Premier League Gameweek 37 was seen as a critical point in deciding this season’s top-4 race and relegation battle and it certainly did not disappoint. Following an action packed weekend of action, here are the five things we learned from Premier League Gameweek 37.
Manchester United in control of the top-4 race
Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Norwich followed by Manchester City’s 2-2 draw vs Arsenal has given The Red Devils a complete control in the top-4 race this season. If United win their remaining two games, they will play in Champions League next season while the Pep Guardiola will have to be contained with Man City’s Europa League involvement.
Arsenal and Manchester City have fallen behind
By all means it was an entertaining game at the Etihad but there was a distinctive dip in the levels from both the teams. One could sense how far the two teams have fallen behind rest of the teams in recent weeks.
While City looked hurt with their European exit midweek, Arsenal for their part looked clueless in certain phases of the match. Neither of the teams had any control over the proceedings and the draw in the end was a fair result.
Tottenham and West Ham’s poor finish to the season
Not long ago Spurs were fighting for the title while The Hammers looked certain to finish in top-4 or at least top-5. However, when they needed to put pressure on their rivals, their own form faded away.
West Ham were humbled to a 4-1 defeat by Swansea while Tottenham continued their slide with a 2-1 loss against Southampton. Both the teams need to leave behind their poor end to the season and look to kick start the next season with renewed hopes of finisher even higher.
Sunderland are all but safe …YET AGAIN
You can never write off Sunderland given their powers of recovery and the uncanny way of finding form at the right moment. Yet again The Black Cats pulled off a miraculous result against Chelsea when they needed it the most.
From being 2-1 down at half time to come back and win the game 3-2 said a lot about their will to stay in the league, when on the same day Newcastle United failed to beat an already relegated Aston Villa side. If Sunderland win their game vs Everton later this week, they will be guaranteed another season in England’s top flight football.
Van Gaal’s delusional acts keep on piling up
No it was not his shades which he tried to avoid the Sun, rather it was the less than bright performance from his Manchester United side. Prior to the kick-off, Anthony Martial suffered a hamstring injury and to make the matters worse, Van Gaal had decided to omit Marcus Rashford from the matchday squad.
Following a labored 1-0 win, Van Gaal commented how Rashford has suffered a loss of form in recent weeks and that is why he was left behind. I failed to understand why a manager would try to teach any player a lesson with only 3 games left in the season.
To top it all, Rashford has been the only player who has scored consistently for Van Gaal and almost kept him in the job. That was not it, he played Juan Mata in the right wing and used Jesse Lingard from the number 10 position which turned out to be another failure.
These constant acts of delusional management are taking a heavy toll on United’s performance which the board needs to realize sooner rather than later.
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