Title Deciding Weekend Preview
I just woke up after a loooong
night spent with books and notes. The exams are looming but there are plenty of
diverging thoughts playing at the back of my head. Thoughts about the Premier
League, of course.
Just under a month ago we were in
the driving seat. Well, actually I thought that the title was ours. We had the
momentum while City were dropping points for fun. Since then we threw away 8
points while City won against WBA, Wolves, Norwich and, of course, us. Since that post I posted in March
titled Man Utd run in vs Man City run in, I have to say I’ve been bang on with
my predictions on City’s games. With the exception of their mauling of Norwich,
I guessed that they would drop points vs Arsenal, Stoke and Swansea. I never
really believed we were going to win at the Etihad. A draw, maybe, but
definitely not a win. They’ve been too strong there.
On the other hand I’ve been
pretty poor in predicting my own team’s results. I never ever thought that we’d
lose vs Wigan and then squander further points vs Everton. Football is a funny old game that often
springs out that odd surprise and, unluckily, we’ve been the victims of
football’s old tricks.
It all falls down to the final
two games of the season now. We’ve got the task of beating a
free-flowing-football-playing Swansea side and then we’ll have to face the
daunting challenge of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. On the other hand
City will have to face QPR who, I think, will get a battering. That game could
crown them champions of England but only if they win vs Newcastle United in
this weekend’s top game.
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| Let's hope these two show up on Sunday |
In Newcastle lie our only hopes
of retaining the premier league crown. I’ve been saying all along that I
expected City to drop points vs this Newcastle side. The Barcodes will have
50,000 fans spurring them on. At home Newcastle have been formidable. They’ve
last been defeated at the Arena, or whatever it’s called now, in December
during a very bad patch they had. Mind you that loss came vs WBA and that shows
Newcastle’s unpredictability. They’ve lost 3-0 to Chelsea, 5-0 to Tottenham and
4-0 vs Wigan during this season so I’m not sure whether it’s smart to hope
they’d be able to bring down City.
However, they have plenty to play
for. Just like City. Their striker is in a rich vein of form and I’d expect him
to trouble City’s defence who aren’t exactly what the media portrays them to
be. It’s Kompany who makes their defence look good and, of course, their
outstanding keeper. Lescott, Clichy and Zabaleta could be made to look ordinary,
they’re no world beaters.
Anyhow I’d like to think that
Newcastle can win or draw this game but my mind says that this game is too big
a match for City to bottle. If they bottle it on Sunday then they’re not
really made of Champions…yet. If they win, they’d earned the title.
From the point of not having any
guts whatsoever of watching the derby game, I hope I will be able to amass
enough ‘courage’ and look on during this weekend’s big games.
So here’s to a game were City
drop points. Here’s to Cisse bettering his goal tally. Here’s to Newcastle
doing us a great big favour. From the usual BELIEVE bullshit most of us post
during this stage of the season, we’ll have to resort to the word HOPE ……and
despair.
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| In 2005 this happened. Since then we have matched and overpowered Chelsea's Challenge |
We’ll 'meet' again in 2 days’ time, when
we’ll have a clear picture of where the title is going. To conclude, if City
win on Sunday then the FA might as well start decorating the PL trophy with
blue ribbons. If this happens I believe that it could take a year or two before
Fergie could break City’s hold on the title. It’s our fight with Chelsea since
their rise all over again.
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