So here we are, the FA Cup final is done and dusted for another season and just before we head into the strange limbo-land ahead of the start of the four week football extravaganza that is the World Cup, there is only the small matter of the Champions League Final for us self-avowed football obsessives […]
The most disappointing thing about the final day of the Premier League season is that pretty much all of the major issues have been decided. Chelsea were confirmed as Champions thanks to their 1-0 win at West Brom last Friday evening, and it isn’t just a desire to be magnanimous that means that we should […]
Well that wasn’t how I thought last weekend was going to turn out at all! As I wrote on these very pages last week (https://football-nerd.org/2017/05/05/football-nerd-weekly-ramblings-abject-arsenal-plumb-new-depths-while-feyenoord-could-make-the-dream-a-reality-this-weekend/), I thoroughly expected Tottenham to keep the pressure up on table-toppers Chelsea, but instead their single goal defeat at the London Stadium saw them virtually hand Antonio Conte’s side the […]
As an Arsenal supporter there is only really one place to start this week and that is with yet another weak-willed capitulation, this time for the final time at the home of our nearest-but-not-so-dearest North London rivals. Criticism of yet another abject performance from Arsène Wenger’s side should in no way denigrate from the quality […]
The main focus of the weekend here in England were the two FA Cup Semi-Finals at Wembley; whether you are in favour of the semi-finals being played at Wembley, or as a traditionalist like me think that the big stage should be reserved for the Final alone; it is undeniable that playing these games at […]
The big shock at the weekend was Chelsea being beaten by a resurgent Crystal Palace at home, in a game that they somehow contrived to lose despite taking an early lead through Fabregas. Two goals in five minutes put Palace 2-1 ahead before the game even reached the quarter of an hour mark, a lead […]
The perceived wisdom ahead of their visit to Stamford Bridge last Saturday lunchtime was that Arsenal needed to win to keep alive any feint hope of staying in the title race. The fact that they didn’t and that they went down with barely a whimper was far from surprising; the only real shock was that […]
Unlike any other of the major leagues in Europe, the Premier League programme intensifies over the festive period. This year in particular offered a test of survival for the clubs with all of them having to play 3 league matches within at most 10 days. The scheduling this year saw a number of teams playing […]
There is always the danger that the big game last weekend between Manchester City and Chelsea will be remembered more for what happened in the closing stages than for the masterful display that Conte’s Chelsea put in. Fellow super-coach Pep Guardiola paid Conte the ultimate compliment going into the match, setting up his expensively assembled […]
Almost as soon as the final whistle went at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, my phone pinged with a message from my cousin wishing me ‘Happy Invincibles Day!’ (that point in the season when it becomes impossible for any Premier League team to match the achievement of the Invincibles and go through the whole season […]
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