The international break is over, and club football is back to save us all.
It is clear that the awakened mobs will not allow us to enjoy it properly. Their disappointing campaign to block Easter football means there is no sign of Barclays to be seen over the long weekend, leaving us with the FA Cup quarter-finals to live up to.
And, of course, as the EFL is against the revival of those who reject the wokerati and bravely, with patriotism plow ahead with the right program Friday-Friday-Monday Easter twice as nature intended.
Match to watch: Manchester City v Liverpool
An amazing clash between two great teams whose seasons are now in the direction of silent knives.
For Man City, a domestic treble remains the obvious result from a season in which they have never looked realistic. After getting past Arsenal in the Carabao game they will hope that they too have sowed any doubts that may enter the Premier League picture which is as unclear as it may appear.
That current gap of nine points it could look very different if City win their first leg against Crystal Palace and beat Arsenal at the Etihad.
And then there’s the FA Cup, where in the quarter-finals they meet a Liverpool side whose season offers a stunning chance for incredible glory, but perhaps has failed miserably.
If they drop their lines in the Champions League against PSG in the next few weeks and fail to qualify for next year’s competition, even a victory in the FA Cup could save the season that should have been hailing the real arrival of the Arne Slot Dynasty after last year’s title success. Slot was supposed to be the new Guardiola; then next season can go on without one of them.
With City focused on the league now and Liverpool eyeing one of two routes back into next season’s Champions League, it’s fair to say this post-break FA Cup tie is the lowest-profile fixture left for either of them.
But it still has to be good, and that’s not to say it doesn’t matter; it’s just that other games are more important in the grand scheme of things.
The two Premier League games between the two this season have been fantastic. City were 3-0 winners at the Etihad in a game that could have looked very different if Virgil van Dijk hadn’t seen an equalizer before half-time, sent off by our old friends in the VAR booth.
And the game at Anfield was a contest of the best of the season as City overturned a 1-0 deficit in the closing minutes of the game. the final act of fun provided by the Haaland-Szoboszlai hullabaloo and yes, another intervention from the fun VAR police who insisted on following the ‘Laws’ and ‘rules’ and not letting a goal that should have been disallowed stand because that was more fun.
So, you know, hopefully there’s more of that kind of fun.
Team to watch: Arsenal
Yes, if the poor want to they can fulfill their FA Cup quarter-final tie at Southampton. What about all those risks. We can imagine that they will have to seriously consider losing these and other trophies they are competing for due to not having any players at all.
What we think will happen, however, is that there will be enough players to deal with Southampton, and then the injury crisis starts to fade away in time for this week’s Champions League game against Sporting.
What a silence! What a blessing! What an unexpected behavior that is not unique to Arsenal and yet they have developed it to such a level of homelessness that everyone pretends to be them!
Get into the pile with boring football, score goals from set-pieces and celebrate.
However, enjoy seeing how Arsenal really reacts to unusual situations. They now have two weeks to think about the end of their Quad God dreams in what was a very scary game in the Carabao game.
They will beat Southampton, of course, but they can do so in a reasonably convincing fashion without having to use any force to get their season back on track after a rare but significant hiatus followed by The interlull is played with Mikel Arteta’s song.
Screening director: Liam Rosenior
Because it really feels like we might not have much of a chance. We had our fun and took p*ss, a lot, but it’s an absurd situation.
Of course, it’s Rosenior’s fault that he’s become such a sweet person because no one is forcing him to say the strange words he saysbut it’s not really his fault that he’s been pushed beyond his measure by a bunch of thin-skinned suits who insist that their way is the right way and there’d rather be a yes than some kind of sleazebag.
Rosenior won’t rock the boat, but unfortunately he’s way out of his depth. players start doing it instead. That sounds like we mixed up the analogy somewhere along the way, but you get the point.
It feels that way Chelsea will once again be looking for a new manager to supervise the football side of their player marketing company in the summer, and possibly sooner if it looks like they could miss out on Champions League money.
Or, you know, if they lose to Port Vale this weekend. That’s really going to get old for some men.
Player to watch: Jarrod Bowen
It’s always a fool’s errand to try to pick a player to watch on FA Cup weekend when the team news can be unpredictable even in this late stage of the competition at Wembley. Especially when you’re cornered and have to pick a player from a game between two teams that have more pressing things than the glory of the cup at the forefront of their minds.
Both teams are on the verge of going full Wigan by winning the FA Cup and being relegated at the same time, and that brings us to Jarrod Bowen, who has confirmed that all West Ham games are now cup games.
After coming off the bench England’s 1-0 defeat to Japan at WembleyBowen said:
“We have a chance to go to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. I have a chance to come here and lead them out,
Which makes perfect sense. But now he said this again.
And make no mistake, the next seven games are also cup finals.
‘Also’ is the key here. That makes the FA Cup quarter-finals finals, West Ham’s last seven Premier League games all finals and, if possible, the FA Cup semi-finals also finals.
That’s a lot of finals. Leeds also have a number of finals in the next few months. We’re not going to decide whether one of these teams will reach the FA Cup final, or for one of their players to come out and say, “Cup finals are cup finals, make no mistake about it.”
Premier League game to watch: West Brom v Wrexham
The real and best answer is that they are all thankful the EFL has refused to bow to the demands of a resurgent group that wants to cancel Easter football. That’s a lot of Good Friday-Easter Monday football fun to enjoy.
From the Good Friday schedule, you can’t say better than a game with implications at both ends of the table. West Brom have shown the latest signs of life in their fight against relegation, while Wrexham now find themselves outside the play-off places as the pace rises.
European game to watch: Inter v Roma
Two games to watch, for sure. Tune in on Sunday to see if, unfortunately, there is another upset from leaders Inter in a surprise Easter Sunday clash against sixth-placed Roma. Then tune in again on Easter Monday to find out which Napoli or Milan or whoever else won’t be cashing in on said slip if it actually happened.
If Inter hasn’t slipped, it’s still good, because whoever loses Monday night’s battle between second and third can forget about this year’s Scudetto.
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