Can Fulham turn it around, José Mourinhos majesty, Arsenals daunting run and snakes and ladders at the foot of the table1) Are Fulham building an ark of triumph?René Meulensteen famously asked his players to visualise themselves as animals, which makes one wonder what animal he himself most resembles. Some endangered species, obviously. Or perhaps an emu, since the waning powers of Damien Duff mean Meulensteen does not have wings of any use (and he also got a fisting by Hull). A lack of width has been far from Fulhams only problem, of course: their manager is a Dutchman who was given a dyke riddled with holes and he has found that plugging just one or two of them has seldom been enough. As a result, his team has generally been as weak a mishmash as this paragraphs metaphors. But in January he sought to bring much-needed balance, energy and firepower and at Old Trafford we will get the first indication as to whether the hasty repair job will be sufficient to save Fulham. And Kostas Mitroglu will get the first indication as to whether he is likely to be given enough opportunities to show how lethal a striker he can be. PD2) Majestic MourinhoJosé Mourinho spent six months sulking about not getting the job he craved, and which he believed was his destiny. His early-season public relations were so transparent that a child could have seen through them. Now, invigorated by the whiff of a winnable title race and a squad he is starting to recognise, he really is The Happy One. Mourinho has been in his element of late, magnetic and majestic during press conferences, while his victory over Manuel Pellegrini was almost comically emphatic. He has the air of a puppeteer, fiddling with the title race as he pleases and flicking subliminal V signs to the rest of the football country. Look out for more during or after the match against Newcastle. When Mourinho is at his best – and he is bang in form right now – every gesture and every syllable serves a greater purpose. RS3) Who will be Englands latest World Cup saviour?So every Monday some unlikely player has to be hailed as the missing link in Roy Hodgsons World Cup squad, the man whose late surge for a call-up could be the difference between a sorry first-round exit by England and a sorry quarter-final exit. Bandwagons have already been launched to support the candidacies of Tom Huddlestone, Andros Townsend, Gareth Barry and Adam Johnson. Who will it be after the latest round of fixtures? How long before someone suggests that Hodgson should have a proper look at that Tom Cleverley? Oh wait … PD4) Check out Southamptons midfield linchpinJack Cork for England! OK, perhaps not, but Cork should certainly start more regularly for Southampton. Victor Wanyama was re-introduced to the side prematurely last week after injury and it was only when Cork came on at half-time that Southampton began to take Fulham apart. He may not be quite as dynamic as Wanyama is (when fully fit) but Cork is not sluggish and is a far more careful and canny passer. He and Morgan Schneiderlin can lay the foundation for victory over Stoke this week. Oh, and Schneiderlin for France! PD5) Arsenal cannot afford a losing drawBeware the day after the Ides of March. On March 16 Arsenal begin a run of four consecutive league games against Spurs (A), Chelsea (A), Man City (H) and Everton (A). If they are to have a chance of becoming the most unlikely title winners since Leeds in 1991-92, they may need to win all five matches before then – especially as Chelsea and City look a decent bet to win their next six league games.Arsène Wenger knows about the unforgiving pace of a title race; his team won 10 in a row to clinch the title in 1997-98 and 13 in a row at the back end of 2001-02. Ordinarily a draw at Liverpool would be a good result, especially as Luis Suárez will be desperate to bite the hand that wanted to feed him, but draws are the new defeats for teams aspiring to the title. There is an increasing sense that Arsenal need three points if they are to disprove those who have smugly dismissed them as a deluxe version of Norwich 1992-93, pacemakers set to drop out on the final lap. RS6) Will Moyes play his Fab Four?Manchester Uniteds squad is more suited to a romantic like Ossie Ardiles, not a pragmatist like David Moyes. With the possible exception of David de Gea their four best players are attackers, yet Moyes is not really in the business of playing anything resembling a 4-2-4. If he cannot find a way to include Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Adnan Januzaj and Juan Mata at home to a team as poor as Fulham, he never will.Mata was a panic buy. There is no shame in that – the greatest signing in football history, Eric Cantona, was the ultimate panic buy – yet there are concerns as to how Moyes will use all four players. Januzaj has easily been the highlight of Uniteds season, despite the excessive praise for Rooneys efficiency and endeavour. It is not just that Januzaj needs a decent amount of game time; it is that Moyes needs the reflected goodwill that comes from Januzajs performances. RS7) Tottenham and Toffees in rare interesting matchEverton and Spurs, two of the biggest clubs in the land, yet it has been well over a decade since they faced other in a league match that even neutrals looked forward to. Back in April 1998 they went head-to-head in a highly-fraught relegation battle, this time they meet at White Hart Lane in a match that could go a long way to establishing which of them has the goods to sustain a challenge for a Champions League spot. If either team loses this, they will be almost out of the running. This promises to be fun. PD8) Are Norwich just going to take a Manchester City backlash?When it comes to style clashes, it is hard to beat Wenger v Sam Allardyce or Roberto Martínez v Tony Pulis. But the biggest juxtaposition of mindsets in the Premier League this season may well take place at Carrow Road this weekend: Manuel Pellegrini can be adventurous to the point of being cavalier, Chris Hughton can be cautious to the point of tears. Injuries may limit Pellegrinis options to beef up the midfield that was bullied by Chelsea on Monday so the major question is: given Citys possible vulnerability and the fact that his teams previous attempt to hold them at bay resulted in annihilation at the Etihad, will Hughton dare to unshackle his side a tad? PD9) Snakes and ladders in the bottom halfThe relegation cliché of choice used to be that you were never too good to go down. In recent years, the inequality created by the indefensible avarice of the Premier League has been such that it is now the case that you are never too bad to stay up. If relegation were decided on merit by an independent panel, as many as 11 teams would be up for discussion. As it is three will go, and the snakes and ladders will continue this weekend: West Ham, currently in the relegation zone, could end the weekend in 11th. RS10) What style will Swansea play?It would be easy to paint Garry Monk as the Anglo-Saxon oaf to Michael Laudrups continental aesthete, though Monk is more educated than most in the enlightened ways of Swansea. In recent weeks many pundits have suggested Swansea need a Plan B to avoid relegation; whether that is viable given their collection of players is open to debate. The new manager may fancy some Garrymonk football; then again, in a decades time tactics correspondents might be hailing the Monkian philosophy of football as the logical extension of tiki-taka. We will know more after Cardiffs visit. RSPremier LeagueFulhamChelseaSouthamptonArsenalManchester UnitedTottenham HotspurEvertonNorwich CityManchester CitySwansea CityPaul DoyleRob Smyththeguardian © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Posted on: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 09:20:19 +0000