Will Raheem Sterling be frozen out?
BRENDAN RODGERS HAS been here before.
There’s the infamous clip from the Being:Liverpool documentary where he chastises a 17 year-old Raheem Sterling for speaking out of turn during a training drill. The young, cheeky upstart was quickly put in his place by the actions of his new manager who shamed him in front of the entire group.
Rodgers can do something similar this weekend. Liverpool head to Arsenal for a crucial top-flight clash, with their Champions League hopes having taken a hit following defeat to Manchester United before the international break.
The focus will be on Sterling. Having told Natalie Pirkes during his BBC interview earlier this week that his toe problem is nothing serious and that he’s fit to face the Gunners in North London, it remains to be seen whether the attacker will be selected.
It depends on how Rodgers wants to play this. He can be quite literal in his condemnation and drop Sterling or start him and allow the Liverpool fans have their say instead. It seems inevitable that the visiting support will make their feelings known whenever Sterling gets on the ball & that will surely be humiliating enough.
But Rodgers’ hand may be forced. Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana have been nursing knocks and Liverpool may need Sterling to provide some spark in attack.
There’s also the psychology of all of this. Does Sterling expect to be dropped after his behaviour this week? If he is telling the truth and wants to simply ‘play football’, Rodgers may afford Sterling that chance. After all, he remains a terrific player and a potential game-winner.
Manchester United can inexplicably move into 2nd place
With Manchester City not in action until Monday night and Arsenal (currently in 3rd) facing into a difficult lunch-time kick-off against Liverpool, there’s a genuine possibility that Louis van Gaal’s side could be sitting in second place in the table come Saturday evening.
With the local derby against City set for 12th April, United will want to keep their steady momentum going ahead of such a high-profile clash. Against Liverpool, they were excellent in the opening period and Van Gaal certainly won the tactical battle with his opposite number. More importantly, there was a balance to the side and a consistency that’s been missing for much of the campaign.
Much of the attention was rightly focused on Juan Mata in the aftermath of the Liverpool result but Marouane Fellaini has undergone a renaissance over the last while. He scored against Tottenham, was a constant menace at Anfield and he managed three goals in Belgium’s two Euro 2016 qualifiers against Cyrpus and Israel in the last week.
It’s a settled United side and with them playing so confidently, it could be a tough afternoon for Aston Villa.
Will it be a definitive Tyne-Wear derby for Sunderland?
Dick Advocaat’s first game as Sunderland manager was going well. For 88 minutes, he watched his side keep out West Ham before Diafro Sakho popped up to undo all the good work.
The Black Cats sit one point outside the relegation zone with 8 games left and head into their local derby with Newcastle on Sunday not having won a game since January.
They need points and fast. There are games against Crystal Palace, Stoke, Southampton, Everton and Leicester still to come but the season finishes with back-to-back away assignments against Arsenal and Chelsea. If Sunderland head into their final two fixtures still needing results, it’s incredibly optimistic to think survival will be achieved.
But, Sunderland’s record in the derby has been excellent over recent campaigns – you have to go back to August 2011 to find Newcastle’s last victory. This needs to be another three points for the hosts – anything less and it could be disastrous.
Can Kane single-handedly push Tottenham to European qualification?
Surely life can’t get much better for Harry Kane right now. Sure, there was a little bit of an anti-climax in Turin earlier this week when he was frustrated by an Italian defence. But prior to that, he scored a memorable goal on his England debut against Lithuania- a mere 49 seconds after coming off the bench.
This week, his club manager Mauricio Pochettino drew comparisons between the attacker and Gabriel Batistuta while many are proclaiming him as being the perfect mesh of Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer. In light of the Raheem Sterling situation at Liverpool, Kane has also been seen as some sort of antithesis – a kid who just cares about football, little else.
With 19 top-flight goals to his name, he’s also been largely responsible for Spurs’ still being in contention for a European place. But as the club found out against Manchester United, if you stop Kane there’s a decent chance you stop his team-mates too. He’s been a game-winner countless times this term and with five goals in his last three Spurs’ games coupled with his recent international success, it would appear that Burnley have their work cut out on Sunday lunchtime.
Is this the end of the road for Leicester and QPR?
Right now, six teams are embroiled in a relegation dogfight. Three of them are the worst-performing teams in the top-flight currently – Sunderland, Leicester and QPR. For the other three sides – Hull, Aston Villa and Burnley – there have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks while Sunderland have bit the bullet and brought in a new manager to deal with the slide.
For QPR and Leicester, there’s been a flat-line for much of the seaosn. For the Foxes, there was a glimmer of hope in late December/early January when they beat Hull at the KC, drew with Liverpool at Anfield, knocked Newcastle out of the FA Cup and then secured a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa. But they haven’t picked up three points since. In fact, from a possible 24 league points on offer since 17th January, Leicester have racked up just two. Factor in the Nigel Pearson controversies and it’s been tense for quite a while.
At QPR, they’ve had to deal with Harry Redknapp’s departure and a temporary fix in the form of inexperienced figure Chris Ramsey. There has been little cause for optimism ever since a 2-0 win over Sunderland on 10th February and the club has lost the last five straight.
Leicester face West Ham on Saturday while QPR are away to West Brom. Should results go against them, it could be all over.
