Easter curses

I hope we will soon be able to stop talking about curses, but I’ll have one more go. Easter being over my own curse has ended too – a host of nice men with scary machines dug up my sidewalk, found the faulty cables and restored my digital relationship with the world. Well done them. Of course they left without filling up the holes, so the front of the house now looks like a WWI trench…

The misfiring curse of Easter, turning everything upside down, seemed to continue on Monday with Pompey, coming from their convincing win over Manchester United, stumbling to defeat against Watford who managed to score more goals in a game than ever before. Manchester City, picking up their form after a long period of goal scoring difficulty, beat Fulham by 3 to 1 in a similarly bizarre result. Charlton and Reading ended 0-0 as did Newcastle versus Arsenal, who, still cursed, barely got close. The injured Shay Given might as well have stayed in his goal and had a cup of tea. (The Championship, incidentally, does not seem to be cursed – the game between Southampton and Sunderland was an entertaining affair with three lovely goals.) Bolton and Everton did us the favour of drawing, meaning that neither have dashed too far ahead and we are now three points behind Everton with a game in hand.

Injuries to our defenders seems to be the biggest problem (Easter curse as well?) at the moment, which is why a goal scoring spree on Thursday would be even more welcome than usual. Apart from Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Anthony Gardner, who have been joining Ledley King in the physio room for a while, and the fact that Ricardo Rocha is ineligible against Sevilla, we now seem to have lost Young-Pyo Lee, possibly for the season. His consistency and work rate on the left will be sorely missed. So rather than being “merely” a brilliant boost, Ledley King’s anticipated return on Thursday starts looking like a must. Having King back in the middle would enable us to put Stalteri and Chimbonda at right and left respectively and that would calm at least my nerves. Without King, and without even Tom Huddlestone, who would have been a defensive option, we may have to start getting really creative with team selection…

And, once more, we will have a different referee for the next game, right? One that is less dizzy? One that is aware of which sport he is refereeing? Honestly, I would rather have a Spanish referee than that bloke. Ok, rant over. And until Thursday, some potentially enjoyable Champions League to glance at… apart from the nervous worry about the injured lads. It is a blessing indeed (and I am touching all available wood here) that our dear heroic Michael Dawson appears to be virtually indestructible.

Image from www.tottenhamhotspur.com