The FA Cup ties have dominated this weekend, pulling many Premier League teams out of league action for Week 30. This meant we have had to scrape by on the left over crumbs, but Sunday and Monday will bring two massive matches to stave our hunger for PL action.
Sunday offers Pochettino and his Spurs side the chance to rebound after a miserable night in Europe at the hands of Borussia Dortmund. Coming off the back of that 3-0 humiliation, is a trip to Villa Park to face all but relegated Aston Villa. This is a perfect opportunity to continue a strong title push at the stadium of the worst team in the league. But as Pochettino has warned his players they must not under estimate Remi Garde's team and show them the respect of any other Premier League side. While this encounter should realistically end only one way, Spurs will need to keep their mind sharp and on task to keep their title push moving forward. Villa seem down and out, but they are capable of a few more surprises that may have far reaching implications further up the table as relegation slides closer to reality.
Monday will give Leicester City the chance to further push themselves ahead of Arsenal and City (who don't play and drew nil-nil with Norwich respectively) in the title race. What can we really say now, the title is really in Leicester's own hands and Claudio Ranieri has done a fantastic job keeping his players minds focused and grounded for the monumental task at hand. While I'd have said this was a sure win for the Foxes if Steve McClaren were still at NUFC, the switch of managerial control to the likes of Rafa Benitez is sure to lift the locker room. Sides that see a manager depart mid season have a tendency to up the level of their play especially in front of a new manager. Obviously Benitez has taken on huge responsibility to try and save Newcastle from relegation, and the club have made a major managerial coup in signing the former Liverpool and Real Madrid coach. This should be a fantastic match for both sides, with a title and relegation on the line.
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My Official team was pretty destroyed by the lack of matches for Week 30 so I ended up with only 8 of 11 players active:
Schmeichel, Alderweild, Smith, Alli, Mahrez, Vardy, Kane, Aguero
No active bench and just a paltry 5pts so far from a very wrong decision to captain Aguero, but hey, that's fantasy right? How have your teams done? Who are you looking forward to bringing in for next week?
Cheers,
Kellz