(Photo by David Wyngard)
After a very stop-start period with multiple games being postponed due to Covid, the Premier League season slowly stumbled towards its midway point. There have been incredible ups as well as depressing downs across the league’s 20 teams, but let’s have a look at where each team is likely to end up by May, as well as having a look at some of the standout matches and players in the competition thus far. On top of this, let’s turn this into our own little awards show and recognise some of the high-flying heroes, as well as the stumbling zeros in terms of their expectations at the start of the season compared to where they currently sit just after the New Year.
The Fight for Top Four
Top 4 Prediction at Start of the Season
Man City
Liverpool
Man Utd
Chelsea
Current Top 4 (As of 12/1/22)
Man City
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
Top 4 Prediction at the Midway Point
Man City
Liverpool
Chelsea
Spurs
The fight for the all-important top 4 spots have taken a magnitude of twists and turns throughout the season, with teams dipping in and dropping out left, right, and centre. At the start of the season, it wasn’t very clear who would end up walking away with the title, with perhaps 5/6 teams being in the discussion. Now, it looks very much in Manchester City’s hands. They currently sit 10 points clear at the top, with the chasing pack seemingly settling for those other Champions league places as it stands. Even without a recognised striker following the departure of legendary striker Sergio Aguero (sorry Gabriel Jesus, they never refer to you as their main striker), City are still smashing in goals like there is no tomorrow. So far, they have pumped in 5 against Arsenal, 6 against Leicester, 7 against Leeds (and a partridge in a pear tree). Bernardo Silva has been perhaps the player of the season across the entire league, with the man that was deemed outcast and wanting to leave in the summer, now he is one of the most consistent players in the league, being pivotal to City’s success this season. Chelsea looked incredibly dominant in the early stages of the competition, slowly slipping away from the leaders towards the midway point. Whilst they aren’t completely out of the race yet, tales of riff between manager Thomas Tuchel and Romelu Lukaku cannot help in trying to catch the trail left behind by City. Not to mention, the form of Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham will have Chelsea and Liverpool sweating about their place in the top 4. Liverpool’s next month will perhaps cause a little unrest amongst its supporters, losing two of the league’s star players in Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to the African Cup of Nations for possibly the next month. Liverpool’s next fixtures aren’t on first glance the most difficult, but anything is possible in the Premier League, especially after losing your best players. However, Diogo Jota is in the form of his life right now, a quality player that many deemed wasted on Liverpool’s bench has been given multiple opportunities to shine this season, as he currently sits 2nd behind Salah in the top scorer charts with 10 goals. And without Mane or Salah, he may be the main man at Klopp’s disposal, giving him plenty of opportunities to improve his tally before they come back.
Biggest Surprise
I’m going to go with Brentford for this award, a team that many absolutely expected to be one of the main candidates for the dreaded drop back to Championship football, The Bees have shown a lot of fighting spirit and pulled out some incredible performances in the topflight this season. Most notably, a win against Arsenal on the opening day of the season, sending the Brentford Community Stadium into rapture after a well-deserved 2-0 win. They have shown gutsy performances against Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool to name a few. And whilst they haven’t always taken the points that they deserved from those games, this hasn’t impacted the atmosphere and style of play at the club, getting in their opposition’s faces and not being scared to try and play them off the pitch. They currently sit at 13th in the table, 12 points off the drop as it currently stands. I think they will definitely stay up this season without a doubt, and with a January and Summer transfer window between now and next season, I can only see their team getting stronger and stronger with the right players.
Another team I feel deserve a mention for this award has to be West Ham. The Hammers are enjoying an incredible season so far, sitting currently in 4th place on 37 points. And whilst the teams around do have games in hand, they have been able to pull out some important points from games that many wouldn’t have given them a chance in, such as two notable wins against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham. The squad are thriving with the personnel they currently have, with Moyes being able to get the best out of Antonio, Bowen and Lanzini just to name a few. In fact, naming just a few of these players seems disrespectful to the rest of the team who have performed admirably all season, with European football being very much on the cards for a second successive season. Who knows? A good January transfer window like they enjoyed last season when they secured Jesse Lingard on loan, and they may be hearing the Champions League theme instead of the Europa League next season. Not to mention they are currently still active in the Europa League, and if they manage to win that, they will gain Champions League qualification that way. The sky is very much the limit for Moyes and his men.
Biggest Disappointment
Oh boy, there are a few contenders for this one. I feel like it would be extremely biased to put Manchester United in this spot, with their incredible transfer window with the signings of Ronaldo, Varane, and Sancho, having us fans believing in going the distance in the league for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. However, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. United sit in a measly 7th as of writing this, coming off the back of a well-deserved loss against Wolves at home. Rangnick’s arrival has resulted in the emergence of lots of behind the scenes reports of unhappiness in the camp, with players not believing in Rangnick’s philosophy and style of play. This has frustrated fans as these players sulk like babies after being asked to run a little more or to train a little bit harder. What a bunch of babies. The atmosphere at Old Trafford has not been this dire in a long time, and there are no signs of this letting up anytime soon.
Turning my attention away from The Red Devils for a second before my head explodes out of rage, Everton have been another side that have disappointed this season, sitting in 15th place and currently 6 points off the top half of the table. After an impressive season last time out, Calvert-Lewin has struggled to stay fit and regain his form from last season, with a notable penalty miss against Brighton in a 2-0 loss at home to The Seagulls. The whole club seems in disarray, with Director of Football Marcel Brands resigning from his position amid unrest amongst the supporters about the direction of the club after Ancelotti left for Madrid, and the struggle for form and results under Benitez.
Most Improved
Brighton started off the season looking very impressive, especially considering that many deemed them as relegation fodder or at the very least, fighting on that end of the table. The Seagulls currently sit at a respectable 9th place, with the performances of Yves Bissouma, Tariq Lamptey and Neal Maupay garnering admiration from many of the league’s top teams. If Brighton can keep hold of their star players and strengthen in the January transfer window, they could have a very interesting ending to the current campaign and have lofty aspirations for the season to come.
Ones To Watch
After starting off the season in a dismal manner, Wolves have gone on to reclaim some of their form from last season, with an upset against Manchester United leaving them only 3 points behind The Red Devils themselves, and only 5 points off 6th place. The return to form of Raul Jimenez has been a delight to see, especially after the scare of last season where many predicted that after his head injury he may never be able to play football again. They have been a lot more defensively solid this campaign, with Coady and Marcal being two of the many standout performers in keeping leads and clean sheets. Whether or not they will be able to maintain this form and charge for European football is another story, with teams like West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United all currently hovering around potential Champions League and Europa League places. I think they may end up in a Europa Conference position come the end of the season, but anything is possible with this side.
The Scrap at the Bottom
Losing experienced and reliable talisman Chris Wood to relegation rivals Newcastle must sting a lot for Burnley, with a fee of £25 million being enough to take away a proven Premier League goal scorer from a team that desperately needs one, to another Premier League team that desperately needs one. With Newcastle’s newly found billions, I think they will be able to put together a squad talented enough and experienced enough to avoid the drop. Otherwise, the allure of Newcastle’s new empire might take a significant hit if they can’t attract the players that they want to play in the Championship.
Norwich are pretty much a guarantee for the drop at this point, with 10 points acquired over 20 games being enough to see The Canaries sit bottom of the table. Their defence have been leaking all over the place, with a -36-goal difference with only 8 goals scored across 20 games. Many would have hoped Teemu Pukki would recreate his goalscoring form from the Championship, but much like his last stint in the league, he has faltered, despite scoring 5 of the 8 goals that Norwich have scored over the entire campaign. Most likely they will end up either bouncing straight back up or end up at least amongst the play off places in the Championship next season, so this might not be the last we see of Norwich for now.
Bottom 3 Relegation Prediction at the Start of the Season
Norwich
Watford
Brentford
Current Bottom 3 (As of 12/1/22)
Burnley
Newcastle
Norwich
Bottom 3 Relegation Prediction at the Midway Point
Watford
Burnley
Norwich
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