Premier League Ponderings: Premier League roller coaster

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Manchester City defeated Sunderland 3-1 to win the League Cup. City will look to bring home some more hardware via the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

The Premier League has been a busy place since my last column, but is taking a breather this weekend in order to accommodate the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, allowing a chance to catch up and take a look at what has happened over the last couple of weeks.

Another Manager Bites The Dust
For what I'm really hoping is the last time, this column starts with another manager losing his job, the eighth managerial change this season, just one short of the all-time record for mid-season sackings. With a reign that lasted only 13 league matches, bottom of the table Fulham released their manager René Meulensteen, yet took the extraordinary step of hiring his replacement four days beforehand.

The cost of being relegated from the Premier League can be extreme, as it usually comes with an exodus of the top players who are too good to be playing in the Championship (England's second tier) and a massive loss in television revenue. Many once-great clubs that were unfortunate enough to slip out of the top tier have found returning an impossible task, and one that becomes more difficult with each passing year. In a desperate attempt to save themselves from this fate, the club has brought in experienced German manager Felix Magath, a man with a reputation for being a grinding disciplinarian, earning himself nicknames such as “Saddam” and “Europe's last dictator” from his former players.

The new manager seemed confident that he could save the club in the 12 matches that were provided to him, and clearly the ownership feels he is the man to get the most out of the misfiring team, yet it looks likely that Fulham's time at England's top table may be running out. Their fans will look fondly back on the “great escape” of 2007/08, when the club secured survival with 10 minutes of the season left, but such events are well remembered for a reason, they rarely happen.

Arsenal's Winter Blues Continue
For a club that holds the distinction of lasting the entire season unbeaten, and one that boasts one of the fullest trophy cabinets in England, Arsenal's trophy drought has become one of football's longest-running jokes (sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk tracks all of the things in the world that have happened since their last win). With Manchester United's troubles this season, Arsenal looked to have their best opportunity in years to end their unenviable streak, yet has begun to showcase some issues in the last few weeks, a winter slip that has also become something of a joke. After the 5-1 demolition at the hands of Liverpool, the club has gone on to record a win against lowly Sunderland, a goalless draw against Manchester United and a 1- 0 loss to Stoke City, a run that has seen them overtaken by Liverpool in second place and their fans demanding answers. It was the defeat to Stoke that seems to be the hardest to swallow, with the players on the pitch looking devoid of ideas and their star signing Mesut Özil relegated to the bench after a string of indifferent performances. While the four-point gap on Chelsea is certainly not impossible to overcome, the players and manger are facing an extremely difficult month, and another misstep could see them fall even further away from a title.

Manchester City Scoops League Cup
Finally, congratulations to Manchester City for securing the season's first silverware, coming from behind to beat Sunderland 3- 1 at Wembley. They were always favourites to win, yet most viewers expected them to make it easier on themselves, with Fabio Borini's opener for Sunderland a surprise to all concerned. City will return to Premier League play next weekend, currently sitting in fourth but with two games in hand on all of their title competitors.