January is a strange month. With Christmas and New Year celebrations over people settle down to the mundane normalcy of life. However, in the strange world of Premier League Football, January is anything but normal. While most sensible Europeans are in hibernation, England’s footballers start their annual dalliance with the ‘romance of the cup’.
So, Antonio Conte can start cracking open the bottles of prosecco. As mentioned in last month’s column, the team leading at Christmas traditionally goes on to win the Premier League come May. Chelsea’s 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace ensured the 2014-15 champions would go into the festive break with a six-point lead over Liverpool, despite […]
Recent times have seen the most recent (false?) coming of Liverpool, followed by the swift renaissance of Chelsea – were you one of those baying for Conte’s blood earlier in the season? – the inevitable Arsenal falter and Utd’s implosion. What was perhaps more difficult to foresee was the second coming of Yaya Toure, although […]
If Jose Mourinho ever needed to switch his career, he would have no problem in finding himself a job as a bus driver anywhere – parking a speciality. The 0-0 draw at Anfield proved – if proof were needed – that the Portuguese manager is a master in the defensive art. At least Gerrard did […]
A week may be a long time in politics, but it’s an eternity in the life of a Premier League manager. Three wins in three games and Jose Mourinho could do no wrong; the Special One was reborn. One week and two losses later, the first at home to city rival and the second in […]
Those following the build up to this Premier League season might be forgiven for concluding that the world’s most popular sport is a game of chess played by Football Masters. Mourinho, Guardiola, Conte and Klopp have taken the headlines apart from a splattering of Ibrahimovic and a last minute Bolt-like surge from Pogba. However, football […]