As some sink to the depths, Eze shines and AFC are in the last 16

 

 

 

• What makes a abig club and who is to blame for Tottenham’s demise?
• 100 seasons in the top division: cracks appear in late 1970

By Tony Attwood

Well, here’s a nice change.  “Eberechi Eze inspires Arsenal to emphatic FA Cup victory against Wigan” says the Guardian.    But the manky old Telegraph disagrees saying “Eberechi Eze needs to learn from Jack Grealish to revive Arsenal career”   .   

Although the Mail retaliates with “Eberechi Eze stakes his claim to Mikel Arteta by showing class and character after recent struggles – and the star who shone in surprise new role as Arsenal thrash Wigan,

Ah well, can’t win ’em all, as they say.   And I do agree with the Telegraph’s “ TNT’s subscription-only coverage fails to stand out in any way”   Yes, we were playing a failing lower league club, but it was the FA Cup, and the FA Cup has its upsets; thankfully not with us, just with the TNT coverage.

Whatever way you see it, it was four goals in 16 minutes, and that stopped any worries, and also pretty much ensured that even if they ever had the thought, Wigan wouldn’t assume they could kick us out ofthe cup.

And yes, I’d also go along with the comment that “Just a smattering of ties are on free-to-air television this season, but TNT’s subscription-only coverage fails to stand out in any way.”   To retain some sort of magic, the FA Cup needs unexpected upsets and wide coverage on TV.   The former is a matter of chance, but the latter could have been arranged.   TNT lose their main TV rights in about 15 months and will mutate into something else – letting them have the FA Cup this was absolutely not a good idea.

Mind you, if you feel like wandering off into another land for a few moments, there is the extraordinarily long headline in the Mail at the moment which reads, “How Robin van Persie exploited a little-known loophole to get around Raheem Sterling’s Feyenoord work permit problem as star is forced to watch new team’s win from the stands”.   I’ll let you work it out for yourself – or you can read the whole thing.

So by and large, there we are.  The draw for the next round is today, Monday, and of course, given the total lack of style that the FA has these days, has been sold to TNT, and will be made before the fourth round match between Macclesfield and  Brentford. If you really want to know quickly, it is on the TNT Sports YouTube channel during the tie’s pre-match whatnots.  at about 6.35pm.   If you really reallhy really want to know the numbers are….

1. Liverpool
2. Fulham
3. Sunderland
4. Southampton
5. Wrexham
6. Arsenal
7. Chelsea
8. West Ham United
9. Mansfield Town
10. Norwich City
11. Port Vale or Bristol City
12. Wolverhampton Wanderers
13. Newcastle United
14. Manchester City
15. Macclesfield or Brentford
16. Leeds United

Something like 11 of the 16 clubs left are Premier League sides, although I might have miscounted.

But now we turn to more serious matters of the Premier League and find that this week we are playing one of the clubs left in the FA Cup, which generally means that we shall play the same team twice in a matter of a couple of weeks.   For on Wednesday, February 18th, we have Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal.   That is on Sky kick off at 8pm.

Ahead of that game, Arsenal are still showing four injuries, although Kai Havertz is now listed as being assessed for a comeback (although I am not sure we would need to rush him back for a game against Wolverhampton) and Saliba, who is being treated game by game, apparently.

And although of course, we shall come back to the matter in detail on Tuesday and Wednesday as usual, I thought it might be worth reminding ourselves of how the league table looks for the two clubs in questiion, although it is a day early….

Premier League table as it stands now