Category: Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur: My Eyes Have Seen The Glory

Tottenham Hotspur: My Eyes Have Seen The Glory

Posted by | May 16, 2017 | , | 0

Accidents of birth can be the strangest of things. My father has been a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur since 1946, and from the first flat that I called home in Lower Edmonton we could see the White Hart Lane floodlights from the living room window when a night match was on. However, due to the complications of being born to an older mother in the early 1970s, I was born in a long-forgotten annex of the the Royal Free Hospital in Liverpool Road, a short distance from The Angel, Islington, the heart of Arsenal territory. Perhaps this explains why...

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West Bromwich Albion’s Real McClean

West Bromwich Albion’s Real McClean

Posted by | May 12, 2017 | , | 0

I am not one for “unfriending” people on Facebook. But I made an exception in March when an ex-friend charmingly captioned a photograph of Irish international James McClean and former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness “a stupid c**t and a dead c**t.” I entirely accept that many people would echo the comment about McGuinness, given his pre-political life in the Provisional Irish Republican Army. But the comment about McClean was not acceptable in any sense. McClean the footballer has done many stupid things, for which he has received yellow and red cards. And, while not excusing my...

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The Premier League Relegation Zone: Who To Choose?

The Premier League Relegation Zone: Who To Choose?

Posted by | Apr 14, 2017 | , | 0

Each April, I take a view on the Premier League (EPL) relegation struggle, based on more than just football (this year my focus is partly to swerve my own team Kingstonian’s involvement in an ultra-tight battle to avoid the cultural wasteland of Ryman League Division One South. I watched Crystal Palace v Arsenal on Monday through the unlikely prism of “moral dilemma.” One which I solved in true Trevor-Brooking-on-Match-of-the-Day-in-the-1980s style…plumping for a draw. Having watched frankly too much football at Spurs from 1973 to 1992 (Screensport Super Cup, anybody?), a natural “Arsenal-to-lose” instinct remains. But Sam Allardyce… The man...

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Manchester United: The Fragile Invincibles

Manchester United: The Fragile Invincibles

Posted by | Apr 5, 2017 | , | 0

The margins between victory and some form of salvation can be extremely narrow. Four minutes into stoppage-time at Old Trafford last night, Zlatan Ibrahimovic spared Manchester United’s blushes with a penalty kick which rescued a point from a drab and frequently ponderous performance against Everton. Seldom before in recent years has the gap between those who drink from a glass half-full and those who drink from a glass half-empty felt so great. A late, late equaliser may have tickled the neurotransmitters of those who recall the halcyon days of “Fergie-time” and the like, and those people can also take...

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The Inevitable Arsenal Post-Mortem

The Inevitable Arsenal Post-Mortem

Posted by | Mar 8, 2017 | , | 0

It comes so regularly that we could almost set our watches by it, but this year’s does feel somehow more significant than in previous years. The flaming car-wreck that Arsenal’s two-legged Champions League Round of Sixteen match against Bayern Munich became was going to be something of a weathervane for Arsene Wenger before a ball was even kicked in anger. The outcome of it, ten goals conceded over the course of the two matches, feels like a significant symptom of something far greater. The end of Wenger’s time at Arsenal is surely now fast approaching, and with that comes...

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