English Premier League: A look ahead
The English Premier League is turning out to be quite different from the way it initially started. Although it's too early to predict the outcome of the league just yet, the performances of few of the teams are certainly defining
who would be fighting for the top spot and which teams would fall short of their targets.
This weekend in the English Premier League was a record breaking day. Dimitar Berbatov equaled a record by scoring five goals against Blackburn, while there were 26 goals scored on Saturday, which is the highest number of goals
in one single day of the league. With the records shattering everywhere, not all the big teams were the celebrating sides on the weekend. But for some, it was a great round as the picture on the top of the table also changed.
Manchester United and Arsenal won their respective matches, but Chelsea drew the match and dropped to second position in the league. Also, Manchester City drew their match while Tottenham Hotspurs won against Liverpool, thus closing
the gap for the Champions League spot. Also, at the bottom of the table, West Ham United won their match but it did not prove fruitful as Wolverhampton Wanderers won and retained their position in the table, on top of West Ham.
Chelsea lost their position on the top of the table, after dominating the league up until the third week of November. Now, the London Blues are sitting in second place, two points behind Manchester United. However, the real problem
for Chelsea is the good recent form, rivals Manchester United and Arsenal, have been showing off late. Both the Red Devils and the Gunners had impressive wins over the weekend while The Blues have been failing to score in the last few weeks. Victories have
not been coming for the Blues and it seems as if their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, is becoming desperate and running out of options.
On the contrary, Manchester United scored seven goals against the Blackburn side. However, the away form of the Manchester United team this season is really questionable, as they have won only one match away from home. But, the
important thing for Sir Alex Ferguson is that his side has remained unbeaten so far in the season. The need of the hour is to turn their draws into victories, and maintain their lead on top of the table.
Arsenal’s story is a little different from that of Manchester United's season so far. Arsenal have shown a poor record in their home matches, playing a much better game away from home. Due to the three losses at The Emirates Stadium
this season, Arsenal missed a lot of easy opportunities to move on to the top of the table. Also, once again towards the mid point of the season, Arsene Wenger, the manager of Arsenal, is looking towards the prospects of long term injuries to his key players,
including Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Eboue. This might prove fatal in Arsenal’s title contention, but Wenger has the squad to fill up the gaps left by these players, for the first time in five seasons.
Roberto Mancini, the manager of Manchester City, has already revealed that City are looking towards a fourth place finish this season. Although, City is barely managing to hold on to their target, they have lacked consistency in
their performances. Therefore, other teams have made use of the opportunity and closed the gap. As Manchester City drew their match on the weekend, Tottenham won and are now only one point behind the fourth placed City.
Nevertheless, one thing is clear that the English Premier League has not been this competitive, at least not in the last few years. This time the competition would go right down to the wire, and the winners would not be clear until
the last day of the league. There is no clear winner at this point, and the top four could also change in the next few weeks since lack of consistency remains the only defining factor till now, but surely, the next few weeks would be raise the level of excitement
to another level as some of the big teams would go up against each other as well.
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