Ah midweek games. The bane of those who play in fantasy leagues and forget to update their team, or fail to notice some teams play twice, while ?tis also the love of those who crave an excuse to head out to the ground/pub in order to break up the working week!
With Arsenal, both Manchester teams, and Chelsea in action, it's fair to expect quite a selection of goals, and it's entirely possible that after these results, the top four might remain in the same configuration until seasons end.
Manchester United and Chelsea have what should be considered reasonably straightforward wins, Manchester City have a trial run of the FA cup final, against Wigan, who are fighting for their lives and likely to want to prove they're no pushover, but nevertheless still not in the same class as a City team on a high, which leaves the Tuesday game, Arsenal v Everton as the one which is on first glance, not such an easy result to predict. Everton have not lost in five games in the premier league, and know that, given the remaining games for Chelsea and Spurs, if they can put one over Arsenal they stand a real chance of sneaking in the back door and displacing any one of the three.
However, a slightly more detailed look at the league table, suggests that this may not be as close a call as first thought. Arsenal too, are on a good run, having won four league games on the bounce, but moreover, where as Everton have only won four, and scored one more goal than they've conceded away from home, Arsenal at home have scored double the amount of goals conceded, and won 10 of their games at The Emirates.
While a loss to Arsenal does not rule out a Champions League place, it would certainly suggest that it would remove Arsenal from the equation as to whom they might displace in the current top four. A win though, and suddenly the fight for positions third and fourth becomes more congested than an M25 at rush hour with a bad case of bronchitis! It all makes for two evenings to look forward to.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG