Claudio Ranieri flies to Italy with Leicester on verge of title, is time running out for Jack Wilshere to make Euro 2016 and will Pellegrini gamble pay off in Madrid?
1) Ranieri and Leicester ready to celebrate their way
The romantic at heart might hope that Leicester complete their crowning achievement on their own turf by defeating Everton at an incredulous King Power Stadium but the fact we can seemingly afford to be that picky is astonishing in itself and perhaps an alternative ending will be appropriate in its way. Claudio Ranieri is likely to be somewhere in the airspace between Italy and England during Monday evening’s potentially decisive meeting between Chelsea and Tottenham, a lunch arrangement with his 96-year-old mother taking priority over any handwringing in front of the television. There is the risk of verging on tweeness when talking about Ranieri these days – his team’s probable triumph has been overseen by a formidable football mind – but the lovely seam of eccentricity that has run through Leicester’s season is genuine and this might be a finale entirely in tune. They have done things their way and, even if Ranieri’s trip does not quite match Derby County’s tale from 1972 – the squad were holidaying in Mallorca and Brian Clough in the Scilly Isles with his family when news of their title win came through – it is at least another reminder of the very human element of this story. If Chelsea have produced the goods by the time Ranieri touches back down on English soil on Monday night then it is fair to assume he will not pass through the airport terminal unnoticed. Then, the celebration of a thrilling triumph can begin in earnest.
2) The strange case of Stoke’s missing front three
There was plenty of hype about Stoke City’s front three when they edged a seven-goal thriller against Everton on 28 December. Yet although Marko Arnautovic scored in Saturday’s draw with Sunderland, the other members of that attacking trident have tailed off badly. Bojan Krkic was an unused substitute against Sunderland and Xherdan Shaqiri was kept quiet by Patrick van Aanholt, at one point tripping over his own feet when he tried to dribble through a crowd of defenders on the edge of the area. Stoke’s most effective method of attack against Sunderland was hanging high, diagonal crosses towards Peter Crouch and, thinking back to the excitement of that win at Goodison Park, when Shaqiri scored one of the goals of the season, it is hard not to see that shift in emphasis as a step backwards.
3) Don’t over-estimate the Twitterati
Unbowed by the right old, entirely predictable, mess prompted by believers in the Arab Spring buying into comments posted on social media, we still make the mistake of taking undue notice of whatever the Twitterati has to say. If you were in north-east England last week the Twitter-related message was that Alan Pardew needed to brace himself for serious abuse on his first return to his former club, Newcastle United, as the manager of Crystal Palace. In the event Pardew proved virtually irrelevant, a mere academic footnote, to the main action, namely Rafa Benítez’s efforts to keep Newcastle in the Premier League. Contrary to pre-match suggestion, the crowd barely acknowledged their ex-manager’s technical area presence throughout their side’s 1-0 win at St James’ Park. Hats off to Pardew for the nice, 17th-minute touch when, as is their routine, the ground broke into spontaneous applause in memory of home fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney as well as other victims of the MH17 disaster and he joined in with a minute-long demonstration of pronounced clapping. Deep down, many Newcastle fans know that, although far from a flawless manager, he is essentially a decent guy who ended up a puppet of Mike Ashley’s St James’ Park regime. Should Palace beat Manchester United in the impending FA Cup final there could well be resounding cheers on Tyneside but, right now, Pardew is past history in NE1. Newcastle fans showed their class and dignity by refraining from abusing him and instead indulging in sustained choruses of “Rafa, Rafa, Benítez.” Those chants will have hurt Palace’s manager far more than any abusive taunt. Which just goes to show that, sometimes, the truth really is more complicated than social media-inspired fiction. Just ask Egyptians
4) Time running out for Wilshere to build England sharpness
There were cheers from the Emirates Stadium crowd when Jack Wilshere emerged from the substitutes’ bench to warm-up midway through the first half against Norwich City – alongside Santi Cazorla. Wilshere was desperate to get on but when Arsène Wenger swapped Alexis Sánchez for Francis Coquelin in the 84th minute with his final change, Wilshere felt the frustration. Apart from a six-minute cameo as a substitute at Sunderland the previous weekend, Wilshere’s role during this injury-wrecked season has been confined to that of onlooker. It was the same again on Saturday. Arsenal’s season now has only two matches to go – the visit toManchester City before the final-day home game against Aston Villa – which means that Wilshere has only two competitive matches to generate any kind of top-level sharpness before Euro 2016. Moreover, with the England manager, Roy Hodgson, set to name his squad on 12 May, before the final round of Premier League fixtures, Wilshere, technically, has only the City game in which to impress. The suspicion is that Hodgson will pick him regardless, based on the form he showed before he fractured his fibula on the eve of the season, and he stands to have England’s warm-up matches against Turkey, Australia and Portugal in which to fine-tune. But how will Hodgson know for sure that Wilshere is ready when he picks his squad? By any reckoning, it would be a gamble.
5) Will Manuel Pellegrini’s gamble pay off in Madrid?
Manuel Pellegrini made eight changes to his Manchester City team for the trip to Southampton and the result was predictable. Only Kelechi Iheanacho emerged from the game with any credit for City but Pellegrini insisted afterwards that, even with hindsight, he would have selected the same team. Real Madrid and the Bernabéu await on Wednesday in the Champions League semi-finals and, given it is arguably the biggest game in City’s history, Pellegrini certainly had a duty to ensure his first choice players remained fresh for midweek. However, as City’s fans ironically chanted “Are you watching, Real Madrid?” as the team crumbled, this preparation for a huge European tie had descended into chaos. The team that lines up in Spain will clearly have no resemblance to the one on show at St Mary’s, but such an emphatic defeat surely cannot have improved morale in the squad. The result has also provided Manchester United with a sliver of hope of a top-four finish, although City would still need to drop further points for their rivals to capitalise. Pellegrini, of course, will not be at City next season and has eyes only for the Champions League. If they pull off a result in Madrid this selection will be completely vindicated, but it could yet be significant in shaping City’s season denouement.
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