Bluffers' guide to the Premier League weekend: Pardew close to the Palace door
A former Selhurst Park hero faces last orders in the last chance saloon, while Kante and Conte chase records. Martin Bly reports
The meeting between the Premier League’s top team and the side in third place is unquestionably the weekend’s marquee fixture, but before considering the statistical niceties of Manchester City versus Chelsea, bluffers can indulge themselves with the woes of Crystal Palace.
The south London side entertain Southampton on Saturday afternoon with the axe generally reckoned to be poised with maximum precariousness over Palace boss Alan Pardew.
Last weekend’s match against Swansea was widely touted as a must-win for Pardew’s team but turned into a nightmarish 5-4 defeat, most remarkable perhaps for goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey becoming the first custodian to concede four goals after being booked for time-wasting.
That result intensified the spotlight on Palace’s record this year, which is remarkably awful: in 2016 they have scored fewer points per game (0.73) than any other club in England’s top four divisions, and their record in that time (W5, D7, L18) would surely have finished any manager not cushioned with Pardew’s successful past at the club as a player.
But the defensive chaos against Swansea was an encore to five previous Premier League defeats and Pardew must surely expect even the home fans to turn against him if his team cannot see off Southampton on Saturday.
The trouble is that Claude Puel’s players head into the match on something of a high themselves, having ejected Arsenal from the EFL Cup in spirited manner in midweek. Pardew has lost four of his last five PL matches against Southampton, and Saints have conceded only three goals in their last six Premier League games against Palace, keeping three clean sheets.
In fact Palace have won only one of their 14 Premier League games against this opposition - but their manager will try and draw inspiration from the fact that the victory came in this fixture at Selhurst Park last season.
Back at the sharp end, Antonio Conte’s future looks much more assured. The Italian has recently become the first Stamford Bridge gaffer to win seven consecutive matches within a single season since the celebrated bottle-kicker Jose Mourinho - who won nine on the trot in 2006-07. In his favour for the visit to the blue half of Manchester this weekend is Chelsea’s away record against their hosts - they have won 11 Premier League matches at City, their best away record in the competition.
Pep Guardiola can take solace in the fact that City have won their last two Premier League meetings with Chelsea - but they have not won three in a row against the Blues since September 2010.
Bluffers may enjoy two footnotes, raised by Bill Edgar of The Times, that follow Chelsea’s performances this season: the first is that N’Golo Kante can become the first player in English football history to win titles in consecutive seasons with two clubs, having played the whole of each season at those clubs. The clarification is important because five players have won titles with two clubs in consecutive seasons (among them Eric Cantona with Leeds and Manchester United, and Owen Hargreaves with Manchester United and Manchester City) but none of them was at both clubs throughout the winning seasons.
The other thing to watch out for regarding Chelsea and the title is that if Antonio Conte’s team do succeed in winning the League they will become the second team in consecutive seasons to become English champions while not playing in Europe, the first time (excluding the Heysel ban years) this has happened since the mid-Sixties. And further fuel for the argument that if you can’t get into the Champions League you want to make darn sure that you don’t qualify for the Europa League by accident.
The reigning champions, Leicester City, are steaming along in the Champions League but finding life in the PL much trickier - defeat at Sunderland on Saturday would see them drawn right into the thick of the relegation battle. Bluffers can reassure Claudio Ranieri with the nugget that Leicester have lost only one of their last nine Premier League matches against Sunderland (W5 D3), keeping six clean sheets in that time.
