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Arsenal comfortably beat Sunderland at home, whilst City, Chelsea and Liverpool came away with narrow home wins to keep it tight at the top. At the bottom, Norwich, Hull and West Ham picked up crucial victories in their bid to avoid the drop. So, let us take a look at the five major talking points from this weekend's games.
#1 For how much longer will the strikers bail Liverpool out?
Jordan Henderson’s winner against Swansea was the club’s 70th Premier League goal of the campaign, which meant that they overtook City and now lead the League’s goal scoring charts. Daniel Sturridge has 18 and Suarez, who even in the middle of a goal-drought already has 23 to his name and have combined for almost 60% of the goals this season. Unfortunately for the Reds, they have conceded half as many goals and have the worst defensive record amongst the top seven. “Up until now we have got away with it” was the verdict of Brendan Rodgers on being asked about his side’s defensive lapses thus far. Whilst injuries have hampered the defence, how much longer can the forwards paper over the cracks?
#2 Its getting tight at the top
Aside from the opening few months, when Arsenal were running away with it, the top of the table has been a close run thing all season. With their massive squads, City and Chelsea should have been home and dry by now, instead the top four are separated by just four points going into the business end of the campaign. Arsenal and Liverpool have kept the duo in check, thanks to their dogged defence and their scintillating strike-force respectively. With every passing game, it looks like this might well be the most exciting clash for the title of all-time, with as many as four teams capable of claiming it. It is certainly shaping up to be an interesting end to the season.
#3 Are the Hammers home and dry?
It was barely a month ago that the Hammers were in the crisis and in the bottom three. They had failed to score too many goals and some hammers’ fans had even grown tired of Sam Allardyce and wanted him out. But Saturday’s 3-1 win over Southampton was their fourth win on the bounce and one that meant that they are seven points above Sunderland in 18th place. Although the manager insists his side aren’t out of the woods yet, the truth is, barring a spectacular collapse, it is difficult to see them dragged back into the mire. Although it is still mathematically possible, the possibility of this happening are quite remote and you wouldn’t have been able to say it a month ago. But 12 points from 12 in the month of February mean that the Hammers are almost home and dry.
#4 Will 40 points be enough this season?
Most promoted clubs and the clubs who are generally in and around the bottom of the table make reaching 40 points their season’s objective. 40 is seen as that magical number that will help clubs stay up. Whilst that has certainly been true for most seasons, it looks as though that might not be enough this time around. From West Ham in 10th place to Fulham who occupy the bottom spot, only 10 points separate the bottom 11 clubs. And although there still only a dozen games to go, the entire bottom half have a mathematical possibility of reaching that magical 40 point mark. And whilst all of them might not get there, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that most of them do. As West Ham have shown already, a string of victories might just catapult a side in the relegation zone to relative mid-table security. With that being the case, 40 might not be enough, this time around.
#5 How does Hughton do it?
The win against Tottenham was only the Canaries’ seventh victory this season, but it was a timely one nonetheless. And whilst Chris Hughton can’t quite claim to have enjoyed a great season thus far, he is certainly lucky to still be in the job. Or is he? Whilst managers around him have been getting the sack, Hughton has always managed to dodge the bullet. Just when it looked as though he might get the boot, he has picked up a victory and managed to stay in the job. Whilst the Canaries haven’t won two successive games all season long, their manager has almost got it down to a science of flirting perilously close with danger before notching up a crucial win. A few more timely wins might well keep the Canaries in the League for another season and might yet vindicate their decision to stick with their man.
