Karl Sears

While it's a slight exaggeration to say Theo Walcott changed Friday's game, he certainly defined it. Coming on in the 61st minute, Walcott's third touch of the match bent the back of Andreas Isaksson's net. Seventeen minutes later, Walcott blew through the right channel, eventually providing for Danny Welbeck's 78th minute winner. Had manager Roy […]

It's only recently that congestion in the midfield of French power Olympique Lyonnais finally cleared up, leaving Sweden international Kim Kallstrom as an unlikely last man standing. Four years ago, when free kick specialist Juninho Pernambucano was ending a You Tube-stocking run in eastern France, OL's midfield also included him, Kallstrom, Jeremy Toulalan, Jean Makoun, […]

Those who kept reminding us about France's talent forgot to mention inexperience. Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda have been mainstays for some time, but amongst the other key contributors to Les Bleus' attack, there's no big tournament experience. Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri were controversial omissions from the ill-fated World Cup squad, while Yohan Cabaye's […]

Is it too much to suggest the difference between Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Stewart Downing could decide England's first match? Of course it is. Questions like that are excessively incendiary, particularly when leaned on as leads for blog posts. Accept my apology, but look at the silver lining: My reliance on that kind of crutch shows […]

It may be little consolation, but Manchester United has clinched the APL 2011/2012 title. As I mentioned in my last article, if both Manchester sides were to win by the same margin then United would win the league. This is down to the fact that United was playing away at a mid-table side while City […]

With one gameweek to go, and much still to be decided, this week we look at the battle for top spot and the variables that could affect who are crowned champions. 1 Manchester City 37 27 5 5 10 63 214.91 2 Manchester United 37 27 5 5 12 55 213.39 As you can see, […]

Newcastle retained their strangle hold at the top of the form table and moved above Spurs into fourth place as week 35 also saw wins for the bottom teams and a slip-up for Manchester United. Newcastle’s latest win over Stoke, a 3-0 triumph and 6.51 return, means that they have now more than doubled Tottenham’s […]

With the gap starting to widen between first and second place, Manchester City were going to have to start winning big to pull back some ground on United. After a nightmare gameweek 32 for the Citizens, gameweek 33 was somewhat more satisfying. It may have taken some time, but gameweek 33 seems to have finally […]

With the rest of the league tightening up, the two teams who are beginning to look adrift are sitting at the top, and the bottom. Manchester United is now 11.93 points ahead of City, while Wolves are 11.68 points behind Blackburn in 19th. United were among the week’s top scorers once more and again found […]

It’s amazing what a couple of weeks can do. Week 27 saw City ahead of United, but Week 29 not only sees the order reversed, it’s seen United open up a bit of a gap. Manchester United’s demolition of a very poor Wolves team saw them score very handsomely, and with the help of the […]

How about them Baggies ‘eh? Three wins in a row have seen them rocket up the table and get within touching distance of Liverpool in 7th. Roy Hodgson’s troops have amassed an amazing 22.47 points from their last three games, which is 20.94% of their total of 107.26. This week saw them overcome a faltering […]

Arsenal overcame the APL’s form side away from home, Spurs and the Baggies shared the summit of the top-scorers podium and the bottom five sides are closer than ever. Sunderland slipped from the top of the form table after losing late-on to Arsenal, who themselves have jumped up to fourth place following defeats for Chelsea, […]

Despite big away wins for Wolves and Swansea, the weekend undoubtedly belonged to the Gunners, who ran out six goal winners over lowly Blackburn. Arsenal’s seven goal mauling won them an impressive 7.67 points, easily the highest of the gameweek. As we’ve seen many times, it can be difficult for the top teams to prosper […]

This weekend saw the top two reassert their dominance and pull even further away from the six teams below who all failed to record wins. Manchester City’s late, late winner at Spurs kept a cushion between themselves and the chasers and won them a total of 6.40. Spurs, playing away at the team top of […]

The APL is back from a short break and is just in time to report another good weekend for the little guys as gameweek 21 saw big scores for both Norwich and Blackburn. It isn’t often that we see Blackburn among the week’s biggest winners, but their 3-1 win over Fulham earned them a score […]