Whenever a football player is about to be signed by a club, they have a medical first. It is very unusual for a club to back out of the deal because of the results, but still a medical is taken with every player.
Unless there’s a specific reason, like drug testing, that would seem like an unwarranted invasion of privacy, wouldn’t it? Again, I appreciate any indulgence of my ignorance. But in the United States, players unions I think would resist routine medical exams without any specific purpose. After all, a contract can be written to protect a club if a player is hiding a health condition that would prevent him from playing. So unless it’s to uncover illicit drug use or juicing/doping, what is a routine medical exam for?
This is not at all unusual in US sports either, particularly for players with injury histories, when trades are made. Nobody wants to trade for (or sign) injured goods.
Here’s a story about the Pineda/Montero deal in the offseason - notice: “The deal is pending physicals.”
Here’s one for AJ Burnett: nyyuniverse.com
And here’s one for the NFL: NFL Football - News, Scores, Stats, Standings, and Rumors - National Football League - CBSSports.com
And since you brought up the Union, here’s the MLBPA fighting for a player after a medical exam voided his contract. The team won.
This might actually come to pass - though it’s going to take Sunderland doing something about their poor run of form to sneak past them I think. Villa and Wigan seem to be patchy but are on a generally upward curve form wise, so I think they’ll get out (I also quite hope Villa manage it and keep promoting their youth players - they’ve been a bit naive but this looks to be a sensible way of competing in the medium term, as I don’t think they have the cash to compete with the teams at the top end of the table). Reading and QPR are both basically done, it would appear.
Sunderland and Stoke are both playing some terrible stuff though. Di Canio is going to have to do something to get past Stoke - and more than just asking them to be more aggressive as they were against Chelsea this past weekend. I think, on balance, I’d prefer Sunderland to stay up, as there is the possibility, with their players, that they might start playing decent football. Even Stoke fans appear to have given up hope of that from Pulis.
The worrying thing though is that, if Stoke do go down, Cardiff are poised to be one of the sides that replace them. Unfortunately, from what I have seen from them this year, they too are agricultural lumpers.
Oh, and Manchester United have won the title, for all intents and purposes - even though they did lose at home to Manchester City last night.
A visionary forecast 
Mancini was crying the other day about teams rolling over for Utd, but you’d have to say he has a point - albeit one made to obscure his own short-comings. There’s just no way that Utd team should be cantering to the league title, even their own fans think they’re mediocre, yet they’ve never been put under serious pressure all season.
Since we’re quoting ourselves:
Happy with the outcome here - QPR very likely to drop, and Barton in France, hopefully never to return!
This was pretty much as wrong as it could be, apart from the fact that United have been “good enough” to all-but secure the title - the result at Old Trafford this week was disappointing and typical of the whole season, really, but at least it was an improvement on last season :).
Well, my worries appear to have been unfounded (and Jas09’s hopes, so far, unfulfilled). He has really been the difference for us this season. Have to agree with Busy Scissors though that the title has rather been handed to us. Not quite over yet, though - 4 losses in the final 7 games could still give it back to City.
Yeah, I’ve had to make do with Nasri’s continued irrelevance, and hopefully yet another collapse by Spurs out of the CL spots.
What’s amazing to me is that Arsenal, suffering through what many believe to be Wenger’s worst season, seem to me to be favorites to still nick in a Champions league spot…again. They could easily still finish third. Nobody seems to really think they are third best in English football, yet there they may be. Kind of remarkable, albeit you expect more than consistently finishing 3rd/4th and out of the Cup competitions early every year from a team like Arsenal. Apparently they will have 100 million to spend this off-season. I’ll believe it when I see it.
This battle to avoid the last relegation place looks like it is going to be a real ding dong. There are about 6 sides who can all fall into the position (and a couple more who, if the wheels really fall off could find themselves in it too). For the purposes of this though, I looked at Newcastle, Norwich, Sunderland, Stoke, Villa and Wigan.
Newcastle:
Run in: WBA (a), Liverpool (h), West Ham (a), QPR (a), Arsenal (h)
QPR are should be done and Arsenal should be playing for the beach by the time Newcastle get to them. Could ease their minds before that as none of these sides has much to play for to be honest (even if Liverpool have an outside chance at the Europa League slot and West Ham could get dragged in). Should survive. Didn’t do themselves any favours against Sunderland though.
Norwich:
Run in: Reading (h), Stoke (a), Villa (h), WBA (a), Man City (a)
Should beat Reading but then 2 six pointers back to back before playing two theoretically on holiday by then. Need the win against Reading I think to give themselves a little margin for error. Hopefully, they’ll beat Reading and Stoke and that should be them safe. They should stay up too.
Sunderland:
Run in: Everton (h), Villa (a), Stoke (h), Southampton (h), Spurs (a)
Huge win for them this weekend. If they can replicate that against Villa and Stoke, they will likely survive I think. This Everton game will be tricky though. As with Newcastle and Norwich, have potentially uninterested opponents in the last two games.
Stoke:
Run in: QPR (a), Norwich (h), Sunderland (a), Spurs (h), Southampton (a)
QPR are not mathematically out of it yet, so that game has blood and thunder all over it. Norwich and Sunderland are also 6 pointers. If they lose the lot, I think they will go - Spurs might not be playing for anything at that point but Stoke would be at a low ebb and it will be difficult to turn it around from there. Conversely, of course, wins in their next 3 matches and they will survive - and can’t be written off yet. Major issue at the minute seems to be a lack of squad unity - if rumours are to be believed half the squad want to stick to the long ball plan and the other half are sick of it. Pulis needs to get his squad behind his tactics - they have been proven to be effective. If not, and they continue to be disjointed, they could fall out.
**Villa: **
Run in: Man Utd (a), Sunderland (h), Norwich (a), Chelsea (h), Wigan (a).
Bloody hell - what a set of fixtures. They seem to have pulled some results together recently but I can’t see them getting anything from Man Utd and then it is likely going to hinge on those games versus Sunderland and Norwich. Given how naive they have been this season, I would not fancy them at Wigan on the last day needing a win to stay up. Need to get the points early for my money.
Wigan:
Run in: Man City (a), West Ham (a), Spurs (h), WBA (a), Swansea (h), Arsenal (a), Villa (h).
I think they are going to get out of it. 2 games in hand on everyone else and three points back gives them plenty of time to do it, plus the games against West Ham, WBA and Swansea look winnable for a side that needs the points against teams that don’t (at least for WBA and Swansea). I think they wouldn’t want to go to the wire against Villa but that is definitely a winnable game.
I think it’s going to be Villa at this stage. I really hope I am wrong though. There are going to be some tough games in amongst this lot. Sunderland-Villa, Stoke-Sunderland, Norwich-Sunderland, Norwich-Stoke might go a long way to shaking this out.
TL-DR - the Premier League is dead at the top of the division. All of the interest is in the relegation fight. Villa look like they might well go down - but there are a number of fixtures, especially in the next 3 weeks, that will go a long way to ruling some teams out.
Good analysis, Cumbrian. From what I saw of Stoke on MOTD last night, they looked hopelessly limited and they weren’t even that good when they did stick to plan A. Of course, they were playing the best in the league but even so…
I submit that Villa going down would be the biggest shock relegation from the top tier in recent years - probably the only one that compares in Premier League terms is Nottingham Forest, in terms of “how the mighty have fallen”. But it perhaps goes to show the transient nature of football in all except the top echelons. There are a number of teams in the third division who played at least one season in the Premier League, after all. Having said that, many teams in the past have been “too good to go down” until they weren’t, and duly got relegated. So it would be a shock but not a surprise, if such is possible.
I find it hard to disagree with any of the previous post but I think it depends on whether the new manager effect will be sufficient for Sunderland, often it is but if they lose to Villa and Stoke, they will be in deep trouble I think.
So you believe the Champions League spots (3rd and 4th) will be determined before the last weekend?
Great analysis, overall.
Well, No. 1 is clear, and No. 2 rather likely, but Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham are neck and neck for the last two UEFA Champions League spots. So, it’s not quite “dead at the top,” in my opinion.
Go Gunners!
Are you a #sage?
Good game last night for a 0-0 - very intense. 4th is a real long shot for Everton now, apart from that it didn’t really clarify the European spots much.
Newcastle going down would be funny, but I’d most like to see the back of Wigan. No problem with them or their fans (I’ve met both of them, they’re great people), everyone likes Martinez etc etc, but a town that doesn’t give a monkeys about premiership football doesn’t deserve to host it. I’d like to see them replaced by a real club from somewhere that values the game. They will probably stay up though.
Villa seem to be the best bet for relegation at this point in time, IMO. Questions about the spine of the team and they have a demanding run in. MON left a damaging legacy there. You could make a footballing case for relegation being not the worst thing to happen, given their youth and the obvious re-building job required. I guess the financial implications would be catastrophic, though.
It really was a good match for a scoreless draw. I thought Arsenal had just turned it on enough, but they missed the few half-chances they generated. The defending from Everton was great - lots of last-ditch blocks and tackles.
Wilshere doesn’t look right yet, and I think Arsenal missed Rosicky. Must-win stuff now for every match that isn’t against United going forward.
Can somebody explain what is happening in Scotland? I mean I know Rangers were relegated for financial reasons or whatever and that the League is basically a Harlem Globetrotters-esque tour for Celtic to claim their title. But what is all this stuff about re-structuring and the controversy there.
I think recent results show that the contest for the top 2-4 is going to be exciting to the end of the season!
As an Arsenal supporter, hoping for a Chelsea defeat today…
ETA: With Man City’s defeat to Spurs today, Man United can clinch tomorrow against Villa. Wouldn’t bet against it.
Suarez, you miserable lizard of shittyness, you probably cost Liverpool a win with that handball. But biting? Seriously? What are you, five? I hope the FA bans the shit out of you.
ETA: Of course Suarez “Mr. Handball” has a history of biting in competition. Still at it. What a sack of phlegm.
So Liverpool leveled in the end, at 96’ freaking minutes with a Suarez (ugh) header, but he is a disgrace, to himself and his club. He shouldn’t play pro-level football again, in my opinion, at least not in the Premiere League, or anywhere in the UK. Get rid of him, Liverpool!
I’m reluctant to abuse Suarez or simply label him a scumbag. He clearly has serious psychological/emotional/mental issues of some sort. If he was a 9-to-5er, his pattern of behavior would’ve been filed under ‘nuts’ not ‘scum’.