The EPL Weekend-Round 26

The weekend served up it usual dose of surprise and unexpected results.

Chelsea felt robbed as a controversial sending off was quickly  followed by a Burnley equalizer. The Blues lead is now down to 5 points and this was a huge opportunity missed to preserve their advantage at the top.
Juan Cuadrado has offered Mourinho a different dimension to the Blues forward play. He seems to have fit perfectly into English football and the Blues set up. He played well on the flanks and although he faces a battle to oust Willian fromthe starting 11, he grabbed his opportunity well. Chelsea should have been home and dry before the Matic incident and they paid for their profligacy infont of goal. Costa hasn't been as sharp in the last 2 matches and he missed a couple of chances early on.
Mourinho will feel the officials conspired against his team but they should have put Burnley to the sword early on. What the blues now need to do is forget this result and focus on their next match. They are still in a good position and strong favorites to claim the title in May.

Manchester City ensured they took advantage of Chelsea's slip by thrashing a disappointing Newcastle side.
The return of Yaya Toure brought stability to the City midfield and it was evident why they struggle when he is not playing. in deed City won only one of five games that Toure missed. Aguero looks to be back to his best and with Bony making his debut, City look prepared to run Chelsea down the home stretch. Dzeko also had a solid game upfront for City. On the evidence of this performance, Chelsea still have a long way before they can ease their feet of the gas.

Arsenal ground out a hard fought win against Palace in a tough London derby. With a lot of their key players now back from injury, Arsenal are looking good for a top 4 finish. A good number of their players look to be hitting top form at the right time. Ozil looks a different player since his return from injury, Giroud looks sharper than he has been this season and the defence looks to have gotten past their rough patch.
The Gunners are upto 3rd in the table and it's hard seeing them fail to make top 4.

Manchester United's luck finally ran out as a string of recent poor performances finally resulted in a defeat. United have had a succession of below par performances.Van Gaal has been very underwhelming. The optimism and hope that greated his appointment has been replaced by grumbles and despair as a star studded team continues to struggle against lesser opposition. United now face a real battle to finish in the top four with Southampton, Tottenham and Liverpool breathing down their neck. The ease with which teams play against United is worrying. This was a poor Saints side,coming off a run of bad results and missing Wilfred Bony. But they still beat United to ensure they complete a first ever double over the Red Devils. Whatever disease Van Persie has, it seems to be spreading to the rest of the team. For a while now, Mata, RVP, Falcao, Di Maria, Rooney have been very poor. In fact the only United player who seemed interested was Herrera. It is a wonder Van Gaal rarely plays him.

Liverpool were brilliant against the Saints. Brendan Rogers has done a very good job to turn Liverpool's fortune around after a difficult start to the season. The return of Sturridge has further strengthened the squad a brought forth new belief. Liverpool are right in the battle for top four, and with Spurs, United and Saints dropping points around them, this was a fruitful weekend for Liverpool.

Team of the week,
Lloris, Ivanovic,Skrtel, Mertecsacker,Coleman, Cambiasso, Nasri,Silva,Hazard,Aguero, Dzeko

Player of the week
David Silva