Swansea capped off their season with some success as they can lay claim to being the best of the rest for 2011/2012. The Swans ended on a good note with a win over Liverpool, winning 1-0 in a largely unforgettable match. This year can only really be seen as a success for the side and manager, Brendan Rodgers, it remains to be seen if they will be hit with the legendary second season syndrome. Norwich also made their Premier League claim, finishing 12th is a great feat for a club that were 2 divisions below a mere 2 years ago. They ended their year on a similar note to promoted rivals Swansea, with a 2-0 home win over Aston Villa. Sunderland capped what should have been a progressive and promising campaign with a poor run of form and they consequently dropped like a stone into 13th, a home loss to Manchester United summed them up, not good enough to compete. Sporting Lisbon Academica Tips 20th May 2012 Despite Stoke pumping a huge amount of money into their club over last summer, they didn't push on in the way they hoped, 14th wasn't relative to their investment. The Potters' final match ... Read the rest of the article

The Premier League season is now over and Manchester City have been crowned champions in what was a thrilling last day of English top flight football. It was a truly topsy-turvy climax to the season, with Manchester United seeming championes one minute and then in one of the most awe-inspiring ends to a football game that will ever be seen, City scored a winner through Sergio Aguero and laid their claim as winners. It was incredible as a neutral, so as a fan, it must've been a euphoric experience. In the final minutes of their match against 10 man QPR (after some disgraceful Joey Barton behaviour), Mancini's team were a goal down with moments to play and unbelievably the deficit was turned into a win in literally one of the fixtures last kicks. United ended their game thinking it was job done but were let down. Blackpool West Ham Tips 19th May 2012 So, apart from the top 2 how did the table end up? Well Newcastle didn't make it to the Champions League, 3rd and 4th positions were tied up by Arsenal and Tottenham respectively, both winning their final matches of the season. Spurs were comfortable against Fulham, Arsenal ... Read the rest of the article

Sunderland look like they might be about to finish in the bottom half, which wouldn't represent progress considering they were top 10 last year. Just. A recent loss to Fulham sums them up at the minute and they now have a visit from last year's champions, points don't look too likely. Swansea can still get top 10 as can Norwich and Stoke depending on West Brom's result to Arsenal of course. It's been good seasons for the 2 promoted clubs, they've done well in the main and have strong foundations to build off for next year. The Canaries grabbed a dramatic 3-3 draw at Arsenal to prove they've still got some fight left, the Swans got beat at old Trafford. Stoke lost in London to QPR, they host Bolton for the season's final match. Manchester City QPR Tips 13th May 2012 Wigan have jumped ahead of Aston Villa in the table, displaying how well they've ended the season. An away win to Blackburn signalled their safety and recent improvement, their match with Wolves should be a good end to the season for the home fans. Aston Villa couldn't finish off Tottenham despite Spurs being down to 10 men and there's ... Read the rest of the article

So we're heading into the last weekend of the Premier League for the 2011-2012 season and there is much in the balance. This is possibly one of the most exciting campaigns in the competition's decorated history, with races for the title, relegation and Europe all still well in the balance. Manchester City were excellent at Newcastle, it was a tough and tight match that could have gone either way but it eventually ended with the Blues taking 3 points and a step closer to the Premier League title. Manchester United don't have the situation in their hands anymore, their loss in the derby meant they're behind on goal difference and while they won on the weekend, they didn't look in great mental shape. Beating Swansea wasn't difficult but they've got a tough game at Sunderland to contend with to try and win their 20th League title. Chelsea Blackburn Tips 13th May 2012 Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle are contending for 3rd and 4th going into this weekend. Newcastle lost but can still make up ground if they win a hard fixture at Everton, Tottenham's dodgy form hasn't been banished yet and they could well slip up against a Fulham ... Read the rest of the article

Sunderland had a pretty lively scrap with Bolton on the weekend, drawing 2-2. The Trotters old man, Kevin Davies caused the Black Cats all sorts of issues during the match but Martin O'Neill's men weathered the storm and took the lead, only to be pegged back by Bolton's main dangerman. It at times looked a case of one team needing the result more, compared to a side in mid-table mediocrity. Swansea also drew, quite remarkably at home to Wolves. The Liberty Stadium has been a solid venue for the Welsh team and they looked to be on the way to registering another good result there but their Midlands opposition managed to wrangle a couple of goals later on and take a point. Not great for Brendan Rodgers, who's determined to see his players finish top half. Fulham Sunderland Tips 6th May 2012 Stoke have reacted well to the pasting they received from Newcastle. They've accrued 2 draws since that match and looked far more like their old selves, it was a stalemate of 1-1 against Arsenal and the same outcome when they hosted Everton. Norwich were the victims of Liverpool actually turning up to a league match and had to ... Read the rest of the article

After some weeks in the dark, Manchester City are now back in pole position in the title race after beating Manchester United on Monday night, 1-0. It wasn't really a classic game, such is the case with so many of these 'titanic' battles but in the end that doesn't matter, what does is the result and that's where the Blue half of Manchester prevailed. It was a deserved result for the Sky Blues, they were far more adventurous than United and looked to attack, Ferguson was obviously happy to sit back and play it out for a draw as that's all his team needed but that plan backfired badly and now the Red Devils have left themselves in a position where it's simply not in their hands. City see to have gotten over their jitterbugs and could genuinely take the title now. Chelsea Newcastle Tips 2nd May 2012 Arsenal are still in 3rd but lost some ground on their other challengers for that 3rd place as they could only muster a draw at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke. One of the teams to make up ground were a seemingly recovered Tottenham Hotspur, having been under serious levels of pressure in ... Read the rest of the article

Sunderland have slipped back into the bottom half after what has been a poor run of form. The Black Cats have simply drawn and lost too many out of the last 10/15 games or so. Their most recent result was a 0-0 draw, away to Aston Villa, which continued their goalscoring drought. It's a good thing they're relatively decent at the the back or this season could have been a really poor one for them. Swansea have steadied the ship after their slump. A 1-1 draw away to Bolton is not a poor result and shows the Swans are rebuilding after some particularly poor ones. The Trotters are fighting tooth and nail to stay in the league, so it was a tough game. It leaves the newly promoted 12th. Norwich are currently losing the battle of the promoted. The second half of their season has not matched the success of the first. The Canaries were looking likely to finish ahead of Swansea and while it's not over yet but it looks unlikely. A 2-0 loss to Blackburn only continued to demonstrate Norwich's slump in form. Norwich Liverpool Tips 28th April 2012 Stoke were simply outclassed by Newcastle and couldn't even ... Read the rest of the article

Manchester United uncharacteristically slipped up at home to Everton, they were leading 4-2 with around 15 minutes to play at Old Trafford but let the Toffees back in it and as a title deciding consequence, Manchester City too. It was a game where Wayne Rooney caught up with top scorer, Robin Van Persie, after scoring 2 more goals and linking up well with Danny Welbeck. It was at the other end where the Reds were so bad, not matching their offensive play, they were cumbersome and mentally slow at the other end, Everton's goals came from some pretty poor defending. So all Manchester City had to really do was capitalise and they did, at the expense of Wolves' Premier League status. The Blues won 2-0, it wasn't quite a convincing performance but obviously got the better of a lacklustre Wolves team who looked down and out. The pressure seemed to be back on the players and it was telling, they really don't seem to deal too well with it right now. Arsenal are still in 3rd spot but are being caught up by those behind them. Looking at it completely objectively, a home draw with Chelsea isn't a particularly bad ... Read the rest of the article

Atletico Madrid confounded the recent critics they've picked up in La Liga and beat a defensively lax Valencia. It was a hugely entertaining game in the Spanish capital, seeing 6 goals. Falcao was obviously part of it for the home team, he bagged the opening goal and scored a screamer for his club. Atletico were never being defeated at any point in the match and did look generally in more control of the game, Valencia's recent domestic shakes shining through. It went to 3-1 after an Adrian Lopez goal where he accelerated past his opponent and smartly finished across the 'keeper. Falcao's previously highlighted wonder goal made it 4 goals to the solitary 1 but the Bats pulled it back, which could be massively crucial for the second leg, with Valencia at home. Valencia Atletico Madrid Tips 26th April 2012 In Thursday's other semi-final first leg, Basque surprise packages, Athletic Bilbao travelled to Portugal to play Sporting Lisbon. It wasn't quite as explosive at the match above but still wasn't a poor match, how could it be when Bilbao are playing? Both teams had chances before scoring was broken, mainly half chances that were close and struck well. ... Read the rest of the article

So, we're half way through this year's Champions League semi-finals and both ties are set up fantastically for their respective finales. Starting off with the Tuesday night fixture, Bayern Munich will have left the match (played in Germany) the happier, both with the result and their performance. It was a close game between 2 similar teams, both counter attacking in their natural style with an abundance of pace, especially in wide areas. The final score against Real Madrid was 2-1, with Munich grabbing a goal in the dying minutes through Mario Gomez after some brilliant work from Philip Lahm. It had been 1-1 for the match's majority and the game had seemingly died out and lost momentum until the club captain skipped past Fabio Contreau on the right touchline and whipped in a delicious ball to be finished off. Arsenal Chelsea Tips 21st April 2012 Madrid were generally uninspiring during the game, their passing was way off, their movement far more laboured than usual and Ronaldo had a poor game. They're not just a one man team however, they have any number of stars that could really have taken the game to Bayern. It was probably Mourinho's M.O to not ... Read the rest of the article