Although plenty of promotions and relegations in the English game have already been decided, there are still some up for grabs/some to avoid.
Perhaps the one with the most anticipation is who will be relegated from the Premier League. With most of the teams at the foot of the table having 3 games left, there is still only three points between West Ham, in 20th, to Blackpool in 17th, and with only 1 goal separating their respective goal differences of -23 and -22.
Any team from Newcastle (12th) and below could find themselves in trouble, Newcastle being just 6 points away from a relegation scrap. However more likely is that the places will include 3 of 6 teams, West Ham, Wolves, West Brom, Blackpool, Blackburn and Birmingham. I could see Blackpool going down with Wigan possibly escaping, which is a shame as this season Blackpool have been a revelation with their 'we will score more than you' mindset. Although there are enough games for West Ham to survive, they have difficult (although potentially rewarding) fixtures against Blackburn, Wigan and Sunderland. If they were to beat Wigan and Blackburn, they would almost definitely be safe, and perhaps condemn one or both of those teams.
Wolves also must play Sunderland and Blackburn, but also have to play West Brom. Wigan have some very difficult games away at both Aston Villa and Stoke.
It is all to play for, and is sure to be an exciting couple of weeks.
At the other end of the table, it is between Man Utd and Chelsea for the top spot. They play each other this weekend in a must win encounter for both. I feel Chelsea could provide an upset, but still think Man Utd will win the league even if they lose to Chelsea. Man City seem to have claimed a Champions League spot, now 7 poitns clear of Liverpool who sit in 5th and Tottenham in 6th.
Two teams that are likely to find themselves in the Europa cup are Birmingham and Fulham also. Fulham, with that extroadinary run under Hodgson last season took them to the final where they ended up losing to Athletico Madrid, have a brilliance disciplinary record and look set to claim a place under the Fair Play league. Birmingham have already claimed their Europa League spot, today granted the license by UEFA, after they defeated Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final.
And so to the Championship.
QPR are Champions, and Norwich are also promoted - a brilliant feat of back to back automatic promotions. The hearing regarding QPR and the signing of Faurlin has again been postponed by the FA due to too much evidence to sift through so far. It is likely for there to be a hearing next week to decide their fate, but I very much doubt a points deduction will be put in place now seeing as the FA has also confirmed that QPR will be presented with the Champions trophy on the last day of the season.
The Play offs look decided as well, with Cardiff, Swansea, Reading and Nottingham Forest filling those spots after Millwall succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at home to Swansea, ruining their chances this season. Should the FA impose a 20 point deduction on QPR (very unlikely, but rumoured) then not only would Cardiff be handed automatic promotion but the 6th Play off place would be decided from Millwall, QPR and Leeds, who would all then be on 67, 68 and 69 points respectively, and with QPR v Leeds on the final day, it could leave the door open to Millwall. This is of course all reliant on a very unlikely 20 point penalty, and so I shall not delve any further into this possibility as I cannot personally see it happening.
At the other end, Preston, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United are all relegated.
League 1 sees Brighton's return to the Championship as champions, and Southampton accompanying them in the automatic places. The playoffs will be settled by Huddersfield, Peterborough, MK Dons and Bournemouth, who deserve special mention after their Promotion from League 2.
Relegated from League 1 is Swindon, surprising after their Play Off Final appearance last season, but perhaps not so after their summer clear out - selling Paynter and Austin, a strike partnership that reaped rewards with 49 goals between them, among other losses such as centre back and captain Gordon Greer. Joining them in League 2 are Bristol Rovers (again suffering without their star striker - Lambert) and Plymouth - hampered by their ownership and money issues on and off the field. Dagenham and Redbridge occupy the 4th Relegation place, although are only 1 point behind Walsall and 2 behind Notts County, so are still able to get out of trouble, although face a difficult fixture away at Peterborough this weekend.
On to League 2 and Chesterfield and Bury are now promoted, although the third automatic place could be taken by either Wycombe or Shewsbury. The playoffs, as well as featuring one of those two teams, also include Accrinton, Torquay and Stevenage, although Gillingham are only outside on goal difference. Port Vale are within touching distance points wise, but have a far lesser goal difference and so seem set to miss out this year. Relegated to the BSP are Stockport who have suffered from lack of funds in recent times. Also Barnet are in the relegation places, but are only two points behind Lincoln City. Should Lincoln fail to win at home to Aldershot this weekend (a team with nothing to play for in the final game of the season) and Barnet win, Lincoln would be relegated.
It will be an interesting week for Football League fans, and a few weeks for Premier League fans and fans of clubs reaching playoffs. Also interesting is the Champions League. I for one am looking forward to watching Man Utd vs Barca (Take 2!) after Utd's loss in the final to the Catalonian giants just a few years ago. A player who my first blog entry was about will again be the the centre of all attention - Lionel Messi. I am looking forward to see how United deal with the threat be poses.
And so the season is drawing to a close. I'll be back to discuss events after this weekend, good luck to your supported teams!
Friday, 6 May 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
One game left
So QPR are finally up, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United finally down. There is really only two places being competed for, 2nd and 6th.
Even though Leeds are now just three points from the playoffs, they have a lesser goal difference (10) than Nottingham Forest (16). For Leeds to gatecrash the playoffs they would need Forest to lose against a now safe Crystal Palace and for Leeds themselves to win away at QPR, which in itself is no easy feat.
QPR are promoted, and promoted as Champions. It has rarely been a question of if with QPR this season and instead has been a question of when. As mentioned in my last blog entry though, we still have the outcome of their FA investigation to come, although with the FA refusing to support the claims of a supposed source who supplied the Sun with news of a 15 point deduction, it looks more and more likely that the punishment will be ust a fine. I think the FA really need to look at themselves and maybe have a reform. It's up to them what manner of punishment they hand out for each infringement, but they need to be consistent, which currently they are far from being.
What do you make of the situation and what should their punishment be?
The FA are far from my favourite organisation; being a Millwall fan it is hard to find any love for them. Although it probably sounds like sour grapes and self imposed victimisation, the FA seem to continually be after a reason to punish Millwall FC, for example the charges against The Lions for 'failure to control fans' inside Upton Park a couple of years ago - not only did our fans not encroach the field of play, but what can Millwall FC do about fans behaviour when in an away stadium? These charges were eventually dropped. I was surprised however to see that the FA 'invited' Nathan Ellington to come forward and complain about alleged racial abuse he suffered at the Den. Now I know Millwall hold a certain reputation, but I have been going to the Den consistently for the last 10-12 years and have almost never heard any racist remarks, and especially no widespread chants. Ellington claims monkey noises and gestures were made, while none of the following complained about such an act:
I feel I have rather gone off topic today, was just rather enraged by both Ellington and in fact the FA 'inviting' him to complain!
Back on topic..
The race for second I think will be won by Norwich - already a point in front and seemingly 'easier' fixtures away at Portsmouth and at home against Coventry, as opposed to Cardiff's somewhat difficult fixtures against a Middlesbrough side just coming in to form, and a Burnley squad who although have missed out on the playoffs, still have plenty of quality in their squad and will be looking to finish as well as possible.
Either way, for the neutral is to be a very exciting week, and indeed month including the play offs (even though my beloved Millwall will not feature!)
I think the playoffs this year will be very entertaining, although they could fizz out to 1-0 wins as teams don't want to attack too much for fear of getting caught on the break. The three best teams I have seen play this year are Reading, Cardiff and Swansea. Reading, in a 0-0 draw at the den utilized their wingers Kebe and KcAnuff very well. Cardiff have some top quality players, none more so than Craig Bellamy. Swansea passed the ball around very well yesterday where they ended up beating us 2-0, although I don't know quite how much of that was them making us look poor or us making them look good, we were disappointing yesterday, although it has been a great season for us and I hope we build on it for the coming season.
Who do you think will win the playoffs, who will clinch 6th and who 2nd?
Also, any fans from relegated teams, how do you think your team will fare in League 1, will it be a swift return?
Lets hope for an exciting end to the season!
Even though Leeds are now just three points from the playoffs, they have a lesser goal difference (10) than Nottingham Forest (16). For Leeds to gatecrash the playoffs they would need Forest to lose against a now safe Crystal Palace and for Leeds themselves to win away at QPR, which in itself is no easy feat.
QPR are promoted, and promoted as Champions. It has rarely been a question of if with QPR this season and instead has been a question of when. As mentioned in my last blog entry though, we still have the outcome of their FA investigation to come, although with the FA refusing to support the claims of a supposed source who supplied the Sun with news of a 15 point deduction, it looks more and more likely that the punishment will be ust a fine. I think the FA really need to look at themselves and maybe have a reform. It's up to them what manner of punishment they hand out for each infringement, but they need to be consistent, which currently they are far from being.
What do you make of the situation and what should their punishment be?
The FA are far from my favourite organisation; being a Millwall fan it is hard to find any love for them. Although it probably sounds like sour grapes and self imposed victimisation, the FA seem to continually be after a reason to punish Millwall FC, for example the charges against The Lions for 'failure to control fans' inside Upton Park a couple of years ago - not only did our fans not encroach the field of play, but what can Millwall FC do about fans behaviour when in an away stadium? These charges were eventually dropped. I was surprised however to see that the FA 'invited' Nathan Ellington to come forward and complain about alleged racial abuse he suffered at the Den. Now I know Millwall hold a certain reputation, but I have been going to the Den consistently for the last 10-12 years and have almost never heard any racist remarks, and especially no widespread chants. Ellington claims monkey noises and gestures were made, while none of the following complained about such an act:
- Nathan Ellington himself on the day of the match
- The Preston North End team/staff
- The Millwall team/staff
- The Millwall Stewards (70% of which are from an ethnic minority)
- The SKY TV camera crew and presenters
- The FA Representative we have had at every single home game since missiles were thrown against Middlesbrough
I feel I have rather gone off topic today, was just rather enraged by both Ellington and in fact the FA 'inviting' him to complain!
Back on topic..
The race for second I think will be won by Norwich - already a point in front and seemingly 'easier' fixtures away at Portsmouth and at home against Coventry, as opposed to Cardiff's somewhat difficult fixtures against a Middlesbrough side just coming in to form, and a Burnley squad who although have missed out on the playoffs, still have plenty of quality in their squad and will be looking to finish as well as possible.
Either way, for the neutral is to be a very exciting week, and indeed month including the play offs (even though my beloved Millwall will not feature!)
I think the playoffs this year will be very entertaining, although they could fizz out to 1-0 wins as teams don't want to attack too much for fear of getting caught on the break. The three best teams I have seen play this year are Reading, Cardiff and Swansea. Reading, in a 0-0 draw at the den utilized their wingers Kebe and KcAnuff very well. Cardiff have some top quality players, none more so than Craig Bellamy. Swansea passed the ball around very well yesterday where they ended up beating us 2-0, although I don't know quite how much of that was them making us look poor or us making them look good, we were disappointing yesterday, although it has been a great season for us and I hope we build on it for the coming season.
Who do you think will win the playoffs, who will clinch 6th and who 2nd?
Also, any fans from relegated teams, how do you think your team will fare in League 1, will it be a swift return?
Lets hope for an exciting end to the season!
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