LAURA WOODS: DE ZERBI WON’T WALK IF SPURS ARE RELEGATED
ARSENAL NEED A WIN AGAINST BOURNEMOUTH
Arsenal need to keep themselves calm now and just manage this run-in. The title is still Arsenal’s to lose.
These next three games are vital though – Bournemouth next, the Sporting second leg and then the massive game against Manchester City. They can’t stutter at Bournemouth for Arsenal fans' sanity, but also their confidence heading into a huge second leg and then that showdown with City.
If they lose to Bournemouth, that confidence will be badly rocked and City will get within touching distance. If they smell blood, they’re specialists at hunting down titles and you’d have to be concerned.
Arsenal have to put down a marker and not make life easy for City. We’re in the red zone of peak end-of-season anxiety here and like many, I’m feeling it!
DE ZERBI WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE
I do think Roberto De Zerbi will get a response out of this Tottenham team.
He also knows the Premier League and I honestly think in footballing terms it’s a very good move for Spurs.
We’ll obviously learn a lot more when we see his first game, it’s just a shame for Spurs fans that the club have allowed themselves to get into such a mess. The prospect of relegation is very real.
They have enough quality in this team to survive this season, but De Zerbi will have a plan and will have done his homework.
I actually do think they’ll stay up. I think he’ll rescue them. If they do survive it will be bittersweet because once you see players performing to their genuine abilities, you question where that’s been all season and why fans have had to put up with the rubbish they’ve been watching.
It’s not always the manager’s fault; players need to take accountability too.
If he doesn’t keep them up, and I can’t even imagine it, but I think he has to keep to his word and stay with them. He’s either completely confident in his plan to keep them up or he doesn’t mind a little stint in The Championship!
That would mean a complete rebuild, though, and they’ll lose their top talent. It’ll be an absolute slog.
Spurs being in The Championship would be a nightmare, but yes, unless he gets himself the sack too – and that would have to mean Spurs reach new levels of rock bottom – I do think De Zerbi will honour that contract.
Tottenham to be relegated is 27/20 with BetMGM
LIVERPOOL WILL STICK WITH SLOT TILL END OF THE SEASON
I don’t think Liverpool will part ways with Arne Slot now before the end of the season. He tried something different on Wednesday with five at the back to get that extra defender in there. He also made a huge call in leaving Mohamed Salah out and I got the impression they weren’t devastated with a 2-0 loss to be honest.
Anything more would have been an impossible task to recover from, even at Anfield. What was pretty concerning was they failed to register a single shot on target, which they haven’t done in the Champions League since 2020!
So if I were PSG, I’d be feeling pretty confident about the second leg too. Slot needs a magnificent match. He needs one of those old-school, European nights under the lights-style ones at Anfield. I just don’t know that this Liverpool side has it in them.
It does feel like Slot needs to see this season out. A Champions League spot next season is the most realistic aim now, and I do think they’ll secure that. Bringing in someone else now at this stage I don’t think would feel right.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change
