Crystal Palace did Newcastle United a huge favour today by hammering the Hammers.
West Ham United are among the challengers along with Newcastle for a European spot sitting just two points behind Newcastle and Manchester United who occupy sixth and seventh.
The Hammers had the opportunity to overtake both sides today as they faced Crystal Palace, but the Eagles had other ideas.
Palace stormed into an early 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes before finishing the game 5-2 winners which keeps West Ham at bay, especially given that they have now played two games more than Newcastle.
It won't have escaped your attention, however, that our next opponents just happen to be five-star Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Wednesday.
Going up against a team after a win like that can make life really difficult as they will be absolutely buzzing and ready to take on all comers, especially when you add their previous game was a win over Liverpool.
On the flip side, Newcastle will have had 10 days rest going into the game thanks to having no fixture this weekend, whereas Palace will only have had two days.
What looked like an easy fixture at one point isn't looking as cut and dry as it once was.
While we're not sure how to feel about this result, we're also not sure how to feel about Manchester United's jammy FA Cup semi-final win. With them being out of the competition it would have given them nothing else to focus on but the Premier League, but also going out to Coventry could have really crippled their confidence.
That fortunate penalty shoot-out, which shouldn't have happened anyway, may now have galvanised Erik ten Hag's side somewhat.
These last few games are getting very interesting indeed.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
10 | 13 | 25 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
10 | 10 | 23 |
3 |
Nottingham Forest
|
10 | 7 | 19 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
10 | 8 | 18 |
5 |
Arsenal
|
10 | 6 | 18 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
10 | 2 | 18 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
10 | 11 | 16 |
8 |
Brighton
|
10 | 3 | 16 |
9 |
Bournemouth
|
10 | 1 | 15 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
10 | 0 | 15 |
11 |
Brentford
|
9 | 0 | 13 |
12 |
Fulham
|
9 | 0 | 12 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
10 | -3 | 12 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
10 | -6 | 11 |
15 |
Leicester
|
10 | -4 | 10 |
16 |
Everton
|
10 | -7 | 9 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
10 | -5 | 7 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
10 | -11 | 5 |
19 |
Southampton
|
10 | -12 | 4 |
20 |
Wolves
|
10 | -13 | 3 |