Peter Anderson ⚽ With the season now two thirds of the way through, it's about time to take stock of the current situation.

Not much change at the top, Arsenal and City will most likely fight it out for the crown. Arsenal are in pole position, but have never won one before, so despite City not being fully at the races, the Manchester men may yet win another title. Arsenal are playing super footy, much like City of a few years ago when Sterling and Sane injected pace on the wings. Now with Grealish and the one footed Mahrez out wide, it's all a bit ponderous. Arsenal are slight favourites in my book. If they win their next game at Palace they will be 8 points clear of City, with Leeds at home next, while City face Liverpool. If the gods align, they could be home and hosed by the first week of April.

The race for 3rd and 4th is wide open. Newcastle looked nailed on and then they didn't. Then Man U looked nailed on until Anfield. Now, they've lost Casemiro for 4 games as well. Tottenham keep threatening and Liverpool can't decide if they are a good side, or not, from one week to the next. And we can't rule out the excellent Brighton, they may be 9 points from 4th but have 3 games in hand. Given the complete lack of consistency of the teams involved, the race for UCL footy is too hard to call. My gut says Liverpool and Man U, my heart hopes for Newcastle and Brighton. Failure for either Liverpool or Man U could scupper any summer recruitment plans.

Fulham, Brentford, Chelsea and Villa look unlikely to finish anywhere but mid-table. Qualification for the minor European competitions is always an unlikely possibilty though.

The race to avoid the drop is extremely tight. Only 5 points separate Palace in 12th from bottom club, Southampton. It really is too tight to call. If I had to bet, I'd go for Bournemouth, Leeds and Southampton (sorry Barry) but it really could be any of the current bottom 9. We all know what this league is like, bad form brings bad luck and a negative nose dive ensues. I would imagine Moyes and Our Brendan have too much nous to go down, but you just never know.

There's not a lot of EPL footy left this month with the FA Cup and an international break taking most of the remaining March fixtures. April brings some absolute belters, though, with Liverpool and Arsenal to visit City, and Arsenal to visit Anfield. I can hardly wait.
 
Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

Too Tight To Call

Peter Anderson ⚽ With the season now two thirds of the way through, it's about time to take stock of the current situation.

Not much change at the top, Arsenal and City will most likely fight it out for the crown. Arsenal are in pole position, but have never won one before, so despite City not being fully at the races, the Manchester men may yet win another title. Arsenal are playing super footy, much like City of a few years ago when Sterling and Sane injected pace on the wings. Now with Grealish and the one footed Mahrez out wide, it's all a bit ponderous. Arsenal are slight favourites in my book. If they win their next game at Palace they will be 8 points clear of City, with Leeds at home next, while City face Liverpool. If the gods align, they could be home and hosed by the first week of April.

The race for 3rd and 4th is wide open. Newcastle looked nailed on and then they didn't. Then Man U looked nailed on until Anfield. Now, they've lost Casemiro for 4 games as well. Tottenham keep threatening and Liverpool can't decide if they are a good side, or not, from one week to the next. And we can't rule out the excellent Brighton, they may be 9 points from 4th but have 3 games in hand. Given the complete lack of consistency of the teams involved, the race for UCL footy is too hard to call. My gut says Liverpool and Man U, my heart hopes for Newcastle and Brighton. Failure for either Liverpool or Man U could scupper any summer recruitment plans.

Fulham, Brentford, Chelsea and Villa look unlikely to finish anywhere but mid-table. Qualification for the minor European competitions is always an unlikely possibilty though.

The race to avoid the drop is extremely tight. Only 5 points separate Palace in 12th from bottom club, Southampton. It really is too tight to call. If I had to bet, I'd go for Bournemouth, Leeds and Southampton (sorry Barry) but it really could be any of the current bottom 9. We all know what this league is like, bad form brings bad luck and a negative nose dive ensues. I would imagine Moyes and Our Brendan have too much nous to go down, but you just never know.

There's not a lot of EPL footy left this month with the FA Cup and an international break taking most of the remaining March fixtures. April brings some absolute belters, though, with Liverpool and Arsenal to visit City, and Arsenal to visit Anfield. I can hardly wait.
 
Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

5 comments:

  1. The Reds pathetic non performance on the south coast was a cure for insomnia . Zero wins from five early kick offs this season . Mind you , they were desperate when hosting Leeds @ 5.30 . Sunday football & Europa action beckons for next season ; 12 points from a possible 39 in away games is abysmal . Top 3 is sorted , Arsenal could hit their highest points tally ever ( 90 from the 2004 invincibles ) & still finish second . Now they know how Liverpool have felt when hitting points tallies only bettered by City & Chelsea & still finishing second . Fourth through seventh spots are very much up for grabs .

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  2. Yes Peter, Leeds United's position is perilous. The draw with Brighton, a really classy, passing team, would have been a decent result had it not been for Liverpool's abject capitulation at Bournemouth and the Blue half of Merseyside scraping yet another 1-0 home win. Victory for another South Coast team, Southampton, tonight (Wednesday 15th) will put us bottom of the pile. But performances since the arrival of Javi Gracia have been good and with the return of Rodrigo and Bamford to the front line we have every chance of amassing the points we need against the five relegation rivals we still have to play and elsewhere (except at the Emirates and Eithiad).

    If the Grim Reaper does take us, then we must stick with Gracia as he has an excellent reputation from his time at Watford.

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    1. I hope yous do it Barry. The EPL is much the better for having big beasts like Leeds in it.

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    2. I agree - think the league loses when teams like Leeds drop

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  3. But we have no natural or divine right to be in PL.

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