Are Wolves destined for relegation now Kevin Doyle is injured?

 

The news that Wolves striker Kevin Doyle could miss the rest of the season must have rocked all those associated with the club. Doyle lasted a total of 20 minutes in Ireland’s qualifying win over Macedonia before limping off with a knee injury. Doyle, who suffered medial ligament damage is likely to be sidelined for up to two months. Even though Doyle hasn’t been in great goalscoring form, his tenacity and effort up front for Wolves will be sorely missed from their front line especially when every game for the relegation candidates is similar to that of a cup final. The only consolation is that Wolves have played all of the big teams both home and away. With Doyle, Mick McCarthy regularly played a 4-5-1 with Doyle leading the attack. However, with the potential season ending injury, McCarthy will have to shift his tactics and, potentially, formation as well. With top scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Steven Fletcher waiting to fill the role up front, the Wolves manager will be forced to pick one or the other, or both if need be for the remaining games.
Yet, both don’t have the same effect on the game as Doyle. The next few games are going to be interesting for both Doyle and Wolves.

Summer spending!

Will many Premier League clubs be doing much spending in the Summer Transfer window this year? It's been rumored that Kenny Dalglish has money to spend this summer. Sir Alex Ferguson would also need to think about spending money in the Summer, possibly on a new goalkeeper with Edwin Van Der Sar retiring at the end of the season. In addition to that, will Chelsea and Man City come together in another exchange of massive money over big name players? Only time will tell, and what about the smaller clubs in the league? What does the future hold for Blackpool's Charlie Adam? He was nearly supposedly on the way out in January, surely Blackpool will find it too difficult to hang on to him this time around.

Is Roberto Mancini to conservative for this league?

The man cannot seem to get to grips with the Premier League. Man City are far too cautious and defensive minded. City  have gone three months without an away win, a damning statistic for such an expensively assembled team. It’s not the fact that City don’t have the players, it’s just that Mancini refuses to take risks in order to compete for Champions League football next season. It hasn’t been a bad season for City, but it could have been so much better if risks were taken. Considering the way they are playing, I could see Spurs or even Liverpool beating them to fourth place. It will be interesting to see if Mancini goes all out in the next few weeks or dig his heels in and continue thinking and playing the Italian way.

Battle for Survival, who will stay up?

This season has centered around mainly on the title race and the fact that it is so tight at the top. However, this is also the case at the bottom, with only 3 points separating the bottom eight teams in the Premier League making it possibly the tightest Relegation battle in years. Pre-season favorites for the drop Blackpool currently 15th in the table, know how to grind out results at crucial times, but have they come to a shuddering halt as regards getting points is concerned? Birmingham City won the Carling Cup lately, but did they focus too much on that competition this season even though they won it? I definitely know for a fact that Alex Mcleish would rather Premier League survival if given the option.

closing stages of the title race!

United, Arsenal, City, all the clubs still in with a chance of winning the league in my opinion. It's going to be interesting to see with regards to the run-in of the title, who has the easier run-in? In my opinion, I think Arsenal have the easier run-in of the 3. United still have to play Chelsea and Arsenal, which will both be tricky matches, and with United still in the FA Cup and the Champions League, could their attention be turning more so to that than the title race?

Does Cesc really want to be at Arsenal?

Barcelona’s defeat of Arsenal last night was of little surprise to the football world, especially with Arsenal being reduced to 10 men with over half an hour to go. But the most surprising thing was the performance of captain and talisman Cesc Fabregas. Some people will argue that  he wasn't fit enough to be playing.But can that really be used to excuse his poor performance.Many players in the past have played when  un-fit and have played a stormer.Can you really say Cesc was unable to block out any pain, playing in front of 95,000 spectators against Barcelona.I find that hard to fathom.It seems that Cesc has made up his own mind that his future may be elsewhere,ironically enough Barcelona being the likely destination.The real question must now be asked, should Arsenal cash in on their captain if an offer arrives this summer?My money is on the Premiership losing another star to the hands of La Liga,an option that is becoming increasingly popular for players these days.

Chelsea against United, title decider tonight?

The biggest game of the season so far? Thats what most football pundits are branding this match tonight in Stamford Bridge as. With a United win, could the title chase be coming to an end? It will be interesting to see what way Sir Alex Ferguson will approach this match tonight. Will he try and adopt the 4-5-1 formation that has worked so well for him and United this season in the Champions League campaign? Or will he take an all out attack approach to it and go 4-4-2 with Rooney and Berbatov up front? It will be interesting to see how it will unfold.