February is the shortest month, but for plenty Premier League managers it represents one of the most important. The squad is now in place, there are vital points to play for, and while Roberto Mancini and his scarf will stride out at Eastlands tonight searching for a win to get back in sight of the Champions League places, he’ll have seven contemporaries with arguably more important things on their minds.
Seven of the bottom 11 clubs are in action in tonight’s four games, and as we enter the business end of the season, the dreaded prospect of relegation will be uppermost in their minds.
That shouldn’t have been the case for Roy Hodgson, but the alarming dip in form of his Fulham side makes tonight’s clash with Burnley vital. The Whites have picked up four points from their last two games, but were winless in six before that, turning all thoughts of European qualification into simple mid-table consolidation. They surely won’t go down, but are still nine points off that magical 40-point mark, and until they get there then Hodgson will worry.
They couldn’t wish for many better opponents tonight, as Burnley arrive at Craven Cottage still without an away win all season. The weekend success at home to West Ham was a crucial one for Brian Laws, but their away form simply has to be rectified if they are to stand any chance of staying up. Only one point on the road all season – and 35 goals conceded – simply aren’t statistics likely to keep you in the Premier League, and Laws surely knows that.
Further down, both geographically and in the table, lie Portsmouth, who are still actually a football club despite recent events. Sadly for them, tonight’s meeting with Sunderland doesn’t represent their most important fixture of the week. That will occur in the High Court tomorrow when their winding up order will be challenged, but events on the pitch are still in their control, and boss Avram Grant will look upon tonight as a chance to claim some valuable points. Anything less and they are surely doomed.
Grant may be quietly confident, as opponents Sunderland have been sliding down the table at a rate of knots. Darren Bent’s beach-ball winner against Liverpool against October represented an unlikely high point in their season; they’ve won just one in 15 since. Now 13th in the table, just four points above the drop zone, tonight should give Steve Bruce the chance for some valuable points, but in their current malaise it’s hard to see where the next win is coming from.
They drew with Wigan on Saturday, and the Latics entertain Stoke tonight in search of only a second league win since they beat Sunderland at home in November. Roberto Martínez’ ever-changing side have been boosted by the arrival of Victor Moses, but Victor didn’t mean victory at the weekend, and Martínez surely knows that games like tonight’s represent his side’s best chance of staying up.
Not that it’ll be easy. Stoke are rightly not being mentioned amongst the relegation candidates – a huge tribute to Tony Pulis and the excellent work that he’s done at the Britannia Stadium – but nonetheless the Welshman will want to reach safety as soon as possible. Eleventh in the table, but with two games in hand on both Fulham and Blackburn – the two clubs either side of them – the Potters could take a huge step towards another Premier League season tonight.
The hardest task this evening belongs to Owen Coyle, who hasn’t exactly been blessed with the easiest of fixtures since taking over as Bolton boss. Games at home and away to Arsenal and at Liverpool were never going to determine Wanderers’ safety under their new manager, and tonight’s clash at Manchester City could come under the same category. The loss of Gary Cahill will hit them hard, and anything they take from Eastlands tonight should be considered a bonus, but it won’t be pretty.
Nor will it be for the six other managers under the spotlight tonight, a night when attention shifts from the top of the table to the bottom.
Not all seven will be feeling magnificent at full time, but the few who are could have taken a giant stride towards avoiding these sort of nights in the future. They won’t ride off into the sunset fully satisfied – that could come later – but they’ll enjoy the feeling of an important battle won on the long road to safety. Until the next one anyway.
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