A harsh reality at Anfield on Saturday
Some things don’t look or feel right. Like Frank Lampard in a Manchester City shirt, for instance. And the thoughts of Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool and playing for someone else is genuinely unsettling.
If the midfielder was retiring and this was some swansong in front of the Kop, then fine. But it’s not. And lost in the noise in recent days, weeks and months is the reality that Liverpool have allowed Gerrard move on and sign for another team. And that’s very strange.
He’s not retiring, he’s going to head somewhere else, pull another jersey over his head and have other fans cheering him on.
It remains to be seen just how prevalent this angle will be in the coming days – certainly ever since his move to MLS side LA Galaxy was confirmed, many have chosen to ignore the fact he’s been rendered obsolete and unwanted by the club he joined at 9 years old.
Many will just want to enjoy Saturday and prefer to ignore just how oddly Gerrard has been treated. Rightly, the focus will be on the memories and the good times. But there’s a deeper story here that’s still to be fully exposed.
Hull dealt a further blow as relegation beckons
With The Telegraph reporting that Hull’s midfielder Jake Livermore has tested positive for cocaine, it merely adds insult to injury for a club staring into the abyss.
This weekend, they must beat Tottenham to give themselves a chance of staying up but with two points separating them from Newcastle and Sunderland, Steve Bruce’s side will require snookers too.
The Tigers’ manager has spoken this week of ‘second-season syndrome’ after their 16th-place finish last term as well as their run to the FA Cup final. But really, they’ve endured a collapse with the finish-line in sight, taking their foot off the gas and allowing themselves be caught by those around them.
At the end of last month, they conjured back-to-back wins – away to Palace and then at home to Liverpool. They reached the dizzying heights of 15th place. But they thought they’d done enough and the loss to Burnley last weekend was the death knell. Where others have expertly scrapped for survival – namely Leicester and Aston Villa, Hull thought they were safe a long time ago.
North-East rivals require one more big push
Newcastle and Sunderland aren’t safe yet. In fact, for the latter, their remaining fixtures are against the three most in-form teams in the league: Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea. There’s a genuine chance Dick Advocaat’s side won’t take anything from those assignments.
For the Magpies, a horrible season could still end in relegation. Last week, a 1-1 draw with West Brom was celebrated owing to the eight successive losses that preceded it. It was a relative success. That says much.
They head to an already-relegated QPR on Saturday knowing that anything less than a win could prove disastrous. Would you back this current Newcastle team to get a result at any stage? Well, imagine them having to win at home to West Ham on the final day to stay up.
Manchester United and Arsenal still with plenty to play for
It sounds silly but both teams will want to finish as high in the table as possible despite both secured of top-four positions.
Looking ahead to the Champions League draw, the side that grabs fourth spot may be dealt a difficult play-off assignment, due to the way Uefa altered the preliminary stage of the competition a couple of years ago. Think Arsenal facing Besiktas at the start of this season and narrowly squeaking past over two legs…just about.
This fixture also has history and it’s always a tight affair. Add in the intriguing subplot of Robin van Persie playing for his future at United (while the likes of Angel di Maria will hope to finish the season with a roar rather than a whimper), United out for revenge after suffering FA Cup elimination at the hands of the North Londoners and there are quite a few reasons to keep an eye on how this plays out on Sunday.
How badly do Premier League teams want to skip the Europa League?
Much has been made of how Tottenham and Southampton have appeared grossly disinterested in pushing Liverpool in the race for 5th place and subsequent qualification for next season’s Europa League.
There is, of course, another route to Europe’s strangely unloved competition for Premier League teams: the Fair Play table. There’s an extra place on offer this season and with Liverpool leading it (but pretty much guaranteed their place already on account of league position), the teams in second and third can both qualify.
And both those teams clash on Saturday with West Ham hosting Everton.
With Big Sam expected to leave the Hammers upon the conclusion of the campaign, what better way to bid a spiteful farewell than by landing the club in competitive action in early-July?
Originally published Friday at 17.10
