Premier League Saturday A Few Quick Thoughts
Dan Tracey
April 10, 2017
2,188 Views
- Chelsea passed another test with flying colours on Saturday as they disposed of Bournemouth to once again stay 7 points clear at the top of the Premier League
- With Tottenham doing their bit earlier in the day the pressure was once again on Antonio Conte’s side to deliver and they did exactly that with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth at The Vitality Stadium
- A Saturday evening on the South Coast would have been the perfect trip for Chelsea fans and they would have revelled in their sides performance as they moved a step closer to regaining the Premier League title.
- There may have been a stroke of luck with their opener as Diego Costa’s off target effort deflected off Adam Smith and into the net
- But once Eden Hazard doubled the Blues advantage then there was no looking back from that point
- Bournemouth did give them a fright after not only hitting the post but also halving the deficit but by the time David Luiz’s rocket free kick found the net in the second half it was a case of as you were at the top of the table
- It seems as Tottenham cannot do anything else right now, no matter how scintillating their performances have been.
- It’s six straight wins for Mauricio Pochettino’s side and Saturday’s was arguably the best as they made light work of Watford
- With Harry Kane out many asked how the supporting cast were going to perform
- The answer was that they could not have performed any better and Saturday was evidence of that
- Dele Alli’s sumptuous opener set Tottenham on their and by the time Eric Dier made it two it was already game over
- Add a Heung min-Son double into the mix and it capped off a great lunchtime in the Sun in North London
- Son will consider him unfortunate not to get a hat-trick but the big news must have been the return of Kane in the second half
- Tottenham may not manage to close the gap at the top of the table but they will definitely feel that they can now go on and win the F.A. Cup at the end of next month
- Another side that will fancy Wembley glory is Manchester City
- And they themselves boosted their chances of a top four finish with a routine win over Hull
- Defeat for Marco Silva’s men meant that they could continue their unbeaten run after back to back wins last week
- It was as if City never got out of second gear and the only blot on the copybook will have been Claudio Bravo’s poor goalkeeping which cost his side a clean sheet
- A small blip but one that just highlights the goalkeeping issues that Pep Guardiola continues to have at The Etihad.
- For Hull they will at least be glad that Swansea below them lost in the all important relegation six pointer at The London Stadium
- It was a big win for West Ham and you could sense the relief for Slaven Bilic when the final whistle blew
- The Hammers need just one more win now to secure their Premier League status for another season but the worry for Paul Clement will be the fact that they have only picked up a solitary point in their last five matches
- Their form has deserted them when really needed it
- A depleted Liverpool had Simon Mignolet to thank for making sure that they came away with all three points from The Bet365 Stadium
- After going to behind to a Jonathan Walters first half strike they then had Daniel Sturridge and Roberto Firmino on hand to overturn the deficit
- But Mignolet will get the plaudits for two outstanding saves which denied Stoke getting at least a share of the points.
- Liverpool still have a sizeable gap over Manchester United and Arsenal but it’s not quite in their own hands, just how costly will that draw at home to Bournemouth prove to be?
- For Stoke it’s now 4 defeats on the spin as the club drop to 13th – with just two points between 10th and 15th there is still a lot of change that could take place between now and the end of the season
- Southampton in ninth will be looking up the table rather than below thanks to their win over West Brom on Saturday
- The win leaves them 4 points behind The Baggies but more importantly with two games in hand, an eight place finish looks more of a possibility of all a sudden
- Middlesbrough vs Burnley – no, just no
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