This Leicester City team could be even better than the title winning side October 1, 2019 Brendan Rodgers made a bold decision when he walked away from a third successive domestic treble at Celtic in February and return to the Premier League with Leicester. The former Liverpool and Swansea boss took a lot of flak and the switch could have gone either way – he had lots to lose and not [...]
United West Ham are showing the consistency to gatecrash the top six places September 24, 2019 When you get stuffed 5-0 on the opening day of the season with a load of new recruits in the team, people tend to react by heading straight to the bookies to back you to get relegated. Since their humbling by Manchester City, though, West Ham are unbeaten in five Premier League games, have conceded [...]
Home form, a solid tactical base and key men: Norwich City have a template for survival September 17, 2019 For Norwich, beating champions Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday was more than just a big result; it was a reminder that anything is possible in the Premier League. That’s a lovely message to get into the dressing room of a promoted side at this stage of the season. The big teams won’t always play well [...]
Front three are as good as any but England must improve defence and midfield September 11, 2019 England’s pair of high-scoring wins over Bulgaria and Kosovo will have left Gareth Southgate broadly happy, although the Euro 2020 qualifying double-header did highlight their shortcomings. They were always going to takes six points from these fixtures – anything else would have been a huge shock – but I’d suggest Southgate would have expected two [...]
Are England and Jamie Vardy missing a trick or are they better off without each other? September 4, 2019 When Gareth Southgate reconvened his England squad this week ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo he did so without one notable absentee: Jamie Vardy. With two goals for Leicester against Bournemouth on Saturday, Vardy took his tally to 12 in his last 14 Premier League appearances and underlined his claim to [...]
Trevor Steven: Christian Eriksen situation is a major problem for Mauricio Pochettino August 27, 2019 The domestic transfer window may have shut on 8 August, but 19 days later Tottenham are still feeling the negative effects it can bring. The European window remains open until the end of the month and I think it is causing Spurs a real issue. It’s hovering over some of the players and is causing [...]
Unai Emery has given Arsenal personality with David Luiz and Dani Ceballos signings. Now they can rival Tottenham for a top three place August 20, 2019 As they have stagnated and drifted towards mediocrity in recent seasons it has become increasingly difficult to see what would make Arsenal a standout team again, one with obvious strengths like Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham. But of the sides near the top of the Premier League it has been Unai Emery’s team whose start [...]
Why fired-up Liverpool can end Manchester City’s Premier League reign and Manchester United could fall out of the top six August 8, 2019 What separates Manchester City and Liverpool from the rest of the Premier League is that they have settled squads which excelled last season, playing to their optimum level almost every week in a brilliant title race that City eventually just edged. Sustaining that lead is so difficult and this is why Pep Guardiola got such [...]
Trevor Steven: He may be lacking experience, but there is no better candidate for the Chelsea job than Frank Lampard June 25, 2019 On the face of it, one year of experience in management is not enough to take on a challenge like Chelsea. But if one man can do it, it’s Frank Lampard. Chelsea were granted permission to speak with Lampard yesterday over their vacant manager’s position. If I was the decision-maker I’d consider him to be [...]
Trevor Steven: Unbeaten Manchester City have all the tools to make it back-to-back Premier League titles October 30, 2018 After Manchester City were crowned Premier League champions with five games to spare in April their captain, Vincent Kompany, made a speech. But rather than pat his side on the back, Kompany was focused on the future, speaking of “unlocking the full potential” and establishing a “dynasty”. The Belgian’s words showed the mentality that City [...]
