20131226

A few Premier notes

Yes, I'm over a week late posting this, but just wanted to mention that I'd watched the Man City/Arsenal game last week (well, it was played Saturday of the week before, but I watched it with my father-in-law last week), and found it very entertaining.

I found out that my father-in-law hates Arsenal, in the process, so he was very entertained as well.  (Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch autobiography, which I read ten or so years ago, formed much of my early feelings for the Premiership, so I actually tend to like Arsenal, but I like watching City more.  Especially since van Persie left Arsenal.)

I've been thinking a bit about it, and I think part of why I like City as much as I do is that they play a skilled, attacking game that's pretty fast-paced.

And I thought that Arsenal, with their recently-upgraded midfield, was ready for that, but they really weren't.  The final was 6-3, but it was closer to being 10-3 than it was to 6-6.  Arsenal's defense, particularly their spacing just outside of the goalie box, was exposed repeatedly and thoroughly, leading to several of those goals.

The only thing I can say in Arsenal's defense is that we also watched their match against Chelsea a few days ago, and Chelsea did not find that kind of space.

I'm pretty comfortable, at this point, in feeling that Arsenal is going to drop out of contention for the title, and that City has a very good shot at winning it all.  The one that I can't figure out is Everton.  We also watched their last match (v Swansea, IIRC), and that was a bloody boring game, especially in the first half.  Lots of sloppy play, and very few scoring chances (I don't think there were any in the first half).  Everton did win, and I did note that the commentators said that Everton has only lost one match all season, but I can't figure out how they're doing so well.  Time will tell.

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