Alan Pardew Named Manager Of The Season

Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, has been named Premier League manger of the season for 2011-12.

Annual awards naming manager or player of the season usually lead to a good debate over a number of candidates who could have or should have won the award instead. Honourable mentions must go to Brendan Rogers at Swansea, Paul Lambert at Norwich and of course to whichever manager leads his team to the title. However, very few can argue that Alan Pardew's achievements this season have been anything other than sensational.

With Newcastle sitting in 5th position, with a chance of Champions League qualification still alive, in a season where most pundits predicted a relegation struggle is a huge success story. The credit for Newcastle's loft position belongs to more than one man, but Alan Pardew has used the resources available to him to exceed even the most optomistic of expectations.

Well done Alan!

Premier League Permutations

Has there ever been another season like this one? I stand to be corrected, but I cannot remember another season where the Premier League headed into the final round of fixtures with the title, two Champions League spots, 2 Europa League spots and one relegation place all still being fought over.

Some of the permutations are fairly simple. Others seem to conjure up so many different possibilities that it is hard to fathom, and thinking about it makes your head hurt and ears bleed.

The following is my attempt to make sense of all the different possibilities that we still find ourselves facing with only one set of fixtures to go.

The Title

This one is simple. With both Manchester clubs level on 86 points, but with Manchester City having a goal difference eight better than United, all Manchester City need to do is match United's result in their last game. Whatever result Manchester United achieve away to Sunderland then City just need to get the same result at home to Queen's Park Rangers.

In order for Manchester United to win the title then they have to hope that City draw or lose to QPR, and that they themselves do better. If both teams win then United would need to make up nine goals on City and that is not going to happen.

Champions League Qualification

This is where the fun starts!

Manchester City and Manchester United have both already qualified for the group stages of the 2012/13 Champions league by already having a top two position in the Premier League guaranteed.

The team that finishes in third place in the Premier League will also qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. At this stage, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United all still have a chance of finishing third.

Arsenal have the clearest route to third place. If they win away to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday then they will finish on 70 points and take third place. Winning their last game keeps finishing third entirely in Arsenal's own hands.

Should Arsenal draw against WBA then they have to hope that Spurs fail to win at home to Fulham. Although Newcastle could mathematically catch Arsenal if Arsenal drew, the far superior goal difference that Arsenal have means that a draw would see them guaranteed to finish above Newcastle.

If Arsenal were to lose away to WBA then they would need to hope that neither Tottenham or Newcastle win their final game in order to hold onto third spot. In addition, if Arsenal lost by more than one goal then they would also need Tottenham not to draw against Fulham as this would see Spurs overtake the Gunners on goal difference.

Tottenham Hotspur cannot finish third if Arsenal win against WBA. If Arsenal fail to win then a win for Spurs at home to Fulham will guarantee them third place.

If Tottenham draw at home to Fulham then they have to rely on Arsenal losing by two goals or more against WBA and Newcastle failing to win away to Everton.

Tottenham cannot finish third if they lose at home to Fulham.

Newcastle United must win away to Everton to stand any chance of finishing third. A draw or defeat would leave Newcastle able to finish no higher than fifth. Even if Newcastle win then they must rely on Arsenal losing and Tottenham failing to win.

Confused yet?......

The fourth Champions League qualifier will not be decided on the final day of the season.

If Chelsea win the Champions League final against Bayern Munich they will take the fourth Champions League spot and enter the Champions League at the group stage as title holders.

This will have no affect on the top three as they will all still enter at the group stage. However, it will mean that the fourth place team will qualify for the Europa League instead of the Champions League as no country may have more than four entrants to the competition.

However, if Chelsea lose the Champions League final then the fourth placed team in the Premier League will qualify for the play-off round of the Champions League.

Arsenal are guaranteed a top four place if they win or draw against WBA.

If Arsenal lose then they will still finish in the top four if either of the following happen:

• (1): Tottenham lose against Fulham or Tottenham draw and Arsenal only lose by one goal.
• (2): Newcastle fail to beat Everton.

Tottenham are guaranteed to finish in the top four if they win at home to Fulham.

If Tottenham draw against Fulham then they will still finish in the top four provided Newcastle fail to beat Everton.

If Tottenham lose against Fulham then they will still finish in the top four provided Newcastle fail to beat Everton.

Newcastle United must beat Everton at Goodison Park in order to finish in the top four and hope that Arsenal lose and Tottenham fail to win.

Newcastle cannot finish in the top four if they draw or lose against Everton.

Europa League

Liverpool have qualified for the Europa League as League Cup winners and will enter the competition in the 3rd preliminary round.

If Chelsea do not win the Champions League then they will qualify for the Europa League as F.A. Cup winners and will enter the competition at the group stage.

The fifth placed team in the league will qualify for the Europa League and enter the competition in the play-off round.

If Chelsea win the Champions League then the fourth placed team will qualify for the Europa League and enter the competition in the group stage.

The team who finish fifth will also qualify and will enter the competition at the play-off round.

Nobody else other than Arsenal, Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea or Liverpool have any possibilty of qualifying for the Europa League, with Liverpool being the only team sure that the Europa League is the competition they will be competing in.

Relegation

Although not mathematically safe, Aston Villa's goal difference means that they will not now be relegated.

Wigan Athletic are safe following their win away at Blackburn on Monday night.

Blackburn Rovers were relegated following their defeat at home to Wigan on Monday night, joining Wolverhampton Wanderers who were already down.

Bolton Wanderers must win at Stoke City and hope that Queens Park Rangers fail to pick up any points. Technically, Bolton can still overtake QPR if QPR draw, but they would need a swing in goal difference of nine goals to achieve that.

Queen's Park Rangers will be safe if they beat Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

They will still be safe if they draw provided Bolton fail to make up nine goals in beating Stoke. If Bolton fail to win they will be safe no matter the outcome of their own game.

I hope that helps. I'm going for a lie down now because my head hurts!!

Updated Monday 7th May 22:00 following Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Updated Tuesday 8th May 22:00 following Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea

Lawro's League Update

It has been a while since we looked at the progress that Mark Lawrenson is making in his Premier League predictions. Following his latest predictions, there will only be eight more games to play in this year's campaign. Therefore, the table is starting to take on a shape that is not going to be very different to the final outcome in May.

Perhaps in an attempt to prevent people showing his predictions in league format, he has complicated matters by predicting some cup games instead of Premier League games. To get around this problem we have had to insert the actual result for the six games affected.

As you can see from the above table (click on it for a larger view), Lawro isn't doing all that badly in some ways. He has the top five teams correct, albeit in the wrong order, and two of the teams in relegation places make up his bottom two. The stand out mistakes are Swansea in a relegation spot rather than their superb 8th place, and Wolves in a safe 9th rather than propping up the table.

...And Back To Lawro

By his own low standards, the great moustached one (in Lawroland its a moustache not a beard) didn't have too bad a week. In Lawroland Chelsea may have beaten the Scousers and the Potters overcome QPR, but all in all he wasn't too far out. He also failed to spot a Blackburn comeback against Wigan, but then who would have predicted refereeing like that?

Speaking of Wigan, I don't know who is scheduled to turn on their Christmas lights this year but Lawro must be in with a shout. I think Lawro, Alex McLeish and His Royal Donkiness Heskey should be locked in a cage for a fight to the death, the three of them having been recognised as the only people who could possibly have Wigan level on points with Aston Villa. The winner gets to press the big red button and illuminate the Lancashire town. Just a thought.....

Once again, click on the image below to see the full Premier League table in Lawroland.

Worrying Reading For Chelsea Fans

I know its early in the season and way too soon to be jumping to conclusions, but they often say that one of the major factors that dictates the level of success you will achieve is how you get on against the teams around you. I was going to show a 'big six' league, but for the moment you can't ignore that Newcastle are sitting in third place - so for now its a big seven league.

Even this early in the season, the table that shows how these teams have got on in games against each other must be a major cause of concern to Chelsea fans.

It would be no surprise if the finishing order in this table at the end of the season was also the finishing order in the premier league. Chelsea can't afford any more slip ups against the top teams - and they haven't played the seemingly unstoppable Man City yet!!

That Sinking Feeling!

 

I predict a riot! With the start of the season only a few days away its all kicking off! The amount of money spent has reached upwards of £269,075,000!


With all this dosh being spent by 'The Big Boys' The other teams located up and down the country have been looting other clubs for any freebees they can get their hands on! Stoke snapping up former England international Jonathan Woodgate from Spurs, Sunderland have taken Westwood, Larsson & David Vaughan without even spending a penny! The QPR management team have also been @ it! Walking out of Upton Park with Welshman Danny Gabbidon & Kieron Dyer under their arms! While Neil Warnock was photographed taking Jay Bothroyd for a spin in his new bright pink Bugatti Veyron, next thing you know Bothroyd's pictured in the QPR team photo!

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