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Liverpool Relentless
It was nice to see West Ham change up tactics and actually give Liverpool a game on Monday night. Instead of David Moyes' usual policy of parking the bus, the Hammers decided to attack Liverpool, and at one point were 2-1 up at Anfield. It's rare to see Alisson concede 2 goals in a game and for a time Liverpool were unhinged before they came back and won 3-2. In the end it looked like Liverpool's limitless stamina was the difference, being able to maintain such a high intensity for the whole 90 minutes, West Ham just didn't have the legs to hold off Liverpool's relentless pressure towards the end of the game. It is evident that if Moyes is going to keep up West Ham this season they will need to throw the caution off and attack, after all when you attack you have more chance to score goals. As for Liverpool, i've never seen a team in my lifetime display the levels of fitness they display, or even come close to it. Even Premier League great Thierry Henry said he feels tired watching Liverpool. For 90 minutes in every game of a very busy schedule they sprint for every lose ball, sprint to close down the opposition, make lung bursting runs forward off the ball, and it never looks like they even need to catch breath. I'm not sure what to make of it, but what i do know is that in sport, fitness wins. You can have a more talented team finish lower in the league than a less talented but fitter team, so if a very talented Liverpool side are going to maintain these levels of intensity, then the rest of the teams in the league are going to need to up their fitness or they will simply not be able to match them.
Man City Keep Focus
The current champions Manchester City have really reacted well to their 2 year European ban and even though they may win the appeal they should be applauded for staying focused. That has led them to win their last 2 games against West Ham and Leicester, and they will likely secure 2nd place now.
Lampard does double over Mourinho
As for the chase for 4th, Chelsea did themselves no harm by beating Tottenham 2-1 and Frank Lampard has done the double over his old manager Jose Mourinho this season. As for Mourinho it was amusing to see him crack up with laughter at the thought of Tottenham's injury list expanding. Normally he would be as dour as a doormat, and it was refreshing to see him try and take the lighter side of what could be a grave situation for the club in the last furlong of the league campaign.
Take away Liverpool and the club with the best form is….Burnley, who would have expected that? The club are unbeaten in 5 games and have beaten Manchester United and Leicester in that time and drawn with Arsenal. Sean Dyche's team have really picked up and they are in 10th place with 37 points, just four points from a top 5 finish.
Premier League top 10 finish odds: Arsenal 1.05, Sheffield United 1.05, Everton 1.44, Southampton 2.75, Burnley 2.75
European Round-up
In the European leagues, Lionel Messi was back to his best scoring 4 goals as Barcelona beat Eibar 5-0. There was the added bonus that Barca went back to the top of the standings because Real Madrid lost 1-0 to Levante in a shock defeat.
In Italy Lazio moved within 1 point of Juventus. If Lazio were to win the league it would be seen as one of the biggest surprises in European football and the team from Rome have not won Serie A for 20 years.
After scoring 4 goals against Amiens last weekend PSG did it again and beat Bordeaux 4-3 in a very exciting match. Though the game was marred a little as Neymar was sent off. Here's the thing though, it is the Rio Carnival in Brazil and for the past six seasons at this time Neymar has coincidently not been available to play for his clubs and has headed to Rio. Did he just manufacture that again? Time will tell. Anyhow PSG won and 2nd placed Marseille lost, so PSG extended their lead at the top to 13 points and that league is well and truly over.
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