Arsenal pull off another unremarkable Premier League failure

Arsenal (reprise)

It’s tempting just to cut and paste the same Arsenal entry at this point. Olivier Giroud is not good enough as a first-choice striker. He wasted too many chances against Swansea to be considered as a serious player. Mesut Ozil disappeared, again, and Alexis Sanchez is knackered, so Arsenal suffer for having the bearded and bald Theo Walcott as back up. Walcott claims that he himself is one of the dressing room characters at the Emirates, and Arsene Wenger claims he has a team full of leaders. If Ozil, Giroud and Walcott are what he means, then it’s obvious why they collapse under the merest provocation or hint of success. They’re not leaders, they’re bottlers. They might yet win the league, but they would be the most pathetic champions in memory. Added to the pressure they are already under, they will now have to play Spurs without the injured Petr Cech. Having said that, they will not miss his flapping attempt at a save which gave Swansea victory.

Manchester United should hope they miss out on fourth place

Just as Arsenal would be the most pathetic champions in memory, so United would be one of the most disappointing sides to qualify for the Champions League if they manage it. Against Watford, they will count themselves lucky. Watford missed plenty of chances and probably should have had a penalty. Instead, Juan Mata’s excellent free kick gave them victory on a day when those around them threw away points. There is a real danger for United that Louis van Gaal could now somehow guide United into the top four. They should be terrified at the thought. Seeing United grind their way to a miserable, boring, referee-assisted victory is the norm with Van Gaal, the excitement against Arsenal was a rare blip. United fans should pray that there’s another collapse around the corner.

Manchester City happy to stop at League Cup success

Jurgen Klopp is an inspiring man, but Liverpool have so many underwhelming players that he cannot be expected to turn the side into anything special this season. They have, though, two special results against Manchester City in the league, though. Liverpool were helped by some rotten defending from City, but they were also helped by some generally rotten attacking, passing, organisation and determination from City, too.

City kept possession well in the first half until they conceded, at which point they looked like their heart wasn’t in it, and neither was their head. Joe Hart was back to his occasional self, and it seemed like with the League Cup won, they didn’t see the point in putting in a similar effort in the league. City are fourth, and Manuel Pellegrini is content with his pay-off. The rest of the squad seem happy to wait for Pep Guardiola before they decide what they’d like to do next. When Manchester City got taken over by a country a few years ago, everyone crowed that they’d just recruit expensive mercenaries. Not so, at least mercenaries actually do the job they’re paid to.

Spurs blow their chance

The game against West Ham was a real chance. It was an opportunity to display the virtues of consistency, skill and poise. Spurs could not show at least two of those, and lost to West Ham. There is no shame in losing to West Ham these days. They are strong in attack and the defence has benefitted from Sam Allardyce’s organisation and Slaven Bilic’s coaching. They are resilient, physical and talented.

While there’s no shame in losing to West Ham, it is still problem if you want to challenge for the title. Much of a title race is psychological. As discussed below, Claudio Ranieri is dealing with it well. As discussed above, Arsenal are dealing with it hilariously badly. Mauricio Pochettino had a chance tonight to get his players to show that they are going to be ruthless in the closing stages of the league, but they missed their chance. It remains to be seen if they will redouble their focus at the weekend.

Ranieri manages Leicester’s expectations and hopes

After the draw against West Bromwich Albion, some might have expected Claudio Ranieri to be downcast. His table-topping side had seized a first-half lead - one which would have extended their lead against Spurs and everyone else - only to concede to a Craig Gardner free kick. West Brom are not especially talented, and their organisation has been lacking, even under Tony Pulis. In short, it was two points lost by Leicester, and part of a worry but short trend.

Against Norwich City, they had struggled to a victory that was impressive because of the determined performance, not the quality of the attacking. This time, it was only really Jamie Vardy and Robert Huth who failed to meet the high standards of earlier in the season, and Vardy wasted a couple of chances. Huth was out-muscled by Salomon Rondon in the opening stages to concede the first few. A pessimist might see that the wheels were coming off and smashing into other, more expensive cars. Not Ranieri. He sensibly praised his side for rescuing a point from a losing position. This is clever. His side have no experience of title challenges, and it is far more sensible to continue to encourage them onwards, rather than attempt goad them into improving their performance.

Sides struggle to escape the clutches of the relegation zone.

Sunderland continued their vague, half-hearted fightback with a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace. Aston Villa got smashed 3-1 against an inconsistent Everton, despite being at home. Norwich fell at Carrow Road to Chelsea. While it’s not any surprise that the relegation-threatened sides of the league are having a hard time of making a bid for survival, it does seem that there is no great surprise to be sprung this season. All these sides are likely to be relegated for a reason, and that is that they have no consistency, and will find it difficult to take points even from out-of-form mid-table sides like Palace.