EPL 2015/16 - Game Week 17

Arsene Wenger is smiling for he is definitely not a specialist in failure. Manuel Pelligrini has faltered and fell short at times but his City never compromised on style and attacking football. Manchester United have completely lost their aura and swagger. Louis van Gaal is  not the man for the Red Devils. Mauricio Pochettino will bring Tottenham places. Juergen Klopp may be a little mad at times but he is not stupid to celebrate a 2-2 home draw to WBA. But Jose Mourinho? Imagine a 2 million pound team beating one that is worth 300 million pounds. Anthony Martial alone costs maybe more than Bournemouth. Jamie Vardy (1 million) and Riyadh Mahrez (400,000) cost a combined fee of 1.4 million pounds and together have scored more goals than Man United. Diego Costa cost Chelsea more than the Leicester team perhaps. To have Bournemouth (bet you can't even pronounce the name) beating both Manchester United and Chelsea in succession and Newcastle that looked so hopeless beating Liverpool and home and then Tottenham away when Spurs had not lost since opening day meant EPL is still the most competitive league in the world. Some managers and scouts are impatient and lazy or they merely wanted quick money.  Except at Porto, the rest of the clubs he joined later were big clubs with loads of cash to buy the best players or already having them in their squad. It has been definitely so much easier for him than say Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City. He built that reputation. 

I am not saying he is not a good coach but he let players like Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Juan Mata (Man Utd.), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Kevin de Bruyne (Man City), Robert Huth (Leicester) and Romelu Lukaku (Everton) go and they went on to become players he would love to have. He bought Fabregas whom Wenger must have known not to have him back. The ex Chelsea cohorts could have formed a team and beat this side. He dropped Petr Cech. He has been blaming his players, he blames referees, team doctors and everyone else but himself. Although interesting at times, he often brought controversy and created animosity with other managers and yes, he never lasted three seasons anywhere. When Chelsea dropped to this level, it is abundantly clear, the players do not wish to play for him any more. Mourinho has never experienced failure before and therein lies the problem. He does not know how to get out of the hole. Some people are only good when the going is good. 

It is time for Narcissus to look at his own reflection again and evaluate if he is still deeply in love with himself. Whatever happens, he can't lose when maybe 20 or 40 million pounds will soon be deposited in his bank. The frightening thing is LVG may be next. Worse, then United Board appoints Mourinho as the new manager. The joke now is that they may send Louis van Gaal to lead ISIS because he can't attack. The twists increase, the plot thickens and the ''Force Awakens''! But I give credit where it is due. Mourinho builds teams that are hard to beat, hard to watch and hard to lose and he has wins ratio better than Sir Alex Ferguson. That you must respect. Appoint him as England manager and let him chide the whole world.

WBA v Bournemouth - These two teams have not met in the league since more than ten years ago but the Cherries had beaten the Baggies 2-1 in a Cup match last year. This makes things more interesting. Both sides are in good form with WBA beating Arsenal 2-1 (home), drawing West Ham 1-1 (away), holding Tottenham 1-1 (home) and Liverpool 2-2 (away). Tony Pulis always build a solid team that is hard to beat. So WBA can score 1 ore 2 goals against anyone. Bournemouth are equally equipped to do better as they held Swansea 2-2 (away), Everton 3-3 (home), had Chelsea beaten 1-0 (away) and proceeded to beat Manchester United 2-1 (home) and as  you can see they could score a few too. Both sides have passed their biggest tests and deserve better. WBA may have home advantage but it would not matter as in their last 12 home games, they have only won three. A fair and probable result would be a draw at 2-2.

Stoke City v Crystal Palace - This match completely mirrors the one above. That Stoke performance that rocked Manchester City stayed in my mind that they could handle anyone. Mark Hughes must be given credit but they are facing Alan Pardew's Palace that have won 10 of their last 15 away matches and sitting pretty in 6th position. This will be a physical game. Historically this tie has been close and ended in a draw or with either side winning by a one goal margin. Draw. 1-1.

Everton v Leicester City - The Toffees can be a hard nut to crack. With Ross Barkley having his finest season yet and Romelu Lukaku attracting huge interest from the big clubs, Everton have been slowly coming back to where they should be but they are drawing too many matches. The Foxes are definitely the team of the season and they have already sent Jose Mourinho to the gallows. When Jamie Vardy connected with Riyad Mahrez's cheeky cross and Mahrez further embarrassing the Chelsea defence then teasing them with his footwork for the second goal, I totally believe they could go on to win the title and give us a fairy tale and write a most amazing chapter in the EPL. However, it is important for Leicester to keep Vardy and Mahrez from all the big boys and for the team to keep injury and suspension-free to sustain the challenge.

Everton has home advantage and history on their side as Leicester City have only beaten them once in 18 attempts and mostly ended in draws but this is nothing to their current side. The way they are playing, it is hard not to pick them to beat any side. Everton is worth a goal and Leicester is worth two. Even Roberto Martinez thought Leicester have been amazing. Away win it shall be. 1-2.

(Leicester v Chelsea):
https://www.facebook.com/SoccerHighlightsToday/videos/1032761313433126/?pnref=story

Manchester United v Norwich City - The odds are heavily stacked against the Canaries as out of 19 head-to-head, they only won once but at the same time there is hope - United have not won in their last five matches and have lost their last two plus they hardly could score. Norwich could also take a leaf from Bournemouth. For United fans, they should be praying for a loss because if United keep playing poorly, not scoring but still winning then LVG is going to stay longer and maybe get a ten year contract and by then the Theatre of Dreams will be a theatre of doom. If Norwich keep their cool, they could get a result here. Let me help the suffering United fans to predicting a result that can help them get closer to a better manager. 1-1.

Chelsea v Sunderland - Will Chelsea be relegated? At 16th place, it is relegation territory that is why the Special One is gone. Sam Allardyce will miss the opportunity to put one over  him. The EPL will miss him. The Black Cats stunned Stoke and Palace so they could do it again. Or will Chelsea respond. Either way you look at it, they should but can Sunderland pull off a surprise? I think Chelsea can start winning again. 2-0.

Southampton v Tottenham - The only comfort for the Saints are they are on home soil at the St. Mary's. This may be of scant consolation knowing how good they could be but have been in slumber and the other being Tottenham was last defeated by Newcastle at home. In all previous six clashes, Tottenham not only have not lost but won five and in Southampton's last six matches, they have lost all - home and away and drew once and that was home to lowly Villa. This is a pretty serious slump. Just after I have said so much good things about Spurs and they crashed. The Saints need something here as they have Arsenal and West Ham coming up. Without the injured Pelle, it may be a tall order. 1-2.

Newcastle United v Aston Villa - All along the Magpies are not a bad team but somehow they just do not get results. When such things happen, it is often a lack of confidence. The last two matches defined their season from now - 2-0 home win against the most in-formed Liverpool and then 2-1 away win at Spurs the unbeaten team. Wow! Can Newcastle sustain it? Villa can be stubborn but if you do not win matches like this against Villa and at home, then life will haunt you later. The Magpies are on a roll. Home win. 1-0.

Watford v Liverpool - The Hornets have stung to wins in a row and is having better results than their visitors. Watford lost all their matches to Liverpool the last five times they met. They will however not make things easy for Liverpool. In that 2-2 draw with WBA, Klopp will know that it is all to clear to see that Liverpool sucks in defending set pieces and Mignolet is a bundle of nerves when dealing with high crosses. Wataford have Odion Ighalo and Deeny that could hurt Liverpool and they will most certainly score as in every other game. Question is how many times they could do it. Klopp has been all positive and a good influence and will take time to change things. At the end, it depends which Liverpool turn up. The right one can win. 1-2. 

Swansea v West Ham - The stats are against the home side. They won none after six meet ups failing to score in four of them plus Andy Carroll likes to score against them. The Hammers themselves have declined from their early season form. Perhaps the loss of Dimitri Payet  has cost them. Gary Monk's departure may affect the Swans as it was him who brought them to this level. West Ham should return to winning ways but by a close win. 1-0.

Arsenal v Manchester City - The Gunners have just lost once in 18 home ties against City. City have lost the most league games to Arsenal more than any other team. This tie has an important effect on both sides as they are now just a point apart. The winner will get a big boost to their title credentials. City have not been as impressive of late while Arsenal are cruising with Alain Giroud in fine form. In the last two years Arsenal have won twice and drew twice and are undefeated against their visitors. This match should be a tough fight and another draw could be possible but I am picking the Gunners to win. Just. 2-1.

(Villa v Arsenal):
https://www.facebook.com/SoccerHighlightsToday/videos/1031992410176683/?pnref=story