BALTIMORE, Maryland March 15, 2015 - Intrepid is the word I use to describe the Burnley Football Club. The 'Dictionary.com" web site defines intrepid as "resolutely fearless or dauntless". Burnley's lads are absolutely resolutely fearless. Saturday evening they played host to Premier League Power Manchester City. Understand that Manchester City was in second place in the Premier, with all sites set on Chelsea, the league leader. This is the Manchester City team that plays in the Europa League in the mid-week, along with the best club teams in Europe. This is the Manchester City team that plays in front of over 50,000 fans on a regular basis. But this is also the Manchester City team that lost yesterday, to Burnley. George Boyd's masterpiece of a shot in the 61st minute did Manchester City in.
And oh did Burnley need this victory and the three precious points that came with it. Relegation looms. Relegation back down to the Championship. Over 21,000 crammed into venerable Turf Moor pleading for what seemed impossible: a win against one of the world's real power-clubs. Against all of the odds, the wish of the Burnley faithful was granted. Kieran Trippier took a free kick, but City defender and captain Vincent Kompany moved into the path of the kick and attempted to clear the ball. He did not hit it well. Instead of clearing, it rolled to George Boyd. George Boyd did not mis-hit the ball; his shot was low and sinister, at least for the City Keeper - who is also the keeper for the English National Team - Joe Hart. Hart could not get to Boyd's shot, and Burnley moved in front to the pure delight of the Claret faithful. That darned Burnley defense then dug in and wouldn't budge. When the final whistle sounded, Burnley was still ahead. Three points were their's.
While the Claret offense has sputtered in the Premier, their defense is right at home, playing as if they never skipped a beat while being promoted from the Championship to the Premier. Early in the season the Burnley defense stood tall in a streak of three consecutive scoreless draws. Tom Heaton, Ben Mee, Kieran Trippier and company were at it again against Manchester City. Did I tell you that Manchester City never did score? No, they did not. There was some howling from the City bench - quite loud and quite long, we are told - about some alleged ittle disturbance during injury time, but referee Andre Mamner waived it off.
The most important question at this juncture is what the win and the three points mean to Burnley's struggle to avoid relegation. The teams which finish 18th, 19th and 20th in the Premier are relegated to the Championship League for the following season, replaced in the Premier by the first and second place finishers in the Championship, and the winner of a playoff between the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place teams in the Championship. Each team in the Premier plays 38 matches - a home match and an away match with every other team in the Premier. As it stands now, Leicester is in 20th in the Premier with 19 points through 28 matches. The Queens Park Rangers are in 19th place with 22 points. The Rangers have played 29 matches. Burnley has also played 29 matches, but they have 25 points, good for 18th place. They must move up to 17th place or higher to avoid relegation. Right now, Sunderland is in 17th place. Sunderland has only one more point - 26 - than does Burnley. Aston Villa and Hull City are tied for 15th/16th place with 28 points. Everton is in 14th place with 31 points.
The Claret will have more than a fair chance to move out of the relegation positions. They have 9 matches left, beginning next Saturday with a match at Sunderland. The other eight matches include road matches at Everton on April 18, at West Ham on May 2, at Hull on May 9, and at Aston Villa to end the season on May 24. The Claret also have four precious home matches remaining, including Tottenham on April 5, Arsenal on April 11, Leicester on April 25 and Stoke City in their final match of the season at Turf Moor on May 16. The question, of course, is whether the Stoke City match on May 16 will be the final Premier League match at Turf Moor for the forseeable future, or merely the final home match in the Premier until next August. If teams in critical positions end up tied, the tie is broken by goal differential. Say, for instance, that after the regular season ends, Burnley is tied for 17th/18th place with, say, Sunderland. If the season ended today, Sunderland would survive and Burnley would be relegated because Sunderland's GD (goal differential) is (-20) while Burnely is (-21). One goal difference over an entire season. Yikes! Take heart, though, because there is a ton of soccer left and one goal is not a lot to make up. If you're interested, other teams in the relegation struggle and their GD are: Everton (-5), Hull (-11), Aston Villa (-19), Queens Park (-22) and Leicester City (-20).
Manchester City's loss to Burnley yesterday kept them six points behind Chelsea in the battle for first place in the Premier. Chelsea has 64 points and a GD of 35 after drawing with Southampton on Saturday. City has 58 points and a GD of 51. Actually, the teams in second, third and fourth place in the Premier are very very close to each other. Arsenal is third with 57 points and a GD of 28. Manchester United is fourth with 56 points and a GD of 24. In fifth place is Liverpool with 51 points and a GD of 12. Southampton and Tottenham follow Liverpool - and very closely - each with 50 points. What's more, Southampton has a leader-like GD of 19, while Tottenham has a GD of 4. After Tottenham you drop all the way down to Stoke with 42 points and a negative GD. Every team in the Premier has played either 28 or 29 matches. The home stretch will be gloriously important to all of the sides involved.
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