A few thoughts from the last week in Football (February 11-19)

It has been two weeks since the last time I put down a few of my thoughts from the week in football so I have a little bit more to look through.

Some of the issues may seem like they happened a lifetime ago now as football moves on so fast, so I won't cover those in great depth.

Hopefully I will be able to get back to doing these on a weekly basis, but that is something that will be dictated by work pressures unfortunately and finding the time between writing previews and thoughts.


1) Where do Arsenal go from here?: For the second season in succession, Arsenal have found their season in tatters before we get to 'squeaky bum time' and the question is relevant as to where they will go from here. The Gunners are effectively out of the Champions League following a crushing defeat in the San Siro last week and have now fallen out of the FA Cup at the 5th Round as they have reached 7 years since they have last won a trophy.

The pressure is on the management and staff to make sure that they get into the Champions League, but the best they can hope for on that front is reaching the Qualifying Round as they had to pass this year.

Even that is no guarantee with a host of clubs queued up behind them and they have to find their form quickly.

The game against Tottenham Hotspur was usually a 'gimme' for Arsenal fans over the years, but this Sunday the tables will be turned as Spurs come to the Emirates intent on keeping their title ambitions alive while denting their North London rivals' own abitions.


2) Fourth place is up for grabs: The Premier League was not in action this weekend, but Newcastle United and Liverpool must feel they have a great chance of securing the coveted Fourth Place in the Premier League as Arsenal and Chelsea continue to show massive vulnerabilities in their own play.

Both London clubs struggled mightily in their respective FA Cup ties, and both have looked vulnerable in the League all season so surely the other two teams in contention for this place will be full of confidence.

Newcastle United would be the surprise package if they could manage it, while Liverpool may just finish with one of their most successful seasons in recent times if they can get back into the Champions League as well as adding a couple of bits of silverware too. They host Arsenal and Chelsea during the remainder of this season and will feel comfortable having already played Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur twice this season.


3) Aston Villa cannot afford to lose at the DW Stadium this weekend: I said, with my tongue in cheek, that Aston Villa fans may have to deal with a relegation scrap if they don't pick up form a couple of weeks ago in my preview for their game with Manchester City, and that could become a real concern if they were to lose at Wigan this weekend.

Villa are currently on 28 points, leaving them 7 clear of those in the relegation zone, but a defeat could suddenly leave them in an extremely uncomfortable position.

Speaking off the top of my head, I believe they are yet to play Manchester United (Away), Liverpool (Away), Arsenal (Away) and Chelsea (Home) in the League this season, so those 7 points could quickly evaparote with a defeat on Saturday.

Alex McLeish has been under pressure even since accepting the job as he came across town from Birmingham City and that could be increased ten-fold with a defeat at the weekend.


4) The Premier League being the best League in the World: Now I personally hate it when the Premier League is described this way, usually by Sky in hyping a game or by fans that haven't visited a stadium more than twice in their lifetime, as I just don't believe it is true.

There was a period recently when the English sides would do very well in Europe, but they never had a sustained period of dominance in actually WINNING the Champions League, with only Liverpool in 2005 and Manchester United in 2008 winning the top prize since the famous Treble-winning United side of 1999. To prove the Premier League was the 'best League', surely English sides should have won more than a couple of titles in the last 12 seasons, especially considering Real Madrid and Barcelona accounted for 4 of those between themselves in that time and the two Milan clubs have shared 3 titles.

On Wednesday last week, we saw one of the two remaining English representatives hammered at the San Siro, while Manchester United and Manchester City were preparing for their first Europa League games.

The Premier League may be the most 'competitive' League, but the League is of a poor standard as far as I am concerned.

I say this as a United fan myself- the fact we are sitting 2 points off the lead with the midfield we have operated this season is a sad indictment of the quality in the Enlish Premier League rather than anything else.


5) And they said Patrice Evra was the liar?: Over the last 3 months since the incident between LS and Patrice Evra, we have heard a bunch of rhetoric coming out of Anfield from people like Kenneth Dalglish straight through to the players and the fans, with most of that people an attempt to discredit Patrice Evra and the allegations he had made.

There have been a number of PR gaffes throughout that time (those T-Shirts being the most embarrassing without a doubt), but it all seemed to come to a head at Old Trafford 10 days ago.

The most influential way Liverpool had felt it was right to defend their own player was to accuse Evra of being a liar, Dalglish in particular saying soon after the allegations had been made that 'he has done this before, hasn't he?'

I even remember people telling me it was Evra's word against LS's word and that Evra was a known liar so how could he be believed...

Since last Saturday, I have heard nothing but radio silence...

You see LS was proven to be an absolute liar when he informed the club and his manager that he intended to shake Evra's hand, only to decide against it at the last minute... He didn't tell anyone, everyone believed LS when he said he would shake hands, so I guess the FA believed the right person after all.

The embarrassment was not complete though for Liverpool as Kenneth decided to blow up live on TV moments after the game (not quite Kevin Keegan levels, but very enjoyable all the same) and then we once again got all the Liverpool fans up in arms that EVRA had refused the handshake and it was all a conspiracy against the club- some even went so far as to say that Rio Ferdinand should have some consequences for his refusal to shake LS's hands (they were being serious too).

The climbdown on Sunday, courtesy of the American owners finally deciding to make a stand, saw a number of apologies come out of the club- far too little and far too late considering there was no apology over the whole incident that began this sorry affair.

Right now, I don't think it is too far fetched to believe that LS will be shipped off in the Summer at the request of the owners, especially since the refusal to shake Evra's hands had reached the New York Times on Sunday morning.