Premier League grades: Andy Walker offers his verdict on the weekend's games

Tuesday 11 April 2017 06:45, UK

Did your Premier League team live up to expectations this weekend?

We've asked former Celtic, Bolton Wanderers and Scotland striker Andy Walker to give each side a grade based on their performance in the latest round of fixtures.

So, who finished top of the class? Did your team get an A+, an F, or something in between? Read on for the Sky Sports pundit's verdict...

Sunderland - D

There is a general acceptance from Sunderland supporters, after failing to score again and losing to United, that the team will be relegated but they want David Moyes to stay to push for a return to the Premier League. And hopefully the structure in place will then enable them to not be a club that is constantly involved in relegation battles.

Teams can come up from the Championship, like Hull, Bournemouth or Burnley, and be relatively comfortable. Burnley have not been anywhere near the bottom of the table all season, so that is a very realistic target for Sunderland.

So once they go down, they should get the structure right so they are much more capable of handling the pressures of the Premier League.

Manchester United - B

Manchester United are capable of anything with Zlatan Ibrahimovic up top and he starred once again against Sunderland. United did get the benefit of a slightly dubious red card to Seb Larsson, but they took advantage and kept a clean sheet.

The interesting thing for me was to see Luke Shaw coming back, playing reasonably well and getting a pat on the back and a very public embrace from Jose Mourinho. The manager has shown a bit of tough love, but he realises that Shaw has a lot of potential. The last thing you want to do is throw him on the scrapheap after paying so much for him. There is much more to come from Shaw.

Everton - A

Everton get an 'A' for beating the champions with a good performance despite Leicester making a few changes. It was terrific to see Ross Barkley in that type of form and Tom Davies flying alongside him. Their recent home form has been brilliant and Romelu Lukaku has been scoring a lot of goals.

However, I worry about Lukaku making noises about potentially leaving and Ronald Koeman saying he has offered Barkley a new contract and he has yet to sign it. I think these two players are really important if Everton want to kick on. I would hope that Barkley would think about developing his game and becoming more of a Dele Alli-type player, as he influences games pretty much on a weekly basis, whereas Barkley blows hot and cold. And when he is hot, as he was on Sunday, then Barkley is capable of running the show.

Leicester City - C

Leicester get a 'C' because they pretty much gave up any realistic chance of getting all three points at Goodison Park by making a host of changes ahead of their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.

This could still be an amazing season for Leicester in terms of what they could do in the Champions League and they must feel like they have a chance of beating anybody over two legs. No one gave them much of a chance against Sevilla, but they came through that against a team that has won the Europa League ever season for the past three years.

Atletico Madrid are are going to be even more difficult though having reached two Champions League finals in the past three seasons. However, I would not rule out Leicester keeping the tie alive heading into the second leg.

Tottenham Hotspur - A

I was very impressed with how Spurs comfortably beat Watford. I thought Dele Alli was terrific and Eric Dier was impressive as always. I have been proved wrong for thinking there may be a bit of a drop in Spurs' performances with Harry Kane out of the team. They were excellent as Heung-Min Son proved a capable replacement for Kane by scoring a couple of goals. It was a special display and you can feel the appreciation from the home support at the moment.

Watford - C

It has been a decent campaign for Watford but it was not their best performance against Tottenham. They have already done a lot of hard work though, and have 37 points, so one more win should see them safe.

Manchester City - A

In midfield and attack City are as good as anyone in the league and they showed that again against Hull City. When I think of Pep Guardiola and all the special players who have worked under him, he has always had some exciting, reliable full-backs.

At Barcelona he had Dani Alves and Jordi Alba and at Bayern Munich he had David Alaba and Philipp Lahm. These players could defend, but could also get forward. If Guardiola could have a duo like these at Man City next season, rather than players like Jesus Navas playing at right-back, then they could be title contenders.

Hull City - C

Hull are a totally different animal away from home. Their home form is as good as anyone's in the past few months, they have a manager in Marco Silva who knows exactly what he is doing and I don't think Hull will be relegated.

Losing at Manchester City was another learning experience and they will need to recover and pick up a point or three away from home to make sure they survive. Silva has given his team a real chance and their home form might just be enough to keep them up. It was a 'C' performance as it was another game away from home where they left empty handed.

Middlesbrough - C

Middlesbrough get a 'C' because they returned to their old problem of failing to score despite changing their manager. The supporters felt Aitor Karanka was dull and played uninspiring football. Steve Agnew has come in with Joe Jordan and Jonathan Woodgate and they been a bit more expansive. But It did not work at the weekend against Burnley.

Burnley - B

Burnley will be happy with a point at Boro despite having a poor record away from home this season so they receive a 'B' grade.

Stoke City - C

Stoke are an entertaining team to watch especially at home with Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri. Mark Hughes's side managed to take the lead against Liverpool but when Jurgen Klopp made changes Stoke were unable to cope.

Liverpool - B

Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino came on and Liverpool showed that they can take a bit of knock, go a goal down, but still show resilience to come back to get three points.

West Bromwich Albion - C

To be in eighth position right now is terrific. Tony Pulis manages to squeeze every last drop out of everyone who comes to the Hawthorns. West Brom have had a great season but they were poor against Southampton.

Southampton - A

Jordy Clasie's goal was fantastic and Southampton put in a great performance. I would give them an 'A' for that because West Brom is a difficult place to go, you only need to ask Arsenal about that.

West Ham United - A

I saw West Ham against Hull last week and thought they were very nervy, anxious and there was evidence of that again against Swansea. But they handled the pressure after a poor run of form and managed to scrape a win. It has to be an 'A' for West Ham as it was all about getting the result and keeping Swansea in trouble in the relegation zone.

Swansea City - C

It was a huge game for them, but they did not play well against West Ham. Normally you look to the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson to come up with something special or Wayne Routledge who has been scoring recently. That was a huge game and I think you sensed the level of disappointment in Paul Clement's voice afterwards.

Bournemouth - B

Bournemouth put in a decent display against Chelsea, a 'B', and that will give them encouragement. Eddie Howe's side still need another win I think to make sure they stay up. They played OK and should be pleased with Josh King continuing his rich vein of form by scoring again.

Chelsea - A

Another win at a difficult away venue against Bournemouth, so they get an 'A'. Chelsea got a bit of luck with the first goal, but then Eden Hazard showed his quality by adding the second. Another great showing from the league leaders.

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