Alexis Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez is new to the Premier League this season, having come over from Barcelona last summer.  He began the season absolutely on fire, and he could still easily be considered one of the top 5 players in the Premier League, despite his numbers having fallen off somewhat.  Perhaps Sanchez's best asset is his ability to play almost any attacking position.  Sanchez has scored some of the best goals in the Premier League this season as well, and he might be one of the most graceful and gifted players around.  Sanchez at his very best is right up there with Eden Hazard and perhaps Angel Di Maria as the most talented players in the Premier League, and the whole league has benefited from the skills of players like Alexis Sanchez.

Gameweek 30 - Weekly Preview

Admittedly, I procrastinated a bit on this week's preview, but here we go:

Manchester City v. West Bromwich Albion

Manchester City will be desperate to make up for what was likely one of the most shocking results of the season, as they lost to lowly Burnley last week.   If they want to keep Chelsea in sight, City will have to really put the pedal to the metal for the rest of the season.  Tony Pulis has managed to create something decent for West Brom since he became manager, but I don't see them managing to fend off a hungry and desperate (and more talented) Man City game.

Aston Villa v. Swansea

Aston Villa is certainly looking improved under new manager Tim Sherwood, and their recent results should be worrying to a Swansea team that has been really all over the map this season.  Personally, I think this will end as a draw, but both of these teams will have opportunities, since Aston Villa is in form and Swansea is arguably the more talented team.

Newcastle v. Arsenal

Arsenal is another team that has been playing very well lately, and they looked greatly improved in their Champions League game against Monaco this week, even though they were eliminated from the competition.  At this point in the season, Newcastle doesn't really have a whole lot to play for, as long as they can keep themselves out of the relegation battle.  I think this could be a narrow win for Arsenal.

Southampton v. Burnley

Between Southampton holding Chelsea to a draw, and Burnley's shock victory over Manchester City last weekend, this will be a competition between two teams that should be feeling very good about themselves.  That being said, Southampton is very much the better team, and should win this easily.  However, Burnley is still fighting to stave off relegation, so they'll put maximum effort in too hopefully.

Stoke City v. Crystal Palace

This is one of those "Who Cares" types of games, in which two relatively safe teams will play an ultimately meaningless game in the grand scheme of the league standings.  All things considered, Stoke are probably the better team, so I would pick them to maybe win 1-0.

Tottenham v. Leicester

This game carries a lot of weight for both teams.  For Tottenham, a top four or top 5 finish isn't entirely out of the question yet, so they must continue to put pressure on higher teams by winning these sorts of games emphatically.  On the other hand, Leicester are still looking like dead meat at the bottom of the table, so they'll be desperate to pull a Burnley and dethrone one of the "big" clubs this weekend.  For me, this is probably a 2-1 match in favor of Spurs.

West Ham United v. Sunderland

Both of these teams have found consistency hard to come by, especially for a Sunderland team that just fired their coach Gus Poyet.  Often times, a new manager will offer some good results right away, so hopefully new manager Dick Advocaat will be able to help the club out.  For West Ham, they still have the talent and tactics to win these types of matches, but they are quickly losing any type of incentive to get out of their season.  For me, this is 1-0 for Sunderland.

Liverpool v. Manchester United (Sunday)

This is almost unarguably the biggest match in English soccer, and it promises to be a great match.  These two teams are absolutely on fire at the moment, and both have suddenly found themselves among their familiar place near the top of the table, having finally gotten over each team's slow start to the season.  In my experiences, big matches like this often end with nothing really wild happening, and I could this match ending as a 2-2 draw.

Hull v. Chelsea (Sunday)

Chelsea will really be hoping to return to the form they had at the beginning of the season, when they were unbeatable.  Now, they are struggling to find much form, so they'll be trying hard to get back on track.  Meanwhile, Hull is starting to look fairly safely above the relegation zone, so they will only be aiming to ensure their safety at Chelsea's expense.  For me, this is a good match for Chelsea to get their mojo back, so I'll take them as 3-1 winners.

QPR v. Everton (Sunday)

Everton is coming straight off being eviscerated by Dinamo Kiev from Ukraine, during their European Europa League this week.  Even worse news, QPR is playing at home, which is essentially the only place QPR has succeeded.  Frankly, this game is practically a relegation battle, so it will be a competition between a bad team and a good team playing poorly.  I'll take Everton just because they do have the raw talent to beat a lot of Premier League teams, and I have to think they'll get some decent form sometime soon.

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard is, simply, one of the best players in the world.  He's fast, hard working, and an absurdly good dribbler.  He probably has the quickest feet in the Premier League, and he's the definition of poetry in motion when he's on his game.  Possibly Hazard's biggest flaw is that he's too selfless, and tries to create great scoring opportunities for others when it would possibly be wiser for him to shoot.  Another issue with Hazard is that he isn't especially tall, so he doesn't win a lot of aerial duels against taller players.  Chelsea clearly appreciate Hazard, as they just recently signed him to a brand new 5 1/2 year contract a couple months ago.  Perhaps more amazingly, Hazard is this good and only 24 years old, so he good potentially get even better, which is a scary thought.  In the meantime, let's all admire one of the most exciting players in the world today, and hope that he can continue to be this entertaining for years to come.  Check out the highlight reel below!

Gameweek 29

Here we go again...

Crystal Palace v. QPR

Frankly, this is a big battle of "who cares," although QPR will need to try and salvage every point they can get for the rest of the season.  They have been ridiculously terrible in away games this season, so it will be a battle to see if their effort can overcome their lack of skill.  I think it will this week, especially since they have a really talented striker in Charlie Austin.  I'll pick them to take a draw away from this match.

Arsenal v. West Ham United

Arsenal have played absolutely lights out lately, and are on a massively successful run in home games lately.  Contrast them with West Ham, who are slowly sliding down the table after their incredible start, and I can see this only going one way, with a win (and possibly a big one) for Arsenal.

Leicester City v. Hull City

In another match of massive ineptitude, last-placed Leicester take on similarly-poor Hull.  Neither of these teams really offers much in the way of interest, although Hull have been able to score a fair number of goals since January, so I would feel pretty confident of them picking up a win here.  That being said, Leicester managed to hang in there against Manchester City for more than half of the game last week, so they may be up for the challenge against a less intimidating Hull team.

Sunderland v. Aston Villa

Aston Villa are fresh off a huge win which sends them to the FA Cup quarterfinals (one of the unrelated mid-season tournaments English teams play), which was so exciting for them that their fans rushed the field and everything.  I think I'll take that momentum and say that they'll be able to beat a very poor Sunderland team this weekend.

West Bromwich Albion v. Stoke City

This is a game between two teams who are at their best playing defensively, and only usually attack when their opponent pushes people forward.  Two teams that defend and only counterattack? This could be horribly boring or tremendously exciting; it all depends on if one team can score an early goal.  Pray for an early goal.

Burnley v. Manchester City

Both of these teams really need points right now, but for extremely different reasons.  For Man City, they need the points to keep up with Chelsea in the race for the title.  Meanwhile, Burnley are languishing in the relegation zone, and will be doing everything possible to make their way up and into the clear.  If this game gets offensive, it'll be Manchester City's for the taking, however, Burnley are more than capable of grinding out a defensive stalemate against far superior teams.  I'll still lean towards Man City for this one though.

Chelsea v. Southampton  (Sunday)

Two teams that aren't in great form at the moment.  Chelsea just collapsed on themselves in their Champions League game this week and haven't been playing their best for quite awhile.  Meanwhile, Southampton are continuing to slide down the table,  as their form has gone missing lately too.  In my opinion, if two teams aren't playing well, I think the pure talent advantage that one team has will prevail.  For this reason, I'll go with Chelsea for this one, but honestly, anything could happen when disappointing teams play each other.

Everton v. Newcastle (Sunday)

Speaking of disappointing teams, here's two teams that most people would have expected more from this season, especially Everton.  There's really not a lot to say about this one, except that it should be interesting in that poor teams playing each other can be entertaining.  I'll take a boring draw as my safe choice for this one, though.

Manchester United v. Tottenham (Sunday)

This one should be a fun one.  You have two teams that are loaded with underperforming talent, and are at similar spots in the table (4th and 6th, respectively).  You have the hottest young striker in the league facing one of the most suspect defenses in the league in Tottenham's Harry Kane and Manchester United's defense.  Mix that with Man U's unbelievably talented attacking players, and Tottenham's similarly-suspect defense, and you could have an absolutely must-watch game.  I'll take a close victory for Tottenham in this one.

Swansea v. Liverpool (Monday)

The extra day of soccer this weekend features possibly the hottest team in the Premier League (Liverpool) against a team that is full of surprises each week (Swansea).  While I like to think that Swansea can hang in there and give Liverpool a tight game, I think Liverpool has been too good lately and will win again, and possibly quite easily now that star striker Daniel Sturridge is nearing full health after spending most of the season out with various injuries.

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Midweek Games - What Did We Miss?

Sorry everyone, I didn't have time to put anything up before last week's midweek games, so we'll go over them quickly!

Aston Villa 2 - 1 West Bromwich Albion

Aston Villa managed to win the battle of teams with new managers, as former Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood prevailed over former Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis.  Aston Villa hasn't won many games this season, or scored many goals, so hopefully this is the beginning of a major improvement in form.

Hull 1 -1 Sunderland

Both of these teams needed a win to give them some breathing room above the relegation zone in the table.  Neither of them got the win, so they sit at 15th and 16th in the table, respectively.  This should ensure that the end of the season is a bit hectic for both of these teams as they try to desperately get any points they can.

Southampton 1 - 0 Crystal Palace

If we're being totally honest, Southampton should win this game every time, and luckily for them, they did.  It was a much needed win for the Saints, as it keeps their hopes of a top 4 finish within reach.

Manchester City 2 - 0 Leicester City

This is pretty much what should have happened, although Leicester held on for a good part of the game before finally giving up the first goal.  Probably the biggest surprise is that this game didn't end 6-0 or so, given that Manchester City usually have no problem scoring against inferior teams.  Good for Leicester for hanging in there, but the result is all the same, and they are still bottom of the table.

Newcastle 0 - 1 Manchester United

This was another game where the winning goal took quite awhile, but eventually it was Manchester United who managed to snap victory from the jaws of mediocrity.  These teams have produced some memorable matchups over the years, however, this was definitely not one of them.

QPR 1 - 2 Arsenal

For a little while, it looked as though Arsenal were going to run away with this one after taking a commanding 2-0 lead.  However, QPR scored a late goal through Charlie Austin, and it took some nervous defending from Arsenal to make sure they left with the win.  Frankly, the more talented team managed to win this one.

Stoke City 2 - 0 Everton

Poor Everton is underperforming to an unbelievable degree.  If a team could "tank" like in American sports leagues, Everton would be tanking.  Unfortunately for them, soccer leagues only reward success, so Everton have really put themselves in a tough spot, and it might not be long before manager Roberto Martinez in unemployed (or at least back to reporting for ESPN).

Tottenham 3 - 2 Swansea City

In the most entertaining affair of the week, Tottenham managed to hold on against a surprising Swansea team, as their 3-1 lead was cut to 3-2 late on, forcing them to try and hold out in the final minutes of the game.  It is a good win for Tottenham, who will be feeling bummed out about having lost the Capital One Cup to Chelsea the previous weekend.

West Ham United 0 - 1 Chelsea

Chelsea made it difficult for themselves against a spirited West Ham team, but managed to score the only goal off of a header by the excellent (but extremely short) Eden Hazard.  The Chelsea defense gets the credit in this one, as West Ham put together a number of good attacks in the first half, which Chelsea managed to repel continuously.  It was a good performance from West Ham though, and they'll hope to use this as a springboard for the last run of the season.

Liverpool 2 - 0 Burnley

Liverpool continued its run as the hottest team in the Premier League with another fairly easy victory.  Midfielder Philippe Coutinho has been instrumental for Liverpool during this run, and was one of the main attractions, along with Jordan Henderson, as Liverpool outplayed Burnley in almost every possible way, although Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton did just about all he could to keep Liverpool at bay as long as possible.

Bonus Saturday Game! QPR 1 - 2 Tottenham

Both teams caught up with the rest of the league by playing an extra game on Saturday, with Tottenham's 21 year old striker Harry Kane scoring both for Spurs to lead them to victory.  Kane currently is the 3rd leading goalscorer in the Premier League, and has been in incredible form since January.

Here's the newest table:

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