TOUR EVENT
Middlesbrough and Newcastle, lounging in the third quarter of the standings , out of boredom, decided to intervene in the fate of the championship in the most unceremonious way and simultaneously took points from the leaders . The team of Gareth Southgate, losing to Old Trafford, managed to win back by the efforts of Mark Viduki, and in the end almost pulled out a victory - “MJ” was saved by judicial cowardice. A day later, “Newcastle” utterly upset Chelsea, which, apparently, had already been dreaming of triumph in the decisive battle with the Mancunians. “Magpies” had an exemplary match in terms of tactics and discipline, and the final 0-0 were completely deserved. Jose Mourinho in a completely unusual style forgave his competitors. In sum, the exploits of Middlesbrough and Newcastle, like waves superimposed in antiphase, “quenched” each other and nothing changed in the interference picture of the championship race. Manchester United are still three points ahead of Chelsea and still have a chance to decide the fate of the title without an opponent.
HERO TOUR
Portsmouth goalkeeper David James , better known as Disaster in Liverpool, is setting the Premier League record for the number of “dry” matches on his fifth attempt. The match with Aston Villa, which ended in a 0-0 draw, was the 142nd game in which the goalkeeper left his goal intact. 37-year-old James was ahead of David Seaman, who accounted for 141 matches to zero. At the same time, the ex-goalkeeper of Arsenal needed 344 games to achieve such an impressive result, and his namesake, before Portsmouth, played for Watford, Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham and Manchester City, - 129 more matches. The personalities of the champions are unobtrusively hinted - the English goalkeeper school is going through hard times.
TOUR FAILURE
On Saturday, “Watford” on their native “Wickedrage Road” officially issued a breakup with the Premier League. Manchester City acted as a notary, not allowing the owners to win a victory that delayed the execution of the sentence. Hopes of Watford were symbolically buried by the blunders of goalkeeper Ben Foster, certainly the team’s best player of the season. “We now know what the Premier League is, and we understand that we were not fully prepared for it,” Adrian Butroyd says goodbye to the English football elite, but promises to return.
TOUR SENSATION
Broken in the last ten minutes by a critical mass of adverse circumstances, Bolton is inferior to Reading at home. The whole match was dominated by the hosts, completely replaying the opponent, but they were not even destined to earn a draw that evening. Already in the first half, Sam Allardyce made three forced replacements at once - the injured Hunt, Diouf and Nolan could not continue the game. At the same time, a foul by Michael Dubbury, who sent the captain of Bolton to the infirmary, deserved a red card, but his rival Bikey was not even awarded a yellow card. In the second half, another refereeing mistake deprived Nicolas Anelka of a well-deserved goal. Thanks to the Frenchman, the hosts managed to open an account, but they weren’t enough for the ending. “Reading”, by the efforts of Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt, wrested an unexpected victory and burst into the UEFA zone, sitting next to the newly defeated opponent.
TREND
A group of those who do not want to change the Premier League to the “championship” is once again compacted. Five teams, from the 19th West Ham to the 15th Fulham, for three rounds to the finish, only four points share. In the reporting round, only the “hammers” managed to win by pulling this company from below. “Charlton” lost his happiness in a full-time battle with “Sheffield”, and “Fulham” - with not very motivated “Blackburn”, continuing with the new coach to do without victories. Sheffield and Wigan have a better calendar of the remaining matches, but the outcome will probably come only in the last round.
CM. ALSO
Ole Gunnar Solskher has long passed into the category of veterans by age, but still stubbornly does not want to part with fervent youthful naivete.
TOUR DIGIT
Tearing a draw from Arsenal in a dramatic match worthy of the London North Derby, Tottenham extended a dull, unbeaten streak in principal matches with his closest neighbors to 18 matches. The Spurs won their last victory on November 7, 1999, and since then 10 meetings have remained with the Gunners, and another 8 have ended with a truce.
Dmitry LONGICH