Premiership Previews (16th-17th May)
May 16, 2009 | Written by : Chris Mackin
Manchester United prepare for tomorrow’s fixture against Arsenal hoping to win their first league trophy at Old Trafford in ten years.
Note the careful wording. League wins haven’t been a particularly uncommon occurrence for Manchester United over the last decade, you understand, but their support has been somewhat put out by the location of where these wins have been collected.
Ten years of hurt for the Old Trafford faithful, then, or at least those that can’t get to as many away games as they used to since the children were born. But isn’t it the waiting, the disappointment and the nagging lack of fulfilment which makes the victories, when they do eventually arrive, all the sweeter?
And one can only imagine the quivering anticipation around the bars, the eateries and the official megastores before kick off tomorrow. For there will be some amongst the throngs who are yet to exchange their final season ticket voucher for a glimpse of their smiling captain holding the Premier League trophy aloft for the first time.
Our hearts go out to these people. And not just our hearts surely: it’s fair to suggest that even those not typically enamoured with Alex Ferguson’s team, those in Liverpool, for example, or Ricky Hatton and the Gallagher brothers, can surely put provincial concerns behind them and recognise what it would mean to those special supporters to see their team lift a trophy in a fixture neatly accommodating of their weekend schedule.
Fingers crossed, then, though many worry, with perhaps some legitimacy, that in a week where Leeds United and MK thingiegum have been so hilariously dumped out of the play offs, we are due a fall.
If there are legs to this theory, Manchester United needn’t feel too despondent: in a domestic climate where what competition they are faced with is at best fleeting, how thrilling to be, as a new challenge, competing with the calendar and the FA’s fixture generating computer. This one looks set to run and run.
Down at the bottom, and a relegation battle which is all a bit stagnant, really, isn’t it? Newcastle United, who have spent the best part of a season rotating managers, selling their best players and not beating the first man at set pieces, recorded one win against a Middlesbrough team (who, inexplicably, managed to be even worse that their North East best mates) and now, for all intents and purposes, look out of it.
Leaving St. James’ Park the other night, home supporters were doing comical double takes, re-checking with one another that either a win for their team against Fulham (which is played today) or a Hull defeat at Bolton (also today) is enough to secure another year of Premiership fun and games, now with an additional trip to Wolverhampton thrown in as a bonus.
Newcastle won’t beat Fulham (because Newcastle are rubbish at football at football and Fulham are alright) but should be fine because Hull won’t beat Bolton either (because, though both these are rubbish at football, Bolton have at least some remote semblance of organisation).
Elsewhere: It’s all winding down at little, isn’t it? This is the part of the season where the fidgety start eyeing up perspective seat changes for next year and spend much of the first half flicking languidly through their matchday programme.
Take the opportunity to chat to the person next to you. Sure, you spend much of your match going year studiously ignoring him and avoiding eye contact when confirming the identity of the oncoming substitutes, but if ever there was a time to be polite and make friends, then surely that time is when all that is left for your team to compete for is prize money and an outside shot at the Europa League.
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