Tag: Premier League

Spurs falter under the pressure of playing in front of Baby Spice

Spurs all but wrapped up the Premier League title for Leicester by only managing a 1-1 draw with West Brom at home on Monday night. The pressure was on with first-place Leicester beating Swansea 4-0 the day before and Spurs fan Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton in attendance at White Hart Lane for the important match. But the former Spice Girl’s presence was too much for this young Spurs team to handle as they conceded a 73rd minute equalizer to Craig Dawson, who scored an own goal in the 33rd minute to give Spurs the lead.

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Eden Hazard finally deems this Premier League season worthy of his goals

On the last full day of his reign as PFA Player of the Year, Eden Hazard scored his first two goals of the Premier League season in Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Bournemouth, proving that his terrible form this season has either been a slow-burn practical joke or something else equally incomprehensible.

Maybe he had been suffering from amnesia, simply forgot how to score goals, and thought his name was Stanley Dingleton, but hit his head the night before the Bournemouth match and it all came back to him? I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about this a lot this season and I still don’t know. The Dingleton theory seems like it’s on the right track, though.

It had been 356 days since his last Premier League goal, but that’s all over now.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez has scored four goals in each of his last two La Liga matches — a new record — bringing his total to 34 for the season.

Congrats, Eden!

Arsenal fans want everyone out as fourth-place dream proves elusive

Some fans want their club’s manager out, others want their club’s owner out, but Arsenal fans want both out. That was the message they committed to time-honored banner form and held aloft as they watched their team surrender a 2-0 lead to West Ham and finish with a 3-3 draw because they let Andy Carroll nearly double his goal tally for the season.

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Arsene Wenger suggests the Premier League is the new Champions League

From the man who brought you the fourth place trophy concept comes a new thesis of defeatism that’s sure to provide Arsenal fans with zero comfort after losing to Barcelona in the Champions League. A club Wenger says are “more beatable than ever before.” Seriously.

From ESPN FC:

“Maybe the Premier League has become the Champions League for English teams. Because every game is so difficult in the Premier League that maybe we suffer a bit in Europe,” Wenger said. “Barcelona can walk through their games before they play against us. They played on Saturday afternoon with a team that after 20 minutes was 3-0 up. … They can select a little bit how much they go for it. In the Premier League you cannot.”

If a Premier League club had Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez at their disposal, maybe they could walk through their games, too.

But yes, Arsene, the reason Arsenal haven’t gotten past the Champions League round of 16 in seven years is because Watford might be better than Espanyol and not because your injury plagued team consistently underperforms while you hoard more cash than any other club in the world.

If Spurs finish ahead of Arsenal this season, look for Wenger to say something even lamer like “everyday we’re alive is like finishing in first place.” Might as well call him the limbo king because he keeps pushing that bar lower and lower.

Fight against overpriced tickets finds a leader in hilarious Irish Liverpool fan

(Warning: delightfully NSFW language)

Liverpool fans staged a walkout in the 77th minute of their club’s match against Sunderland (Liverpool were up 2-0 at the time, but finished with a 2-2 draw) on Saturday to protest the news that the highest priced tickets in the new main stand next season would be £77.

Outside Anfield, YouTube fan channel Redmen TV interviewed an Irish supporter who had strong feelings on the matter. And in this interview, a new leader emerged.

“Looking at a city like Liverpool, it’s a working class city, you can’t be charging be charging £77 a ticket,” he began, calmly enough.

The more he spoke, the more impassioned he became, and the more he began to swear.

“Seventy seven pound…to watch THAT! Are you fookin’ mad?! James Milner! What the fook?! You’re mad! Jordan Henderson is your captain! Fook off! Honestly…honestly…would you pay 77 pound to see fokin’ Jordan Henderson kick a ball against a wall? NO! Foke off.”

As the Football Supporters Federation looks to organize a mass walkout at matches across the Premier League over this issue, it’s clear that this Liverpool fan is the man to lead this revolution against greed and price gouging. Not because he’d be certain to bring change, but because I just want to hear him rant about James Milner some more.

Robert Huth scores brace in Leicester win against Man City during season that is actually happening

Leicester beat Manchester City 3-1 at the Etihad. Robert Huth had a brace. They are now five points clear at the top of the Premier League table with 53 points from 25 matches. This is real.

Leicester were in last place with 17 points from 24 matches on this day last year. In August, the odds on them winning the Premier League were 5000/1. Now they are 7/4 favorites. This is not a joke.

Their manager, Claudio Ranieri, has never won a first division title. Their top scorer, 29-year-old Jamie Vardy, who also leads the Premier League in goals, was playing non-league football four years ago. Their captain, 32-year-old Wes Morgan, is only playing his second season of top flight football. Rihad Mahrez, who scored against Man City and has been involved in more goals than any other Premier League player this season (14 goals, 10 assists) was bought for about £400,000 in January 2014. I’m serious.

Leicester City’s best ever finish in the top flight came in 1929 when they were runners-up. They have never appeared in the Champions League, which now seems certain to change next season as they are now 13 points clear of fifth-place Manchester United. You are not hallucinating this.

To repeat: Leicester beat Man City 3-1. Robert Huth has more goals than 2014/15 Player of the Year Eden Hazard this season. Leicester are in first place in the Premier League and favorites to win it. There is not a gas leak in your house, nor is it raining frogs outside.

Just to be absolutely clear: All of these words have been about Leicester City Football Club of Leicester, England in the United Kingdom on the planet Earth. The image at the top of this post has not been photoshopped. You are awake.