Tonight’s midlands derby between Aston Villa & West Bromich Albion will probably be an open, exciting close affair and round off another great weekend of Premier League action with all teams completing 12 matches and almost a third of the season played.
Back in August, before a Premier League ball had been kicked, I wrote “Chelsea & Manchester City will lock horns as they do battle for the Premier League title.” I still believe that will be the case, come May. Furthermore, I also stated “I believe David Moyes and Manchester United will struggle with a post-Fergie hangover this season.” But I went on to say, Tottenham would become the top dogs in north London and Arsenal would need to look over their shoulders at an on-coming Liverpool in a race for fourth place and a back-door entry into next season’s Champions League. In my defence, these predictions were written ahead of Arsenal’s shock signing of Mesut Ozil.
As it happens, Arsenal and Liverpool lead the way as we head into December with Manchester City & Chelsea on their tails. Manchester United appear to be gelling but are still not the force they have been over the past 20 years; and though Tottenham had only leaked 6 goals before yesterday, they appear to be suffering from buying too many first-team players in the summer.
Not wishing to sound like a broken record, this season is living up to the speculation of being the most open and exciting Premier League season to date. Surprise results have kept things interesting, Manchester City losing at Cardiff & Sunderland; Chelsea losing at Newcastle & Everton; Southampton winning at Anfield & holding Man United at Old Trafford; Manchester United losing at home to West Brom. And there’s been a fair share of goals to add to the excitement.
Man City have scored no less than 13 in their last two home matches, hitting lowly Norwich for 7 and humiliating Spurs yesterday with a 6-0 drubbing. This followed a great weekend of Premier League football that started with the Saturday lunch-time Merseyside derby, a thrilling, end-to-end match that ended in a 3-3 draw. Other results saw Chelsea cruise past West Ham scoring three in the process and newly promoted Cardiff grabbing a last minute equaliser against Manchester United in a 2-2 draw where Wayne Rooney should have been shown a straight red for violent behaviour in the 8th minute.
The surprise of the season so far, is Southampton. Since his appointment in January, Mauricio Pochettino has had Southampton playing exciting football going forward, while managing to become one of the best defences in the Premier League. Pochettino has Southampton playing as a solid unit, and is bringing out the best of an average squad.
But as we get closer to the Christmas period I still believe ultimate success will be down to the size of each team’s squads. One or two untimely injuries to important players will have a say in how the Premier League plays out. To this end, I will stick with Chelsea & Man City, but only because of the quality of their second eleven.
On current performances and summer transfer failures, I would also suggest that the January Transfer Window will be interesting for Tottenham, Arsenal & possibly Chelsea to sign a top quality striker, and Man United to spend big on attracting a seasoned world class midfield general who could hit the ground running – the likes of a Cesc Fabregas or Wesley Sneijder.
It seems unthinkable for Manchester United not to be in the Champions League next season. But Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal & Liverpool are going to take some beating.