In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage will give us his Winners and Losers from the weekend’s action…
Robbie Savage credits Newcastle for a magnificent performance to end their trophy drought, but one of his former clubs cops it…
Robbie’s winners
My winners this weekend have to be Newcastle United after claiming their first trophy in 70 years.
The Newcastle fans at Wembley were absolutely incredible; the team on the pitch were incredible. They dominated Liverpool. Yes, the scoreline was 2-1, but it could, should have been more.
Dan Burn, the boy from Blyth, what a performance! At both ends, it must be one of the best performances he’s ever put in. And what a weekend! He’s got an England call-up and he scores at Wembley to help his boyhood team win their first trophy for generations.
The Magpies really deserved it. The team of the week, with possibly one of their greatest performances ever, is Newcastle United.
In the Premier League, Arsenal cut the gap to Liverpool to 12 points. It won’t matter in the final reckoning because the Reds are too far clear, but it’s essential for Mikel Arteta, even if only to go into the summer with some positivity, that the Gunners find some momentum, and winning a London derby can be a trigger for that.
Manchester United wrapped a positive week with another win. Yes, it was just Leicester – more on them to come – but Bruno Fernandes once more highlighted his quality. Only Erling Haaland and Mo Salah have been involved in more goals this season, and Bruno is playing in United’s worst-ever Premier League side. I don’t understand the grief he gets. Take him out of that United team, and then you would see how important he is.
Brentford have suddenly discovered how to win away and now they can’t stop! Thomas Frank’s side failed to win on the road in their first nine away games this season, but the victory at Bournemouth is their fifth on the bounce, giving them an outside chance of a European place. They have the momentum.
Wolves put nine points between themselves and the bottom three by beating Southampton. Again, winning at St Mary’s isn’t noteworthy, but there was a lot of pressure on Vitor Pereira’s side to seize an opportunity to give themselves more breathing space.
And, finally, a mention for my Macclesfield side. We’re one win away from being Britain’s first league champions. Check out my next diary entry on F365 later this week.
Robbie’s losers
The big losers this weekend action are my old club Leicester City.
Seven consecutive home defeats in the Premier League is so poor but worse still is losing seven in a row without scoring a goal, conceding 18 in the process.
They’ve got 17 points and they don’t look likely to add many more so they’re going down. I played in a Leicester side that were relegated I think in March and it’s soul destroying.
They’re not going to get out of it – all three promoted teams look doomed already. Against United, again, they were miles off it.
Liverpool were a shadow of themselves at Wembley. They are going to win the league, which is an incredible achievement, but it’s been a wretched week, going out of the Champions League when they led after the away leg, followed by a cup final defeat in which they were second best across the pitch.
They couldn’t get to grips with Newcastle’s set-pieces and, strangely for Liverpool, they couldn’t get match Newcastle’s intensity. It is easy to say in hindsight, but should Arne Slot have played a stronger team at Plymouth in the FA Cup?
Tottenham‘s Premier League misery continued with a 15th defeat of the season at Fulham. As Ange Postecoglou said, that’s ‘nowhere near good enough’. Similar to United, Spurs’ season hinges entirely on the Europa League. But would anyone back them to beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals?
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