Foxes Spiralling Down

After a weekend of Premier League football, it remains unclear who is going down for sure, who will get the top four and if Chelsea are guaranteed the title. The majority of teams at the bottom dropped points and the majority at the top won, leaving it extremely tight as we re-open the doors into the anticipated, but much dreaded European games. Man United and Spurs will be in action in the Europa League this week, but the FA cup will give them a sigh of relief as they don't have to return to Premier League action three days later. The gap from second to sixth is now just 2 points, and the Swans moved up the table in a bid to move away from the pack at the bottom after they were the only team in the bottom six to win. Questions remain over how this season will be pan out, but who had a good week in this weeks Premier League results?

Arsenal 2-0 Hull

With pressure growing at the Emirates, Arsenal had to win this game in order to stay in the hunt and to not lose even more confidence. The game was more important for the Gunners than it was for Hull due to the Tigers improving in the last month. The game was far from comfortable for Arsenal with Hull stringing together some good passes in the first half and creating a couple of chances. Although they took the lead it was still far from over as the players and supporters had their heart in their mouths when Kieran Gibbs took out Lazar Markovic as the last man. Luckily he received a yellow card and Arsenal sealed the victory late on with Sanchez scoring his second of the day and now leading the top scorer charts. There is a lot of work to do to make this campaign a success, but this will feel like a huge weight off of their shoulders.

Hull won't be too disappointed with this result as they put up a fight and stopped Arsenal from running away with it. Marco Silva has done a great job to improve them and to make them harder to beat, but in the games he has been in charge they have been playing the bigger sides where they can sit back and counter. They have been playing some decent football as well, but it will be interesting to see if they can put in a good performance and get results against the lesser teams where they are expected to get something. They host Burnley in their next game where the clarets have only picked up one point on their travels all season. This game definitely won't define the season of Hull City, but the next few weeks are vital.

Swansea 2-0 Leicester

The slope down to the bottom three has been painful and quick for the foxes, as they are now right in the thick of it. It seemed impossible that they could drop this much, but then again, it was nothing short of that which saw them lift the Premier League last season. The key men just are no longer there. Kante literally is not there, but Vardy and Mahrez are just shadows of the players they were last season. They are the only team in Europe's top 5 leagues not to score in 2017 and you can see why. They have no confidence and a complete lack of urgency. The way they play is so slow and laboured and when you're playing against a team that are fighting relegation with you, you have to be motivated to win the game. Mahrez just seems to be lazy and Vardy just isn't getting in behind like he was last season. Ranieri may have got the vote of confidence, but something has to change or they will keep appearing on this list and for the wrong reasons.

I don't know how he has done it, but Paul Clement has made a Swansea side that look destined for the drop, play like they did a few years ago under Michael Laudrup. It really looks like they can go on and secure safety this season with the technically gifted players they've got. Gylfi Sigurdsson is a fantastic player. He is technically brilliant and thrives in a team where he is the star. Two-footed, brilliant from set pieces and a good finisher, he constantly finds the pockets of space in between the opponents midfield and defence and has the ability to pick a pass or turn and shoot. Adding Tom Carroll was good because he is good on the ball and makes Swansea what they want to be by being a good passing side. Alfie Mawson has improved dramatically under Clement and is now becoming a vital asset to the Swans, something the manager has done in his time at the club with several players already. This win just shows they're moving in the right direction and if they carry on the way they are, they will be completely fine.

Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham

Just like Chelsea against Arsenal last week, this one was going to be in this list no matter what the score was. Liverpool simply had to win to stay in tact with the top four and win they did, as they dismantled Spurs in the opening 20 minutes. Sadio Mane was so badly missed in January and now that he is back they have got their confidence back again. They may be out of the title race, but they are still in the running for the top four. They are still waiting for Coutinho and Firmino to get back to their goal-scoring form, but Firmino in particular actually played really well in this game and this is a real statement to the rest of the top clubs that they're back after a tricky spell. It is weird to think this is their first league win in 2017 and they're still above Man United, but can they build on this win and go on a run to finish in the top four?

This may have only been their third defeat of the season, but it shows the inability Spurs have to beat the big sides away from home. Under Pochettino, Spurs haven't won at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Emirates, or Old Trafford and now need to start doing that if they are going to win the league any time soon. They hadn't lost since the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in December. Tottenham had actually been on a good run of form and had been one of the form teams in the league, along with Manchester United and they even beat Chelsea at the start of January. They now enter a difficult period where they have FA cup and Europa League games to distract them from the league which can be dangerous. Last week everyone thought they were a safe bet for the top four, but this game showed the weaknesses they have and the lack of squad depth at the club. They are right in the thick of it.

Sunderland 0-4 Southampton

Just when you thought they had turned a corner they go and get battered at their own ground. In recent weeks, Sunderland had given their supporters some optimism with a point against Spurs and hammering Palace, but they let that go completely down the drain as they were humiliated by the Saints on Saturday. David Moyes was scrutinised for his January dealings, and it looked like he had shocked everyone with them last week, but now it once again looks like they're going to go down. The only time they ever look like winning is when Jermaine Defoe scores, but even if he would have in this game it wouldn't have mattered. There is no faith in the team at the club either, with the stadium seemingly empty in the second half. Their next two games are Everton away and Man City at home, so their supporters may just be biting their finger nails in a few weeks where they could be 5 or 6 points off safety.

Southampton had hardly been on a purple patch after winning just one of their last seven games, but found it easy to dismantle the Black Cats, with new man Manolo Gabiadini running the show up front, taking his tally to 3 in just two games. I actually thought Sunderland may win this game because the defence of Southampton is so poor. Normally the heart of the defence is called that because they keep the team beating with a rhythm, but it looks more like they are called that because they've been going through cardiac arrest with Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida back there. This game was just so different, they just bossed the whole game and Sunderland only managed one shot on target. In the final third, Sunderland only completed 57% of their attempted passes, some proof as to why the Saints managed to keep a clean sheet.

Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester City

A few weeks ago both these sides seasons were very different. Bournemouth have struggled in recent weeks and constantly concede goals, but in this game they actually played quite well. You would have to say they probably deserved a point, but Man City just showed they have that class in front of goal. Bournemouth are slowly slipping into a relegation battle and with Simon Francis and Wilshere going off injured in this game, adding to the loss of Callum Wilson, the end to the season could be a struggle. They are in danger of falling alongside Leicester and co down the bottom, and you wouldn't go against it in their recent form. It would be sad to see them go down, but Eddie Howe needs to prove he has the ability to be a future England manager in the next few months by keeping them up.

Manchester City have somehow gone from a team facing severe pressure by potentially missing out on the Champions League, to being the best placed team to challenge Chelsea to the title. They played well in this game, but not excellent. David Silva, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling had good games and Silva possibly doesn't get enough credit in this team. De Bruyne is a crucial player to this team, but David Silva is so intelligent with his passing and awareness. Leroy Sane started this game pretty poor but soon enough was making clever runs to get in behind and play a part in both goals. They are now 8 points behind Chelsea and they look good and if they will finish in the top four come the end of the season, it would have been a good turnaround. Guardiola isn't under so much pressure now.

Best and Worst

The team who had the best weekend is Swansea, as they were only team down the bottom to pick up all three points as they continued their rise up the league. Liverpool had a good week as well, but it is so tight at the top you just cannot say they will finish in the top four as they need to prove they can break teams down. The team with the worst week has to be Sunderland as they looked to have turned a corner but they certainly have not. They are so bad and surely won't beat the drop.