Ahead of the Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa game this afternoon, here are the winners and losers from another exciting weekend of Premier League action.
Winners
Chelsea
Any time you lead the League in goals scored AND goals conceded, you have a great chance to win the title and that is what Chelsea are doing. In October Chelsea conceded one goal while scoring 11.
Last year Chelsea leaked goals at the back and it cost them the title. This year, Chelsea has managed to strengthen their defense, while increasing their offensive prowess. And they have done it for the most part without their best forward Didier Drogba.
Harry Redknapp
Three games, seven points and the Redknapp revival is well and truly underway at Spurs. Spurs are remarkably only seven points below Everton who occupy 7th place in the Premier League. Redknapp looks like a sure bet to keep Spurs in the Premier League and get the £4million bonus for avoiding relegation.
Cristiano Ronaldo
it is no fluke that Manchester United starting to win after Ronaldo returned from ankle surgery. Worrying for teams is that the best player in the world began November with more goals to his season credit than he had at this time last year.
Fans staying to the final whistle
Fans that try and avoid traffic by leaving a Premier League game before the final whistle are missing out in goals. Of the 53 goals scored on Wednesday and Saturday, eleven were scored in the last three minutes of all the matches – put another way, 20% of all the goals were scored in 3% of the total available time.
Losers
Arsenal
The defeat at Stoke highlighted the weaknesses of Arsenal: weak goalkeeping, small defenders and lack of toughness. What has to be worrying for Arsenal fans is that these weaknesses were there for all to see last season and Arsene Wenger did nothing about them.
Arsenal’s season will be decided this month with games against Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea. Anything less than 9 points will see all hope of Arsenal winning the title dashed for another year.
More concerning for Arsenal fans is the play of Aston Villa this season. If Villa can avoid injuries, they have a very good shot at battling Arsenal for that fourth Champions League spot. No Champions League football next season plus the reduced revenues is a scenario that must give Arsenal fans nightmares.
Manuel Almunia
The two best goalkeepers in the Premier League are Petr Cech and Jose Reina and it is no surprise that Chelsea and Liverpool top the Premier League. If you look at the big four + Aston Villa, Almunia is by far the weakest goalkeeper.
His mistakes are costing Arsenal points and if Arsenal is to contend for anything this season, then Wenger has to find another solution in goal.
The Premier League
Only six points separate Everton who are in 7th and Newcastle who is bottom. If Man United win their game in hand against Fulham, and Aston Villa win at Newcastle, then Everton will be 8 points behind Villa and 11 points behind Chelsea.
The Premiership, for all its worldwide fan base, is in danger of becoming a league dominated by 4 or 5 teams, similar to the Scottish Premier League. In the SPL it is Rangers and Celtic and everyone else. Motherwell who are in 3rd place in the SPL are closer to Celtic than Everton are to Chelsea.
Manchester City
With another bad loss at Bolton on Sunday, Man City have won just one of their last in six league games and remain as inconsistent as ever. You have to wonder how long Mark Hughes has before the media starts to speculate who will be replacing him at Eastlands.
