With Arsenal looking less reliable than an Italian car, Aston Villa could become the first team outside the ‘Big Four’ to finish in the top four since 2004/05, when Everton edged ahead of their Mersey rivals.
If the midlands side best Manchester Utd at the weekend, they could leapfrog into third place. Meanwhile, Hull could leave the Gunners adrift in sixth place if they win at Fratton Park.
So, do the Villains have the stamina to earn a Champions League place? Let us know with a vote and comment below…
Hull stars guilty of “violent and appalling behaviour”
Following in the noble footsteps of Craig Bellamy, Dean Windass and Marlon King staged a fight at a casino. The lucky venue was the Scarborough Opera House Casino, where the Hull stars kicked off at 3am last night:
A witness said: “Windass appeared to say something to King that had him raging like a bull. King was shouting, ‘You b*****d. Wait until I tell my boy what you said’.
“Windass shouted back, ‘It was a joke. You know f*** all about anything’.
“King then threw himself at Windass, headbutting him in the face. There was blood and drinks were sent flying.
“It was embarrassing. They were like snarling animals.”
King, who has been keeping veteran Windass out of the Hull team, is also said to have insulted staff and pretended that his £19,000 watch had been stolen, despite witnesses seeing him slip it into his own pocket.
The Jamaican has clearly acted abhorrently, but hats off to him for having the gall to fight Dean Windass. Most people would probably rather take on a family of starved bears while smeared in honey than fight Dean Windass.
Moody striker is not convinced by Scolari’s tactics
To most spectators it would appear that Nicolas Anelka is enjoying one of the best periods of his career: Chelsea are top of the league, he’s joint top-scorer and he just scored a hat-trick but bizarrely he is unhappy with his role at Stamford Bridge.
In May, the Frenchman moaned about being forced to play on the wing under Avram Grant but despite the fact he has been playing up front in Didier Drogba’s absence, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s tactics aren’t good enough for him either:
“My relations with Scolari? I would say they are ‘polite’.
“He asks me to wait for my chance, then to play, then to score. I obey him even though I would prefer to play 4-4-2 than 4-3-3.
Another Premiership weekend full of goals and upsets
Tottenham 2/ Liverpool 1
‘Arry is really earning his money at White Hart Lane at the moment - he even persuaded Roman Pavlyuchenko to score a goal in a relatively undeserved victory.
Stoke 2/ Arsenal 1
The Gunners showed that it’s never too early to write off a season with another disappointing result, and a worrying injury to Theo Walcott.
Spoiler bonus: Check out the goalfests at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge after the jump…
Credit may be terribly crunchy for most of us at the moment, but Frank Lampard clearly hasn’t had to start doing his weekly shop at Aldi yet.
Instead of preparing for his trip to Hull, the Chelsea star spent some time earlier this week checking out some vintage Ferraris at a London auction. The nippy little red number costs £3.6m, or as Lampsie may consider it, a mere 28 weeks worth of wages.
Top marks to him for avoiding the footballer cliche of buying a Land Rover Sport (although he probably already has three), but what’s with the casual look? Either he came straight from training, or a certain sportswear manufacturer insisted he was snapped in their gear (see more about my Adidas conspiracy at the bottom of this post).
See another picture of Frank admiring some heavy metal after the jump…
Gunners show us how to piss away a two goal victory
Harry Redknapp has a dismal record away against Arsene Wenger and also in his first away game in charge of a new team, but few expected to see one of the most exciting North London derbies in recent memory.
Spoiler bonus: check out Frank Lampard’s awesome effort at Hull last night…
Statistics suggest that it’s all over for Wenger and co
Arsenal started last season in blistering form and it wasn’t until rain-sodden February that the cracks emerged in their title challenge. With the fixture list giving them a helping hand, everything was in place for another explosive start this year but after losing at home to Hull last week and escaping the Stadium of Light with a fortuitous point today, the Gunners could end the weekend as low as sixth, with Manchester United poised to overtake with their game in hand.
These stats suggest that Arsene Wenger might as well raise the white flag now:
In each of the three seasons that Arsenal won the Premier League, and in their near miss last year, they were in the top two after seven games.
In two of their title winning seasons, as well as last year, Arsenal went unbeaten through the first twelve games.
The last time Arsenal lost more than one of their first eight games - 2005-06 - they finished fourth, 24 points off champions Chelsea.
Just one of the teams Arsenal have faced this season finished in the top half last year, compared to four of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool’s first seven opponents.
Using the previous play-off winners Derby in place of Hull and last year’s 18th-placed side Reading in place of West Brom, Arsenal took nineteen points from the equivalent seven fixtures last season, compared to thirteen this year.
So are Arsenal out of the running already or are they just doing things the hard way this season? Let us know by voting below and leaving a comment.
Tottenham have been quick to dismiss reports that Mark Hughes will be offered the Spurs job in the international break last week, undoubtedly because they are completely absurd: a man who would move from an improving club with a bottomless transfer kitty to one with morale as low as their league position in the middle of the season would surely need his head examining.
Yet Juande Ramos’ job is no more secure, as his disappointing results and randomised team selection method are proving mighty unpopular (and downright dangerous) for the club.
This weekend’s visitors Hull have accrued a 100 per cent win record in North London in the past week, so will the Spaniard keep his job if they manage to bag three points again? Or will he get the much-mooted ‘four matches’ to turn things around regardless of Satrurday’s result?
Let us know what you think with a vote and comment below…
In what might rate as the the least shocking poll ever conducted, the folks at Top Up TV have discovered that Manchester Utd have the lowest level of local support, with just one on five of their fans coming from Manchester.
While the majority of Red Devils in this country would get a nosebleed if they travelled further north than the Watford Gap, it appears that the club with the strongest local following are the Arsenal-bashers from Hull, with 88 per cent of fans coming from the region.
Here’s the survey results in full, where you’ll notice the big four languishing at the bottom of the table, or the ‘Spurs end’ as it is commonly known:
Hull City 88%
Stoke City 85%
Wigan Athletic 80%
Newcastle United 77%
Middlesbrough 76%
Aston Villa 73%
Fulham 73%
Sunderland 67%
West Bromwich Albion 67%
West Ham United 66%
Oh dear, it was all looking so promising. The young Dos Santos chap, that Modric bloke - these guys were world beaters, damn it! But now Spurs are languishing at the bottom of the table, and after an in-depth gander at things like facts and statistics, The Spoiler has been shocked to find fourteen stonewall reasons why they won’t win before Santa Claus’ next visit. Perhaps they will never win again?
Spurs fans, we are so sorry… only read on if you must.
Spurs/Wigan, 21 September 2008
Prophecy of doom: Wigan have scored six goals in their last two away games
Portsmouth/Spurs, 28 September 2008
Prophecy of doom: Tottenham have never won two away in a row against Portsmouth. They won the last one.
Spurs/Hull, 5 October 2008
Prophecy of doom: Hull are yet to lose away from home (YET!), and Spurs are yet to win at home.
Stoke/Spurs, 19 October 2008
Prophecy of doom: Stoke have scored five goals in their first two home games, while Spurs have only scored more than one three times in twenty-one games.
Spurs/Bolton, 25 October 2008
