The Week - UK (2021-02-06)

26 NEWS

THEWEEK6February 2021

Sport

FootballChelsea’s new

manager, Thomas Tuchel,

saw his team beat Burnley

2-0 in his first match in

charge. Leeds beat Leicester

3-1. In the Women’s Super

League, Chelsea beat Aston

Villa 4-0 to move top.

GolfPaul Casey won the

Dubai Desert Classic by four

strokes. It is the Englishman’s

15th European Tour victory.

TennisBritain’s Katie Boulter,

the world No. 371, beat

48th-ranked Coco Gauff 3-6

7-5 6-2 in the second round

of the Gippsland Trophy in

Melbourne.

IfthereisonewordthatsumsupthePremiership

seasonintheeraofCovid-19itwouldhavetobe

“unpredictable”,saidPeterSmithonSkySports.

Thechieftalkingpointatthestartwasthesheer

numberofgoalsflyingin.Onthesecondweekend,

44 werescored–themostinasingleroundof

matchessincethePremierLeaguewasreduced

to 20 teamsin1 99 5;andManchesterUnited

equalledaleaguerecordwiththeir9-0winover

Southamptonthis week.Amongthegoal-fests

weresome“jaw-droppingshocks”–including

AstonVilla’s7-2thrashingofLiverpool,and

ManchesterCity’s 5 -2drubbingbyLeicester.

Scoringlevelshavebecomemorenormalsince

then,saidHarrySymeouon90min.com,butthe

seasonhascontinuedtoconfoundexpectations

inotherways.Moststrikinghasbeenthelackof

consistencybythetopteams.Formhasyo-yoedto

suchanextentthatseveralsideshavegone“fromthehighsofa

titlechallengetothelowsofafull-blowncrisis”withinjustafew

weeks.Atvariouspoints,nineseparateteamshaveheadedthe

table.Seldomhasacampaignhadsuchanopenfeel.

Yet2020/ 21 mayultimatelybebestrememberedforsomething

evenmoresurprising,said JoeRidgeinthe DailyMail:the“total

wipingoutof home advantage”.It wasalwaysassumed home

advantage wouldbe attenuatedasaresultofplayinginspectator-

lessstadiums,butnoonepredictedtheeffect

wouldbeasdramaticasithasturnedoutsofarin

thePremierLeague.Asthingsstand,2 05 matches

havebeenplayedthisseason–outofatotalof

380 .Andofthese, 81 (or45%)havebeenwonby

awayteams,andonly 76 (40%)byhomesides.A

further 48 matcheshavebeendraws.Figuressuch

asthesearetrulyabnormal:everyprevioustop-

flightseasoninhistoryhasfinishedwithhome

victoriesfaroutnumberingawaywins.The

disappearanceofhomeadvantageisastaggering

outcome–andconclusiveproofthatspectators

makeevenmoredifferencetosportthananyone

quiteappreciatedbeforetheCovid-19era.

WiththePremierLeagueprovingsounpredictable,

therehasnaturallybeenmuchspeculationthatan

underdogmightwinthetitle,saidMichaelEmons

onBBCSport.CouldLeicesterpulloffanother“miracle”?Could

thisbeAstonVilla’syear?Don’tcountonit,saidAndyDillonin

TheSun.Thesignsarethattheseasonisfinallystartingto

conformtoexpectation.ManchesterCity,havingrecoveredfrom

theirabysmalstart,havewontheirlasteightmatches,andnow

topthetable.Liverpoolhaveseeminglyrecoveredfromtheir

dramaticrecent dip, andhavemovedintothirdplace, behind

Manchester United. Havinglookedunrecognisable forsolong,

thetableis“startingtotake afamiliarshape again”.

Football: is this the strangest seasonever?

ThelasttimeTwickenhamstaged the CalcuttaCup–

the annualSixNations contest betweenEnglandand

Scotland,it“brought usan11-try thriller that saw

England throwaway a31-pointlead and endedwith

them scrapinga38-all draw”,saidBrianMoorein

TheDailyTelegraph.And withthe twoteams

kickingoffthisyear’scompetitionatTwickenham

on Saturday, hopesareriding highforasimilarly

entertainingcontest.Butdon’tcountonit:opening-

roundSixNationsmatchestend tobecageyaffairs,

withteams sacrificing“styleandsubstance”tothe

goal ofgettingoff toawinningstart.Besides,

England these days aren’texactlyateam associated

withfree-flowingrugby,saidGerardMeagherin

TheGuardian.Theyendedup havingarather

successful 2020,securingtheSix Nationsin October

beforeaddingtheAutumn NationsCuptitle fiveweekslater.But

allalong, EddieJonesandhis menwerecriticisedfortheir

“tendency tokickpossessionawayrather thanadoptingamore

entertaining”approach.Theycertainlydidn’twelcome the

criticism–butthenagain,they’re unlikely to

abandonwhatproved tobeawinningstrategy.

Yeteven ifEnglandreverts totheirfamiliarhabits,

thatdoesn’tmeanthey won’thaveanew weaponin

theirarmoury,saidAlex Lowe inTheTimes.George

Ford,theirfly-half,hasrecentlybeenexperimenting

with anew type of kick knownasthe “spiral bomb”:

he deployedit withgreatsuccessfor LeicesterTigers

lastmonthandsaysheplanstouseitatTwickenham.

Actually,the spiralbombisn’t new atall,saidDaniel

Schofield inTheDailyTelegraph.Inthe1970s,

it wasthe “go-tooption formanyfly-halves”,but

graduallyitfell outof favourandwas “displaced

bythe more reliable end-over-endbomb”.But as

modern fullbacks getevermoreadept atcatching,

teams have beensearchingformore dangeroustypesof kick–

and the spiralbomb,withits “wickedlyunpredictabletrajectory”,

could giveateamanedge. Itwillcertainlygivethisyear’s

CalcuttaCupanintriguingedgeif itisunveiled thisSaturday.

Rugbyunion: will England give Scotland akicking?

Liverpool’s humiliating loss

Ford:asecret weapon

Athletics: looking into the middle distance Sporting headlines

Britain hasn’t beenamajor

force in men’s middle-distance

running since the 1980s heyday

of Sebastian Coe and Steve

Ovett, said Rick Broadbent in

The Times. But nowa“genuine

resurgence” is taking place:

for the first time in decades,

the country has several 800m

and 1500m runners who are

“medal prospects” at this year’s

Olympics. Leading the way on

the men’s side is 26-year-old Jamie Webb, a

former science teacher from Liverpool who has

spent the past year out of action withabroken

thigh. Last Saturday in Vienna, he made a

victorious return to the track, winning the 800m,

his first for 16 months, in 1min 46.95 seconds.

His next goal, he says, is

breaking the 1min 44sec barrier:

no British man has achieved that

since 2005.

On the women’s side, too,

things are looking promising,

said Danielle Desouza on The

Focus. Here, the revival is being

led by former flatmates and

training partners Laura Muir and

Jemma Reekie, both of whom

are “phenomenal” athletes.

Reekie, 22, set British indoor records at both

800m and the mile last year, while Muir, 27, is

one of theworld’sbest 1,500mrunners. All three

athletes offer hope that Brits will “once again

steal the limelight” in middle-distance events

and “dominate the podium” at the Olympics.

Reekie: “phenomenal”