Back to the Premier League and the main story there was the clash between Zlatan and The Cherries defender Tyrone Mings, which drew significant comment from a myriad of pundits and resulted in 3 and 5 match bans respectively. Zlatan's version was that Mings threw himself at the Swede's elbow. The alleged 'stamp' by Mings on Zlatan's head did not appear clear cut, but nevertheless Mings got the longer ban. Big team, small team syndrome perhaps? Boruc saved Zlatan's penalty to earn Bournemouth a valuable point after the harsh sending off of ex-Saint Drew Surman (5' 10") who had exhibited super powers to push Zlatan (6' 5") to the ground simply by laying his hands on the big man's chest.
Chelsea increased their lead to 10 points with a 2-1 win at West Ham on Monday night, Man City failed to take their chances against a steadfast Stoke side in a goal-less draw at home on Wednesday and therefore stay level on points with Spurs who beat Europa League 'hopefuls' Everton 3-2 on Sunday. Arsenal's miserable week began with a comprehensive defeat at Anfield on Saturday evening. The Gunners face National League champions elect Lincoln City in the FA Cup at The Emirates this weekend, which on current form does not look so clear-cut as the gap in league status would suggest.
The mighty Saints overcame their Wembley disappointment by scoring a winning 4 goals at Watford, although conceding 3 soft goals in the process. That man Gabbiadini scoring what turned out to be the winner and made it 6 goals in his first 4 games for the club. As their home games with Man U and Arsenal have to be rescheduled due to cup games, Saints don't play again until 19th March at Spurs.
Leicester City won their second successive game at home by 3-1 since Craig Shakespeare stepped up as interim manager after The Foxes parted company with Claudio Ranieri. Is it a case of "All's Well That Ends Well"?
National League Eastleigh bucked the trend of recent defeats with a creditable draw at home to high flying Aldershot, although The Shots were reduced to 10 men midway in the first-half. However, this was followed with a woeful 3-1 defeat at bottom club York City, even the away goal was gifted by a comical error from the York keeper.
On our last trip Wilkie Tours took in a game at Real Murcia, which ended in a narrow victory for the home side as they strived for a place in the play-off positions. However, Real drew the next two games and after the dreaded vote of confidence from the board, the coach was then sacked. It seems that the curse of Wilkie Tours has struck again.
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