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Robbie Savage’s Winners & Losers: Man Utd ‘miles off it’ before biggest game

Robbie Savage

In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage will give us his Winners and Losers from the weekend’s action…

Robbie Savage picks some familiar losers before both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur face season-defining matches this week…


Robbie’s winners

My winners of this weekend’s Premier League action have to be Wolverhampton Wanderers and Vítor Pereira.

What a remarkable job he’s done. In the last five games, they’ve won four and they’ve drawn one to top the form table.

Wolves looked like they might get relegated before Pereira came in but he has done a remarkable job. That was Wolves first four-game winning streak in the top flight since 1972. Newcastle broke an even older record, by completing their first league double over Manchester United for 94 years!

In the end, it was all too easy for Newcastle who, despite Eddie Howe’s absence, highlighted how much stronger they are collectively than Ruben Amorim’s side. We’ll come to them, but Newcastle deserve huge credit. It might have been understandable if they had suffered a hangover in the wake of ending their trophy drought, but since beating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, they have won three out of three in the Premier League to give themselves a great chance of returning to the Champions League.

Newcastle were done a big favour by Everton, who continue to thrive under David Moyes. The Toffees were excellent against Forest, and despite being a point above the relegation zone when Moyes returned, they are now just as close to the Champions League spots as they are to the bottom three.

Of course, those choking on Everton’s dust haven’t helped themselves, even if Ipswich and Leicester both earned away draws this weekend. And Leicester scored a goal! A point at Brighton won’t save them from relegation, but it was important to stop the truly wretched run they have been on for the last eight matches.

 


Robbie’s losers

My losers, once again, have to be Manchester United.

It was a brilliant result in Lyon to set up a massive Europa League game on Thursday in the return leg. Who’s going to play in goal? That’s the big question. Both goalkeepers are making errors but the team at the minute are miles off in the Premier League.

So Ruben Amorim and United are once again the losers of this weekend’s action in the Premier League – but it’s such a huge game on Thursday. They’ve got to win it! The season is on this game.

Once again, much of the criticism levelled at United could be aimed at Tottenham too. A meek defeat at Wolves was their 17th of the season – only the bottom three have lost more games. Like United, their season hinges on their European campaign, but Spurs will go to Eintracht Frankfurt so low on confidence.

Belief looks in short supply at Chelsea right now too, even if they came from two goals down to earn their solitary point against Ipswich this season. The Chelsea fans aren’t happy and Enzo Maresca isn’t afraid to call them out on the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. Is that a sustainable relationship, or will Chelsea be looking for another manager if, as they are currently, they finish outside the top five?

Nottingham Forest still sit inside the Champions League places but they did not look themselves in the defeat to Everton. Forest have a week off now to refresh before they go to Tottenham on Easter Monday, prior to their FA Cup semi-final against Man City. It would be a real shame if their season petered out given how good they have been so far.

Robbie Savage is a brand ambassador for Planet Sport Bet

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