EPL 2014/15 - The English Premier League Thread

[Heathrow]

Saturday 20th December 2014

Aston Villa 1-1 Man Utd
Hull 0-1 Swansea
Man City 3-0 Crystal Palace
QPR 3-2 West Brom

Southampton 3-0 Everton
Tottenham 2-1 Burnley
West Ham 2-0 Leicester

Sunday 21st December 2014

Newcastle 0-1 Sunderland
Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal


Monday 22nd December 2014

Stoke 0-2 Chelsea

Can't believe that Fletcher still plays for ManU. He's terrible. Unfortunately most of their team was terrible today and produced few chances.

Dunno about Fletcher, you could say that about a lot of Man U players at times.

Man U have not played that well all season, but LvG has them on a run of six wins and a draw now which is good in a results business. Now third in the EPL at Christmas, who would have thought that was possible at the start of the season or last year with Moyes.

Also, Chelsea top! Blues fans are

 

[TobiasG]

United is doing fine considering a disastrous last season and constant rotation in almost every position since the start of the season because of injuries.
Having two central defenders that is the same two match after match is critical for success. You need that stability. United haven't even been close to have it for the entire season so far. Struggled a lot with it last season as well.
Forward there is much of the same problem with injured players and that makes it hard to get the play set. You never know who is going to play and in which position because it is all the injuries that dictate who is playing and where. Chelsea is playing with the same 11 with little changes so everyone is in tune with another. That is a huge advantage when everyone knows what everyone else is doing and will do.

Now we are getting more players back and less and less are getting injured, so hopefully we got that under control now, but only time will tell.
I'm thinking that if we are 3rd with a shaky defense and no set play, where will we be once we do get a team with 11 players that play together regularly like Chelsea? Think the next couple of months will answer that question

 

[Heathrow]

Ahoy!

Full EPL program today, yes I know it's a Friday!

Chelsea has just kicked off against West Ham, the Gunners have QPR in the late game with all others KO at 15:00, two hours from now.



Also, another full program on Sunday to come.

 

[TobiasG]

Full speed ahead!

 

[MWF]

Full speed ahead!

Agreed but expecting Chelsea and City to lose 4 games in the remainder of the season while winning all of our remaining is a tall order. Can't see Chelsea imploding like that even though City will push them all the way unless they both start to have United's luck with injuries.

 

[TobiasG]

Hey, more points have been lost than that! But yeah, don't have high hopes for City and Chelsea to crash like that. But I just want to be there and put pressure on them.

 

[Heathrow]

Happy New Year football folks!

Agreed but expecting Chelsea and City to lose 4 games in the remainder of the season while winning all of our remaining is a tall order. Can't see Chelsea imploding like that even though City will push them all the way unless they both start to have United's luck with injuries.

Hey, more points have been lost than that! But yeah, don't have high hopes for City and Chelsea to crash like that. But I just want to be there and put pressure on them.

Here's what happened over the Christmas games madness:

20th December, 2014 to 1st January 2015

W=Win, D=Draw and L=Loss : Points gained over the Christmas period

Chelsea WWDL 7
Man C WWDW 10
Man U DWDD 6
Southampton WWDW 10
Spurs WWDW 10
Arsenal DWWL 7
West Ham WLLD 4
Liverpool DWWD 8

No one got the full 12 points and not so good for the Hammers.

No EPL this weekend as the English FA Cup R3 is being played, mostly on Sunday.
(I will aim to post the results in the Football Thread over the weekend.)

 

[Red_Bull]

The Hammers were above their station anyway. What a game Spurs Chelsea was!

 

[Heathrow]

The Hammers were above their station anyway. What a game Spurs Chelsea was!

It was that and a little unexpected. Chelsea didn't seem to play that badly, but Kane had another really good game during his recent purple patch and long may it continue for you Spurs fans. (You have Burnley on Monday in the Cup, an evening KO here.)

Still, not as bad run of results for Chelsea except they have let Man C get closer to them.

 

[ahpadt]

https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/553582807629701120

:lol:

 

[Heathrow]

Saturday 10th January 2015

Burnley 2-1 QPR
Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham
Everton 1-1 Man City

Leicester 1-0 Aston Villa
Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool
Swansea 1-1 West Ham
West Brom 1-0 Hull

A very good result for Everton to draw with City after going behind. They've not been terribly good or consistent this season.

Pardew arrives at Palace and they get a draw with Spurs! They do have some good players there, but Potchitino must be a bit dissappoint.



Sunday 11th January 2015

Arsenal 3-0 Stoke
Man Utd 0-1 Southampton

https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/553582807629701120

:lol:

 

[avanti]

After 21 games Van Gaal has exactly the same amount of points as Moyes, except Moyes didn't spend ?140 million on players.

Queue the excuses. ... please no "he needs time" bs.

 

[Heathrow]

After 21 games Van Gaal has exactly the same amount of points as Moyes, except Moyes didn't spend ?140 million on players.

Queue the excuses. ... please no "he needs time" bs.

A bad day for Man U, not a terrible performance but not a great one either. Lots of possession but no shots on target. A ten game unbeaten run was ended by an odd goal as well, scored by Tadic.

LvG was rather philosophical about the game, indicating that Man U went to Southampton last month and were lucky to win; then Southampton came to Old Trafford this Sunday and did the same.

The BBC analysis looked like Kooman got the game plan right and LvG didn't, this time.

 

[Heathrow]

Saturday 17th January 2015

Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool
Burnley 2-3 Crystal Palace
Leicester 0-1 Stoke
Newcastle 1-2 Southampton

QPR 0-2 Man Utd
Swansea 0-5 Chelsea
Tottenham 2-1 Sunderland

* * *

The match started badly for Swansea, then got a whole lot worse.
Chelsea were excellent in the first half with a brace from both Oscar and Costa. Swansea could not get near them with their one-touch play in midfield. Despite the performance, Jose seemed a bit miserable after the game, more mind games or something.

Liverpool were good enough to beat the Villa, but not great yet and never looked like loosing the game. They need Sturridge back, when is he comming back, FFS?

Eriksen was Spurs best player and scored the late winner, to keep their points tally going for an UCL place challenge. Jermain Dafoe didn't score, but it was his first game sine October.

Newcastle could maybe have got a point from the Saints game, but two from new signing Elia got the win and would have pleased Coach Kooman I reckon.

Burnley, oh dear! Twice in a week they dropped and two goal lead and lost, which is not good down the bottem of the table.

Sunday 18th January 2015

West Ham 3-0 Hull
Man City 0-2 Arsenal

Now THAT is a great result for Arsenal!

It wasn't just outstanding play by Coquelin screening the back four, nor Cazorla for being the out player in possession, it was the whole TEAM defending that produced this result. I was impressed and somewhat depresssed that Arsenal could or should have played this way for the last two or three seasons against quality teams, but didn't.

How Arsenal finally put defence first to beat Manchester City - BBC Sport Trevor Sinclair MotD2

Not just me then ...

C'mon Gunner's fans, we know you are out there. Time for a happy post.

 

[Heathrow]

Saturday 31st January 2015

Chelsea 1-1 Man City
Crystal Palace 0-1 Everton
Hull 0-3 Newcastle
Liverpool 2-0 West Ham

Man Utd 3-1 Leicester
Stoke 3-1 QPR
Sunderland 2-0 Burnley
West Brom 0-3 Tottenham

Chelsea would have liked the win, but both they and City looked like they thought a draw was better than loosing. Maybe Diego Costa's ban for stamping cost Chelsea a couple of points. The TV stats (from the BBC) for the match, were impressive with a record 76 TV companies having match commentators, for a estimated 650 million TV viewers worldwide.

Sturridge was subbed on for Liverpool and scored! A good win for Liverpool, now they may climb the table a bit.

Also, Jermain Dafoe scored his first for Sunderland for their win too. They may not be clear of the drop zone yet, but they look more confident now.

Eriksen and Kane were excellent again for Spurs in their win against WBA.

Sunday 1st February 2015

Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa
Southampton 0-1 Swansea

 

[Jay]

I was happy with the draw with City. Kara, as a Liverpool fan, was happy for the win but annoyed they didn't broadcast it on NBCSN.

The Arsenal / Aston Villa match was expected, and it was kind of boring to watch. The Swansea / Saints game on the other hand was pretty tense in the second half. It was a good game.

 

[Heathrow]

I was happy with the draw with City. Kara, as a Liverpool fan, was happy for the win but annoyed they didn't broadcast it on NBCSN.

Coach Pelligrini said he wasn't happy with a draw, but I reckon he was. And Kara must be pleased to have Sturridge back and scoring too. (Five months out after playing for the England National team, which has cost Liverpool this season.)

The Arsenal / Aston Villa match was expected, and it was kind of boring to watch. The Swansea / Saints game on the other hand was pretty tense in the second half. It was a good game.

I shall watch the highligts later, on after Top Gear tonight.

EIDT: Coach Kooman said that the Swans win was lucky, I think they had a good defensive plan and that the Saints didn't create very much of a goal threat. Late winning goal doesnt always mean a lucky win.

Also, good shooting by the Gunners, but Villa were pretty hopeless again.

 

[Heathrow]

Saturday 7th February 2015

Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal
Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea
Leicester 0-1 Crystal Palace
Man City 1-1 Hull

QPR 0-1 Southampton
Swansea 1-1 Sunderland
Everton 0-0 Liverpool

Sunday 8th February 2015

Burnley 2-2 West Brom
Newcastle 1-1 Stoke
West Ham 1-1 Man Utd

Tuesday 10th February 2015

Arsenal 2-1 Leicester
Hull 2-0 Aston Villa
Sunderland 0-2 QPR
Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham

 

[Jay]

Ballotelli finally earned his keep...

 

[Heathrow]

Wednesday 11th February 2015

Chelsea 1-0 Everton
Man Utd 3-1 Burnley
Southampton 0-0 West Ham
Stoke 1-4 Man City

Crystal Palace 1-1 Newcastle
West Brom 2-0 Swansea

Sreaky, ugly, wins for Chelsea, Man U and Man C, the last two with rather flattering scores as well, in that both Burnley and Stoke looked like they were on the end of a hammering. Not really so.

Honours even with most satisfied, as Pardew's Palace drew with previous club, the Magpies

Ballotelli finally earned his keep...

His first for the club, so about time! However, it was the winner against a very lively Spurs performance.