Alan Hansen Column: Views on Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Man City, Sunderland & Leeds
The press have suggested it’s advantage Manchester United and Liverpool following Chelsea’s shock home defeat to Arsenal at the weekend. However, though this was a great result for the two North-West clubs, there is still a million miles to go yet. The games come thick and fast throughout February and March so at the moment it’s all about getting yourself into a challenging position.
Blues Still the Team to Beat
Chelsea are still the team to beat in my opinion, they have tremendous power and players plus great strength in depth. Ok, they’ve had a bad result but it’s still only 3 points and they remain 1 point off the top. Football changes very quickly and a win next week will put a completely different complexion on things. They’ve slipped up badly at home in recent games and 1 point out of 9 at the Bridge against their main rivals is certainly not Championship winning form. However, they’re still 1 point fron the top and a couple of good results and this will be forgotten.
Gunners Still 4th Favourites
Does this result mean Arsenal are back in the title race? Well in my opinion they remain 4th favourites. The Gunners seem very inconsistent; they’ve lost 5 games but beat both United and Chelsea in recent weeks. They seem to enjoy fantastic highs and desperate lows but when all’s said and done it’s just 3 points. If you put it into perspective, in the last 4 games they may have beaten last season’s top two but they’ve still only picked up 6 points from a possible 12 available.
On their day Arsene Wenger’s side can beat anyone. If they tend to play well, they will tend to win. However, winning championships is about picking up points when you’re not playing well. Defeats to Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Aston Villa and Man City suggest this is not the case for Arsenal. If they don’t play well they’ve seriously struggled whilst United, Liverpool and Chelsea all have the ability to pick up points when performances are under par. You look at those sides and you can see them going 15-16 matches unbeaten whereas you cannot say the same for Arsene Wenger’s side.
Stamford Bridge No Longer a Fortress?
After a number of seasons of being unbeatable at Stamford Bridge, all of a sudden Chelsea are not looking so strong. Defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal plus draws with Spurs, United and Newcastle suggest the days of the Bridge being an absolute fortress are over. The problem Luiz Felipe Scolari has found is that at home, teams tend to defend deep against them which doesn’t necessarily suit their new free-flowing style. Away from home they’ve been far more convincing as they are able to get Nicolas Anelka in behind the opposition defences.
In the past, Chelsea were able to rely on the power and physical presence of Didier Drogba at home as they played a more direct style of football. Chelsea could use his aerial power and the late runs of Frank Lampard to break sides down. Now with Anelka up front their game is more reliant on pace and playing on the shoulder of the last defender which is not easy against two banks of four who sit deep.
Away from home the system has worked perfectly, at least domestically as they’ve been very adventurous. Chelsea may be far better to watch but at the end of the season it’s what you’ve won, not what you’ve played like that matters. Trophies come first, style is secondary.
Exciting Times for the Premier League
The Premier League is extremely exciting this season as all the sides are beating eachother. It certainly makes it difficult to predict the results as I’m finding with our own Pundit’s League. Every Saturday and Sunday results go against form and position in the table which is not something that has happened so much in recent seasons. The Premier League is extremely competitive at the moment mainly because there are a number of sides that are very similar in style and quality. For me, the most exciting element of this is that both the relegation battle and the title race should go right to the wire. That’s what we all want to see to keep the interest up.
Not Easy for Robinho
Manchester United picked up an important 3 points at Eastlands which sparked some criticism of the performance of City’s Brazilian star Robinho. Ok, the lad didn’t play well on the day but playing United is never easy. With his price tag he has added pressure but must do better in these type of games.
City needed a spark in that match but the little Brazilian was unable to provide it. Against Arsenal he provided a sensational finish but it may well take him some time to settle fully in order to take games like this by the scruff of the neck. United themselves bought Juan Sebastian Veron a few years back for a huge fee and it took him an extremely long time to settle but I think the criticism of Robinho is a bit unfair as this match was never going to be easy. They were facing the champions after all!
Too much has been read into Cristiano Ronaldo’s sending off for two bookings for me. The incident where he handballed it was just one of those things. It was an unlucky, natural instinct which was purely a spur of the moment reaction, nothing more.
Congratulations to Histon
Congratulations to non-league Histon for their tremendous win over League One Leeds at the weekend. They can now look forward to the 3rd round tie with Swansea whilst Gary McAllister and his team can concentrate fully on gaining promotion to the Championship. I was never beaten by a non-league side in my career so I can’t empathise with the Leeds players but they’ll have to forget this result and move on quickly.
This Weekend in the Premier League
Looking forward to this weekend’s Premier League clashes and Arsenal’s match with Wigan will be an interesting one. It’s been a matter of weeks since the Gunners kids beat the Latics 3-0 at the Emirates in the Carling Cup but I don’t think that will have any bearing on the result of this match.
Steve Bruce’s side have started to pick up points and are not doing too badly. However, with Arsenal’s form fluctuating so much this could well be a match to watch. Arsenal need a run of results, say 5 or 6 positive results on the trot to get the press off their backs and allow them to get away from all their recent criticism. I am backing them on Premier 10 this week to do just that. You can see my predictions this week on the table.
Roy Keane returns to Old Trafford with his Sunderland side facing a big test against United. One thing’s for certain is that Roy’s a fighter and hopefully his side can show some of his spirit on the pitch. If the Black Cats don’t play as a team against Sir Alex’s side then they will be in big trouble. After all, this is not a great place to visit when you are in form so to play them after some of Sunderland’s recent results is worrying. Roy brought in a number of players in the summer and as with all new signings they need time to gel. Most of the new players have done well but I fear for them this weekend.
The Everton v Aston Villa clash should be a great game as the Toffees have had a succession of great results since their draw with Manchester United. Aston Villa on the other hand have dropped points at home recently but also won at the Emirates and are undoubtedly a very good side. This should be a great game between the ‘best of the rest’ in the Premier League outside the current big four. I’ve backed a draw in this one on Premier 10 and Footy 15 as it’s too close to call but with estimated jackpots of £40,000 and £170,000 to play for, it’s well worth playing!
Good luck with your predictions this week
Alan
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Tags: Alan Hansen, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds, Man City, Manchester United, Sunderland
