Has Cristiano Ronaldo reached his crossroads? The Portuguese legend is experiencing his worst goal drought in 13 years, and his body language has not looked good since November. Could it be that a 36 year old who has just turned 37 simply can't hack it in the Premier League anymore? Those were the thoughts before Manchester United took on Brighton in their re arranged game on Tuesday night. The first half offered little for United and Ronaldo to suggest that the player was going to score his first goal in two months and then the 51st minute came. Ronaldo rolling back the years burst through Brighton's defence and scored a great goal. He looked sharp from there on it and surely would have tapped in what ended up being Bruno Fernandes solo goal at the end. Suddenly you look at the goalscorers for the Premier League and 37 year old Ronaldo is in 4th place with 9 goals and 3 assists.
When Ronaldo is on his game he is a joy to watch but has he found the pace of the Premier League difficult at times despite his obvious technical greatness and experience? Of course Ronaldo can't solely be questioned, there have been a lot of poor displays from the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Harry Maguire. However the bottom line is that despite United winning under half of their games they are in 4th place. The danger remains from Arsenal, Wolves and Tottenham who all have games in hand over United and West Ham won't be giving up the chase just yet.
Chelsea are the World Club Cup champions for the first time in their history after they beat Palmares 1-0. Kai Havertz who hasn't had the best Premier League campaign scored the winner in a tight game. For some this cup doesn't mean a great deal but you could see how happy the Chelsea players were. This was in part due to how much club owner Roman Abramovich wanted the trophy, it was the one piece of silverware that was eluding them.
Frank Lampard got his first league win for Everton as they looked very impressive against Leeds at home winning 3-0 and the away team didn't even register a shot on target. Everton looked sharp, aggressive and full of ideas and the fans will start to believe that Lampard can steer them out of any relegation woes. On the face of it survival looks good for the club who haven't tasted lower league football for 70 years. The Toffees are now 5 points clear of 18th and have 2 games in hand.
Form is going to mean everything now as we head into the last 3 months of the season and it should be no surprise that Liverpool and Manchester City have the best of it. The Reds have won their last four games in a row. There are two teams who have surprised though in the past month and that is Wolves and Newcastle. Bruno Lage's side have won 4 of their last 5 games and there consistency has been so good they have to be considered to be in the mix for that coveted 4th spot. Newcastle are unbeaten in their last 5 games and have won their last 3, not many teams throughout the years who have been in the relegation zone can claim such a feat, but then again not many have been able to afford to spend £80m in the January transfer window. The Magpies have been dealt a blow though and defender Kieran Trippier who has clearly had a huge influence on the club could miss the next 6-8 weeks with his foot injury.
Premier League to finish in the Top 4- Arsenal 2.10, Manchester United 2.75, Tottenham 5.00, West Ham 8.00, Wolves 20.00
On the other scale these could be worrying times for Brentford, the Bees have really impressed at times this season and pulled off some wonderful results but their last 3 months have seen Thomas Frank's side hit a wall. They have the poorest form in the league and in their last 5 games have scored just two goals and conceded 10. Still they have a 7 point safety gap to the bottom three and will be fighting for every one of their 13 remaining games.
Finally we come to Watford and their revolving door of managers looks to have been the clubs downfall. How sad would it be that Roy Hodgson's ultimate gamble could end in his last roll of the dice ending with relegation? The flip side could see Hodgson keeping Watford up and cue scenes of joy at Vicarage Road as Hodgson now 74 can walk into the horizon with a beaming smile. However the Hornets look like they will be going down. Hodgson has earned just 1 point from a possible 9 and the club are 6 points adrift from safety and even that bar is Newcastle who are surely going to stretch that lead further.
Premier League relegation: Norwich 1.05, Watford 1.08, Burnley 1.30, Newcastle 5.00, Brentford 6.00
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