Week 21

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It's no shame losing to Manchester United but after their 2-1 defeat at The Emirates last week, Arsenal have now lost 3 league games on the trot for the first time in 5 years and that leaves them with just 2 wins in their last 7 as the standard post-Christmas self destruction of the north London side appears to be playing out right on schedule.

The last time Arsenal lost 3 league games in a row in the 2006/07 season, they did manage to cling on to 4th that year and retain Wenger's record of having finished in a Champions League spot in every full season since he became Arsenal manager back in 1996 but this time around the task is looking increasingly unlikely unless things pick very quickly and dropping points against the likes of Wolves, Fulham and Swansea (all of which Arsenal have done in the last month) can be avoided for the remainder of the season.

Arsenal's main issue this season has been their away record, they've won just 4 of their 11 away games this season and lost 6 so this week's trip to The Reebok may provide more of a challenge than it first seems.

If recent form is anything to go by Bolton should be favourites for the game. Their 3-1 home victory against Liverpool last week was their 3rd win in 7 games and whilst it was still only the 3rd time they've avoided defeat when playing at home this season they do look to be improving and could cause Arsenal one or two problems especially as The Gunners are still desperately short at the back and have managed to keep only 1 clean sheet in their last 7 games.

Provided Van Persie is firing Arsenal should really end their dismal run of defeats at The Reebok, despite the fact that their current form is worse than Bolton's, but it does make you wonder what position The Gunners would end up in if the Dutchman picked up a long term injury, he has scored 49% of Arsenal's league goals this season.

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Chelsea are another Champions League stalwart whose hopes of a top 4 finish have diminished of late. Like Arsenal they have managed just 2 wins in their last 7 matches and have scored more than 1 goal in just one of those games. With Tottenham being the strongest team they've played in that run the calibre of opponent can not be held to account for this dip in form, 6 of those games were against teams outside the top 6.

Away fixtures against Norwich and Swansea may have looked like a good opportunity to carve out points and increase the 5 point gap between themselves, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool but after dropped points at Carrow Road last week it has only been a string of bad results for the chasing pack that has allowed the Blues to remain sitting fairly pretty in 4th even if there is now also a 5 point gap between them and the team above. It's the gap above rather than the gap below that will be a bigger concern for a team whose manager still speaks about Chelsea's title challenge as though The Premier League is a 4 horse race, still, stranger things have happened, like the consecutive clean sheets Chelsea have managed on just one occasion this season.

Their opponents Swansea really are a force to be reckoned with when playing at home. Having defeated Arsenal 3-2 in their last game at The Liberty they have maintained a record of having lost just once at home this season and still have the best home defence in the league with just 6 goals conceded in 11 games. With the way they retain possession (with an average of 59% at home so far this season) and move the ball around, they have the potential to cause Chelsea's "red sea" defence all sorts of problems and a home win in this fixture would come as no surprise for this excellent Swansea team, even if Chelsea were 4-1 winners when the sides met at Stamford Bridge.

The Blue's away defence is also amongst the best in the league and with two teams of this nature going head to head it could be a low scoring game won by the odd goal.

Whilst the stats suggest the game won't produce a thrilling volume of goals there should be plenty for technical lovers to feast on as Chelsea also rank amongst the teams with the highest average amount of possession from their games this season. With two teams that rarely give the ball away going head to head the deciding factor is likely to come down who makes the least mistakes, is more disciplined and prone to fewer lapses in concentration, on all 3 of those counts you'd have to back Swansea when playing at home so Chelsea could find themselves on the end of another eye brow raising result.

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Along with Arsenal and Chelsea, Liverpool have won just 2 of their last 7 games to complete a hat-trick of top sides currently in pretty poor form, after Liverpool were comfortably walked over by a struggling Bolton side last week.

Liverpool's usually sturdy defence has now conceded 3 goals twice in their last 3 matches, something they'd managed to do on just one occasion in the entire season prior to these recent games as some uncharacteristically poor defending appears to have been added to their complete lack of ability to score goals.

With the unchanged defence now leaking and only one goal scored in their last 3 matches an away fixture against Wolves may produce more potential for a another slip up. On the basest level the return to Steven Gerrard appears to have done little to create goals so far, but also appears to have resulted in a less structured defence. Though he certainly isn't culpable for the strange performance against Bolton last week Liverpool's mid-week League Cup semi-final against Man City will mean The Reds will come in to game against Wolves the more jaded team and this could provide more than the usual number of opportunities for the home team. With Liverpool having managed to score more than 2 goals in just 2 games this season they will need to shore up their defences if they want to come away from Molineux with all 3 points and someone amongst their ranks is going to have to step up and start delivering goals, the lack of them has gone beyond a joke now and is seriously starting to dent any European ambitions Dalglish may have.

Wolves have just 1 win in their last 10 games, but this doesn't tell the whole story, amongst the losses and 4 draws in that stretch have been some spirited performances and unfortunate losses (like the 3-2 defeat to Villa last week and the 1-1 draw at The Emirates), they''ve also played most of the top 6 during that time so they have more in their tank than their recent results suggest and are capable of causing an upset against an out of form Liverpool team.

If Wolves achieve any sort of early success in this game Liverpool will be in real trouble and probably lose the game, but if the Mersey siders can get back to their old selves and regroup in defence, even with their lack of fire power they will find the break through at some stage. Wolves haven't kept a clean sheet since the end of August, 19 games ago and even Liverpool will have to put 2 past them if they want to come away from this game with their dignity intact.

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The Manchester vs. London battles of last weekend ended with a clean sweep for the Manchester sides and whilst the games were far closer this time around than they were when the teams met earlier in the season the results still took all 6 points up North.

Man United's Attack
As discussed on these pages last week, United's attack and ability to score goals has been by far the best of any team in the top 6 over the last month or so even if you count in the blank they they drew against Newcastle in that 3-0 defeat at the start of January. United now have 17 goals in their last 6 games and with 33 goals scored in their 11 games at Old Trafford this season only Manchester City's 34 can boast better when playing at home, and those records set the Manchester teams comfortably apart from everyone else in the league when it comes to the business of getting goals.

In fact the next highest coring side in the league over all is Spurs who have managed a total of 41, 19 less than City and that marks how wide the gap is between Manchester and the rest of the league.

United are at home to Stoke this week. Pulis' men have plenty to be proud of this season and are currently in 8th, but they do concede a fair few goals on the road. Their average of 1.8 conceded per game is amongst the poorest in the league and uncharacteristic lapses from their back line and goal keeper last week saw them concede twice at home to a West Brom who had failed to find the net in 3 of their last 5, so unless Pulis stops the rot quickly there could be a chance for United to score big this week and surprise a few people by inflicting a heavier than expected defeat on a w ell respected Stoke side who have already suffered 4-0 and 5-0 defeats on the road this season when playing against teams of a far lower standard than Man United.

If Rooney, Nani and a few others who have been lacking goals for United lately suddenly find form again (and we all know it's a matter of when rather than if) then Stoke could find themselves having a very bad day at the office.

Man City's Attack
City are currently averaging 2.7 goals per game over all, and more than 3 when playing at home, that's a pretty spectacular record at this stage of the season but for the rest of the league there is a little glimmer of hope.

City's away form appears to have suffered a little lately and their ability to find goals on their travels in the last few months is worth looking in to. They've won just one of their last 5 away games (1-0 away at Wigan) and have failed to hit more than 1 goal in an away match since their visit to Loftus Road at the start of November so their opponents Everton are in with a very good shout of keeping the score down when the two teams meet at Goodison this week. Especially as Bolotelli will be suspended and one or two of the other City forwards have not been at their breathtaking best in recent weeks.

Aguero and Dzeko have scored 1 goal a piece in City's las 5 league games and whilst City's main men all have an abundant number of total goals this season, their next highest scorers outside of those 3 are Silva, Johnson and Nasri, none of whom have been prolific goal scorers this season. Even of their records are still pretty special they rely on he forward men to turn their magic in to goals and points.

With City involved in a League Cup semi-final game they are likely to take quite seriously in mid-week, Everton will also be the fresher team and that too could make life more difficult for Mancini's men.

Everton are having a pretty torrid season, but their defence has remained fairly strong, especially when playing at home. No team this season has scored more than 2 goals past them when at Goodison Park and in fact only 3 teams have managed more than 1 goal so this may well be a tight game won by a single goal if things go true to the numbers.

Everton are certainly capable of causing an upset here and the physical nature of their players will provide the kind of challenge that many of City's new imports will have seldom come across. That should make for an interesting battle, even if the stats suggest it will be a low scoring affair and largely a straight up fight between Everton's defence and City's attack, a fight which will not be easily won by either.

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The Premier League currently has 5 London teams in it and whilst their over all goal scoring records are pretty close to what you might expect them to be, last week the tables were turned on their heads.

Here are the number of goals scored by each of the London sides:

Tottenham - 41
Chelsea - 40
Arsenal - 39
Fulham - 28
QPR - 22

Last weeks results produced a bit of a surprise though, here are the number of goals scored by the London teams last week:

Fulham - 5
QPR - 3
Tottenham - 2
Arsenal - 1
Chelsea - 0

Fulham were the pick of the bunch last week as they smashed 5 past a usually solid Newcastle defence and whilst you may be scratching your head trying to figure out when they last time they scored 5 in a game was, you don't have to go back that far, they put 6 past QPR at The Cottage earlier in the season though those are the only two games in which Jol's mean have scored more than 2 goals all season.

This week's game against West Brom may produce the opportunity for further goals, The Baggies keep very few clean sheets (in fact 1 in the last 13) so there may be a possibility for Fulham to get more than 2 goals in a game for only the 3rd time this season.

This week the London teams have all avoided top 4 opposition and there may well be a chance for each of them to grab a few goals to help their causes. Though you may want to avoid expecting too much from Chelsea as Swansea should provide a stern test for the Blues who are lacking goals at the moment.

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A number of players have returned to Premier League action recently after prolonged absences and one or two have already started to make their mark, again.

Henry
The return of the legendary Thierry Henry was marked by one of those classic moments in football where you wonder if someone had written the world's most obvious yet charming script before the game as the man with his own statute outside the ground returned from New York, and with the FA Cup game against Leeds deadlocked, came on to the pitch, scoring a trade mark Henry goal to settle the game with in moments.

His celebrations would not have appeared to be one of man who had repeated the feat on 226 past occasions for his beloved Arsenal and it was touching to see them moment meant so much to the great man, a real classic football moment and one which will no doubt live long in the memory.

He missed last week's fixture with a niggle but is likely to get some game time this week with the Arsenal faithful having turned their back on Arshavin and Gervinho at the African nations one of Wnders wingers will eventually be subbed off during the game and Henry's undoubted class could make an impact on a leaky Bolton defence.

Keane
Robbie Kean's return to the top flight was marked with 2 cracking goals of the finest calibre, and he further showed his class by refusing to celebrate either against the club where he initially made his name. None the less it is evident that he is still sharp and capable and even though the excessive use of the word "sharp" in his post match interview might suggest his vocabulary isn't as pointy as it might be, his football skills speak for themselves and a home game against QPR may well give him a chance to add to the the 125 goals he has scored in 345 Premier League appearances.

He is currently the 10th highest all time scorer in the league and 2 more would take him up one place and over Hasslebaink and in to 9th, a position that does not flatter the Irishman's extraordinary abilities. With Agbonlahor lacking his early season form Keane could very well be a starter.

Donovan
Donovan is making his return to Everton. Having played just 6 games for the Toffees on a loan spell in 09/10 he became a bit of a Blue hero having managed 2 goals and 3 assists in that time. He's already played the full 90 minutes on 4 occasions this time around and his regular game time will give him a good chance of adding to his tally even if the opponents are Man City.

He does play in an advanced mid-field role for Everton and even though they are lacking goals, if they do manage to find the net you can bet Donovan will be involved somehow.

Another player who finally broke a year long goal scoring duck last week was Tim Cahill and the Everton supporters will be hoping it won't be another year before he strikes again. He has regularly contributed goals throughout his carrer and this unusually long drought had to come to an end sooner or later.

Gerrard
Having missed the vast majority of this season and most of the last one Gerrard returned to Liverpool by immediately netting their winner against Man city in the League Cup and then scored again against Newcastle the following week, he's now played in 5 consecutive games for the first time this season, and whilst it will take him a whole to get back to full match fitness he should now be getting close to that, and with Liverpool playing against Wolves Gerrard should really be looking to exert his influence on the game and start rebuilding his England credentials again before it's too late.

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The live games to be shown on TV this week will first go to Goodison Park where Everton take on Man City.

Everton vs. Man City
Everton have won twice in their last 7 as their goal scoring issues continue to hound them. But with a relatively solid back line they are capable of causing most teams problems, but have so far not threatened to produce the any of the giant killings that their reputation in past seasons has been built on.

They've avoided defeat in 6 of their 11 home games this season, but then only won 3 so Goodison may not be an easy place to go to but it's certainly not formidable.

Man City have struggled a little on the road recently, just 1 win their last 5 and an apparent lack of goals may be cause for concern especially when playing a well organised team like Everton and with a few key players still missing or out of form and the mid-week league cup clash against Liverpool this week likely to cause a little more fatigue a draw is not out of the question by any means but a narrow win for City is the most likely outcome and what doesn't look like it will be a terribly exciting or high scoring game on paper.

Sunderland vs. Norwich
Since O'Neill's arrival Sunderland have won 5 of the 8 games they've played, which is an astonishing bounce back considering the fact that they'd won just twice in the 14 games prior to that. This makes them one of the form sides in the league and in fact they find themselves behind only Man United and City on the form tables.

A home win looks a certainty against a Norwich team who have been thrilling at home but average on the road, though there are a lot of teams in the league who would be proud of Norwich's record of just 4 defeats in 11 games when playing away from home and consecutive away victories against QPR and West brom recently have marked a drastic improvement in their over all away record and made them to worth reconsidering as certain away losers.

Norwich ran out 2-1 winners when the sides last met so whilst a home win should be almost certain here, Norwich's consecutive away victories in the last 2 games, and their defeat of Sunderland earlier in the season may make you want to look again.

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Blackburn vs. Newcastle may seem like a fairly low key affair if you were looking at it at the start of the season but with Rovers fighting with some vigour for their Premier League lives and Newcastle just 5 points a drift of the Champions League spots there is far more intrigue in this match than first meets the eye.

On top of the relative league positions this match up at Ewood Park pits together two of the highest scoring sides in the league. Blackburn are currently the 6th on the goals for tables with Newcastle a single goal behind them in 7th so there could be goals here, and maybe more than you might expect.

Blackburn have hit 3 or more goals in a game on no fewer than 6 occasions this season, which is pretty impressive. But strangely enough they haven't scored exactly 2 goals in any game this season so the common result for them is to score 1 or 3.

Newcastle are capable of a goal or two as well and even though their main threat Demba Ba is missing they have a few in midfield capable of producing moments of magic. The most surprising thing about Newcastle is that they went away to Fulham last week and some how conceded 5 goals. This may have come as a shock to many, as Newcastle's early season reputation was one for keeping clean sheets and defending heroically, but their more recent form (over the last 10 games) suggests this may well have been on the way for some time, and more could follow against an attacking team like Blackburn.

Newcastle have conceded 3 or more goals in 6 of their last 11 games, which indicates an almost relegation standard defence, but is made even more astonishing by the fact that during those 11 matches they've also kept 4 clean sheets, and that only 1 team managed to score more than 1 goal past them in their first 11 games of the season.

The injury of Steven Taylor has certainly had an impact, but their league position and ability to pull clean sheets from runs of bad form may be hiding some obvious frailties in their defence and could provide a few opportunities for Blackburn even without Yakubu in the team. It has been a season of two halves for Newcastle and the excellent first half may be hiding a second half that is carrying obvious signs of danger for them.

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There are no matches between the top 6 sides in the league this week, so in their there should more than the usual number of one sided matches where one team wins by a big margin or with a clean sheet.