Meanwhile... In the EPL (2013-14)

[Jimmy Higgins]

A rousing week of important match ups. Liverpool faced a daunting task against Stoke City who parked a bus in front of the net. Stoke City were able to capitalize on two silly mistakes to win the game 2-0, giving Manchester City a chance to even the point total up, which they did in their own victory against Crystal Palace. Manchester City are 3 points behind, but have a game in hand, and the likely GD advantage if things remain a tie.

Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man City are all in the Champions League. The remaining spot is between Arsenal (one game in hand) and Everton. As a delicious irony, Everton, the bitter Merceyside rivals of Liverpool, could be the help that Liverpool needs to regain the lead. Everton face Man City next weekend. Even just a tie would be huge for Liverpool. Everton still have aspirations for the Champion's League, despite their recent loss to Southampton. Every game matters, they'll want three points at home.

Man United fired Moyes and now Ryan Giggs is the temporary head coach. He'll be replaced by someone who'll need to do better than Moyes or the revolving door may send him back out of the Manager position.

Gus Poyet's Sunderland continue to undo the damage left by DiCanio and mimic Wigan Athletic's typical antics in the EPL. They now stand just outside the relegation zone, with a game in hand.

Leicester and Burnley have punched their tickets for promotion to the EPL next season. Derby and QPR are in the Championship playoff, while Reading (1 game left), Brighton (1 game left), and Wigan (2 games left) fight for the last two spots.

ETA: Apparently I was mistaken. Liverpool played Chelsea, not Stoke City wearing some odd third kit.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Huge heartbreaker for Liverpool. Up 3-0 against Crystal Palace, the GD deficient Reds continued to play up to try and level the GD gap they have with Man City. The tactic backfires and Crystal Palace scores three unanswered goals. Liverpool's defense once again fails them. Suarez tied the record for goals scored in a season, and doing so in fewer games due to his suspension for nibbling on Ivanovic last season.

Liverpool only re-enters the picture for an EPL title if Man City loses one of their two final games at home. It would seem unlikely. However, this has been such a bizarre season and let us not forget the style they won their last title two seasons ago.

Meanwhile Tony Pulis pulls off a coup in Crystal Palace. The squad was 1-1-9 when Pulis took over. They are currently 13-5-19 (12-4-10 under Pulis). Definitely manager of the year qualities in his performance there.

Stoke City will almost certainly finish in the top half of the table in the top flight for the first time in franchise history, their history dates back to '63... 1863.

Meanwhile, Ryan Giggs' star has faded already at Manchester United with a loss against desperate Sunderland who Gus Poyet is trying to lead out of the certain relegation that Fascist Pablo di Canio put the team in early in the season.

Chelsea tied Norwich City because they are a bunch of goons. Jose Mourinho is rumored to be packing his bags, waiting for the call.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Season is over and the Bus Park job by Chelsea was the difference. Presumably a win against Chelsea would have not led to an overly eager Liverpool side against Palace. Man City wins the Title for the second time in three years, and to be fair, the best team won. Liverpool finish in 2nd. Chelsea's bus was parked in third.

My pick for promotion, Brighton, lost in the playoffs on aggregate. My other pick for relegation, Sunderland, survived with great form at the end of the season. Gus Poyet was able to undo the damage caused by fascist former head coach Pablo di Canio.

Tottenham and Manchester United were fighting for the final Europa League spot. Manchester lost to Southamption (gloss is already gone for Ryan Gibbs, showing what a bunch of pussies the Manchester United squad are, that they can't even play for Gibbs of all people!), so Tottenham didn't even need to spank Sunderland. Tottenham join Everton for Europa.

Stoke City finish a tough game with all three points, giving them a franchise record of 50 in the top flight. Also they had their best top flight finish (9th) since the 70s, and since the Premier League inception. It'll be interesting to see where things go. Hughes started getting better things out of Stoke in the later portion of the season. See if that form can continue.

Norwich needed to win by about 10 goals and Sunderland to lose by about 10 in order to no relegate. That didn't happen. Norwich, Fulham, Cardiff City drop. Leicester City (a team that was up back when I first started watching on Fox Sports World) and Burnley (easily mistaken for West Ham and Aston Villa) are automatically promoted. The final spot is to be determined next weekend at Wembley. Derby, defeated Brighton. The other half is to be decided today.

To be determined who coach of the year is. Rodgers and Pulis easily have to be tops on that list. Pulis almost has to win based on not only surviving, but not even being remotely in danger of relegation at season's end, finishing in 11th, 12 points clear.

Alan Pardew at Newcastle is likely doomed. If the end of the game against Liverpool was symbolic of anything, it was how the team has soured. Incredible, seeing that Newcastle were looking very good until a very dry spell at the end of the season.

Wenger will be fighting for his job in the press again. Despite a rash of critical injuries, Arsenal had a great season.

Questions for next season:

• How long into the season will Wenger go before being asked to leave by the fans... again
• Can Liverpool improve their sievey defense. Can they go anywhere in the Champions League?
• Chelsea's bus is getting old, so they may continue parking it. How long before the Russian Billionaire gets tired of parking the bus.
• Can Stoke City compete for 7th or 8th or make a strong cup run?
• How long until Manchester United returns to competitive football? New coach, but more importantly, a new team is necessary.
• Can Tottenham regain some stability. They were high fliers, then AVB came, spent a fortune, had the best win percentage of of Tottenham coach and then got sacked by savior Sherwood... who too is now to be sacked. I'd say a Europa run was possible, but they need some stability!