One of the original, house hold Premier League names have been relegated. Aston Villa have had a dire season, and they were finally put out of their misery with a 1-0 defeat at old Trafford, seeing them relegated with 4 games remaining.
Villa, only on 16 points from a possible 102 points, have struggled through their 4th manager this season, and now find themselves needing to be put back together, after their fans and the media criticised their belief and passion after a humiliating season.
The fans and some pundits have lashed out claiming, there is no heart which has seen some terrible performances during the campaign, to condemn Aston Villa to England's 2nd tier of football for the first time since the mid 80's.
Sunday saw Leicester City come back from the dead, with a 95 minute leveller to salvage a point in their fight with West Ham. Leicester are now 5 points clear of Spurs with 4 matches remaining, and realistically need 2 more wins to pull off the most unlikely Premier League title. Spurs however are hot on their heels and with Kane in devastating form, it's likely to go down to the wire this season.
Other Sunday fixtures involved a resurgent Liverpool, winning 2-1 away from home at Bournemouth. The win puts Liverpool in striking distance from the top 4 with results favouring them into the run in. Klopp has reinvigorated Liverpool as they go into the final 4 of the Europa cup as he aims to bring Liverpool back to Europe's elite.
In the last Sunday match, Crystal Palace all but ended Arsenal's slim premier league title chances with a 1-1 draw in south London. Arsenal now are in a fight for the top 4 whilst Palace should be safe with another point in their remaining 4 fixtures.
Saturday's early kick off was a thrilling relegation 6 pointer which favoured the neutral. Sunderland travelled to Norwich knowing only a win would do and they delivered for their delighted fans. Knowing that a Norwich victory would almost seal their relegation, instead the black cats got off to a flyer with an early Penalty before scoring 2 second half goals to ensure a 3-0 win and bring themselves back into the contest, now only 1 point behind Norwich in the fight to avoid the drop.
Newcastle kept their end of the bargain to ensure a thrilling relegation battle, with a 3-0 win at home to Swansea. Newcastle are now only 1 win off Sunderland and 4 points off the safe zone with a midweek catch up game to come.
In the remaining fixtures, Everton & Southampton played out a 1-1 draw whilst Watford beat West Brom 1-0 away. Manchester City defeated a poor Chelsea in London with a hat trick to the underrated Aguero.
The race for the golden boot is now wide open with Aguero, Vardy and Kane all at equal odds to win the prestigious award!
Wesley Tronson is a bank manager in Brisbane CBD and lived in England for seven years to 2010 in banking and soccer.
Wesley Tronson's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/wesley-tronson.html
