Premier League 2011-12

great display from us today well done moyes and lads Jelavic is going to be a big hit in the prem thats 8 goals in 8 starts

Simon's views express what many Manchester United supporters are thinking right now. This was a lost opportunity and now means United can not lose next week at Eastlands (I am not into those temporary corprorate names.) Rafael was awful and I think Ferguson now must realise he just is not United quality as a fullback. I expect him to be moved this summer. I would say Vidic's absence is hurting the team. He can be covered for awhile while out injured but over time how can you not miss one of the world's best centrebacks?

Well we always say United's strength is the mental toughness of the club, next week will be the time for that toughness to come to the front. Nothing would be more painful to me than to lose this league title after our 8 point advantage to City of all teams.

Blue, I too really like Jelavic. A smart forward with a good finishing touch. He is the best player to come out of the Scottish league in some time.

I bet Roy Hodgson enjoyed WBA's win at Anfield!

You should read this acocunt from Fabrice Muamba of how he felt when he was having his heart attack. Very moving.

Robin van Persie has edged both Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero for the PFA Player of the Year award. I still think it foolish to be awarding this, much less voting on it, before the season is decided. Yet van Persie's is I think meritorious of the prize.

The last time Man City won the title was back in 1968, pipping their local rivals by 2 points. On that occasion Man Utd's last game was against Sunderland, as it will be again this season. Man City's last match in 1968 was against Newcastle. Well, the coincidences break down a little here, as their match against Newcastle this year is the penultimate game.

I think this, by the way, could be City's hardest match in those they have left. QPR at home on the last day of the season should present no problems at all.

Thanks SuperEagle for the link to the Muamba article. Sounds like fast thinking and organized onfield care is what saved his life.

Anybody seen either Emmanuel Adebayor or Jermain Defoe in the past month?

Yes, Robin Van Persie is a deserving winner. IMO he's been the best centre-forward in the world for the last year and a half.

Vital match in the PL tonight, as Bolton beat Villa 2-1 at Villa Park. Warnock had given Villa the lead, but soon afterwards Petrov and Ngog scored two goals in the space of a minute for Bolton and they won a massive three points.

Bolton are still in the relegation zone, but they are just 3 points behind Villa with a game in hand. My instinct says Villa will still stay up, but let's discard all talk of being 'too big to go down'. Aston Villa are in big trouble. Onslow, I feel for you mate.

could McLeish bring two clubs down in two seasons if villa do go down their will war
with him coming from birmingham city after been over them when they went down.

Darren Bent goals are a big miss but they need their leader Richard Dunne back big time
or villa could go down, myself i think they just might stay up

Maybe he is trying to repay the brummies If Villa goes down, I think its safe to say McLeish would never be allowed to return to Birmingham again.

I will say this Onslow warned us about McLeish even before he officially became Aston Villa's coach. I remember he was adamantly against McLeish getting the job. Looks like he will be suffering in these final weeks of the season.

I am certainly suffering but I partially envisioned this scenario when we hired McLeish. Remember he led Birmingham to two relegations in four years! Hopefully it will not be 3 in 5 for him for clubs from the same city! But 1 win out of the last 13 matches does not raise hopes.

Naturally the players share the blame too but McLeish has never inspired confidence and it shows on the pitch. There are 3 matches remaining and Villa has to treat each one as a final, beginning this weekend at The Hawthorns against our rivals West Brom. I better get my bottle of antacids ready!

TBF your side had some pretty serious injuries to key players. Dunne, Bent & Petrov are mainstays for your club. I do remember the beating they gave the Blues @ the Bridge in December. CFC were cruising & I believe Bent came on as a sub & it was all over for CFC. I think that was Ireland's best performance I seen from him in a Villa kit.

Another brace for Jelavic today thats 10 goals since he came in january in Evertons
4 nil win again fulham

Wigan with another big scalp beating Newcastle 4 nil also villa and W.B.A finish nil nil

Blue conveniently forgot to include Liverpool's 3-0 win over Norwich, highlighted by 3 goals from Luis Suarez, including his final one a 45 metre lob over Norwich keeper John Ruddy! A nice way for Liverpool to lead in to next week's FA Cup Final against Chelsea. Well the reds also play Fulham next Tuesday in league play too but I expect Dalglish will give some regualrs the night off then to properly prepare for the Cup Final. A disappointing league campaign can be obscured with two Cup wins by the Reds.

Somebody woke up Fernando Torres, he scored 3 goals in Chelsea's 6-1 rout of QPR. Actually that someone might have been Juan Mata who was brilliant today in midfield. Looked like DiMatteo was trying out some possibilities for the Champions League Final considering Ramires, Meireles and Ivanovic will be suspended (plus Terry of course.) John Terry did play today, the others did not. Instead Bosingwa played centerback and the midfield, which was superb, was composed of Essien, Lampard and, at the point, Mata. It worked magnificiently, although Bayern will be far tougher opponents than relegation candidates QPR.

If Roberto di Matteo can now add 'getting the best out of Fernando Torres' to his remarkable list of accomplishments, then surely Abramovich should just give him the job? They do not need a 'big name', they just need someone who can get the best out of the considerable talent they have, harmonise the dressing room and get everyone pulling in the same direction. In terms of talent and potential I really don't think Chelsea are weaker than they were when they did the league and cup double in 2010, maybe Roberto di Matteo is the man to restore them to that level?

Of course it also helps that he's a Chelsea man with the respect of the players and fans.

So Chelsea are now 5th. Here is the current battle for CL places. The complication is that if Chelsea win the CL then the team who finish 4th will go into next season's Europa League, not the CL:

3rd Arsenal P36 PTS 66
4th Newcastle P35 PTS 62
-----------------------------------
5th Chelsea P35 PTS 61
6th Tottenham P34 PTS 59

Spurs have just kicked off at home to Blackburn and really need to buck the trend of the last two months by winning the match.

Meanwhile at the bottom, Wolves are already down:

15th Aston Villa P36 PTS 37
16th Wigan P36 PTS 37
17th QPR P36 PTS 34
--------------------------------
18th Bolton P36 PTS 34
19th Blackburn P35 PTS 31

Wigan have been the revelation of the relegation battle. They were bottom of the league not too long ago, and an extremely hard run of fixtures to come, so most people quite reasonably assumed that they were down. But look what they've done - over the past 2 months they've won at Anfield against Liverpool, lost very unluckily 2-1 at Chelsea with an offside winner, then recorded back to back victories against Manchester United and at Arsenal and now they have thrashed Newcastle 4-0. Incredible.