IT may be the week of Valentine’s Day but it’s also a week that sees the return of the Champions League.
So if your favourite restaurant is fully-booked on Wednesday night why not stay at home and have a romantic night in instead?
You know the kind of thing; candles, a nice bottle of something and Porto and Liverpool on the telly.
That’s love, right there…
TALKING THE TALK
If you’re looking for what inspired West Ham to that much-needed win over Watford on Saturday look no further than the statement that the Hammers’ joint chairman David Sullivan put out prior to the match.
It was truly rousing stuff.
“I know the fans are not happy and that makes me unhappy,” he said.
SUN GOALS Watch Premier League highlights including goals from Newcastle vs Manchester United and Liverpool’s win over Southampton
“We want more ups than downs. The supporters want more ups than downs. And we’ve had a few too many downs and not enough ups.”
Now, I’m too young to remember Churchill’s addresses to the nation but…
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WHO’S THE BOSS?
Who’s going to be manager of the year? Well, it’d be all too easy to give it to Pep Guardiola at City and while Sean Dyche at Burnley is a shout the fact that they haven’t won in ten games and are one of the league’s lowest scorers might see him overlooked.
My tip? Carlos Carvalhal at Swansea. What he’s done at the Liberty Stadium since taking over in late December has been nothing short of phenomenal.
But more than that, he’s done it with humour, charisma and a smile on his face, despite the Swans’ perilous position.
Contrast that with the only other Portuguese manager in the Premier League.
NO WAY JOSE
Brighton’s defensive heroics at the end of the 1-1 draw with Stoke yesterday may have grabbed the headlines but did you see that goal from Jose Izquierdo?
It had the lot; pace, precision, a double one-two and a clinical finish.
If Manchester City would have scored that you’d never hear the end of it.
But Brighton? Last game on MOTD obviously.
KEEPING THE FAITH
Talking of Manchester City, the contrast between the two goalkeepers at the Etihad on Saturday evening couldn’t have been more pronounced, could it?
One was calmness personified, spraying passes around to his team-mates with unerring accuracy and generally tidying up anything and everything that managed to evade his defence.
The other was Kasper Schmeichel.
WHERE’S WILF?
Are Crystal Palace the closest thing the Premier League have to a one-man team?
Well, it certainly looks that way.
Deprived of their talisman Wilfried Zaha after his knee injury at Newcastle, Roy Hodgson’s side laboured against an Everton side that weren’t much better either.
The 3-1 defeat now means Palace have played seven league games without the Ivory Coast star this season – and lost each and every one of them. In fact, they haven’t won a match without him since September
2016.
He can’t come back soon enough for the Eagles.
TOP OF THE DROPS
Just when you think the relegation candidates are beginning to fall into place so all the struggling sides suddenly pull results out of the bag.
Swansea beat Burnley. Huddersfield end a five-match losing streak by battering Bournemouth and Newcastle hold on for three points against Manchester United.
The net result is that we’re no clearer to knowing who’s going to be slipping out of the Premier League this season.
And if West Brom beat Chelsea tonight, well, then all bets really are off…
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