Silent summer celebrations

When the Premier League was finally allowed to rush to a summer conclusion behind closed doors, Liverpool crossed the line as expected and became champions of England for the first time in 30 years.

Week 30 – After almost one hundred days, the Premier League returned to empty stadiums on Wednesday evening with a goalless draw between Aston Villa and Sheffield United in which the visitors were wrongfully denied a goal by goal-line technology. Later that evening 10-man Arsenal were brushed aside 3-0 at Manchester City to complete the matches in hand. On Friday evening, Norwich City remained rooted to the bottom of the table with a 3-0 defeat at home to Southampton and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Tottenham. On Saturday, Brighton came from a goal down to complete the double over Arsenal with a stoppage time winner, while Leicester drew 1-1 at Watford with both goals coming in stoppage time and there were 2-0 away wins for Wolves over West Ham and Crystal Palace over Bournemouth. On Sunday, Newcastle put 3 past 10-man Sheffield United at St James’ Park while Chelsea came from Behind with 2 goals in 2 minutes to win 2-1 at Aston Villa and Liverpool drew 0- 0 at Everton. On Sunday evening Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez grabbed a brace each as Manchester City buried Burnley 5-0 at the Etihad.

Week 31 - On Tuesday, Liverpool cruised to a 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace and were crowned Premier League champions a day later when Manchester City, who ended the match with ten men, lost 2-1 at Chelsea.  In other midweek matches, Anthony Martial scored all 3 goals as Manchester United disposed of Sheffield United at Old Trafford and Arsenal were 2-0 winners at ten-man Southampton while West Ham lost 2-0 at Tottenham and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Newcastle. Brighton missed a penalty in the goalless draw at Leicester and there were 1-0 wins for Wolves at home to Bournemouth, Everton at Norwich and Burnley at home to Watford.  

Week 32 – With the quarter finals of the FA Cup being played, only two of the Premier League matches took place at the weekend. Wolverhampton Wanderers were 1-0 winners at Aston Villa and a double from Danny Ings helped Southampton to a 3-1 win at Watford. During the week, a single gaol saw Crystal Palace lose at home to Burnley while Bruno Fernandes netted twice in Manchester United’s 3-0 win at Brighton and Arsenal trampled Norwich 4-0 with a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the Emirates. Willian scored both goals for Chelsea who lost 3-2 at West Ham while Newcastle battered Bournemouth 4-1 at the coast and Everton enjoyed a 2-1 win at home to Leicester City. Tottenham lost 3-1 at Sheffield United and in what would have been the most anticipated match of the season, newly crowned Premier League champions, Liverpool, were soundly beaten 4-0 by reigning champions Manchester City at the Etihad.

Week 33 – Mason Greenwood scored twice as Manchester United came from a goal down to brush Bournemouth aside 5-2 at Old Trafford while Manchester City lost 1-0 at Southampton and Arsenal were 2-0 winners at Wolves. A brace from Jamie Vardy helped Leicester City to a 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace while Chelsea enjoyed the same result at home to Watford and a single goal at Norwich gave Brighton all 3 points. Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Liverpool while Newcastle twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to West Ham and Sheffield United drew 1-1 at Burnley. On Monday evening Everton lost 1-0 at Tottenham.

Week 34 – In midweek matches Leicester City drew 1-1 at ten-man Arsenal while Chelsea were 3-2 winners at Crystal Palace and Norwich City moved a step closer to relegation with a 2-1 loss at Watford. Newcastle were thrashed 5-0 at Manchester City while a double from Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool to a 3-1 victory at Brighton and there were 1-0 wins for Burnley at West Ham and Sheffield United away to Wolves with the winner coming in stoppage time. Aston Villa lost 3-0 at home to Manchester United while Southampton, who missed a penalty, drew 1-1 at Everton and Tottenham played a goalless match at Bournemouth.   

Week 35 – Michail Antonio scored all 4 goals for West Ham United as Norwich were relegated on their own pitch and hosts Bournemouth came from behind against 10-man Leicester to register a 4-1 victory with a double from Dominic Solanke while a brace from Trezeguet gave Aston Villa 3 points at home to Crystal Palace who had a man sent off after the final whistle. David McGoldrick scored twice as Sheffield United enjoyed a 3-0 win over their visitors from Chelsea while Raheem Sterling claimed a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 5-0 hammering of hosts Brighton and Watford came from a goal down to win 2-1 with 2 Troy Deeney penalties at home to Newcastle. Arsenal took the lead but lost 2-1 at Tottenham while Everton fell 3-0 at Wolves and Burnley drew 1-1 at Liverpool. On Monday evening Southampton scored in time added-on to draw 2-2 at Manchester United.

Week 36 – In midweek matches, Arsenal came from behind to beat champions Liverpool 2-1 at the Emirates while Manchester City were 2-1 winners against Bournemouth at the Etihad and a single goal was enough to give Chelsea a win over the visitors from Norwich. A Harry Kane double helped Tottenham to a 3-1 victory at Newcastle while Leicester triumphed 2-0 at home to Sheffield United and Burnley converted a penalty deep into stoppage time to draw 1-1 at home to Wolves. Crystal Palace lost 2-0 at home to Manchester United while there were 1-1 draws for Everton at home to Aston Villa and Brighton at Southampton. On Friday evening West Ham United took a huge step towards safety with a 3-1 win at home to Watford.   

Week 37 – The penultimate week’s matches were spread over the week beginning on Saturday when nine-man Norwich were beaten 2-0 at home to Burnley while on Sunday Harry Kane netted twice as Tottenham sent Leicester home 3-0 losers and shortly after Bournemouth were denied a stoppage-time equaliser by VAR against Southampton, the visitors struck to register a 2-0 win. On Monday evening Everton triumphed 1-0 at Sheffield United while Crystal Palace lost 2-0 at Wolves and Newcastle played a goalless match at Brighton. On Tuesday Aston Villa picked up 3 vital points with a goal at home to Arsenal while Raheem Sterling bagged a brace in Manchester City’s 4-0 win at Watford. On Wednesday West Ham United drew 1-1 at Manchester United to ensure mathematical safety and Liverpool celebrated a 5-3 win over Chelsea after being awarded the Premier League trophy at Anfield.  

Week 38 – Watford pulled 2 goals back but lost 3-2 and were relegated at Arsenal for whom Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice while Bournemouth were 3-1 winners at Everton but failed to avoid the drop as Aston Villa drew 1-1 at West Ham. Leicester City finished the match with 10 men and dropped out of the top four after losing 2-0 at home to Manchester United who claimed 3^rd place while Chelsea finished 4^th with a 2-0 home win over Wolves who miss out on an automatic place in the Europa League as Tottenham picked up a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. Kevin de Bruyne smacked in a brace as Manchester City thumped relegated Norwich City 5-0 at the Etihad while Southampton came from a goal down to beat Sheffield United 3-1 with a double from Che Adams at St Mary’s and Brighton were 2-1 winners at Burnley. Champions Liverpool ended their campaign with a 3-1 win at Newcastle.   

Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion gained automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Fulham joined them later through the play-offs.

 

The final Premier League table for 2019-20

 

Pos	Team	Points	GD
1	Liverpool	99	+52
2	Manchester City	81	+67
3	Manchester United	66	+30
4	Chelsea	66	+15
5	Leicester City	62	+26
6	Tottenham	59	+14
7	Wolves	59	+11
8	Arsenal	56	+8
9	Sheffield United	54	0
10	Burnley	54	-7
11	Southampton	52	-9
12	Everton	49	-12
13	Newcastle United	44	-20
14	Crystal Palace	43	-19
15	Brighton	41	-15
16	West Ham United	39	-13
17	Aston Villa	35	-26
18	Bournemouth	34	-25
19	Watford	34	-28
20	Norwich City	21	-49

Kicking out COVID

In these unprecedented times, like most journalists I find myself without matches to report on. The Premier League has been put on hold and the initial plans to return after only two weeks proved to be extremely optimistic and unrealistic. While players are confined to trying to keep themselves physically and mentally fit, the world is eagerly awaiting the resumption of football as we know it, or even football as we don’t know it.

The reluctancy of several high-profile players to take a pay-cut has been meet with derision by some, but receiving a full salary would benefit the tax-office and hopefully in turn the NHS and also the players, who would be free to donate to their chosen charities, whereas the only beneficiary of a pay-cut would be the respective clubs. Richer clubs would do well to help the smaller clubs to pay their staff and stay afloat as a tumbling football pyramid would also affect the team at the top.  

Regarding the Premier League and also the lower leagues, several options are being considered including annulling the 2019-20 season. This would severely damage the integrity of the game. Every ball kicked, every goal scored and all the excitement of this season would have been in vain. It would not only be unfair on Liverpool who after 30 years were finally within touching distance of winning the league, but also on other teams and individual players who were close to reaching different achievements due to their hard work. This is not only true about the Premier League but also the lower leagues.

A “points per game” solution was also suggested. This would not change the current table much but could see Arsenal leapfrog Tottenham into a Europa League place, despite Tottenham having a home match against Arsenal remaining in their fixture list. This highlights the flaw with this system. Some teams have several difficult matches to negotiate while other teams may, at least on paper, have an easier path ahead. The relegated teams would argue that they would have been capable of escaping relegation, and for this reason relegation may be scrapped with Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion promoted to the Premier League making it 22 teams which would add to the congestion and lengthening the 2020-21 season in a year that the Euros will hopefully be played.  In such a case, my two-group league system could help. I invented this several years ago, but it has not yet been necessary. Teams would be placed into two equal groups based on the previous season’s league table, with the odd-numbered teams in group A and the even-numbered teams in group B. Each group would complete their fixtures home and away, which would take half a normal season. At the end of the mini season, the top half of each group would form a group of teams battling for the tittle and places in Europe while the bottom half would be in a group fighting to avoid relegation. The number of teams would ideally be divisible by 4, but in the case of 22 teams there would be 11 teams in each group which would mean 5 matches and one team resting every week. To save time, the resting teams could play each other but their points would only be added in the final group if they end up in the same group. All other points would be carried to the final groups and the matches already played would not be repeated. With 11 teams in each initial group the top 6 from each group would go to the top group and the bottom 5 would make up the 10-team relegation group. The final stage of the season would be much shorter as many of the teams would have already played one another.

I strongly believe that when it is safe to return, the current season should be played to its conclusion with 2 matches per week allowing 5 substitutions per match, and the following season should be played possibly using the above system that would shorten the season from 38 to 28 matchdays with the current 20 teams. Depending on when football returns, if a season is to be scrapped it should be the 2020-21 season that has not yet begun.

Defeating the virus is a top priority for everyone and the various opinions as to when or how football should return only reflects lack of data available at this moment. Important decisions should not be but probably will to some extent be based on guesswork.

It may be deemed necessary to play behind closed doors. Playing a match with no supporters or watching a match on television without the sound of the fans would reduce the enjoyment of the match considerably. My invention of an artificial sound system could help. It would be placed around the stadium and generated by a computer that would be programmed to emit the appropriate noise according to the position and movement of the ball. The score would affect the volume and there would also be artificial support placed in the away section based on their expected attendance. The system could be manually manipulated if needed. It is vital that echoing in an empty stadium should be taken into account and the volume should be tested before unleashing the system onto unsuspecting ears.

Whatever decisions are made, it is paramount that we all act responsibly to kick out COVID and once again enjoy the beautiful game.

Red alert puts Red’s title on ice

Needing only five more points to secure the Premier League title Liverpool’s 30-year wait will have to go on at least a bit longer as football was suspended in England due to a worldwide viral outbreak.

Week 21 – On New Year’s Day Chelsea scored the first Premier League goal of the new decade in their 1-1 draw at Brighton and Arsenal scored twice in the first half to beat Manchester United 2-0 at the Emirates while Everton lost 2-1 to a Gabriel Jesus brace at Manchester City. Mark Noble also claimed a brace as West Ham took their visitors from Bournemouth apart 4-0 and Leicester City were 3-0 winners at Newcastle while Wolves lost 2-1 at ten-man Watford and Tottenham lost 1-0 at Southampton. Burnley were 2-1 losers at home to Aston Villa while Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at Norwich and on the following evening Liverpool were 2-0 winners at home to Sheffield United.

Week 22 – Sergio Aguero claimed a hat-trick and Riyad Mahrez a brace as Manchester City humiliated hosts Aston Villa 6-1 while a single goal at Tottenham was enough to give Liverpool another 3 points and Leicester lost 2-1 at home to Southampton. Marcus Rashford scored twice as Manchester United beat their visitors from Norwich 4-0 while ten-man Arsenal drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace and Chelsea were 3-0 winners at home to Burnley. Everton defeated Brighton 1-0 at Goodison Park while Newcastle drew 1-1 at Wolves and Bournemouth fell 3-0 at home to Watford who moved out of the relegation zone. The weekend had begun on Friday evening with Sheffield United winning 1-0 at home to West Ham.

Week 23 – Liverpool took another step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 home victory over Manchester United as the top six teams all dropped points. Sergio Aguero netted a late double as Manchester City came from a goal down but drew 2-2 at home to Crystal Palace while Leicester City took the lead at Burnley but lost 2-1 and Chelsea lost 1-0 to a goal in stoppage time at Newcastle. Tottenham drew 0-0 at Watford who had a penalty saved while Wolverhampton Wonderers came from 2 down at Southampton to win 3-2 with a double from Raul Jimenez and Sheffield United drew 1-1 at Arsenal. There were also 1-1 draws for Everton at West Ham and for Aston Villa at Brighton while Bournemouth lost 1-0 at Norwich with both teams reduced to 10 players.

Week 24 – In midweek matches ten-man Arsenal twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Chelsea while Florian Lejeune scored twice late in stoppage time to earn Newcastle a 2-2 draw at Everton and Burnley defeated Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford. Ayoze Perez claimed a brace as West Ham United were put to the sword 4-1 at Leicester while Norwich lost 2-1 at Tottenham and Crystal Palace were beaten 2-0 at home to Southampton. Aston Villa came from behind and scored a last gasp 2-1 winner at home to Watford while Bournemouth were 3-1 winners against their visitors from Brighton and Manchester City picked up a 1-0 win at Sheffield United. On Thursday evening, Liverpool overcame Wolves 2-1 at Molineux.

Week 25 – Mo Salah netted twice for Liverpool who swept Southampton aside with 4 goals after the break at Anfield while ten-man Manchester City, who missed a penalty, were beaten 2-0 at Tottenham and Chelsea drew 2-2 at Leicester. Yerry Mina scored twice for Everton who enjoyed a last-minute 3-2 winner with ten men at Watford despite having trailed 2-0 at the break while a Robert Snodgrass brace was not enough for West Ham who relinquished their two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at home to Brighton and Aston Villa lost 2-1 at ten-man Bournemouth. Crystal Palace lost to a single goal at home to Sheffield United while the matches between Newcastle and Norwich City, Manchester United and Wolves, and Burnley against Arsenal ended goalless.

 Week 26 – The introduction of a winter break meant the week’s fixture list was played over two weeks. Crystal Palace were beaten 3-1 at Everton and Watford drew 1-1 at Brighton while Bournemouth took the lead but lost 2-1 at Sheffield United and Manchester City v West Ham fell foul of the weather. Ten-man Leicester drew 0-0 at Wolves on Friday evening and at the weekend Southampton lost 2-1 at home to Burnley while a single goal gave Liverpool a win at bottom of the table Norwich. Heung-min Son completed his brace for Tottenham with a stoppage-time 3-2 winner at Aston Villa while Arsenal took Newcastle apart with four second-half goals at the Emirates and on Monday evening Manchester United prevailed 2-0 at Chelsea. In a rearranged match on Wednesday evening, West Ham United lost 2-0 at Manchester City.

Week 27 – A single goal gave Manchester City a victory at Leicester while Tottenham lost 2-1 at Chelsea and a double from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang help Arsenal to a 3-2 win over Everton at the Emirates. Bournemouth lost a controversial match 3-0 at Burnley while there were 3-0 wins for Manchester United at home to Watford and Wolves at home to Norwich with a Diego Jota claiming a brace. Aston Villa were 2-0 losers at Southampton and Newcastle, who ended the match with 10 players, lost 1-0 at Crystal Palace and Brighton picked up a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United. On Monday evening, Liverpool came from 2-1 down to beat West Ham United 3-2 at Anfield.

Week 28 – While Manchester City lifted the League Cup with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, Liverpool’s long unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an abrupt end when they were beaten 3-0 at Watford with Ismaela Sarr netting twice for the hosts and on Friday evening Leicester City lost 1-0 at Norwich. Wolverhampton Wanderers twice came from behind to win 3-2 at Tottenham while Manchester United drew 1-1 at Everton and West Ham United were 3-1 winners at home to Southampton. Bournemouth drew 2-2 at home to Chelsea while a single goal gave Crystal Palace a win at Brighton and Burnley drew 0-0 at Newcastle.

Week 29 – Manchester City lost 2-0 at Manchester United while Liverpool overturned an early setback to beat Bournemouth 2-1 at Anfield and Chelsea thumped Everton 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. Ten-man Southampton lost 1-0 at home to Newcastle while there were 1-0 home wins for Arsenal again West Ham, Crystal Palace against Watford and Sheffield United against Norwich City. Tottenham drew 1-1 at Burnley and Brighton held Wolves to a goalless draw at Molineux. On Monday evening Aston Villa were swept aside 4-0 at Leicester with a double from Jamie Vardy.