Well Muttonistas, I’m well and truly back in the groove after my Asian trip, and I’m miles behind with the blog. First of all I have new products in the shop, the Lovely day for a creamer range, posters, caps, t shorts and framed posters. Look out also for my London Black range coming out soon.

I’ve started mowing through the mammoth task of editing 16 videos from Asia . So far the first 4 from Guangzhou have been published

With the end of the season, and my big US tour, it’ll be a while before the whole series is published.

So City went into the tail end of the season with prospects of a top 5 finish to qualify for the champions league and an FA Cup. This is our 3rd final in 3 years

First a trip to Southampton

A really disappointing game, especially the first half , the fast wide players who could have given us that cutting edge didn’t come on early enough. A 0-0 draw was 2 points dropped in a tight race but thankfully Leicester did us a favour by drawing at Forest.

It was a pleasure to have met Southampton fans after the game who were happy that they’ve moved onto 12 points , one past Derby’s worst ever season. In fact I’m so grateful to a Southampton fan who directed me to the Overdraft pub that served a really good pint of London Black and Mexican food.

So onto the FA Cup final , first a great day out filming in Bermondsey and Nunhead (yes I previously didn’t know where that was but it’s in South London . Beautiful Japanese tapas with London Stout , that appears to have improved leaps and bounds , a wonderfully picturesque pub in the form of Skehan’s Nunhead , and a visit to the Arch House, the Home of the daddy of British Stouts and Porters, London Black, which for me when poured on 80/20 nitro/co2 gas is the best you can get in Britain.

I did host a massive “Muttonista meet up” at the arch house, and I was so happy to have met followers who also have a keen interest in good beer. And a great day finished with some late night tapas and wine at Jose Pizarro’s , great to have been accepted at 2210h, and to have met a lady celebrating her 100th birthday and having a late Spanish dinner !!

Cup final day against Palace

Of Course all Mutton vlogs include a food and drink segment , and I was delighted to have been hosted by the George in Fitzrovia, a good pint in their own branded glasses with an interesting menu , beef tartare with beef dripping, and red curry pork scratchings were my choices , and something I’ve not had for ages, an Irish coffee !

As for the game itself , it absolutely didn’t go to plan. Caught by a counter on Palace’s first foray over the halfway line, a terrible VAR decision as Haaland was about to round the keeper and the ball wasn’t at THAT acute an angle until Henderson punched it away. I still don’t get Haaland not taking the penalty later, and more side to side passing with nobody shooting or overlapping meant lot’s of sterile possession and no end product. Anyway congratulations to Palace and their supporters , I’m sure this is massive for them. Their first ever major trophy.

Back to league action and the race for the top 5

So onto Kevin De Bruyne’s last game in a City shirt at the Etihad. He was given quite a send off, but there was work to be done. 4 points still needed for Champions League qualification, with Bournemouth at home and Fulham away to come. Our home form has actually been decent and away form patchy. So a big 3 points were needed and expected.

I warmed up for the game at a restaurant I’d never been to before, Madre, a Mexican restaurant that does £7 taco Tuesdays, but I couldn’t help but try some oysters , tacos and Mezcal , an agave based drink similar to tequila , but good tequila doesn’t need salt and lemon to slam it, its quite a refined drink, quite smoky in this case, and it went well with the oysters. I did also have a Pacifico lager.

A quick but very good pint of Murphys Stout at the recently opened Nancy Spains in the northern quarter and I was well on my way to the Etihad!

As for the match itself , Guardiola relied on experience and a refreshingly more direct approach with 2 of our goals coming from long shots for a change, a deserved 3 points though the sloppiness as manifested by the sloppy play that led to Kovacic being sent off, only just in the City half , I might add! And Bournemouth’s late consolation goal , hasn’t gone away.

Great to see Rodri and Oscar Bobb make comeback appearances, in Rodri’s case 8 months after coming off against Arsenal. And what a send off for KDB!

So we move on to Fulham away. 1 point will guarantee Champions league football , a loss is likely to be OK as it means Chelsea who are away at Forest, Villa who are at Old Trafford, and Newcastle who are home to Everton would all need to win. Obviously we can take a chance though and need to get the job done.

Hopefully I’ll be able to write another short blog after the Fulham game , though I’m incredibly busy sorting out my schedule for my US tour.

I’ll see you on the next one Muttonistas. Until then , don’t forget, you can’t beat aa bit of Mutton!