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EPL Week 24

Published by DSAdmin on February 1, 2009

With Edwin van der Sar setting a new English League record for not conceding a goal, it was apt that the weekends league fixtures featured a number of games with a severe lack of goals. Ferguson’s team have been taking the fun out of football for years with their relentless domination of the game but this recent run of form has made every team look at their own back door and make it a little bit more secure.

That said, the Aston Villa versus Wigan game was not what you would call boring. Villa fans are probably pinching themselves with the fact that they are only a few points off the top of the league in February but they really couldn’t believe their eyes at what they saw on Saturday. The action in the Wigan six yard box was more akin to a pinball table as opposed to top flight football but no matter how many times Villa managed to get the ball beyond Chris Kirkland in goal, a Wigan player would pop up from nowhere to clear the ball off the line. Wigan were wearing their luminous yellow change kit so its not as if the Villa players can say they didn’t see them, but perhaps the Wigan players were blending in with the stewards behind the goal. It’s rare to find someone wearing a luminous top as camouflage but Steve Bruce’s plan worked a treat and Wigan stole a point and Villa boss Martin O’Neill could only look on bemused at the frustrated afternoon his team faced.

Another shut-out occurred at the Emirates but Arsene Wenger gets what he deserves on that account. Arsenals last ten goals have either been scored by Robin van Persie or featured the Dutchman claiming an assist for the strike. Its therefore hard to contemplate what Wenger was thinking about by dropping the main man to the bench and replacing him with Niklas Bendtner. Its hard to see what Bendtner brings to the Arsenal team apart from ludicrous footwear, so perhaps the decision to rest van Persie means Wenger is now prioritizing the cups over maintaining a title challenge. Arsenal fans can crow about good football all they want but its been a growing number of years since Arsenal lifted any silverware and with Spurs back in another final this season, the frustration of the crowd at the Emirates must be reaching levels unheard of since the George Graham days, another team who developed a reputation of a strong defense and grinding out one goal victories.

Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers shared another goalless draw as the logjam at the bottom shows no sign of easing. Bottom club West Brom managed another point in a pulsating 2-2 draw with Hull and Bolton gave Harry Redknapp more to ponder with a 3-2 win over Spurs. The way Spurs are going, their best hope of staying is through buying every opposition player they can get and leave their rivals unable to field a team between now and the end of the season. Spurs bank manager will be one person who is looking forward to the transfer window closing as he is due a well deserved rest.

**Photo Credit: dalli58 **

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