Big Midweek: Liverpool v Chelsea, Marcus Rashford, Newcastle at Villa, Roy Hodgson
It’s the first of a series of Big Midweeks at Anfield as Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour really gets going against Chelsea. It could be a biggie too for Marcus Rashford and Erik ten Hag…
Game to watch: Liverpool v Chelsea
The next leg of Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour sees Chelsea arrive at Anfield on Wednesday night for the first of at least two meetings between now and the Liverpool manager heading off into the Merseyside sunset.
Klopp has urged the home supporters to park their anguish for bi-weekly 90 minute intervals before his final farewell and, specifically on Wednesday, “do everything to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Chelsea”. Indeed, the Blues probably will feel awkward as the third wheel at The Klopp Show, because if German expects the Kop not to make it about him again, he’s deluded.
You can understand Klopp being preoccupied with Chelsea while everyone around him nurses their pre-emptive grief. The Blues have been difficult opponents for the Reds of late, with neither side able to win any of their last five meetings.
That said, more recently, Chelsea have lost five of their last six away from home despite clawing their way into the top half of the table. Klopp’s exit is doubtless an opportunity for Chelsea in the long term but Mauricio Pochettino still has work to do to convince everyone that he can be the man to lead the Blues into the post-Klopp Premier League era.
“The performance was good we just weren’t clinical enough,” said Pochettino after their last outing in the FA Cup against Villa on Friday but he could have been talking about any number of games since his first, including the 1-1 draw with Liverpool on the opening day.
Since then, both sides have surprised, with Liverpool perhaps overachieving in sharp contrast to Chelsea. If that pattern is reversed on Wednesday, doubtless it will be Paul Tierney’s fault.
Player to watch: Marcus Rashford
The last time Manchester United went to Wolves, Rashford slept through his wake-up call and there were consequences. The England striker is facing another punishment ahead of Thursday’s trip to Molineux, assuming he even fancies the trip.
Reading between the lines, a Sunday afternoon in Newport didn’t appeal to Rashford quite like a midweek session in Belfast. It was there he was pictured enjoying a couple of nights out on Wednesday and Thursday before ringing in sick for training on Friday.
Ten Hag described it as an internal matter but the United boss must be struggling to keep a lid on his exasperation with Rashford and some of his team-mates. Are we reaching the point where a parting becomes the best for all involved?
Rashford’s choices last week appeared deliberately provocative. He, as well as anyone else, knew word of his movements would reach his manager. On top of his performances and the thoroughly p***ed off demeanour that he’s carried through much of the season, this latest episode feels like a challenge to Ten Hag’s fast-evaporating authority.
Ten Hag said little other than ‘I will deal with it’. How he achieves that, and Rashford’s reaction, will go a long way to deciding the player’s future and perhaps the manager’s.
Read more: Man Utd insist Rashford case ‘closed’ in club statement after nightclub blunder
Manager to watch: Roy Hodgson
This is shaping up to be a season-defining week for Crystal Palace. First they welcome rock-bottom Sheffield United to Selhurst Park on Wednesday with Roy Hodgson under huge pressure. Come Thursday night, after the Blades clash and the closure of the transfer window, the Eagles will have a clearer picture of what they are up against through the remainder of the season.
Hodgson is hoping for at least one new face before the deadline, ideally two, but the targets Palace are chasing – young and unproven at the top level – don’t offer great prospects for an instant impact.
And the manager might not have time to wait. Anything but a victory against the league’s worst side would prompt further anger from Palace fans, who made their feelings clear last time out at Arsenal, where the Eagles caved in to a 5-0 defeat, and before that at Everton, when Hodgson gambled on selection choices and lost.
Even a convincing win over the Blades might not offer Hodgson much respite with a trip to arch-rivals Brighton on Saturday. A miserable performance at the AmEx last season did for the last Palace boss. Another one, without tangible signs of improvements, could see off Hodgson too.
Team to watch: Newcastle
The Magpies go to Aston Villa on Tuesday night in a reverse of their opening day meeting at St James’ Park. Then, Newcastle battered Villa 5-1, with Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes on target in a game that seemed to spark the start of contrasting campaigns for both sides. Which it did. Just not in the way anyone expected.
Since that opening-day humbling, Villa have gone on to do what Newcastle’s owners hoped they would. They sit in the fourth place that the Magpies occupied last season, all the while keeping pace with Manchester City and Arsenal while chasing down Liverpool. Unai Emery, Newcastle’s managerial target before Eddie Howe, has worked wonders at Villa Park.
In contrast, Howe is under serious pressure. There is mitigation for the Toon boss. He cannot be blamed for missing why Milan were so happy to sell Tonali, and Barnes is one of a number of injuries the Magpies have had to cope with. And they can’t reinforce their squad this month without first weakening it further by selling the players who might fetch decent money.
Newcastle, though, are hardly the only team to have been dealt a bad hand when it comes to injuries and FFP is a burden on most clubs. Most have dealt with both better than the Magpies.
They go to Villa clinging to their top-half place on the back of a run of six defeats in seven Premier League games. The FA Cup has offered some brief respite for Howe, but the Toon owners still have ambitions of a dash for Europe this season. After a break from their league woes, the restart has to mark a turning point in the Magpies’ season.
EFL game to watch: Coventry v Bristol City
Slim pickings in the EFL this week during a window for clubs to squeeze in their fixtures postponed due to cup commitments, international call-ups, or crap weather.
The Championship offers a three-fixture midweek programme, none of which are televised. Truth be told: we’re not missing much.
The Robins’ trip to Coventry is the closest in terms of league standings, with the visitors looking to move to within three places of their hosts currently perched in the final play-off spot by virtue of goal difference.
Elsewhere, leaders Leicester host 16th-placed Swansea, while relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday welcome a Watford side who could move level on points with Coventry if Bristol City turn over Mark Robins’ men.
European game to watch: Barcelona v Osasuna
Barca have had a wretched start to the year. In the last fortnight, they have been battered by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, exited the Copa del Rey late on at Athletic Bilbao, and slipped to 11 points off Girona and and 10 away from Real at the La Liga summit. All of which has prompted Xavi to decide that he’s had enough,
The home clash with mid-table Osasuna will be the first since Xavi revealed on Saturday night, after a 5-3 home defeat to Villarreal, that he will step down at the end of the season. It hasn’t prompted the same outpouring of grief that Klopp’s announcement sparked in Liverpool the day before. Many Barca fans will be content to wave off their former midfield icon.
Thing is, their issues aren’t a quick fix. Joan Laporta spoke of needing to “reverse this situation” amid unfulfilled expectations, but Xavi has generally made the most of what he’s had. It’s entirely possible, in the short and long term, that fortunes will spiral further before they improve at Barca.
