The weekly winners and losers was delayed a little because of the closing of the transfer window, but here is a look at the winners and losers from week 24 in the Premier League.
Winners
Manchester United
The critics all said that the Works Club trip to Japan would be Man United’s downfall this season. But after their seventh consecutive league win since their return from Japan, with four of those wins achieved by a score of 1-0, it appears that somewhere in Japan, United found their defence.
Liverpool
Beating Chelsea in a huge game has to make Liverpool one of the winners. But the win does not gloss over the fact that for much of the game, Liverpool were poor.
West Ham
There is a revival going on at West ham as Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke have done a fantastic job turning things around. West Ham sit third in the Premier League form standings with 14 points form their last 6 games and look safely positioned in mid-table.
Stoke City
Winning on the road is so difficult for Premier League teams that if a team like Stoke has any hope if avoiding relegation it must make The Britannia Stadium a fortress. So far they are with six wins from their 12 home games so far. If they can keep that ratio up for the rest of the season then Stoke might well stay up.
Fulham
Another team with a great home record is Fulham. Only Manchester United have won more games at home than Fulham this season. That is one big reason why Fulham is in the top half of the league.
Losers
Chelsea
It was anther tepid big game display from Chelsea at the weekend. Chelsea has now dropped 8 points to Manchester United in their last six games. Is this really the team that lost the Premier League in the last game of the season last year and was a missed penalty shot away from winning the Champions League?
This a huge month for Luiz Felipe Scolari. Besides the weekends game against Liverpool, Chelsea play Aston Villa in the league, Juventus in the Champions League and Watford in the F.A. Cup. Chelsea expect to win trophies every year and Chelsea must win at least two of those three games or questions will be asked about whether Chelsea made a mistake hiring Scolari.
Tony Adams
Another horrible weekend for Portsmouth. It was only a few months ago that they were playing AC Milan at home in the UEFA Cup and now they are facing a relegation battle. For those keeping score Tony Adams has won just 16 of his 74 games as a manager.
Newcastle United
The news just keeps getting worse at Newcastle. With only 2 points from their last six games relegation is a very distinct possibility for Newcastle. Newcastle is a financial time bomb waiting to explode and relegation could put them into a similar situation to Leeds United a couple of years ago.
