Premier League, Week 16: City Stays Top With 1-0 Win Over Arsenal

It’s almost a shame there are too many truly awful teams for Villa to avoid the threat of relegation this season.

For more on the Red Devils, check out Manchester United blog the Busby Babe.

On the other end, Arsenal are decimated along the back and will likely play four true central defenders across their back line. None of these players are poor, but there’s also no reason to predict that they will be able to fully contain City, the Premier League’s leader in goals scored by a serious distance. If Arsenal are going to take points from this game, they will need goals, because they are unlikely to keep a clean sheet.

Game Date/Time: Sunday, Dec. 18, 11:00 a.m. ET, 4:00 p.m. local

Queens Park Rangers Lineup (4-4-2): Cerny; Traore, Gabbidon, Connolly, Young; Faurlin, Mackie, Barton, Wright-Phillips; Helguson, Bothroyd

Manchester United Lineup (4-4-1-1): De Gea; Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Smalling; Nani, Carrick, Jones, Valencia; Rooney; Welbeck

Chelsea were far from their best against Wigan Athletic on Saturday, but it still looked for most of the match like they would be able to clinch a win and all three points. After a scoreless first half, Chelsea was the side that took the lead, but they threw it away in the 88th minute as Wigan grabbed a late equalizer for a 1-1 draw.

For the final two minutes, plus stoppage time, Wigan actually looked like the side more likely to score a winner as Chelsea looked toothless. Nothing came of their ventures forward, however, and the match finished 1-1. Though Cech should have easily prevented the equalizer, the score isn’t necessarily an unfair representation of the play. Chelsea simply did not bring their best to the DW Stadium.

Ultimately, this was one of those games where things just didn’t break right for Newcastle, but it was a significantly improved performance over the Norwich game, so nothing to worry about just yet.

Norwich regained their composure to see out the rest of the match and continued to look reasonably dangerous on the counterattack, but the real question was whether Everton would be able to grab another before Lee Probert blew for halftime. The answer, as it turned out, was no, and the hosts ended with a solitary point against a newly promoted team at home. Not ideal, really.