Chris Hatherall
1 Who will be top of the table in the New Year?
IN THE most unpredictable of title races it would take a brave man to put any serious money on who will be top on Monday let alone in January or at the end of May- but the whole thing hinges on the match between Arsenal and Chelsea on December 27th. The winners of that match will have a huge psychological boost going into future matches and although Manchester United currently top the pile – and remain unbeaten - it’s still anyone’s for the taking.
Chelsea have two home games, against Bolton and Villa, after visiting the Emirates so everything could be playing into Carlo Ancelotti’s hands despite his team’s recent demise. It could be a Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue Christmas.
2 Who will be the next manager to get the sack?
IN the golden olden days of common sense, this type of question was relatively easy to answer; take a quick look at current form, cross-reference it with the Premier League table, double-check football’s reference list of trigger-happy chairmen and, voila, job done. But not any more.
The recent axing of Chris Hughton at Newcastle certainly didn’t fit the criteria. Trigger-happy chairman at St James’ Park, yes, but the other boxes remained unchecked. Even worse was the departure of Sam Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers. Perhaps his style of football lacks common appeal and it’s fair to say he’s not everybody’s cup of tea – surely the only fans cheering for him to be England manager are Frenchmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen. But his record at Ewood Park was excellent and even Allardyce’s staunchest critics admit he’s good at what he does, achieving results on a limited budget.
So the reason Allardyce’s sacking sent shockwaves through the Premiership was two-fold; firstly he didn’t deserve it and secondly there’s a fair chance he’ll be back in work – at the cost of another poor unsuspecting manager’s job – in the very near future.
And that brings us very nicely to the answer to the question, which despite the complications of modern-day football and its erratic foreign owners is actually rather a simple one. It’s Avram Grant at West Ham. Let’s hope he shakes Big Sam’s hand on the way out – because he’ll certainly spot him as he leaves.
3 Will Frank Lampard make a big difference to Chelsea now he’s fit?
ANOTHER easy question with an easy answer; because although Chelsea have endured a miserable run, anyone who thinks their problems are deep-set and irretrievable is either over-optimistic or carried away by media hype. Chelsea’s problems are nothing more than a bout of poor confidence brought on by a run of bad results while key players were injured. John Terry now is back, Michael Essien is fit, Didier Drogba is over his malaria (and recovered from a hissy fit too) and Lampard is on the way back. So for Chelsea the only way is up.
Expect Lampard’s goals, creativity and experience to make an instant difference even if his match fitness may take a little while longer to arrive. Would anyone really be surprised if he scored at the Emirates on Monday?
4 When will Wayne Rooney finally score a goal from open play?
THIS has to be the most mind-blowing question of all because when Rooney scored against Bayern Munich in March he seemed almost unstoppable after 21 goals in 20 games.But, amazingly, that was the last time he scored from open play for his club. Just incredible.
But it can’t continue, can it? Next game is home to in-form Sunderland, masterminded by United legend Steve Bruce, then away to miserly Birmingham who will defend in numbers. Pencil in West Brom at the Hawthorns on New Year’s Day for Rooney’s landmark strike – and stick a bet on for another 15 or so before the end of the season.
5 What on earth do you buy a footballer for Christmas?
OK, it’s not the question on the lips of every fan in the country but there’ll be a fair few Wags sweating over this very dilemma today.
When your husband/boyfriend/strategic commercial partner earns up to £200,000 a week (or maybe more if you are Mrs Rooney) is there really anything left to buy?
It’s hard to picture Posh Spice and Coleen flicking through the Argos catalogue for inspiration like the rest of us, but spare a thought for poor Didier Drogba who believes the real truth is many professional footballers will end up with nothing.
“The problem is people say ‘ah, we don’t need to offer him something because he’s Didier Drogba.; he already has everything! So I don’t get any presents! But I need a lot – I promise. A lot.”
It’s hard to imagine exactly what’s on Drogba’s ‘must have’ list that he can’t send a Chelsea player liaison officer out to buy for him; but in fairness he did take the trouble to have a serious think about it.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” he said. “Maybe some lego! No, no, I’m joking. I think what I really want is a hospital – I’m raising money to build one for children in the Ivory Coast. So that’s what I want from Christmas, I hope it can happen.”
Maybe Premier League footballers are not quite as shallow as we first thought.
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