Last Week: 3/10

Overall: 114/288

Norwich City vs Manchester City

Sunday 1.45am (NZT)

Pretty soon it’s gonna get hard to keep track of all the Premier League catch up games, with all the postponements beginning to mount. Two games are already unscheduled after the League Cup final and a further five fixtures aren’t being played this time thanks to FA Cup quarter final matches. Funnily enough, just one of the top four clubs is affected and that’s Arsenal, who punished Hull midweek to relieve roughly 0.5% of the pressure on this squad at the mo’.

That all means that Man City are still in action and a win puts them ahead of those Gunners. Oh and look at this, they’re playing Norwich who haven’t won for nine Premier League games and have lost the last eight meetings between the two teams.

Fun fact: Sergio Aguero has scored 75% of his league goals this season at home.

City are also in a position where their Champions League game is a sitter with a 3-0 aggregate going into their home leg and so there’s no reason to rest anyone here. Not promising for the Canaries, that. Goal difference could yet be the deciding factor in the relegation battle so limiting the damage is as important as anything.

Wildcard’s Pick: 3-0 City

Stoke City vs Southampton

Sunday 4.00am (NZT)

With seven Premier League teams in the FA Cup quarters and Manchester City having won the League Cup final, it’s likely that seventh spot will get a Europa spot. Should an English team win either the Champions League or Europa League (the latter is very possible, Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs are all going for it), then eighth place will get in too. As it happens, Stoke and Southampton are eighth and ninth and that makes this game very interesting as far as that possibility goes. With Chelsea hot on their heels, this might be a race to keep an eye on.

Doing a bit of research on the particulars there, here’s a possible eventuality. No nation can have more than five participants in the Champions League so if Leicester and Spurs come first and second in the League, City go on and win the Champs Lge but finish fifth (100% they'd take the trade-off) and Man United or Liverpool win the Europas (with the other or West Ham ending in third with a late splurge)… then Arsenal can finish fourth and end up in the Europas. It could happen, wouldn’t it be funny? Lots of ramifications to be had there, since the FA Cup winners (/beaten finalists, depending on where the winners finish) get a UL spot too.

Specifically Stoke vs Saints now, too tight teams with unpredictable attacking threats. Southampton’s away form isn’t the best but they’re due a good result after one point from their last nine has seen them slip down the table. They’re better than Stoke, but I like the home team to earn a point here.

Wildcard’s Pick: 1-1

Bournemouth vs Swansea City

Sunday 4.00am (NZT)

Worst case scenario is that Swansea end this round six points clear of relegation. Best case is that they end it 12 clear. I’m gonna guess that 36 points should be enough to stay up this season and with Bournemouth on 35 and Swansea on 33 right now then yeah, they oughta be good. Meaning also that the winner of this game can basically start planning for next season already.

These are the two hipster teams of the top division – unless you happened to get on board with Leicester nice and early. Good styles of passing footy (that did stall under the end of Monk’s reign, though) and a positive approach to their squads despite their small statures.

Players to have played every minute in the Premier League in 2015-16:

Andrew Surman (Bournemouth)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Jack Butland (Stoke)
Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester)
Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea)
Toby Alderweireld (Spurs)
Wes Morgan (Leicester)

Three of those players from these two teams, so good. You can add in Heurelho Gomes (Watford), Simon Francis (Bournemouth), Craig Dawson (WBA), Darren Fletcher (WBA), Erik Pieters (Stoke), Harry Kane (Spurs), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Jose Fonte (Southampton), Ross Barkley (Everton), Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle) and Romelu Lukaku (Everton) as players who’ve started every game but been subbed off at some time or another.

Andrew Surman’s a real underground fella. South African international, 29 years old. He covers so much ground for Bourney and with that only Cesc Fabregas has completed more passes than him. Meanwhile Cesc is tied with Aaron Ramsey for the most times dribbled past. Surman is tied-52 on that list. He’s the only ever present player left who isn’t a keeper or a centre back.

Wildcard’s Pick: 2-1 Bournemouth

Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur

Monday 5.00am (NZT)

So… how many will Spurs put past the Villans? Two? Three? Four? City scored four against them, Spurs wanna keep those lads at arm’s length. Arsenal’s Cup tie gives the other three teams a big opportunity to put some points on the board and open up some room, what with Man United, Liverpool and West Ham also having the weekend to focus on other priorities. We’re still at that place where a good runs of wins, six or seven in a row, would blow the title race away and we’re still waiting for one of those top teams to actually do that. Well, the three toppers that are playing PL this round all have games they should win, and if you’re challenging for the title at this time then should win = must win.

The Dortmund game (unplayed at the time of writing) is the big test for Spurs these next few days but it’s crucial that they don’t take their eyes off this one. That’s an issue for a team that doesn’t look so flash when Harry Kane doesn’t play, or when Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli don’t play. It’d be the same deal for Toby Alderweireld or Hugo Lloris if those two ever missed a game as well. Not to mention Pochettino’s reputation for driving dudes into the ground over a season with his demands on fitness. I'm not too worried about this catching up to them but it might become a thing if results slip and the momentum stalls.

Wildcard’s Pick: Spurs 2-0

Leicester City vs Newcastle United

Tuesday 9.00am (NZT)

It looks like Steve McClaren might be around for one more week at least. Say one thing for the dude, he’s not about to walk away, he’ll see this thing through to the bitter end. It must be an insanely isolating thing to see your job effectively being advertised in the papers while you’re out there taking training and trying to fix this team. A team that was broken before he showed up, though one that hasn’t exactly improved under him either.

Whether or not he’s still in charge for this game probably depends on Rafa Benitez’s schedule. They’ve already cancelled their pre-match press conference which was scheduled for Wednesday then postponed to Thursday and now they’re apparently hoping that Rafa will be there to speak on the weekend. This Monday night game might cost McClaren his swansong.

Is Schteve a good manager? I thought so nine months ago and I’ve had his back for a lot of this season. Well respected as an assistant at Man Utd, great work at Middlesbrough – like, brilliant work, albeit with a good deal of financial backing for a middling team. But England was a straight up disaster and it’s kinda ridiculous that he got that job at all – hell, Big Sam still hasn’t forgiven the FA. Except he then rebounded with a wonderful gig with FC Twente in Holland, before a dud with Wolfsburg, a brief flop with Nottingham Forest, an ill-fated return to Twente and a promising but ultimately disappointing spell with a strong Derby team in the Championship. It’s a mixed bag, and as with any manager there’s a strong case to say that the fit of a manager and club is the most important thing, yet always overlooked. Some fantastic managers simply aren’t right for certain teams, for reasons of finance, personality, tactics… all sorts of stuff. Newcastle is not a team that is all too generous to managers. It’s a messy club with high expectations and a handsy owner that hardly makes it easy for anyone.

That’s what Rafa Benitez is holding firm over. He wants control over the club in ways that Mike Ashley didn’t give to McClaren (and his predecessors), in fact people reckon that McClaren’s willingness to cede that stuff was a big factor in his employment.

I’m also shocked - *shocked* - that McClaren is only 54 years old. I honest to God would’ve guessed he was ten years older.

But how about Rafa Benitez! Real Madrid to Newcastle United, what a wonderful world. The contract they’re offering is a short term deal with options for a longer stay should he avoid relegation. Which… he might not do. I mean he’s famous for being a Cup manager and Newcastle are pretty much at the stage where “every game is a Cup final now” – which is a tired cliché, but sure. There are probably better managers in the short term but a team in Newcastle’s position can hardly turn down Real Madrid’s last castaway. Unless they’d prefer Manchester United’s last castaway (just wait ‘til he brings in Marouane Fellaini!).

Possible NUFC Manager Power Rankings:

Rafa Benitez
David Moyes
Brendan Rodgers
Garry Monk
Nigel Pearson
Gary Neville
Harry Redknapp
Alan Shearer
Tim Sherwood
John Carver

Oh, actually, maybe we’d better drop ‘Arry from the list:

“No, I’ve never spoken to anybody at Newcastle.” – Lord Redknapp

Right. Sorry Harry. I wasn’t aware anyone was even considering you for that one but sure, bro, if that’s how you wanna play it. Keep your name in the conversation by putting in a false denial for a gig you weren’t even in the running for anyway. Clever lad. Look, I’ve got him below Gary Neville on that list. No chance. If Benitez doesn’t get it, then Moyes will.

Leicester City are playing in this game too and they’re the possible/probable champions. We’re all cheering for them at least. Having lost at home to Bournemouth the Toon once again proved what a shambles they are and Leicester are pretty good at taking care of the shambolic. They love a disjointed game with an unbalanced defence to play against. It’s the compact, solid teams that give them problems. Riyad Mahrez is all good to play and the Foxes should take another big step towards something special with a win here. They’ll need it, as the games get tougher in the final month for them, slap that hyperlink in the top of the paragraph for more on their title race. One thing, it’d be nice for LCFC if they can get Jamie Vardy scoring again. Just one goal in five since that superb brave vs Liverpool and four in 14 since his streak ended. He’s usually played well for them even still, but there aren’t that many goal scoring options in this squad – there’s a reason they’ve been underdogs all season. If they’re gonna hold on they do need their very best players to keep this up right to the finish.

Wildcard’s Pick: 3-1 Leicester

Quickfire FA Cup Picks:

Reading 0-1 Crystal Palace

Everton 1-1 Chelsea

Arsenal 2-0 Watford

Man United 1-0 West Ham