Premier League: Wimpish, delusional, and just plain stupid

Marouane Fellaine best get ready for a few weeks off

There have been many talking points amongst the Premier League's clubs in the last week. Mike Norman discusses three of them.

With a headline like the one I've gone for above it would be nice to think some Premier League footballers or managers are waking up this morning fearing that they've been exposed.

But the reality is, with their 50k+ weekly wages safely deposited into their accounts, not many will care a jot for what little-known writers like myself pen on a Sunday morning. So with this is mind, I may as well go all guns blazing as I take a look back at some of the more 'debatable' episodes of the last week.

And if I can get one or two of you die-hard fans to reply in anger, then even better!

Wimpish

The sight of an almost full strength Arsenal side wearing long sleeve shirts and gloves as they were knocked out of the Capital One Cup in midweek still amuses me five days later.

One thing is pretty much certain in football - if you think all you have to do to win is turn up then more often than not you will get beat. There's no doubt in my mind that on Tuesday night the Arsenal lads - Jack Wilshere apart perhaps - believed just turning up at Valley Parade to face League Two outfit Bradford would be enough for victory. Sadly they were wrong.

The Bantams secured an early advantage as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their opponents in the tunnel, most of them wearing short sleeves and looking far more motivated than their 'wrapped-up' opponents.

True, it was a cold night in West Yorkshire. But there's one sure fire way of keeping warm on such an evening, and that is to run around and put a shift in. Arsenal failed to do that and Bradford deservedly secured a famous win.

Phil Parkinson's 'scantily clad' men celebrated in front of their own fans for a good 20 minutes after the game, whilst the Gunners donned their thick training jackets and left the field. Arsenal are available to back at 1.728/11 if you believe they'll be 'too hot' for bottom-of-the-table Reading on Monday night.

Delusional

It's fair to say that success has a habit of going to Brendan Rodgers' head pretty quickly. As a youngish manager with a lot to prove I found it a bit smug of him to allow TV cameras to capture that portrait of himself hanging on the wall of his luxury home.

And now, after a few decent results, Rodgers believes Liverpool are capable of challenging for second place in the Premier League. This is despite the club's worst start to a season for 100 years under his leadership, and the fact that barring a few days last week, the Reds have been in the bottom half of the table all season.

Obviously, after yesterday's 1-3 home loss to Aston Villa it's easy to say what I'm saying, but Liverpool are not going to finish in the top two (they can be backed at 100.099/1 if you disagree) and Rodgers needs to grasp some reality. In fact, the Reds are odds against to finish in the Top Six this season - available to back at 2.245/4.

In Rodgers' defence however, there are mutterings going around this morning that what he actually said was that his Liverpool side are capable of finishing second... in every game they play!

Plain stupid

Just what was Marouane Fellaini thinking of when he decided to headbutt Ryan Shawcross on Saturday afternoon? Such actions are not even excusable after being spat at, verbally abused, or having had a two-footed tackle connect with your shins.

But Fellaini had experienced nothing more than being tightly marked by the excellent Shawcross, and his assault on the Stoke defender was completely unprovoked.

To Fellaini's credit he apologised to all involved immediately after the game, and even more credit to Everton boss David Moyes who quickly condemned what had happened and said that the club will accept any punishment coming the Belgian's way.

That punishment is likely to be at least a three match ban, and for the Merseyside club to be without the Premier League Player of the Month (November) for most of the Christmas period is a huge blow.

Everton can be backed at 5.95/1 for a Top Four Finish this season, and that makes plenty of appeal if you believe Fellaini's act of stupidity is a one-off.