Even though the English Premier League is known to throw out some unexpected results every now and then, this weekend brought no real surprises, as the favourites came out on top in almost every match where they were recognised beforehand. Only Arsenal continued their fall with a defeat at West Bromwich Albion.
Premier League: Weekend Review
With all the woes Arsenal have been facing recently, losing to West Brom in Saturday’s early kick-off game is still a decent shock, and the already enraged fans will not be appreciative, especially in the light of reports that Arsene Wenger supposedly decided to stay on beyond the summer.
Tony Pulis has always been remarkable at poking the eyes of managers of top teams in England, and he’s done it again, though beating Wenger at this moment seems more like rubbing salt into his wounds than a surprise eye-poking.
This defeat caused Arsenal to lose much ground in the race for a top-four spot, allowing Manchester United to move up from sixth place for the first time since November. And unlike the Gunners, the Red Devils will not feel sad about it.
Speaking of day-opening games and the team managed by Jose Mourinho, on Sunday United have once again shown that they are ready to do whatever they deem necessary in order to get the three points, and if that means surrendering the initiative to a team like Middlesbrough after taking the lead in the first half, well, so be it.
Maybe their fans didn’t like what they saw on the pitch, but they sure loved the sight of the scoreboard at the end. The fact that this was done with Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both absent, due to injury and suspension respectively, only makes this feat more praiseworthy.
Let’s take a look at the results in full:
Saturday, March 18
| West Bromwich Albion | 3-1 | Arsenal |
| Crystal Palace | 1-0 | Watford |
| Everton | 4-0 | Hull City |
| Stoke City | 1-2 | Chelsea |
| Sunderland | 0-0 | Burnley |
| West Ham United | 2-3 | Leicester City |
| AFC Bournemouth | 2-0 | Swansea City |
Sunday, March 19
| Middlesbrough | 1-3 | Manchester United |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2-1 | Southampton |
| Manchester City | 1-1 | Liverpool |
Everton are another team that made the most of the Arsenal tumble, as the Merseyside club now stand level on points with the Gunners, and if Wenger’s men don’t get their act together soon, they might find themselves out of Europe altogether next season.
Hull City have been gaining decent results of late themselves, but the trip to Goodison Park at this moment and facing the level of form Everton have reached proved a task far too big for them. They now face a tough battle to avoid relegation.
Their best hope at this moment is to try and overtake Swansea, who lost to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium and, like Hull, seem to have run out of steam after making a run of improved performances.
To Bournemouth, this game meant little regarding their position in the table, as the Cherries have absolutely no chance of reaching Europe and are in good stead against relegation, but Eddie Howe has instilled a strong fighting spirit into his team and they will not willingly let anyone take anything from their home ground.
Sam Allardyce is by repute an expert in avoiding relegation, and Crystal Palace have done well to exploit the defeats of Hull and Swansea by beating Watford at home.
Watford have been sitting comfortably in the middle of the table for a while, but after losing three of the last four games and drawing the other, they have now slipped down to 14th. Counting only seven points more than Hull in 18th, they need to roll up their sleeves in order to spare themselves some end-of-season blushes.
Title-holders Leicester City are really in a good way at the moment, and for all the criticism they have received over the sacking of Claudio Ranieri, it now seems to have been the right call. Since Craig Shakespeare took over as the caretaker manager, they have not only overturned the deficit from the first leg of the Round of 16 in the Champions League, but now they’ve also racked up three consecutive wins in the Premier League. They are slowly moving upwards, and they will have every right to consider this season a success for reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League alone, if not maybe as successful as the last.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic expressed his disappointment with this defeat, and the players and fans alike definitely have little to be proud of, as they haven’t been able to reproduce the success of last season despite moving to the London Stadium this term. But in fact, this game bore very little competitive significance for them.
Sunderland have managed to narrowly escape relegation several times in recent past, but now it seems there is no way out for them. Even the reinstated England striker Jermain Defoe probably won’t be able to do anything about it.
It's good to be back… #England #JD18 pic.twitter.com/4YtxBA1sU8
— Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) March 20, 2017
Burnley have gathered another point and made another step in breaking their record regarding the number of points in the Premier League, but only eight points above Hull and with nine games to be played, they aren’t safe just yet.
After beating Stoke this weekend, Chelsea are ten points clear of second-place Tottenham Hotspur, and the title is very close for them in what is an extremely impressive first season in England for manager Antonio Conte.
Stoke City won’t be losing much sleep over being defeated at home by such a strong team, as they firmly remain mid-table, though Mark Hughes reportedly feels his team have been hard done by deserving at least a point.
Spurs have continued their firm steps towards next season’s Champions League by beating Southampton at White Hart Lane, despite the absence of their star striker Harry Kane. Being the closest to leaders Chelsea, they might still be hoping for a giant slip-up by the Blues, though the hope seems extremely far from a realistic one.
After this defeat, Southampton sit bottom of the top half in tenth, and their attempt to finish the season as strongly as possible should be purely for the honour of it and under very little pressure, as the Saints’ march to another European qualification spot seems to be over.
The last game of the round was promising to be a good one, and both Manchester City and Liverpool delivered excitement in abundance. The contest ended with teams leaving with a point each, and the result could not have been more reflecting of the game that was finely balanced. However, it’s Pep Guardiola’s team that will see this as a good result, considering they remain a point above Liverpool with a game in-hand.
Jurgen Klopp, on the other hand, should feel happy about the fact that his team have managed to complete all ten games against top-six sides undefeated; five wins and five draws. But they will be looking over their shoulder as well, since Manchester United in fifth and Arsenal in sixth both have two games in-hand over them. By no means can a draw at the Etihad be considered as two points dropped, by any team, but for Liverpool it somehow seems that way, especially with Adam Lallana missing an unbelievable opportunity to grab the victory late on.
So, after the weekend this is how the Premier League table stands:
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Chelsea | 28 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 59 | 21 | 38 | 69 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 55 | 21 | 34 | 59 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 54 | 30 | 24 | 57 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 29 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 61 | 36 | 25 | 56 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 27 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 42 | 23 | 19 | 52 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 56 | 34 | 22 | 50 |
| 7 | Everton | 29 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 51 | 30 | 21 | 50 |
| 8 | West Bromwich Albion | 29 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 39 | 38 | 1 | 43 |
| 9 | Stoke City | 29 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 33 | 42 | -9 | 36 |
| 10 | Southampton | 27 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 33 | 36 | -3 | 33 |
| 11 | AFC Bournemouth | 29 | 9 | 6 | 14 | 42 | 54 | -12 | 33 |
| 12 | West Ham United | 29 | 9 | 6 | 14 | 40 | 52 | -12 | 33 |
| 13 | Burnley | 29 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 31 | 42 | -11 | 32 |
| 14 | Watford | 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 33 | 48 | -15 | 31 |
| 15 | Leicester City | 28 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 33 | 47 | -14 | 30 |
| 16 | Crystal Palace | 28 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 36 | 46 | -10 | 28 |
| 17 | Swansea City | 29 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 36 | 63 | -27 | 27 |
| 18 | Hull City | 29 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 26 | 58 | -32 | 24 |
| 19 | Middlesbrough | 28 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 20 | 33 | -13 | 22 |
| 20 | Sunderland | 28 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 24 | 50 | -26 | 20 |
Now comes another international break, and it’s extremely hard to predict anything at the moment because international breaks have been known to be disruptive to a team’s form, not to mention to players’ fitness.
The only certainties are that the top-four battle will continue to rage, just like the relegation one at the other end.
Apart from Chelsea looking almost certain to win the title and Sunderland’s bid to stay in the league looking increasingly hopeless, everything still seems wide open. What happens in the end remains to be seen.
Main Photo:
