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As the final whistle blew at Old Trafford Sunday to seal a Manchester United 2-0 defeat of Sunderland, the focus of the title race immediately turned south to London as Arsenal and Chelsea prepare to clash at the Emirates. United now sit top of the league with 37 points having played only 17 matches, that means the pressure is going to be on in North London come Monday evening. United now has a five point cushion over Arsenal and six over Chelsea heading into today’s crucial match.
The title race is of course a marathon and not a sprint and neither side will be eliminated with a defeat but there is a lot on the line at the Emirates. For both sides a victory will help close the gap on United, a side that has been tagged as not playing great football this season but yet sits top with 10 wins 7 draws and an impressive zero in the loss column. A 5 or 6 point gap is not overwhelming at this point but staying in touch of the leaders at the halfway mark and beyond gives those chasing some comfort.
With Arsenal sitting third&nbsp;and Chelsea in fourth&nbsp;and with three big points on the line for each side, all the ingredients are there for this match to be an open affair which often is not the case when the top tier clubs meet. That being said an overly cagey affair would not be surprising but for these clubs a draw does little. United has a game in hand on both and that is against Blackpool, a match realistically United should win. United will not bank on that of course but their title rivals from London should not expect anything less and instead should try to go out a grab a win rather than remaining cautious and hope the other side slips up.

While both sides are behind United and Manchester City (City has played 2 more matches at this point) in the table they are also battling perception. For Arsenal and manager Arsene Wenger they need to show that the positive passing football they display against the likes of bottom sides can be reproduced against clubs with similar talent and aspirations. They need to lay a marker down to show their intent for this title and what better way to do that than to dispense the defending champions following a defeat to United.
Wenger needs wins against the likes of a Chelsea or United to help validate his vision for Arsenal. He has rebuilt this team with a youthful side in the wake of his 2004 Invincibles, but it is time to grow up. It is going on 3 years now that we have been told this side is young and it will come into its own.
As Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and club captain Cesc Fabregas all entered the match at Old Trafford as substitutes due to fitness and injury concerns you could sympathize with Wenger, who increasingly has taken criticism of his squad personally along with the view they do not match up with Chelsea and United. You can see what he is building at Arsenal but it has yet to come to fruition because he cannot field the likes of the Van Persie, Walcott or defensive pillar Thomas Vermaelen together on a consistent basis.
Chelsea meanwhile does not have to validate their title credentials to anyone. They are proven champions with a core of players that have 3 winner’s medals to their names. They do need a win though to stem a tide of lackluster results and take the heat off boss Carlo Ancelotti. During this run of poor form they went from being the runaway title favorites to being a squad that may have been exposed as being old with little to no depth. There is no doubt Chelsea still have the firepower but an injury crisis revealed there are some holes beyond Chelsea’s first choice XI. Chelsea may very well address their depth issues in a few days when the January transfer window opens up. That combined with an away win at Arsenal could be just what the doctor ordered to kick start their title push and carry out a successful Holiday match program.
Ancelotti would also welcome a win to help quiet the speculation about his future. To his credit he has remained above all the talk surrounding his situation and rightfully so. To question his future with the club seems laughable but this is Chelsea and owner Roman Abramovich does not wait around to clean house if he feels there is a problem. While it seems Ancelotti is safe, make no mistake a loss tomorrow will not go quietly amongst the press.
One can only hope that this match lives up to the hype that so many in similar spots have failed (a good example from this season so far the Manchester Derby). While we should not expect a wide open up and down match with numerous chances, these squads should go into it positively and go for it because sitting back and settling for a draw means 2 more points lost. Besides rising up the table, both managers have a lot to gain from going out and leading their side to a win. That is an enticing prospect and hopefully what unfolds is a top class match featuring two of England’s best at the moment with a lot on the line.

Arsenal Against Chelsea: Why The Title Race Is On The Line For Both Clubs - World Soccer Talk

Arsenal Against Chelsea: Why The Title Race Is On The Line For Both Clubs

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It took a bit longer than usual but the sackings in the Premier League have commenced. Led by Newcastle and soon followed by Blackburn, the sackings have come from clubs that seem to be far from crisis level. These actions by the respective owners of Newcastle and Blackburn have been met with almost universal condemnation. The Newcastle story is viewed as an owner with no real grasp of what it takes to run a football club. An owner who is perceived to make decisions by the seat of his drunken arse regardless how it may offend a loyal fan base that he just fired the man responsible for getting Newcastle back into the top flight. The Blackburn situation is labeled as a new ownership group that may have the right to put the person they want in charge but at the same time may have let their best option leave because each he has differing views of where Blackburn belongs. Finally, there is West Ham that seems to want to sack their manager but is procrastinating.
 
Newcastle seems to be a club that wants perpetual turmoil. The sacking of Chris Hughton two weeks ago seemed to highlight and underline that fact. Owner Mike Ashley ended Hughton’s time with the Northeast side ten days ago after they lost 2-1 away to West Brom. That loss saw Newcastle take 2 points from their last 15 but surely Hughton deserved better. &nbsp;The Irishman deserved better because he picked up the pieces following a 2008-09 Premier League that saw a pair of Geordie messiahs come and go and left the club relegated after it was all said and done.

Newcastle hero Kevin Keegan left the club early that season after he claimed he was not allowed to run the club as he saw fit. His departure immediately turned the Toon Army against club owner Ashley. His hiring of “colorful” Joe Kinnear did little to sway support in his favor and when Kinnear went down and eventually out due to heath concerns another Newcastle savior arrived to try and drag the club out of the relegation nightmare, enter Alan Shearer. Shearer however might have been better suited to pulling on the black and white stripes and naming himself for first team duty because his managing skills could not keep the club from going down on the last day of the season.
That season was a trying time for the Newcastle faithful but there was one constant, Chris Hughton. He took over as caretaker boss in a few instances that season and remained after the collapse to lead the club as it entered the Championship in ’09-‘10. He was there in part because owner Ashley had basically went into shut down mode during the season claiming to put the club up for sale in the face of enormous pressure form the home fans. Once relegation was confirmed and planning for the Championship should have begun he was nowhere to be found.
As the club inched closer to the start of their season in ’09-’10 confusion reigned as to who was in charge of the side, was Shearer still the boss in spite of his lack of coaching badges, was Kinnear coming back after successful heart surgery or was someone in else coming in? These questions seemed to go unanswered after the season actually began but there was a man on the touchline and it was Chris Hughton. Shearer could not come to terms with Ashley and went back to the sofa at the BBC, Kinnear was not heard from and it appeared Ashley was stuck with Hughton as he still tried to offload the club albeit as his asking price.
Fast forward through the Championship season and Hughton guided Newcastle to the title with 102 points and promotion was gained with ease. It seemed Newcastle had a manager to bring stability to the club and it was not in the form of a local superhero. As this season started though the clouds began forming over Hughton as it appeared Ashley wanted him out and his sacking was only delayed by a fantastic 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland in the Northeast Derby and then a 1-0 away result at the Emirates against a title challenging Arsenal side.
Those results could not save Hughton though as Ashley had made the decision in advanced by all appearances and simply waited for a bad run of form to drop the axe. This decision coming from an owner who increasingly does not look like he is interested in selling the club, especially when it seems like it is going to remain in the lucrative top flight for next season, thereby adding more value to his asset thanks to Hughton for getting the club back up and to mid-table halfway through the season.
Blackburn entered the sack race this past Monday as the Indian company Venky’s, owners of Blackburn gave Sam Allardyce his marching orders. All Big Sam had done was to get Blackburn out of relegation danger in the ’08-’09 season and then followed that up by leading Blackburn to a mid-table 10th&nbsp;place finish the following season. Blackburn currently sit 13th&nbsp;on 21 points. They are 5 points clear of the relegation zone but a win away from possibly going into 8th&nbsp;position.
In a statement released by the Venky’s Group after Allardyce’s termination, they mentioned how ownership and the manager had differing views as to the future of the club. That seems like code for Big Sam sees a mid-table finish as a good season for a club the size of Blackburn while his owners look at a list of past winners of the Premier League and see Blackburn ’94-’95 and think that is where we belong.
The managerial fraternity seemed to be stunned, as voiced by Sir Alex Ferguson. Taking time out from his post-match interview following United’s big 1-0 result over Arsenal Monday night, Ferguson stated, “I’ve never heard such a stupid decision in all my life. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn’t like to follow him.”
Blackburn’s new owners have every right to put the person in charge they think can best meet their vision of where the club should be. That evaluation though needs to be based in some context and reality and getting there cannot be achieved overnight. Sir Alex was spot on however. Who does want this job? Surely there will be candidates from the lower leagues and even an assistant is going to get a shot in the interim, but can these new owners think they can find someone for this club better than what they just had? They say they know where Blackburn should be going forward, but going forward may mean Blackburn going backward and eventually down.
News broke yesterday of another club on the verge of sacking their manager. Dan Roan stated on the BBC Sport website that West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan have given Avram Grant the next three matches to secure 3 points or hit the unemployment line. Here is a situation in which no one would blame these guys for showing Grant the door. Grant himself looks like a man who wants out. His side is rooted to the bottom of the table and has played some atrocious football at times this season.
Instead of sacking Grant and replacing him immediately with someone that may spark a turnaround and get them to safety, Gold and Sullivan are going to toy with Grant who is likely to get fired anyways. They should go all out and give him “the vote of confidence”. Gold and Sullivan are throwbacks though to the pre-Premier League era (think Doug Ellis although they amassed their fortunes in differing ways, look it up). They are stingy which keeps the club out of debt but makes decisions like cutting loose a manager that will have to be bought out the more difficult in a situation like West Ham face.
It will be intriguing to see how these three situations play out in the second half of this season particularly Newcastle and Blackburn who have gone made a story where there was none. Should one or both of these teams get to March and be fighting a relegation battle, observers and supporters alike will be looking to December as a crucial time. West Ham really has nothing to lose at this point other than money by firing Grant.

The Madness Of Sacking Premier League Football Managers - World Soccer Talk

The Madness Of Sacking Premier League Football Managers

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Arsenal Against Chelsea: Why The Title Race Is On The Line For Both Clubs

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