The 23rd week of the Premier League had the blockbuster tie of the top 2 playing each other and Chelsea knew a win would ensure that they would open an 8 point lead to Manchester City and the game lived up to the expectations with a well fought game ending 1-1 and the distance between the clubs staying the same. There were many other interesting points coming out from the games and we look to point out the 5 talking points from the 23rd week of the Premier League.
The top two cannot be separated
The top two of the Premier League held each other to a 1-1 draw and while the score line meant that things stayed the same a couple of things did come out from the game. Kurt Zouma should be playing more games after an amazing display for Chelsea and ensuring that he was not overwhelmed by David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
The other thing was that Chelsea were feeling weary in the second half and rarely did anything in the second half, Chelsea looked tired after their League cup win over Liverpool and were for the taking by Manchester City, City could have won the game and made it interesting and it will be great to see how the clubs go on in the last 15 games of the season.
Aston Villa cannot score to save their lives
Paul Lambert might have wanted to break a few records at Aston Villa but he would have wanted to break positives ones not the ones that would want his resignation from the fans. After a drubbing by Arsenal, who looked brilliant by the way, Aston Villa have now gone 8 league games without a win, what is even worse is that they have gone 6 league games without scoring a goal, that is the longest time they have spent not scoring in the club’s history.
They didn’t play the worst game but after the first goal went in, it all went pear shaped. Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann would really have to work hard, the club is just 3 points above the relegation zone and could well be in deep trouble in a couple of games time.
The battle for the top 4
Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Southampton and Arsenal are trying to get into the remaining 2 spots for the UEFA Champions League, while Southampton lost the rest of the teams won which means that 7th place Liverpool and 3rd placed Manchester United are just separated by 5 points and a couple of bad games can push a club out of the top 4, while a couple of decent results can make all the difference.
It seems all the clubs have hit form at the right time of the season, especially Liverpool and Arsenal, who both looked very impressive during their games this weekend.
The return of Sturridge
12 minutes is all it took for substitute Daniel Sturridge to make his mark in his Premier League return. The Englishman scored thanks to a brilliant finish and he looked up to pace with the Premier League after 5 months out due to various injuries. Liverpool have missed a player like Sturridge upfront who will move and stretch defences but he also has pace and has a great finish.
Liverpool need Sturridge to stay fit and if it means that he will be rested against Bolton in the FA Cup, then be it, he is the key to Liverpool making it into the top 4 and he needs to play as many Premier League games as he can.
Hull’s moment of madness
Hull were expected to do great things this season, they seemed to have bought the right players and were looking to push into Europe but ever since they were eliminated from the qualifying rounds of the Europa League everything has gone wrong. They cannot win a game, they cannot defend well and even after signing a few good players they cannot score to save their skin.
So what do they do when they are trailing during the game? They do a Maradona, Ahmed Elmohamady decided to emulate the Argentine with his hand of God moment but Elmohamady’s attempt was rightly ruled out and he was booked, he could have been sent off as it was so unsportsmanlike and blatant but that is what someone will do to ensure they stay in the Premier League but they need a legit way of making the goals come again, they really could be going down this season.
Picture courtesy: The Guardian, FPl addicts, Premier League.com, AVFC.co.uk and Dugoutdebate.com