Week 37: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
Top game: The early kick-off on Saturday was a juicy delight! The six-goal thriller at the Emirates opened up the race for the guaranteed Champions League spot in third place for Tottenham and Newcastle who were both playing on Sunday. Norwich were top-quality and fought hard and could have had a dozen of goals. Great entertainment, great watch.
Liverpool's thrashing of Chelsea gained the Reds a hint of revenge for their FA Cup final defeat against the Blues. The first half was cracking, action-packed end-to-end stuff that had everything in it! Goals, penalty, misses, shouts, bouts, slips, tricks, kicks...

Top team: City continued their unbeaten run against Newcastle who have now failed to gain a single point against the Premier League leaders in their last eleven meetings. The Sky Blues will remember St James' Park (now called Sports Direct Arena) fondly, not just for this crucial win, but this is the same ground they were crowned champions in the last time round - 44 years ago! We will see next weekend whether their long wait for another title will have finally come to an end or they will be kept waiting, longing, wishing, dreaming...

Top player: Yaya Toure's double won it for City after being pushed forward by Roberto Mancini after bringing Nigel de Yong on. It turned out to be a super-sub for the league leaders, which gave the Ivory Coast midfielder the freedom he needed to score two sublime and crucial goals.
Cisse has fallen heals-over-head into his fifth goal in seven games for QPR. If Rangers stay up, they have him to thank and hope his heals will stay put.

Top goal: With 19 minutes to go in one of the most crucial games in the title race, Toure was the one to thank and celebrate for a sweet goal to give City the lead against Newcastle. It was one of those unstoppable curls. After a nice one-two, exchanging passes with Sergio Aguero, Yaya produced a precise bend which led the ball right into the corner beyond Tim Krul, impossible for the keeper to reach and stop.
Sunderland's equaliser against Fulham was a smacker by Phillip Bardsley from outside the box past Mark Schwarzer. But only 15 seconds later, straight from kick-off, Mousa Dembele was able to run free and create a fine shot but this time with a wicked deflection off Michael Turner to turn it past Simon Mignolet. Gob-smacking couple of minutes at Craven Cottage which ended up rewarding Fulham with the three points and leave the visitors empty handed.

Top news: This is the first time I remember the title race going to the last weekend - the goals being the only gap between the two Manchester sides. It is going to be an unforgettable crunch-and-a-half next weekend, that's for sure! Can't wait! Oh, and one more relegation place and the last automatic Champions League qualification spot are all still to be decided too, so it's crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch time!

Flop game: Everton's goalless draw at the Molineux stadium was a scrappy draw with relegation-bound Wolves avoiding equalling a Premier League record of 10 straight home defeats. It was their first home point since 4th December and they earned it the hard way, holding through and keeping out a stubborn Everton side who controlled most of the match but ended up the more frustrated going home with two points dropped rather than a point gained, with their Merseyside neighbours creeping up on them in eighth place, only one point between the two going into the final weekend of the season.

Flop team: Bolton dropped points again against West Brom after giving away a precious two-goal lead. James Morrison came off the bench to score a last-minute equaliser, earning his side a point and putting a severe dent in Bolton's chances of surviving the relegation battle. The Wanderers now need to win their last match of the season away to Stoke and rely on Manchester City not to slip up against QPR, who are two points ahead of Owen Coyle's side in 17th and nine goals better off in goal difference.

Flop player: John Terry had a night to forget at Anfield. Suspended for the Champions League final, the skipper did not give Roberto Di Matteo much reason to miss him giving away three goals, one nuts through the legs, one slip and one set-piece giveaway. The defender can call himself luck if he will find his name on the England Euro 2012 team sheet!
It is a rare occurence to find Robin van Persie under this category, but the way the Dutch striker went down in the box instead of converting the chance there and then, fool him! No penalty for his antiques and two points dropped for Arsenal in the race for thirs and automatic Champions League qualification!

Flop goal: Bolton's second goal had a stroke of luck in it, the ball smashing from one defender to another, ending up in the back of the net as an own goal thanks to Billy Jones' deflection. Coyle will be wondering where the luck went to for the rest of the game and whether it will finally be on their side when it comes to the relegation crunch at the final weekend of the season or they are destined for the drop and going to join Blackburn and Wolves in the Championship next season.

Flop news: I cannot believe I have to work next weekend, i.e. I am going to miss the whole epic episode with all the crunches, deciders and drama! Argh! Thank god for Sky+! I will be ignoring any social media and news input or output on my way home, to make sure I can catch the highlights and still be part of all the blood, sweat and tears!

My predictions - Actual results

Arsenal 1:2 Norwich City - 3:3
Newcastle 1:1 Man City - 0:2
Aston Villa 1:3 Tottenham - 1:1
Bolton 3:2 West Brom - 2:2
Fulham 0:0 Sunderland - 2:1
QPR  2:0 Stoke City - 1:0
Wolves  0:3 Everton - 0:0
Man United 3:0 Swansea City - 2:0
Blackburn 1:2 Wigan - 0:1
Blackburn are relegated
Liverpool 0:2 Chelsea - 4:1