What We Learned from This Weekend’s Premier League Action

This evening, the last game of matchday 37 of the EPL season takes place, between UCL-chasing Aston Villa and no-longer-title-contenders Liverpool. You can find our preview for it here.

Saturday and Sunday we have witnessed 9 Premier League games, each packing a reasonable amount of action and drama. Arsenal went to Old Trafford and won 1-0 as the rain threatened to tear apart the stadium. Also in the title race, Manchester City beat Fulham 4-0 away, showing the same ominous form in this season’s run-in as in previous years.

Tottenham’s home win against Burnley confirmed the Clarets’ relegation after only one season in the EPL, while Luton’s loss to West Ham leaves the Hatters with almost no chance to stay up.

So what have we learned from these games and the others?

Title Race Goes to the Final Day

As many people were predicting a few months ago, this season’s chase for ultimate glory will go down to the wire.

Arsenal and City both won at the weekend, so regardless of the Cityzens’ result in their game in hand against Tottenham, we will only know the identity of the English champions on Sunday evening.

As things stand, the Gunners are 1 point ahead of City, and have a goal difference of +61, while Guardiola’s team stand on +58.

Failing to win tomorrow evening at Spurs will certainly damage City’s hopes to win the title for an unprecedented fourth time in a row. But we can not completely rule out the idea of them battering West Ham on the final day and winning it on goal difference.

2012, anyone?

Newly-Promoted Teams Struggle Massively to Step Up

Last summer saw Burnley win the Championship, Sheffield United secure automatic promotion alongside them, and Luton Town tag along by winning the promotion play-off.

One week before the end of this season we know that Sheffield are finishing rock-bottom (with the most goals ever conceded in the Premier League) and Burnley are confirmed to go down as well.

Luton still have a chance, but it really is only on paper. They are 3 points behind Forest, but that is not the biggest problem. The goal difference gap that they need to overcome to stay up stands at 13 goals. They don’t need a surprise, they need a miracle.

There is a vast difference in quality between the first and second divisions in England. Leicester, Ipswich and the eventual winner of the play-off will have a lot of work to do, on and off the pitch, to stay up in 12 months’ time.

European Chase Is Genuinely Entertaining

Tottenham are now 4 points behind Villa in the race for 4th place, and each team has 2 more games to play.

Chelsea managed their first away win in 3 months in a great game at Nottingham Forest, and now sit 7th, level on points with Newcastle (6th). Again, each team has 2 more games to play. United, also with (guess what?) 2 more games to play, are 3 points further back.

We will not take the risk to predict who finishes where, as we don’t really like to look foolish. But we can tell you that this is just as edge-of-our-seats as the title race. And that’s truly special.

Mid-Table Clashes Are Not Always Boring

Last week we complained about the 0-0 draw between Brentford and Fulham being a textbook mid-table game with no consequence.

This week we had 2 games where the stakes were not very high, but both were entertaining. Crystal Palace continued their outstanding form under Oliver Glasner with a 3-1 away win against Wolves, and while Bournemouth and Brentford took a long time to really get going, it was a final 15 minutes to remember.

It is always good to see all games treated seriously, and enjoy a proper game between teams without crucial objectives.

Which brings us to this…

How Will Palace Do Next Season?

Glasner has worked miracles at Selhurst Park, there is no doubt about that. The Eagles, with Olise, Eze and Mateta taking centre stage, are unbeaten in their last 6 EPL games (W5, D1). In this span they have beaten 2 of the Big Six teams: 1-0 at Anfield and 4-0 at home against Manchester United.

The elephant in the room needs to be addressed though. Will they manage to keep their star players this summer? Both Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise are on the radar at Manchester City. Might be hard for a mid-table club to refuse a potentially huge package offer.

If they keep them, along with doing some smart business in the transfer market, we believe Palace might be able to push for a Conference League spot next season.

Remember, you heard it here first.