Every Friday, sportsnet.ca will talk to a Sportsnet 590 The Fan commentator Greg Brady about the latest stories and issues in the Premiership, and preview the weekend’s marquee games.
Saturday programming alert: Watch Liverpool v Norwich City (Sportsnet at 9:30am ET), West Ham United v Queens Park Rangers (Sportsnet ONE t 9:30am ET), Swansea City v Stoke City (Sportsnet World at 9:30am ET) and West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa (Sportsnet at noon ET).
Sunday programming alert: Watch Chelsea v Arsenal (Sportsnet World at 7:30am ET) and Tottenham v Manchester United (Sportsnet World at 11am ET).
Q: After going unbeaten in 10 straight games, Norwich City is now winless in five (four losses and one draw) and has slipped to 12th in the table. What happened to the Canaries? How do you explain this tailspin?
Brady: Well, it’s water finding its level in a way. We’ve seen Burnley and Hull City in 2010, and even Wolves last year to some extent, have modest starts and then the Christmas season comes and calendar turns, and the death spiral towards relegation hits full throttle. There’s something to be said for the schedule catching up with them. It made for quite an unhappy holiday to have to host both Chelsea and Manchester City between Boxing Day and New Year’s, but the Canaries haven’t even done a strong job of getting points on the road where they conceivably could.
They’re not struggling to score goals, but like many mediocre squads the opposition always seems to score one more than them, yet they haven’t been atrocious at home. Norwich has the same number of home defeats Liverpool and Arsenal have, but you’d get long odds if you suggested that statistic will still stand up by mid-May. Manager Chris Hughton would do well to keep his squad within shouting distance of the top 10, and clear of the bottom five.
Most Norwich supporters would and should be satisfied with the effort their squad puts out. Like we saw with Stoke a few years back when many consistently predicted their Premier League demise, players will come and go but “gritting out” points is usually the difference between staying up and returning to The Championship.
Q: Like Norwich City, West Bromwich Albion has faltered in recent weeks. Have the Baggies finally been "figured out" by the rest of the league?
Brady: I’m more confident in West Brom remaining in the upper tier than I would be for Stoke City, yet I’m more impressed with the depth of Swansea than I am with the Baggies. Clearly, they’ve made their home stadium one where the opponents are beginning to dread coming to, and the visit by Chelsea in Roberto Di Matteo’s swan song was clear and distinct evidence of that. It’s just plain hard to score there. West Brom’s given up nine goals in eleven home league matches, and while Ben Foster is a capable ‘keeper, despite whispers to the contrary last season, West Brom has limited the chances for him to look bad or have long days, for the most part.
I wrote in the fall for sportsnet.ca the key for the Baggies would be not to be raided in the January transfer window and it seems as though they’ll be able to remain intact and perhaps make a moderate run at a Europa League spot. Getting forwards Marc-Antoine Fortune and Shane Long back and fully healthy will help that goal be reached, plus defender Steven Reid has been playing hurt much of the season, and needs the rest this month to get back and contribute in February and March. Many will debate whether it’s inspiring to Premiership hopes or an unnecessary distraction, but West Brom players had talked up their advancement in the FA Cup, before succumbing meekly to QPR in a replay match. Either way, their only focus now is maintaining Premier League form, and I’m fairly sure that’s a good thing.
Q: What have you made of Michu’s amazing season for Swansea City? Do you think he’ll have staying power in the Premiership?
Brady: Yes! I got to see Michu in person at The Etihad back in late October. To create against an also-ran club is one thing, but he was dynamic against Manchester City, in a game in which the Blues won 1-0, but Swansea battled. Michu’s been beyond impressive and made fools out of those who thought he couldn’t step up to this level of competition, but he now strikes many as a “late bloomer.”
Though it’s not a sure thing by any means, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s considered for international duty in the March World Cup qualifiers for Spain, home against Finland, and away against France. Spanish manager Vicente del Bosque has no shortage of attacking options, and can survive just fine without Michu, but by the time the actual World Cup rolls around 17 months from now, utilizing him might be hard to resist for the current holders of the Jules Rimet Trophy.
Q: There’s been a lot of speculation about Frank Lampard’s future, as he is out of contract at the end of the season. Do you think Chelsea should re-sign him?
Brady: Well, try and get me emotional on this one, will you? Yes, more than any other player since Gianfranco Zola, Frank Lampard deserves to finish his Premier League career in Chelsea colours. He’s still effective, still a leader, and still incredibly popular amongst the fan base. In fact, since the leg injury to John Terry earlier last fall, Lampard’s played some of the better football we’ve seen from him in the last three years, after being less than impressive in the latter half of last season, and despite winning the Champions League.
But Roman Abramovich runs the team, and many others have convinced me that Lampard won’t be back. It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship for almost a dozen seasons. You can debate
Lampard’s given back to Chelsea as much as they’ve surrounded him with world-class talent and provided him with an extended opportunity to win trophies and medals and accolades few other Premier League players get.
I still think he can play, but even the most cynical Chelsea supporter is dreading the notion of him sitting next to Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger at an introductory media conference next summer and returning to Chelsea wearing red, black, green, or anything but blue. It won’t be popular, but that never stops Abramovich, does it?
Q: Arsenal visits Chelsea this weekend, while Tottenham hosts Manchester United. How big are these two games with regards to the title race and the fight for Champions League spots?
Brady: Yep, another “Super Sunday,” though I can’t be the only one feeling more and more, year upon year, Saturdays are beginning to get the short end of the stick. It feels like for the second time this month that four of the best five clubs are meeting each other on Sunday. It’s much ado about television, and, but you’ve still got to leave some marquee matches on the Saturdays, in my estimation.
Anyway, if you’re still thinking Arsenal can finish top four, and there’s a big difference between thinking they “can” and expecting that they “will,” it’d be a pretty massive win for the Gunners if they can sneak three points out of Stamford Bridge. Eight to ten years ago, this would be a match Arsenal fans would be quite confident about, and Chelsea fans dreading. The big question is whether it’s a good thing or bad thing, as Chelsea played a mid-week game, drawing Southampton 2-2 in far less
than dominant fashion, obviously. Chelsea also has a Capital One Cup semi-final match against Swansea looming on the road next Wednesday, and though probably half the starters will be usual reserves in that one, any way that you cut it, it’s still three matches in eight days for Chelsea.
It might play to Arsenal’s favour, despite the obvious talent gap between the squads. If Chelsea can win, and, say, Manchester City only draws at home against Fulham, Chelsea will make City start to hear some footsteps for second spot, being only four points back with the same number of matches played.
It’s the same story for Spurs, really, and they seem to face this every year. They can torch the Premier League minnows and bottom-feeders but when the spotlight’s on playing the big dogs, will they respond or will they wilt? What’s most threatening to Tottenham is Everton has hung around and isn’t interested, it seems, in giving up a fight for a Champions League spot.
Perhaps not since that Leeds United team in the late 1990s has there been a group seemingly so set on upsetting the balance of the big clubs atop the table. If Spurs give up the points at White Hart Lane to Manchester United, it’s all there for Everton at Southampton Monday to slide right into a tie for
fourth place. Everton last finished fourth in 2004-05, the only time they’ve been that high since 1988.
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