Saturday football

[Coffee]

"The same old three are jostling for position at the top of the Premier League, as they have for most of the last few months. The smallest slip hands the initiative to the others: see Liverpool. On paper, Man City have the weekend’s easiest assignment, followed by Liverpool and then Arsenal. At the bottom Sheff Utd are as good as gone and will start next season with a points’ deduction. It never rains, but it pours. Burnley are nearly as good as gone. That leaves Luton, Forest and Everton, separated by two measly points, battling to avoid the third relegation spot. Luton have picked the day’s short straw while Forest may hope VAR comes to their aid against the unfortunate Wolves. As for us, we could do with three points [i] to alleviate to some extent the misery of another piss-poor performance and late capitulation against Leverkusen; and [ii] to keep us in reasonable touch with the others in the hunting for a sixth placed finish. Come on, you Cherries. The Championship continues to surprise and excite, with relegation-threatened Plymouth issuing an unexpected walloping to leaders Leicester last night. The division mirrors the Premier League insofar as a single point separates the top three. Leeds take on Blackburn and Ipswich host Boro in the day’s most prominent games. At the bottom eight sides, including Millwall who take on Cardiff this afternoon, are competing to finish above the dotted line. Time for a Millwall Relegation thread? *SATURDAY* NEWCASTLE UNITED vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (1230) BRENTFORD vs SHEFFIELD UNITED (1500) BURNLEY vs BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (1500) MANCHESTER CITY vs LUTON TOWN (1500) NOTTINGHAM FOREST vs WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (1500) BOURNEMOUTH vs MANCHESTER UNITED (1730) *SUNDAY* LIVERPOOL vs CRYSTAL PALACE (1400) WEST HAM UNITED vs FULHAM (1400) ARSENAL vs ASTON VILLA (1630) *MONDAY* CHELSEA vs EVERTON (2000)"

[Eerie Descent]

"If Everton deserve a points deduction for that performance, what do we deserve for losing by the same scoreline, only it was at HOME and it should have been double figures, and to a local rival?"

[Sydney_Iron]

"Were Chelsea players fighting over each other in the match against Man Utd when they got a penalty in the 10th minute of injury time which at the time would have levelled the scores? No, they let Palmer take the penalty without hesitation. Cunts."

[happygilmore]

Everton should be given a further points deduction for that performance

[Vexed]

Madueke and Jackson squabbling over the penalty was like watching two scabby seagulls fighting over a squashed chip in Basildon town centre. Fucking tragic stuff.

[only1billybonds]

Everton are shambolic. And that Jackson looks a right nasty cսnt.

[Phall Throw]

Because it's CHELSEA (still classed as elite) You know how it works now surely

[twoleftfeet]

How was that a penalty?

[Phall Throw]

Bit of a KERFUFFLE over that penalty

[goose]

Someone on the BBC commentary text made the point that Everton have earned 35 points this season and are in a relegation fight because of the points deducted. They’re losing 4-0 to a Chelsea team which have spent vast sums but have been able to circumvent the same rules with some creative accounting.

[aldgate]

Gallagher plays for England while Palmer doesn't. Baffling

[Fauxstralian]

Think Everton will stay up due to the crap at the bottom & the generous FFP rulings .... 2pts for a second offence ! ... but would love them to go. They play Forest and Luton & would have to lose both Palmer's form has to have him in the Euro's squad ahead of the likes of Rashford

[Slim Shady]

I think so

[ray winstone]

"Palmer 30min hat trick, buy of the season?"

[Lee Trundle]

The Intertoto Cup became UEFAs third tier European competition when they abolished the cup winners cup. The winners of it qualified for the UEFA Cup. Exactly the same as the Conference League.

[Eerie Descent]

"""Would that be the great Metz team that finished 10th out of 18 teams in the great French league, and then finished 11th?! The same as Fiorentina, then?"

[Sydney_Iron]

"well, the only silver lining to this weekend's results was Arsenal choking at home! Enjoyed that and seeing their fans in meltdown... AGAIN. LOL Season over blah blah blah, stopped short of Arteta out but another loss and the calls will come thick and fast. Wheels off for the scouse as well, Apparently exact same match week that Man City took the outright lead last season as well................Ominous"

[Side of Ham]

"I don’t give a fuck about past European cup wins the only thing I’d like linked is that the 65’ team had quite a few of our youth make the step up…..in the modern game you could make the current lot into proper football first, athlete's with no drinking clubs and who knows what they could achieve under a manager intent on showcasing their knowledge of how the game should be played….potential is our asset to be invested into"

[Barty]

"Good to see arsenal bottling things Cant stand them, especially after Rice joined them"

[goose]

"How in the world are you going to make a fair comparison of football in 1965 vs 2023? We one the conference league by beating one half decent team, and that was a game we scarcely deserved to win. Everyone enjoyed it but let’s be honest about the level of competition we faced."

[twoleftfeet]

The Conference trophy is a harder thing to win than the ECWC that we go on about winning in 65.

[Side of Ham]

"West Ham is, first and foremost, a football club and one that gets 60,000+ attendances… any other PL club that gets those types of attendance would be rightly so downgrading the Europa Conference and expecting better cup wins from there. What is cringeworthy is we have a large chunk of our support who are willing to take that as our pinnacle win for the next decade…..you shouldn’t ….as we gave away our ground and pretty much let our history be marketed by what would have been called a spiv in times when we had some pride in what and where we were from."

[Side of Ham]

"West Ham is, first and foremost, a football club and one that gets 60,000+ attendances… any other PL club that gets those types of attendance would be rightly so downgrading the Europa Conference and expecting better cup wins from there. What is cringeworthy is we have a large chunk of our support who are willing to take that as our pinnacle win for the next decade…..you shouldn’t ….as we gave away our ground and pretty much let our history be marketed by what would have been called a spiv in times when we had some pride in what and where we were from."

[Iron Duke]

"Would that be the great Metz team that finished 10th out of 18 teams in the great French league, and then finished 11th? The Intertoto was just a qualifying tournament. We were just unfortunate that fifth place wasn’t enough to qualify automatically. I don’t really understand the disdain from fans about the Conference League. Unless you are a Man City, Liverpool or maybe Chelsea fan, why would you turn your nose up at it? It sounds like you’ve been brainwashed by the media."

[Eerie Descent]

"Iron Duke 10:28 Sun Apr 14 A made up European trophy for the also-rans? We finished 5th (FIFTH) to qualify for the Intertoto Cup, and beat Metz in the final who were a very good team at the time. We finished 7th (SEVENTH) to qualify for the Conference League, and beat Fiorentina in the final, who are a mediocre mid table club in what is now a pretty pony league. Apples = Apples"

[El Scorchio]

ArsenaLOL. Melting again when the going gets tough. I bet city can’t believe their luck. If we are going to shit the bed I might as well take some schadenfreude in them and Liverpool also doing similar.