14
May

It all comes down to Sunday

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Remaining fixtures (all on Sunday, May 19):

Chelsea vs. Everton
Newcastle vs. Arsenal
Tottenham vs. Sunderland

With the title won and relegation decided, the final day of the Premier League has one battle to focus on: the fight for Champions League spots.

Unless Tottenham win by double digits, Chelsea are in, even if they lose. The real race is between Arsenal and Spurs.

Tottenham have to win, and then need a helping hand from Newcastle. It is possible for the Gunners to secure their spot with a draw as long as Tottenham also lose or draw, but a victory over the Toon would put them into the top four no matter what Spurs do.

13
May

Stoke players organize “retirement gift” for Owen

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Stoke City’s Michael Owen, who has announced his retirement at the end of the season, found his car egged by teammates after Sunday’s game against Tottenham.

Owen already came up with a list of primary suspects, to whom he tweeted out this warning:

At least Owen’s true home team came up with a more appropriate and touching retirement gift:

Awwwwww.

12
May

Relegation Battle: One week remaining

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Remaining matches that impact relegation:

5/14: Arsenal vs. Wigan

5/19: Wigan vs. Aston Villa; Tottenham vs. Sunderland

Heading into the final week of the Barclays Premier League, the final team relegated has yet to be determined. Following recent results Stoke, Norwich, Newcastle, Southampton, and Fulham have sealed their spots in the Premier League for next season.

All eyes will be on the match between Arsenal and Wigan on Tuesday. Arsenal is battling for a Champions League position and Wigan is fighting for survival. A Wigan loss will be a dagger in their campaign and would condemn them to the Championship next season.

If the Latics beat the Gunners, Sunday’s matchup between Wigan and Aston Villa could have Premier League life or death riding on it.

11
May

Frank Lampard breaks Chelsea scoring record

Frank Lampard broke Chelsea’s all-time scoring record today, scoring both goals in the Blues 2-1 win over Aston Villa, which all but clinched Chelsea a spot in next year’s Champions League.

Lampard’s first goal tied the game and matched him with Bobby Tambling’s record of 202 goals. Super Frank then did him one better with just two minutes to play, scoring the game-winner and breaking the record at the same time. Here’s what Lampard had to say after the game:

8
May

The fight for Premier League top four

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Remaining fixtures:

Chelsea - at Aston Villa, vs. Everton
Arsenal - vs. Wigan, at Newcastle
Spurs - at Stoke, vs. Sunderland

Chelsea have the chance to pull themselves clear quickly with a win on Saturday against Villa. If they win, Spurs can only hope to tie them on points, and with a gigantic goal difference, the Blues would realistically be guaranteed to finish ahead of the Tottenham.

That would leave Spurs and Arsenal to hash it out. The Gunners have a bit of luck, getting Wigan right after their FA Cup final. That leaves Spurs rooting for Newcastle to remain in the relegation battle on the final day when the Magpies play Arsenal.

28
Apr

Robin van Persie almost walks into wrong locker room

Old habits are hard to break, and Robin van Persie spent eight seasons forming this one.

The former Arsenal striker returned to the Emirates for the first time since he left the Gunners for Manchester United last summer. When he arrived at the stadium, he made sure to greet the Arsenal staff members standing outside the locker rooms before he entered.

After his final hello, he makes a move for the locker room — but it’s the home one, not away.

Embarrassed, RvP gives himself a little “d’oh!” tap on the forehead before quickly redirecting toward the correct locker room. Seems like the usually calm, cool and collected striker had a small case of the butterflies upon returning to his old club.

Once he got on the pitch though, he was able to get it together and remember which side he was on. He was awarded a penalty kick after Sagna took him down in the box. The United striker buried it in the back of the net, much to the dismay of the home crowd.

27
Apr

Time after time, Gareth Bale gets us on our feet with his tendency to score breath-taking goals. But today, Bale took the easy route, scoring on this bizarre block of Wigan keeper Joel Robles’ attempted clearance!

Watch as the ball just ricochets off Bale’s body and into the net, leaving Robles red-faced and ashamed. To make matters worse for Robles, Wigan teammate Emmerson Boyce added an own goal late in the game. The two unlucky goals turned out to be the difference between what would have been a shocking win over Spurs and a 2-2 draw that helps neither team.

25
Apr

Meet Twitter’s @RVP who is most definitely not RVP

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(Image via BBC News)

In a classic case of misidentity, thousands of Manchester United fans who wished to congratulate Robin Van Persie on his hat trick and first Premier League title over the weekend sent their flattering messages to the twitter account of @rvp.

Only problem: @rvp belongs to 52-year old Indian IT consultant Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad, or in other words, definitely not Robin van Persie.

The mix-up makes sense given that a majority of fans know Van Persie by his initials, RVP. However, to Prasad it has become a nuisance. He attempted to make his plight known with a message to the masses a month ago:

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Unfortunately, the tweet backfired. What was meant to detract tweeters from his account instead spurred fans to retweet his tweets and jokingly praise him for his “contributions” to Manchester United’s season. All in all, Prasad says he has had over 10,000 mentions in the 24-hour span after United clinched the title.

Only makes us wonder: why hasn’t he changed his account name?  Does he secretly like the attention? He certainly has gained popularity, having amassed over 3,600 followers. Not bad for an IT consultant in India!

By the way, Robin van Persie’s correct Twitter handle is @Persie_Official