Week 25

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After the incredible 5-2 defeat at the hands of Arsenal last week Spurs might be feeling low, especially as United went to Norwich, won, and extended the gap between the sides to 8 points. Whilst 4th would a more than acceptable finish for Spurs, their exceptional early season form raised their expectations to the status of genuine title contenders so the recent dip in form has left the White Hart Lane faithful with an unusual feeling of what should be delight, but feels more like a shade of disappointment.

Another defeat next week, and an extension of the gap between themselves and United to 11 points would all but consign Spurs to 3rd at best, which again would be a brilliant achievement but perhaps a little shy of the hype that surrounded the North London club earlier in the season.

Tottenham have won only 2 of their last 6 leagues games, and if you chuck in a narrow, and slightly luck win against Watford, and a lacklustre performance against Stevenage in the FA Cup during that time (and Spur had fairly ful strength sides in both tose games) it does represent perhaps their worst form of the season, which is more a mark of how good they were before rather than how bad they are now.

United have won 6 of their last 7 matches, and only Chelsea have managed to take a single point from them during that time, and even that match saw high praise for United's spirit as they came back from 3 behind to grab a point, so Fergie's side are hitting some fine form right now and will make this very tough for Tottenham, even if they do have the home advantage and only Manchester City have taken all 3 points from White Hart Lane this season.

A draw looks a good shout here, but a win for either side would come as no surprise either, but if your sticking your neck out it might just be that Spurs are just starting to run out if steam a little and United will take the 3 points back North.

Man United's two goal scorers last week had a combined age of 75 years as Giggs and Scholes rolled back the years to bring home the sort of victory that has been appearing in the United history books for over 20 years now. And to underline exactly how fantastic the blend youth an experience that makes the United team these years, Phil Jones hadn't even been conceived yet on the day that Ryan Giggs made his Manchester United debut!

Tottenham themselves are not short of a nice blend of youth and experience. At 40 Brad Friedel is the oldest player to be playing in the Premier League today and even though he is still some way short of the 43 years John Burridge had clocked when he made his 4th and final appearance for an injury stricken Manchester City in 1995, Friedel is comfortably the oldest player to play at the top level for a sustained period of time at this age, he in fact currently holds the record for most consecutive Premier League appearances at 301, a record which is still running and extended every time he plays.

Below are the ages of the oldest and youngest that might be on show at White Hart Lane:

Oldest
Friedel: 40
Giggs: 38
Scholes: 37
Gallas: 34
Nelson: 34
Saha: 33
Ferdinand: 33
Parker: 31

Youngest
Jones: 20
Walker: 21
De Gea: 21
Welbeck: 21
Bale: 22
Hernandez: 23

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The Early Kick off on Saturday matches two teams against one another who should both be ecstatic. Arsenal showed a steely determination last week by winning 5-2 in a game where they had fallen 2-0 behind early on an looked dead and buried against better fancied North London rivals Spurs and they'll be over the moon with the nature of the win, they spirit they showed and most of all for winning the bragging rights in West London and giving themselves an outside chance of making sure the rights aren't handed back by default if Spurs finish above them in the league.

Liverpool may have even more cause to celebrate, King Kenny's reign finally brought home the first piece of scouce silverware in 6 years after a nail biting penalty shootout against Cardiff in the Carling Cup Final. All the teams who are knocked out of it early will say they were never bothered anyway and are glad of a rest for their players, but the celebrations at the end of the match will tell you that even not matter what they say, the competitions means a huge amount, even to the big clubs, so Liverpool will be over the moon.

In the league Liverpool now have a game in hand against those above and they have a far better than an outside chance of actually catching Arsenal and maybe nicking a Champions League spot, if the trophy hasn't cemented King Kenny even further in to Liverpool Legend a Champions League spot might result in a 12 foot statue. A win against The Gunners would actually put Liverpool just 4 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, which means the win could effectively be cut to a single point with the right result, so if they want proper European football on that side of the Mersey, then this really is make or break and likewise for Arsenal, a win for them would put serious pressure eon the chasing pack and open up a demoralising 10 point gap between them selves and Liverpool so there is a hell of a lot to play for here and Liverpool, now more than ever have a good excuse to break their home record this season and win a game at Anfield rather than draw it.

There is a lot to point to a draw here, but the hope is that on one of the sides will be brave enough to throw caution to the wind and attempt to deliver the kind of blow to their opposition that could change their season.

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Liverpool's Defence vs. Arsenal's Attack
Arsenal and Tottenham put on a thrilling show last week and both sides showed why they are amongst the top scorers in the league and why they both carry major threats going forward.

Arsenal have shown themselves to be well capable of big wins over big teams on the right sort of day. Having beaten Chelsea 5-3 earlier in the season they followed up with another 5 goal victory against Spurs last week and if you throw in the 7 they put past Blackburn a few weeks back that now means the Gunners have scored 14 goals in their last 3 league matches and are on fine goal scoring form. In fact the win against Spurs last week broke some astonishing Arsenal records:

* Rosicky's 1st Arsenal goal for 50 matches
* Walcott's first home goal in over a year

This week they meet Liverpool who have amongst the best defences in the league, in fact only Manchester City have conceded fewer goals and 3 clean sheets in the last 5 league games shows that the consistency in that back line is still holding out so Arsenal will have a difficult task on their hands. Liverpool's defence is especially good at home, just 8 goals conceded in 12 games will out the new found confidence of the Arsenal forwards to a real test.

Tottenham's Attack vs. United's Defence
Spurs may have been demolished at The Emirates last week, but they can take one positive from the game, whilst they may have had only a handful of attacks, they did still appear to have the ability to score with every one, in fact their 4 shots on target produced 2 goals and with Saha and Adebayor in fine fine form they can pose a threat to anyone, especially when playing at home.

Man United though have the best away record in the league and that is largely built on a foundation of how string their defence is on the road. The 11 they have conceded in 13 away matches is the fewest in the league so Tottenham will have their attack, and their morale severely tested.

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After the incredible 5-2 that was played put between the two north London sides last week there were questions raised over both Spurs' and Arsenal's defences.

Spurs seemed to be able to walk through the Arsenal defence whenever they got past the half way line (Which was abut twice in the while game) and Spurs were repeatedly exposed at Right Back and by the suddenly lack of pace or sharpness from Ledley King so the teams playing the two North London sides will have taken note and fancy their chances for goals this week.

Liverpool's Attack vs. Arsenal's Defence
Liverpool have struggled for goals all season and even the 6 (yes s-i-x) they out past Brighton in the cup came as a result of 3 own goals. Even though they only managed 1 goal in normal time against Cardiff last week, there was an interesting little stat that might suggest Liverpool goals (at least more than one of them in a single game) are on the way. Dalglish' men notched up an unbelievable 40 shots during the game and if they create even half that number of chances against Arsenal's accident prone defence they are bound to be amongst the goals.

I have been tempted to tip Liverpool to have a goal fest at some stage all season, but have rightly resisted the temptation to do so as every time they looked light they might catch fire they've turned up the next game and looked invisible in front of goal which is why they've managed to hit more than 2 goals in a game on just 3 occasions all season and failed to hit the net an unhealthy 8 times (far more than any other team in the top half), I do fancy them to get one, but will be surprised if even Arsenal's often comical defence will have to be especially poor to allow Liverpool more than 1.

Tottenham's Defence vs. United's Attack
Tottenham were horribly exposed against Arsenal last week and Ferguson would have taken note of how weak certain members of the Tottenham backline looked and will have devised a strategy for Esso Ekotto and King should they appear in close proximity of one another once again. With United in good (but not spectacular) attacking form there is a chance Tottenham could be put to the sword again if they raise their game, especially as united are still averaging a hugely impressive 2 goals per game away on the road, which is only 1 goal less than City have managed on the road.

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A generous helping of drab 0-0 draws are the only thing standing between Villa and a relegation battle, but they have held enough teams this season (5 of them in fact) by the worlds' least favourite score line to keep a comforting gap between themselves the rest if the relegation scrapers beneath.

Having failed to find the back of the net two games running would be enough of a worry was it not for the fact that Villa have now said farewell to Robbie Keane and lost Darren Bent to injury, the alarm for Villa will be that those two players alone have been responsible for all but 1 of Villa's goals in the 7 matches they've played this year so you really have to ask where the goals are going to come from now, and if they're relying on Emile Heskey they might be waiting a while.

Only Bolton and Swansea have failed to scored in more games than Villa's 10 this season so even a team like Blackburn, who incredibly are yet to keep a clean sheet all season, will fancy their chances of securing a blank against Villa at Ewood Park.

In a match up between a team that can't score goals (and has lost their only two goal scoring players), and one that can't keep them out something has to give, but often in these cases the sheer weight of extra numbers of defenders results in the poor defence winning over the poor attack so it will be a surprise if Villa score more than 1 and maybe even less so than if Blackburn were to keep their first clean sheet of the season.

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Sunderland have become one of the major form sides anywhere in Europe since O'Neill took over, but having now lost 2 games on the trot including a shock 4-0 defeat away to West Brom last week, they are now experiencing their fist blip since the Irishman took charge.

Newcastle have blown away all their expectations so far this season but a 5-0 defeat at Spurs followed by a 2-2 draw against Wolves at St. James' last week has left them on a bit of a slow run too so both teams will need to find inspiration of they want all 3 points from this heated derby game.

When the two sides met earlier in the season Newcastle were 1-0 winners at The stadium if Light, but the game also included 6 yellow cards and a sending off. Two games before that there was the 5-1 victory for Newcastle in which 9 players were booked and one sent off, with the game before that producing another 6 yellow cards so there is usually a hefty number of tackles and exchanges with referees often seeing more action than the goalies involved.

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The bottom of the table is a tighter run affair than the top at the moment with just 2 points separating the bottom 5 every game could be crucial and every point worth fighting for.

Wigan vs. Swansea
Wigan are currently bottom but their and after a precious point against Villa last week they will be justified to fancy themselves for something again when playing at home against a Swansea side who are as poor on the road as they are good at home. In fact Wigan have avoided defeat 3 games on the trot now and have equalled the longest undefeated streak of the season so this is amongst their best form whilst their opponents Swansea have won just once in their last 5 so Wigan are definitely in with a very good chance of at least a point.

Man City vs. Bolton
Bolton have now lost 3 on the spin and look in the worst shape of the relegation battlers, their task doesn't get any easier this week as they travel to Man City this week in a game where only the very brave or the certifiably insane could see anything other than a clear City win.

Blackburn vs. Villa
Blackburn are the highest placed team on the form tables from those in the bottom 5, they have won 7 points from their last 6 games and the nature of some of their recent performances (expect the 7-1 defeat to Arsenal) suggests they may yet have what it takes to make an escape, but if they want to do that they will need to target the home game against striker-less Villa as the kind they must take something from even if Aston Villas away record is better than their home one.

QPR vs. Everton
It was all hope and ambition for Rangers when Hughes turned up but the results since then have not gone their way. Rangers have now lost 3 on the spin including two crucial games against fellow relegation rivals Wolves and Blackburn so morale will be low at Loftus Road but there is some hope to cling on. Two of those defeats came with 10 men pitch for 60 minutes of the match and in both games rangers created more than 15 chances so if they can start converting they may yet reach safety. The reverse fixture against Everton was won 1-0 by Neil Warnock's the super hoops earlier in the season so there will be extra pressure to beat Moyes side who have a couple of excellent recent big scalps on their record (against Man City and Chelsea).

Fulham vs. Wolves
Wolves travel away to Fulham Terry Connor having won an unlikely point from his first full game since being promoted to full time manager since the surprise sacking of Mick McCarthy. Wolves have avoided defeat in more than half of their away games this season, including the excellent 2-2 at St. James' last week so despite the fact that Fulham have the 7th best home record in the league Wolves could be in with a shout of nicking a point if they can find a couple of goals as Fulham aren't particularly prolific scorers.

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Before last week 60% of all Premier League games had ended with both teams scoring at least 1 goal. However last week's results were much less competitive, in fact only 30% of the games last week ended with both teams scoring which is half the usual average.

This may suggest that we're now reaching a stage of the season where teams have settled in to a rhythm and started to accept their roles an expectations with in the league so we will see less shock results or games where lesser teams whose roles within the league were yet to be determined came out and fought above the station to make every game more competitive and the bigger teams live in less fear of the lower league sides which might result in more of the kind of games where only 1 team manages a goal.