Premier league title: A six horse race? Who wants it more? Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Man United or Leicester city?
Favorites again? Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne fires City past Fulham to plan the Citizens firmly in the title race. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com |
The premier league is shaping up after the latest round of games and with both Manchester clubs having a match to play after the opening round rest, one can easily point to six teams with realistic title chance.
It must be worrying to Arsenal fans that six teams can win the title and their darling team isn’t one of them, in fact, as it stands, after their fifth defeat in nine games, they are closer to the relegation zone than the top ten, and except they remedy the situation as early as the next game, it won’t get better.
Harry Kane became the highest ever North London Derby scorer after blasting past a very hapless Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal on Sunday, that was after Heung Min Son had put Spurs in front and despite Arsenal’s heroics in the second half, there was little they could muster against a resolute defense.
Spurs’ win over Arsenal returned them to the summit of the premier league after Chelsea beat Leeds United to temporarily go top, knowing Jose Mourinho for who he is, you won’t put it past him to stay top till the end of the league but who are his contenders?
Chelsea went behind against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United on Saturday but not for long.
Olivier Giroud had gotten the nod to start upfront after his amazing showing in the champions league and the Frenchman repaid the faith with a near-post finish to set Chelsea on their way to a routine win.
The win handed Chelsea the top spot even if for less than 24hours and you can expect the Blues to want the feeling again sometime soon.
With a flurry of December games kicking in, a good and consistent run can help Frank Lampard’s side, they spent heavily in the summer and they’re reaping the goods already.
Manchester United maybe 5th on the table at the moment but they do have a game in hand and that’s against Aston Villa.
A win in their outstanding game will take them to 22 points and that would be just two points within the top two, would you then rule them out of the title race?
The Red Devils again went behind away from home and yet again, another second-half romp got them past the Hammers, leading them to their ninth consecutive away victory, is there any stopping them?
Look right behind Manchester United, there you have it, the usual suspect, Manchester City, a team on the rise and roaring hard.
They are still without Sergio Aguero but they’re marching on regardless and if they win their outstanding game against Burnley, they would be in the top four mix, and the madness begins.
Pep Guardiola’s side beat Fulham 2-0 on Saturday to edge closer to the leaders and will now focus on their next game which would tell a whole lot about their season, and yes you guessed right, it’s a game at the ground of their city rivals, Manchester United.
They are both going into this on the back of consecutive league wins but United do have a make or mar game in the champions league against RB Leipzig, a game they must pick a point from at least if they don’t want to crash into the Europa League.
Does that count as an advantage for the Citizens? Pep Guardiola doesn’t agree but mind games are allowed.
Liverpool have always been a contender to retain their title, even when they had slips earlier in the season, including the horrendous 7-2 embarrassment at Villa Park, they were always going to be contenders and their latest 4-0 demolition of Wolves stands as a testament to their dominance.
Wolves aren’t an easy side to play against but the Kops made it look easy, stranger things have happened but Gini Wijnaldum curling one home isn’t something that happens every day.
Liverpool can now call on Trent Alexander Arnold, Joel Matip scored against Wolves there’s no sign of problems despite the unavailability of star defender, Virgil Van Dijk, are you worried about this Liverpool side at all?
You might call them outsiders, you might not look in their direction for the league title conversations but Leicester City are grinding out results and they’re marching on.
Sheffield United might not be the biggest of tests to anyone at the moment but they gave their all against the Foxes and could have stolen it if they were more clinical.
Jamie Vardy latching on a loose ball at the death to win it shows that you can write off Leicester, they will disappoint you.
December is crucial and points
will be won and lost, but entering the new year, we’ll be able to tell where
the pendulum is likely to swing, whichever way, it has been a very weird season
with twists and turns and points, the difference stands at the very barest… Who wants
it more?