Leicester’s spell of R and R will reinvigorate the league leaders after Arsenal defeat, Sam Allardyce’s Special Ks can keep Sunderland up and would Nigel Pearson have been able to save Aston Villa?
1) Sending a postcard from the top will benefit Leicester
Leicester City’s players are off on a week’s holiday. Their manager doesn’t know where they are going and what they are doing. But it is hard to see how it can do them any harm to take a breather from a scenario that brings daily pressure and intensity as well as from the enjoyment that has underpinned their season. It speaks volumes for Leicester’s ambitions that they could escape the wounds of a defeat from the top of the Premier League table. The cushion they had built up over the winter meant a frustrating result at Arsenal was damaging but not decisive. They will rev themselves up for another charge and their luck (if you can call going out of the FA Cup that) is that ability to have a winter break. By the time Leicester return to Premier League action against Norwich on 27 February they will have had one week switched off in the sun somewhere and another getting back up to speed at the training ground. Their closest challengers have far tougher schedules. Over the same period Tottenham face a London derby againstCrystal Palace in the cup, sandwiched between two Europa Cup ties (home and away) against Fiorentina. Arsenal continue to try to defend the FA Cup against Hull City and then turn their attention to Barcelona in the Champions League. One of Leicester’s most impressive qualities is their souped-up energy. From the full-pelt pressing of their full-backs, the extraordinary turbo of the irrepressible N’Golo Kanté, the physical vigour of Danny Drinkwater and Marc Albrighton, to the acceleration of Jamie Vardy, that collective effort is such a strength. A moment to get away from it all and relax gives them a great platform to defend that two-point advantage at the top with their lives. It is not bad timing for a postcard from the top.
2) Would Nigel Pearson have been able to save Villa?
There was understandable anger around Villa Park as Liverpool inflicted the heaviest home defeat on Aston Villa since 1935, with fans venting their frustration at the owner, Randy Lerner, rather than the manager, Rémi Garde, and sadness too. One of the biggest clubs in English football are sliding towards the Championship in humiliating fashion and, on the evidence of Sunday’s 6-0 defeat, they are going down without a fight. Joleon Lescott’s post-match tweet of a top-of-the-range Mercedes merely added to the insult, even with the defender later claiming it was posted in error. Dennis Mortimer was among the crowd on Sunday. Villa’s 1982 European Cup-winning captain captured the despair of many when he spoke to reporters after the final whistle, although he placed responsibility for the club’s plight with the manager and players. “To see Aston Villa where they are now is difficult to take,” said Mortimer. “It is going to be difficult to come back from this. It is hard to see how we can get out of the bottom three playing like this. The Championship is difficult, it is not an easy league to get out of. For me I always felt it should have been Nigel Pearson coming in last summer. What he did last year to get Leicester City up the league and then they have gone on from there and are now top, it is unbelievable. You have to put the right manager in, a guy who knows what it is all about and understands what the Premier League is all about; until they get that right they won’t get the right players. They have not got the players capable of making it happen for them. It is all about character, there is no character on the pitch. The understanding around how to play as a team is not there.”
3) Kompany turns the other cheek and so must City
Despite the disappointment of Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in Vincent Kompany’s first start since 8 November, the captain refused to blame the result on a penalty awarded to the visitors. Given by Mark Clattenburg, it was smacked home by Harry Kane to put Spurs ahead. But unlike his manager, Manuel Pellegrini, who was critical of the decision and believed it pivotal to the loss, Kompany struck a refreshingly positive note. He said: “I don’t like to comment on referees. If I’m honest I didn’t really have a position from which I could judge it. I hear what people are saying and we have seen the images but we need to move on from this, and the only way we will be successful this season is to learn from these moments and take strength out of it.” This is an illustration of real leadership and the Belgian compounded it by adding: “No way are we giving up or letting ourselves be beaten down by this defeat. It will be a tough league for us but it will be a tough league for everyone else as well.” If Kompany can ensure all his team-mates – and the manager – can move forward with this attitude City may still be champions.
4) Allardyce’s Special Ks can keep Sunderland up
Wahbi Khazri’s set-piece delivery alone looks set to secure Sunderland precious points in their relegation struggle. The Tunisia playmaker or winger, signed from Bordeaux for £9m in January, shone in the 2-1 win againstManchester United, scoring from a free-kick and then taking the corner which created the winner. Lamine Koné, whose header from that corner forced David de Gea into an own goal, was also excellent at centre-half, winning almost everything in the air and leaving Wayne Rooney little room for manoeuvre. The second Special K – Koné joined from Lorient for £5m last month – promises to improve Allardyce’s side appreciably at the back. Then there’s Special K No3. Jan Kirchhoff, a £750,000 buy from Bayern Munich, departed early with a hamstring injury but, judging by his stunning performance in a deep-sitting midfield anchoring role in a rather unlucky home defeat against Manchester City, the 6ft 5in destroyer has much to offer. Critically, Sunderland’s decision to abandon their experiment with a director of football and allow Allardyce full autonomy over transfers appears to be paying dividends. In terms of ability alone, Khazri looks a significant upgrade on Adam Johnson, the former England winger sacked by the club last week.
5) Payet could fill all those seats in Olympic Stadium
Dimitri Payet’s eye-watering new contract is proof positive West Ham are now one of the “big” clubs, according to many supporters, almost more so than the pending move to the Olympic Stadium. Payet’s presence certainly gives them more chance of filling all 54,000 seats, though with season-ticket renewals already at 98%, according to the club, the Hammers seem to have already gone a long way towards achieving that ambition. Should the prospect of watching the Frenchman in action result in full houses it’s hard to argue any sort of financial case for him not being worth his weekly wage, all the more so if his influence over the remaining 12 games is such that West Ham qualify for Europe. It’s probably safe to say the terms of his £125,000-a-week contract haven’t resulted in any squad unrest. “If it was anyone else I probably wouldn’t have made that run from the halfway line because I probably wouldn’t have got [the ball], but you know with Dimi he’s going to see you and he laid it on to me perfect,” said Mark Noble, of his equalising goal on Saturday, set up by Payet.
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