Spoiler alert: This is how the Premier League title race will play out

You know what to do – mail theeditor@football365.com

Spoiler alert
Here’s how I see things playing out.

• City will be top after this round of fixtures. Watford are perfectly set up to take points from a Liverpool side which, Bournemouth game aside, hasn’t looked comfortable for months. City, meanwhile, will batter West Ham and a pliant Pellegrini.

• I see both sides winning at the weekend. The derby should be an open game played at pace which might actually suit Liverpool for a change, plus the world and his twitter account will have decided that they’ve already bottled the title so the pressure might actually reduce. City will again thrash an injury-hit Bournemouth.

• The next round has Liverpool and City both at home to defensively minded sides in excellent form. Liverpool could easily drop points against Burnley but crucially this looks like the first game where City might actually miss Laporte and Fernandinho, and Watford could well make it difficult for them. Regardless I don’t see Liverpool bettering City’s result here, so the league table stays as it is. Liverpool then beat Fulham to return to the summit in time for the international break, with City on cup duty.

• On resumption of hostilities Liverpool draw against Spurs, while another easy City win at Fulham takes them top on goal difference with a game in hand.

• Here’s where the schedule gets interesting. Assuming City progress as expected in both the FA Cup and Champions’ League, during April they would play: Cardiff H, Palace A, Spurs H, Utd A and Burnley A in the Premier League, plus an FA Cup semi, two legs of a CL quarter final and probably a CL semi first leg. That’s 9 games in 28 days, of which you’d expect most to be extremely high intensity.

• Meanwhile Liverpool, having gone out of the CL to Bayern, will have four games in that time – against Cardiff, Southampton, Huddersfield and at home to Chelsea, the latter (fingers crossed) falling directly between the two legs of their Europa QF. Let’s be optimistic and say that tired legs might see City drop a few points in the league while Liverpool win all four.

• At this stage – deep breath, title race fans – Liverpool would be a point clear of City with two left to play. City would be nailed on to beat Leicester and Brighton so Liverpool would need to beat Newcastle away and Wolves at home to secure the title – now that really would be a test of their nerves.  Let’s just hope that Newcastle are safe by then and Rafa’s up for a favour, and Wolves have an FA Cup final to look forward to.

No doubt now I’ve said all this Liverpool will make me look foolish by losing their next five, but hopefully the returns of Lovren (who despite his bomb-scariness is miles better than Matip), Gomez (at some point, if we’re lucky) and the Ox will help recover a bit of form. In the above scenario I’d see Liverpool bottling it with a final day draw – but if City (missing their two most irreplaceable players in Laporte and Fernandinho) drop some unexpected points somewhere, Liverpool might just sneak it.

Sorry if this has ruined the surprise for everyone.
JG LFC (Spurs will keep pace until they play City, then finally fall away)

Do Manchester City really have the momentum?
City fail to score in a lethargic performance, against a horrible out of form Chelsea side. In 120 minutes. On a neutral ground. They also struggled against a Schalke team that is 14th out of 18 in Germany and has won just one game in 2019.

Liverpool went AWAY to Old Trafford, against THE form team in the country and get the same scoreline that City did later in the day.

These two performances supposedly show how Liverpool are creaking while City are in fine form. F365 published an article by a City fan which analyses the two performances in a similar manner. In reality, the last time City were in good attacking form was also the last instance of Liverpool hitting form, 2 weeks ago against Chelsea and Bournemouth respectively.

It beggars belief how City’s own bluntness in attack against Chelsea on a neutral ground has been completely glossed over.
AK, Lahore

Sarri misunderstanding
I don’t see the big deal here. Of course it was just a misunderstanding. Sarri thought he was in charge, he misunderstood.

To the writer who suggested Sarri should sub Kepa after 1 minute against Spurs, you are actually evil. I was thinking a minute before half time.
Aussie Red (Player power at CFC – dispatching quality managers since JT and Lamps knifed Jose Mk I)

One last rant on Johnny’s utopia
Is it too late to react to John Nic’s arcticle about footballers wages?

There’s been ton’s of reactions to it, most of them agreeing with the high wages which leaves poor John Nic pretty much alone in his utopia.

Unfortunately i won’t back Johnny either. There’s been lots of “they worked hard and are the very best in the world so deserve the money argument”, fair enough. But the main reason why the money they make is perfectly legitimate lies elsewhere in my opinion.

Football is an industry. An industry that generate a hell lots of money, that generates a hell lots of job, in football clubs obviously but it extends much further. All the broadcasters, all the newspaper, bookmakers… The list of people living from football is endless.

All the examples used by John Nic are incredibly off topic.

In the eighties footballers were earning much less? Sure, but what was the coverage back then? How much money was generated from football? I obviously don’t have the numbers but i’m pretty sure it’s just proportional to footballer’s wages.

Artists are not paid if they don’t perform? Who said footballers should be compared to artists? Theire status could not be more different. Artists a liberal professionnal. Free of their schedule and obligations. Don’t want to record any new album? So be it. Don’t want to go on stages for a year? So be it. Don’t want to be substituted for a penalty shootout? So be it. They have nowhere near the same obligation as footballers do. Would freelancer footballers be a solution to prevent the Sanchez, nicking a living thing, jurisprudence? I don’t know how that would cope with UEFA and FIFA regulation but it would surely be a lot of fun to see players swap team every month.

Nurses and neurosurgeons earn much less money despite actually saving lives? Sure. But how is that even relevant? I started to write that nurses and surgeons were more useful to society but i stopped, think back for a second and erased. They are more useful to people. But people don’t pay. Are you paid for being a father and basically being responsible of your children’s life? I doubt so. Is it ok? Probably not. but that’s a whole other subject that goes way beyond football.

Footballers may not save lives, but, by kicking a ball around, they allow millions of people to have a job, so they allow people to live decently. Does that makes them useful to society? Yes. Does that justify their wages? Yes again, by the law of market and by the law of moral as well if you look a little further than the sheer jealousy.

These people are not the blue-collar workers as Samwise said this morning, they are the service we are paying for. In telecommunication, to make a stupid comparison, these guys would not be the technician that wire your apartment, they would be f****g BT. And i’m pretty sure BT makes a little more money than all the football players combined in the PL.
John, your biting the hand that feeds you, that is unfair.

Kepa v Tevez
With the hullabaloo over Kepa’s apparent refusal to be subbed off against Man City, I’m reminded of Carlos Tevez’s refusal to come on as a substitute for Manchester City in a Champions League game few years ago (Nikola Kalinic also refused to come on as a substitute for Croatia against Nigeria at Russia 2018 World Cup and was promptly sent home). So my question to the mailbox is, which is worse: refusal to come on as a sub or refusal to be subbed off?
Izu Edesiri (one week wages fine for Kepa not enough), Delta State, Nigeria

Liverpool positivity
Yes Paul London Red. Positivity!!! FINALLY!! Liverpool fans lets follow his lead, no more nervous fear lets have a bit of joy and enjoy the ride. We might not be top for too much longer but we might!! We are in a genuine title race. The team needs to feed off the positive energy from supporters. WE HAVE BEEN BEATEN ONCE IN THE LEAGUE!!!
Irish Red, Owen

Warnock quote
Hello,

I just wondered.

Is “He obviously listens to his physios, his medical people and Tom, Dick and Harry from abroad”…

The most Proper Football Man quote since.. “The foreigns don’t even bother with the golf”.

Cheers
Andrew, Woodford Green

Stan’s madness
Reading Mediawatch on my lunch I was struck by F365s rebuke of Stan Collymores latest missive. Now far be it from me to defend Stan, whose most significant quality is his apparent refusal to put any thought whatsoever into his utterances, but in this particular case does he not have a shred of a point?

What, for example, would Sir Alex have done if a player so publicly challenged and humiliated him? I dare say that, irrespective of the players pricetag, said player would have disappeared into the bowels of Carrington – never to be seen again. Such transgressions as Ferguson allowed (Rios drugs snaffu, Keane/Hangelaand, Cantona) werent direct challenges to Ferguson himself.

At a club like Chelsea, where it has proven extremely difficult for even renowned managers to command the respect of the dressing room, how can Sarri let such action stand without losing them completely?

Forgiveness? Ok. But forgiveness without recompense is really just further weakness. Commercial/business sense? Alright he’s an extremely valuable asset. But as you rightly point out he does have a contract. Let him sit on the bench for the foreseeable until he appreciates the gravity of his error. Return him to the starting lineup next season. Perhaps a bit wiser.

Madness? Maybe I’m just sick of seeing powerful people get away with anything they bloody like. (Rees Mogg Cough).
Stephen – Dublin

Lucas Perri
Dear Football365,

Realise there is only so much space on the internet but I think there’s more to the Lucas Perri signing that perhaps there is more to it than was covered in the Five Pointless January Signings article.  Crystal Palace currently have four goalkeepers, one of whom is Perri, one is 40 and out of contract at the end of the season (Julian Speroni) and the other two are competing for the starting spot.  However, there is a stark difference in playing style between Vicente Guaita and Wayne Hennessey.  Presumably Perri was signed because he is similar in style to Guaita, though I don’t know this for certain.

All of this suggests that Hennessey may be expendable at the end of the season, in which case Perri has the chance to jump forwards two players in the queue.  He’s been better this season than previously but we are now approaching the stage where if he wants regular first team football he will need to move along.

On another note, for all that people are suggesting that footballers having exorbitant wages allows them to be charitable, this is true, but it’s also true that the percentage of their income people give to charity is typically inversely proportional to what they earn.  In other words, if footballers followed the pattern, like everyone else their lower income would see them give a greater proportion of what they earn to charity than they do now, even if the monetary value itself is lower.
Ed Quoththeraven

Sad and best wishes
I was sorry to see that Abou Diaby, , the former Arsenal midfielder has had to retire after an injury plague career when he only played 198 professional games over a 14 year career. The ex-France player although talented than many others clearly was not able to physically cope with the amount of matches and injuries on his body which in the end proved too much. I know he will be feeling sad his footballing career has ended far too early (32 years-old), but he should remember that people like me writing this email would loved to have reached his standard for one or two games, let alone close on 200 matches. It is every little boys/girls dream in the school playground to play the game we all love. I hope he has some money tucked away and finds a new career that gives him as much joy as he has done to the many fans over the years.
Tony Laforce, Hackney, London

Brendan
After reading the excellent reminder of his best quotes, I was daydreaming Brendan’s press conference unveiling:

Journalist: Brendan, Brendan…. what do you think you can bring to Leicester City

Brendan: …. Probably the humour.

Can’t wait to have him back…. for the LOL’s.
Chris, London