Weekend Review - Spurs move towards Premier League title as Arsenal bottle the FA Cup

Underdogs Manchester United frustrate West Ham

Manchester United’s season has been indisputably dog dirt. But against West Ham, it was a different shade of dog dirt. It recalled last season more than this. They dominated possession and failed to make the most of it, but in a naive or incompetent way rather than a depressed one. Perhaps it was a reaction to the disappointment of defeat to Liverpool, or perhaps it was a renewed effort to have a go at the last remaining trophy they could win.

Dimitri Payet should have been booked, a second yellow for his dive just before Marcos Rojo fouled him in the box. Had that happened, then he clearly would not have scored his majestic free kick. But Martin Atkinson was a wretched referee for much of the match and he didn’t want to provide any inconsistency on that front with half an hour remaining.

Which is probably why he let the equaliser stand, too, when Bastian Schweinsteiger should have been penalised for blocking off Darren Randolph as he tried to stop Anthony Martial’s equaliser. Either that or he was so incompetent as to miss that one, too.

Ultimately, United and West Ham will be disappointed. United for not taking advantage of a relatively fluid performance, overcoming the twin advantages of their manager and Marouane Fellaini (cheered and booed off as he was subbed). West Ham because they took the lead against a dispirited home side and failed to hold on. The two will play one another in the Boleyn Ground’s last ever FA Cup tie. It will either be the chance for Louis van Gaal’s send off, or Slaven Bilic’s launchpad for a new West Ham.

Arsenal bottle the whole thing. Again.

What is striking about Arsenal is that every year it really does feel different. Every year it feels like, until it stops clicking, it really is going to click. It feels each year like they have tried to work out just what they need to do, until the point it becomes utterly clear they cannot. Even if it’s 15 games or 50, until that point it does feel palpably different.

The downfall, though, always feels absolutely the same. The poor finishing, the substandard approach to squad building and the brittle mentality. Danny Welbeck was promising, then lost, at Manchester United. At Arsenal he has become a full bottler, unable to progress into a cold-blooded finisher. Van Gaal was only wrong not to replace Welbeck, he was not wrong to sell him.

Arsene Wenger, however, keeps buying these players. Players like Welbeck, Olivier Giroud or Nacho Monreal. Perfectly decent but ultimately redundant players when you chase the Premier League or the Champions League. A few days ago, ahead of this tie and the return at Barcelona, it was worth considering what would be funnier. To win nothing, or to win nothing but the FA Cup. We now know. Two steps forward for Arsenal, but they have managed a full three steps backward. Wenger was booed at the end, as he should have been. The sooner he is sacked, the better, providing they don’t appoint David Moyes as successor.

Spurs into new territory

Two points. Spurs are two points off the top of the league! In March! This is so surprising it doesn’t matter that technically I’m misusing exclamation marks! Another, former Spurs team would have rolled over here. Not this Spurs, not the one that Mauricio Pochettino has. Harry Kane might have started slowly this season, but he is only speeding up now. Two goals today, and an easy victory over Aston Villa. There is nothing more to say. We are into new territory. Spurs aren’t bottlers, nor do they have the self-conscious proclamations that Liverpool did a couple of years ago, more about calming themselves down than actually believing in anything. What happens now is impossible to predict.

Manchester City get distracted by holiday brochures

It is hard to believe that Manchester City are just two points clear of West Ham, and four off Manchester United. With the amount of money that Manuel Pellegrini has spent, and having bought Nicolas Otamendi, Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Kevin De Bruyne, the side should be top of the table. Leicester City have produced a remarkable run of form, but nevertheless the points total required to win the league this season is low. Even a half-hearted City squad should have had enough to establish themselves as league leaders, as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have again been largely or often pathetic.

It is said every week this year that City’s hearts clearly aren’t in it. And so it was against Norwich City. Even Sergio Aguero has lost the spark that could carry the rest of the players with him, and Yaya Toure was absent, so his occasional genius could not be harnessed. Pellegrini and his players appear happy to coast towards their summer holidays. For the most part, City have avoided becoming a mercenary’s resort since their petrodollar takeover, and with Pep Guardiola coming, there will probably be another huge leap forward. Which makes this wasted season oddly depressing, as if the club have decided to take a rest just because they can.

Palace cup form could prove help in the league

It was an easy game, in theory, and one that they should have won comfortably. In the end, Palace had to put the effort in to get past Reading. However, that is no bad thing. To be convincing winners, even if only slightly, is more rewarding for Palace right now than to tonk a lower-league side by several goals. With the rest of the season to come, they cannot afford to slack off and drift down the league. Too often that has been the case for Alan Pardew’s sides, at West Ham and Newcastle, and too often it has taken the best part of the season to reverse the slumps, if they are reversed at all.

Handily for Palace and Pardew, their effort was rewarded with something tangible: a trip to Wembley and the possibility of a FA Cup final appearance at the end of the season, which in turn may motivate the players to keep their performance levels up for the rest of the season. Far better they have a reason to stay in the first team and in the manager’s plans. Had they lost, there would have been fears that the whole squad would have no reason to put any more effort in until August. There is clearly no guarantee that their league form will not continue to disappoint, with no wins in the league this year, but at least things are not hopeless. Yet.

Chelsea bring their season to early close

For Chelsea, though, it is over. There are 11 points between them and the Champions League. While that’s not an insurmountable gap with nine games to go, there are enough contenders ahead of them that it is remote that they would be the team to take advantage of any slip up by Arsenal or Manchester City. As well as that, for all their improvement under Guus Hiddink, the defeat to Everton demonstrated that they are not playing at the level they should.

The FA Cup was their last hope of silverware, and Europa League participation is of no interest to most Chelsea fans or players. It is more hassle than privilege, especially when there will be new players to bed in next season, and the focus will be on Champions League qualification under, presumably, Antonio Conte. What will be a worry is that Diego Costa finally cracked, and lost his temper. Usually he is superb at riding the line of acceptability, acting the arsehole but staying on the pitch. It is no surprise that Gareth Barry, an underrated irritant on the pitch, was the man to finally get him to let go, but it seems that he will probably not be punished for what appeared to be a bite. It took some brass neck from Chelsea to deny that there was even a hint of a bite, but given their past actions over John Terry and Ashley Cole’s attitude to discipline, it cannot be a surprise that they went full Pravda.

For Everton, Roberto Martinez has the chance to distract from an underwhelming season by winning the FA Cup, just as he did when at Wigan. It was an exciting display, and one that highlighted the clear improvement from Ross Barkley over the course of the season, as well as the strong finish to the season by Romelu Lukaku. Martinez may also wish, that with a new major shareholder, he finishes strongly to be given the funds he really desires, and he cannot make a compelling case unless he somehow wins the FA Cup.