola another name that has been mentioned.

Tony Adams was sacked as Portsmouth manager after just 22 games in charge, he only won two of those games. To be honest I don’t think Adams was ever really management material and Portsmouth are in real danger of being relegated now. There have been a few names mentioned such as former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley but as yet they have not named Adams’ successor so you can still place a bet on who the next Pompey boss will be with your football betting.

Another big story is English football this week was David Beckham’s 108th England cap. He has now equalled the record set by Bobby Moore for the most caps for an outfield player. It is a massive achievement for Beckham and in general most of the people involved in English football seem to think it is a good thing that he is still involved in the national side. In the match itself though Spain really outclassed England and there was little Beckham or anyone else could have done to avoid that 2-0 defeat.

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Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Eccoci, con una settimana di ritardo, al consueto appuntamento con la Premier League, e i vari affari conclusi nel mercato britannico. Tutto ciò ci sarà raccontato, come è accaduto nel suo esordio su Citysport, dal nostro esperto Gareth Freeman. Allora, non dilunghiamoci troppo e lasciamo spazio a Gareth. It's up to you my friend!.

Hi readers, Hi Citysport. I try to explain what happened in this period. The transfer window proved to be a bit of an anti-climax in the Premier League this year. The window is a favourite with the football betting bookies in England as the soccer betting odds seem to change so rapidly throughout the window as new rumours surface. Manchester City were expected to make a big money move for Blackburn striker Santa Cruz but that failed to materialise. Tottenham Hotspur were this years biggest spenders and they brought back three of their ex-players back into the team.

Manchester City brought in Nigel de Jong, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge and Shay Given in January. Bellamy, Bridge and Given are all proven Premier League players but they’re not the massive names expected now City are the world’s richest club. They did move for Kaka and when that fell through there was a feeling they might make a similarly sized move for Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon but that move never surfaced.

The surprise big spenders were Tottenham Hotspur. It is the first time since being in charge that Harry Redknapp has been able to dip into the transfer market and he really took his chance. Tottenham have spent around £50million in the transfer window, the whole Premier league spent just over £120million so Spurs take up a massive chunk of that. Among Spurs transfers are Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda, all players that have played for Tottenham before but not under Harry Redknapp. Attacking midfielder Wilson Palacios have also joined from Wigan along with Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea.

Chelsea have been fairly quiet but they have added Riccardo Quaresma to their ranks. Quaresma had fallen out of favour at Inter Milan and he could be a decent buy for the Stamford Bridge side. Only time will tell if he can adapt to the Premier League but I see know reason why he would not.

Like Chelsea Arsenal conducted very little activity until the closing stages of the window when they began talks with Andrei Arshavin. The heavy snowfall in Britain forced the FA to extend the deadline if the ‘deal had been agreed in principal’ because players could not travel in the weather. The actual deal for Arshavin was not announced until a day after the deadline but it could be the best transfer of the month. Arshavin’s performances in the European Championship and the UEFA cup show his quality and he should fit into the Arsenal side well. Whether Arshavin will be enough to get Arsenal back into the Champions League places is another matter, he will add to their attack though and Arsenal have struggled for goals of late.

Manchester United added two Serbian youngsters to their squad in Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic, the latter of which has been immediately loaned back to Partizan Belgrade. These players are two for the future for United and though Tosic may play he is unlikely to feature heavily for Manchester United this season.

Elsewhere Newcastle signed Bolton captain Kevin Nolan in a £4million deal. England international Emile Heskey joined Aston Villa, while Wigan brought in Egyptian striker Mido to replace the departed Heskey. Hull City broke their transfer record by splashing out £5million on Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard. Everton eased their injury problems by signing Brazilian striker Jo on loan from Manchester City.

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