Bring on Super Sunday!
It it’s good, I might re-discover my appetite for football.
What do I really, really think this Friday night?
Nothing. I’m not thinking, I’m just waiting.
If Spurs win, will Arsenal lose?
Maybe but who can see Spurs winning on Sunday?
My premonition, my gut feeling, my put-my-balls-on-the rails preview is that Spurs could draw and Arsenal could lose.
I don’t really fancy Arsenal on Sunday because they don’t score enough goals. Last week they conceded three to Swansea, so I wonder how many Rooney, Nani and Welbeck will score.
Rooney’s on £200,000 a week and Danny Welbeck’s only on £15,000, so maybe Welbeck, a tenacious athlete, will be angry and keen to make his mark to earn the new contract he deserves.
Maybe I fancy Spurs to stay 10 points ahead of Arsenal.
If both games are draws, Arsenal will still be 10 points behind Tottenham with only 16 matches to go and the distraction of AC Milan coming up.
But isn’t it about time Spurs had a blip? Can they really go to Manchester City and get a result without Adebayor?
Possibly. I’m not ruling it out.
What about Arsenal v Manchester United? I think they’re second on the bill on Sunday.
The City-Spurs game is more interesting because both of them are so hungry. Jittery of late, but very hungry.
There’s much more pressure on City than on Spurs.
THIS IS A BIG ASK, I KNOW.
But if Spurs can beat Manchester City 1-0, they’re good enough to finish third. And if Spurs are third, they’re in heaven because they’ll be above Arsenal and Chelsea.
For a long time, Manchester United versus Arsenal was the biggest game of the season.
The clubs enjoyed a duopoly until Roman Abramovich dropped out of the sky in 2003.
But now the match between the new contenders is more interesting than the one between the old champions.
And United have been down this road more often than any other club. As Lazio coach Virgil said as recently as 22 BC, “Trust one who has gone through it.”
City miss Yaya Toure, big time.
He’s a game-breaker, a colossus, a match-winner, a guy who makes everything seem possible. This is good time for Manchester United to go above City, while Yaya is otherwise engaged.
Ivory Coast play Sudan on Sunday, as Rob Hughes reminds us in his weekend previews.
Didier Drogba is a huge figure in African life, maybe the biggest since Nelson Mandela. He stopped a civil war and became one of Time magazine’s 100 most notable people in 2010.
But I’m not really tuned in to football today and I’ve lost track of the days this week. Didn’t get any real writing done because the day didn’t go as planned and I spent a big chunk of it with two friends, one of whom has been in Asia for three weeks.
Still, sometimes you just let life happen and I’m actually re-energised now and feel as if a New Year has started at last.
Barclays Premier League again? It’s a long season. It’s a bloody long season that seems as if it’s been going for eight or nine months already.
News tonight that Etta James has died aged 73.
By a strange coincidence I was looking at a scrapbook of 150 concert tickets from the Nineties earlier today and remembered seeing her at the Town & Country Club. As a singer, Etta was the real deal.
Juke Joint Promotions
are very proud indeed to present
Etta James and the Roots Band
Wednesday 26th July 1989.