6) Newcastle need a win and could make Sherwood and Villa pay
Tim Sherwood’s first game in charge certainly did not go according to plan. Villa are obviously in need of a reemphasis on attack after the turgid years under Paul Lambert – but Sherwood’s gung-ho instincts may not work quite as well in the Midlands as they did at Tottenham – where he could draw upon a wealth of attacking talent and Premier League knowhow. A trip to St James’ Park on Saturday is not an ideal followup to get his reign back on track either. Newcastle have lost just three at home in the league all season – to Sunderland, Manchester City and Southampton – but their form under John Carver has been woeful, a solitary win at Hull City. The Magpies may look safe in midtable – but with games against Manchester United, Everton and Arsenal in March, they need a result to ensure that a string of good results from the likes of Aston Villa, Burnley and QPR do not drag them into a dogfight. Sherwood will be under pressure until he can back up his evident passion with some cold, hard results, but Carver – a man nobody but the ever-frugal Mike Ashley seemed too keen on to succeed Alan Pardew – has as much to worry about this weekend
7) England’s Noble cause
It is rather strange that the team that lost to a North London side at home last weekend is probably feeling rather more positive about the result than the team that managed a draw against the other North London crew away. While Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace side, who visit Upton Park on Saturday, were hugely unlucky not to square it up at the death against Arsenal, West Ham capitulated horribly at White Hart Lane, with the withdrawal of Mark Noble after his lucky escape from a red card followed by two Spurs goals (one of which came from Alex Song’s idiotic concession of a last-minute penalty). If ever evidence was needed of Noble’s importance to Sam Allardyce’s side this was it. A rare one-club man, Noble has signed another contract extension in East London, sure to delight the faithful, which will allow him to lead the rejuvenated Hammers into their new ground at the Olympic Stadium. In his prime at 27, Noble was capped at every youth level for England but is still yet to earn a full cap. The central midfield area is fairly well stocked, with Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson and Ross Barkley all fairly secure, but could the England manager, Roy Hodgson, not do with a bit of old-fashioned English drive at the base of the midfield to free up the more technically gifted colleagues to do their thing? In much the same way as Scott Parker managed to nail down a place in the national team when at West Ham, Noble has matured and seems ready for a challenge at a higher level that he is unlikely to experience with West Ham, unless they can recapture that early-season form. It would also give a much-needed hint to young English talent at less-glamorous clubs that they needn’t depart for pastures new in order to fulfil international ambitions. Too many – Scott Sinclair, Jack Rodwell et al – have wasted important years on the bench at big clubs. Noble may walk a disciplinary tightrope at times – as witnessed last weekend – but his form over the past season is surely worthy of a try when England take on Lithuania and Italy at the end of March.
8) Leicester’s Cup exit was no capital gain for Nigel Pearson
When Nigel Pearson saw his Leicester side dumped out of the Capital One Cup in late August by Shrewsbury he was unlikely to have been too concerned. An unnecessary distraction to Premier League survival was swiftly dealt with, and it was followed by a reassuring draw against Arsenal, a victory at Stoke, and that result against Manchester United. Everything looked spiffy on the good ship Pearson. Spool forward six months and the League Cup looks like it may be Leicester’s undoing in a most unexpected fashion. With Tottenham taking on Chelsea in the final on Sunday, Leicester’s match this weekend has been postponed, and they face the prospect of Aston Villa and Burnley, both with winnable games, taking a seven-point lead over them. As encouraging as recent performances from Pearson’s men have been, seven points at this point of the season is a lot – even with a game in hand. The squad, and their manager, will no doubt be enjoying a spot of R&R as well as training this week, but come Saturday all eyes will be on Sky Sports, with the hope that results around the country still leave them with a chance of retaining their Premier League status.
9) Swansea need to be consistently more consistent
It must be a challenge to be churlish as a Swansea fan, these days. All but the very youngest will remember a time when they were at the foot of the entire Football League, so a fourth season of comfortable top-flight presence is tough to complain about. And yet, and yet, and yet. Now they are an established Premier League side, so sights should be higher, expectations recalibrated etc, and therefore their inconsistency this season must be a frustration. Swansea started the season with three straight victories, but since then they have only managed two wins in a row (and that is in all competitions) once, and their longest unbeaten league run is three games. The thing is, with a bit of consistency they could make more of an impression on the table, instead of sitting in eighth or ninth, where they have been since the start of December. The Swans’ players have talked about a different approach from Garry Monk, making them more solid defensively which at least in part helped them to their 2-1 win over Manchester United last weekend, but also suggests they could bring that consistency into their game. A win over Burnley on Saturday would be a decent first step towards that
10) Dame N’Doye could be the man to save Hull
Steve Bruce went to quite a lot of effort to seal the signing of Dame N’Doye before the January transfer window closed, spending deadline day in Paris in an attempt to thrash out a deal for the Senegal striker. And on the early evidence, it is easy to see why, with N’Doye scoring two goals already, one being the vital late winner against QPR last weekend. “We had to work extremely hard to get him but he has now got two in two games, and that could just be the difference,” said Bruce after the QPR game, and with the rest of Hull’s forward line being fairly unreliable, in a number of respects, his words certainly ring true. Of course N’Doye does not have to continue his current rate to help his team stay in the division, but a few well-placed goals in some well-placed games – like against Stoke on Saturday, for example – should provide enough points to keep them out of trouble. If so, it would be the signing of the season.
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