Back to business after FA cup fourth round

After all the heroics of the FA cup over the weekend, it’s back to business as usual in the Premiership for the next two nights. This round of fixtures is probably the last thing any manager wants at the minute but it does offer a chance to the teams who didn’t play at the weekend.

Aston Villa, Norwich, Tottenham and Liverpool will all be hurting after a humiliating weekend. Chelsea may have scraped a replay against Brentford but Rafa Benitez will be annoyed he was forced to bring on Mata, Azpilicueta and Ba.

Rafa Benitez urges on his side in their 2-2 draw with Brentford

Arsenal and Everton were also forced to send out strong sides to make sure they progressed to the next round of the cup.

Man United, Reading and Wigan all had the easiest of games at the weekend. QPR may have lost badly to MK Dons but Harry Redknapp clearly had his eye on the game against Man City on Tuesday night. Redknapp fielded a second string side against the Dons. QPR’s priorities at the moment are on staying up in the Premier League, and quite rightly so. A decent cup run will not save them in May.

Wigan only scraped by against Macclesfield on Saturday but Roberto Martinez won’t mind. He made eight changes from their last Premier League game in order to give his first choice players a rest. The Lactics have a tough away game against Stoke on Tuesday and a break might do them a world of good. 

Martinez will have noted the recent poor run in form from Stoke. That, coupled with the tough game on Saturday that Stoke played against Man City, will give him hope of stealing a rare three points from the Britannia.

Berbatov was poor against his old side

Manchester United were barely made to try against a Fulham side who showed no interest whatsoever in making a game of it at Old Trafford. Ferguson has said that the FA cup is a priority for his team this year. United haven’t won the competition since 2004 when they beat Millwall 3-0. 

Fulham’s shocking record away from home isn’t new but it was obvious from the first minute that they were in no mood to put up a fight.Many had anticipated the return of Dimitar Berbatov to Old Trafford but for large parts of the game he may as well not have been there. 

Fulham host West Ham at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night. After such a miserly surrender to Manchester United, Martin Jol faces a difficult task to get his men ready for a plucky West Ham outfit. West Ham have had the weekend to rest and will fancy their chances of taking a win.

Noel Hunt rises highest to score Reading's opener

Reading too were able to field a weakened team and run out comfortable winners against Sheffield United. The Royals put four past United during a convincing performance. Brian McDermott will be pleased to progress a stage further in the cup but he will have all of his attention on Wednesday night’s game with Chelsea.

Things are beginning to get tight at the bottom and McDermott knows if his men could sneak a point against the blues it could prove invaluable. Chelsea were forced to use too many of their first team players against Brentford. Reading were able to rest key players over the weekend and they might smell a chance against a weary Chelsea side.

Liverpool will not have enjoyed reaching such a low as losing to Oldham Athletic. Unfortunately for Brendan Rogers there will be little time to count the costs of the defeat. His side face a difficult trip to the Emirates on Wednesday night. Liverpool defended as bad against Oldham as they have all year. 

Walcott and Wilshere celebrate after Arsenal's third goal

Take nothing away from Oldham but Rogers will not be pleased by the performance of some of his players. Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel both had days they will want to quickly forget. They were bullied throughout by the young Matt Smith.

Arsenal have hit a purple patch in recent weeks. Theo Walcott is relishing his new role as a centre forward. He has finally found form in front of goal and he poses a real threat playing off the shoulder. Walcott’s pace is a nightmare for any defender and his confidence is really beginning to grow in the role.

Brendan Rogers will hope to have Pepe Reina back for the game but if Liverpool can’t seal up the cracks at the back that were evident on Sunday then they could be in for a tough time of it in London.

Tuesday 29th January 2013

	BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Show last 5 matches and coverage	Fixture	Kick-off	Status
	Aston VillavNewcastle	19:45
	NorwichP-PTottenham Postponed - now being played Wed, Jan 30
	QPRvMan City	19:45
	StokevWigan	19:45
	SunderlandvSwansea	19:45

Wednesday 30th January 2013

	BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE
Show last 5 matches and coverage	Fixture	Kick-off	Status
	ArsenalvLiverpool	19:45
	EvertonvWest Brom	19:45
	NorwichvTottenham	19:45
	FulhamvWest Ham	20:00
	Man UtdvSouthampton	20:00
	ReadingvChelsea	20:00

Goalkeeping by numbers

The 2011/12 Premier League season saw the highest total number of goals scored in one year since it reverted to a twenty team league. In all, 1066 goals were scored over 380 games played. On average that’s 2.81 goals per game.

So far the 2012/13 season has not lacked for goals either. As it stands, a total of 651 goals have been scored. That’s an average of 2.84 goals per game.

Asmir Begovic

All of this is certainly good for the fans that pay to see goals scored but what about the poor goalkeepers? This week I take a look at the goalkeepers of the Premier League.

Joe Hart tops the clean sheet list with ten but that’s not surprising really. Mancini has his charges very well organised and they are very difficult to break down in midfield.

Hart is followed closely in the list by Petr Cech and Asmir Begovic with nine clean sheets apiece. Chelsea are always difficult to score against, especially at Stamford Bridge. Their form is sliding however. The European champions have managed only three clean sheets in their last nine games.

	Clean Sheets
1.	Joe Hart	10
2.	Petr Cech	9
3.	Asmir Begovic	9
4.	Simon Mignolet	8
5.	Pepe Reina	7
6.	Hugo Lloris	6
7.	Jussi Jaaskelainen	6

Up until December the team with the most formidable defence of all was Stoke City. But in recent times the Potter’s form has taken an alarming turn. They have no clean sheets in their last five matches and only one in their last seven.

The most worrying thing of all for Tony Pulis’ charges is that they have shipped 14 goals in those last five games. What was once the tightest ship in the league is now leaking like a sieve.

The real surprise this year however in the goalkeeping standings is that Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet is right up there with eight clean sheets. Martin O’Neill has managed to reverse the rut and Sunderland have picked up some important points in the last few weeks.

It’s no surprise to see the bottom teams with the worst clean sheet records. Reading and Wigan have only managed to keep three clean sheets all year.

QPR are beginning to benefit from the experience of Harry Rednapp. Already they look more organised. Julio Cesar has kept two clean sheets in his last three games. More of the same will be key if they are to have any hope of staying up this year.

Goalkeeping in numbers so far this year....