1/3 of all games played and it seems Arsenal, Man. City and Liverpool are very close not only on where they are at the table, but also regarding performances throughout the 13 games.
Do you think this will be a tight race all the way to May?
If not which team do you expect to fall out of the title race and why?
(fair to say Villa and Spurs are also up there but IMO both lack squad depth and cannot see them as title challengers come May)
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I thought it would be tight between four or even six clubs at the start of the season, I’ve seen nothing to make me change my mind. Spuds will come back at us as well. Every club in the top six have all drawn closer to City.
I think both Arsenal and Liverpool will drop out around Christmas time and then City will win it without breaking a sweat, not dropping any points from January to May.
There’s no basis to think arsenal will be out of the race by Christmas what a silly take
I don’t mean they’ll be out of the race but they will have fallen behind (apologies, I realise that I worded that wrongly). It may only be by two or three points by the new year, but they will drop points in the second half of the season, whereas I don’t think City will.
If the news that allison will be out for 2 months is true then I don’t see Liverpool challenging for the tittle anymore this season and I’m saying this as a Liverpool fan ;)
The year we won the league we literally had Adrian in goal for 3 months….
Also some teams is hampered more by Afcon than others (Salah for you guys, Onana for United etc (not implying United will be challenging for the title)).
Again we’ve survived that before in seasons where we’ve lost the title by a point, during Afcon at our best we’ve won every game with people like origi and minamino while losing Mane and salah. Now we’ve got Jota, Nunez, Gakpo and Diaz holding down the fort while only losing salah.
Yeah, I am not saying it’s over, just that with a tight season it is kind of unlucky to both lose your GK and best player over the hectic Xmas period.
Kelleher is no slouch. A good run of games could see him blossom.
I love Kelleher but he has been dreadful in his last few opportunities for Ireland and Liverpool.
Can’t we get Ramsdale on loan. Anyone but Kelleher!
It depends on injuries. Everything has to go right for Arsenal or Liverpool, whereas City can cope with an injury to just about anyone besides Rodri, so they’re best equipped for the marathon that the season is. KDB is still to come back, Salah and Partey (currently injured) will be going to AFCON, Tomiyasu and Endo will be going to Asia Cup. All signs point to City winning their 4th in a row but it’ll be close. Arsenal took points off City, Liverpool drew with them away, if both can make sure they aren’t just tripping each other up but also presenting a challenge to City then we could have a new champion.
Tripping each other up is the worry. At the start of the season I figured City would beat all the contenders and they would take points off each other giving City a big advantage in the title chase. But City has dropped points against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea (not that they’re challenging) so I have sliver of hope. I fear for high line Spurs next week though…
It all depends on Rodri staying fit/not getting the cards he deserves to get. Without him City is a lot worse.
Glad someone sees it. At this level, with these incredibly regimented and meticulously planned systems, being used with the most elite, world class, one-of-a-kind players, injuries define everything. The margins are so fine and everything is so controlled, but injuries (and, increasingly, VAR) are the big thing you can’t control. It’s out of your hands and can ruin everything in an instant
When a team performs below expectations these days it can nearly always be attributed to injuries. They’re an absolute blight on the sport
Håland out would not be ideal either.
Arsenal looked imperious last season until they didn’t. City looked less so until they did. This season no one team looks unbeatable and so for that reason city will likely pull away from the rest at some point because they almost always find unbelievable form when it matters later in the season.
For any team to challenge they need to go 38 games playing the best football of their lives because as we know Pep’s teams rarely slip up and are relentless.
I will totally agree with this statement as an Arsenal fan except for one tiny little detail. I don’t think we actually looked imperious. I’ve been following the club for 40 odd years and it was obviously an astonishingly good start but it always felt like city was going to catch us.
The only time I felt like I needed to celebrate a little bit was right before the fall. I knew we had our injuries and we lacked a depth and we were still like nine points clear but we had two more games against City and another bunch of tough fixtures. I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was when we fell apart but I did not think we were as good as our point total showed 3/4 of the way through the season.
But yeah, city is very likely to stop dropping points sometime after Christmas and then Liverpool and Arsenal and anybody else who’s still hanging around will do our absolute best to stay close but realistically fall short.
When you look at the players they got rid of and then look at how some of the young guys are stepping up this year, they are just a juggernaut. Beautiful football. I just hate how they got there.
The next couple weeks are just so specifically huge. Is villa legitimately top 4 potential? Will spurs end up competing top 4 pace or is this December month going to be tons of losses with their injuries? The only thing we know is arsenal and city are legit and Liverpool should be
Villa are hoping for the 5th CL spot but I personally think we’ll fade if we go deep in the Conference League
For any team to challenge they need to go 38 games playing the best football of their lives because as we know Pep’s teams rarely slip up and are relentless.
And then they still beat you by 1 point even after having an insane season.
That’s the reality, I bet it felt great when you finally beat them to it but it needs to happen more often, they are too dominant it’s become like the Bundesliga in that respect even if some teams do get closer more often, they still just won’t budge 😭
I bet it felt great when you finally beat them to it
That’s the worst part, it felt unreal since it happened during Covid.
Liverpool’s run over those years was:
17/18 - struggle for 4th again18/19 - Finish in 2nd place on 97 points with only a single loss the entire season which came from a ball not traveling 11 millimeters further and oh yeah the team that single loss was to got 1 single more point than you to win the league
19/20 - Be insanely dominant playing wonderful football, get 26 wins out of your first 27 games, only to have Covid shut down the whole fucking planet, have the league go on hiatus only to come back rusty and lose 2 more games and get 3 draws but still win the league for the first time in 20 years but oh it’s in front of zero supporters and they’re not allowed to celebrate with the team.
20/21 - Covid hangover, have a difficult season where you get mocked for the “worst title defense ever” (not true)
21/22 - OH LET’S JUST FUCKING REPEAT THE 18/19 SEASON OK?!
Yeah…it all feels weird.
30 years
No I’m not salty it’s been 20 for us.
God I hate Arsenal but I hate Man city winning even more. They have the best chance to take them down so 🔴🔴
Thanks bro, I feel the same about you guys and yet, I sat at a pub and cheered for you to beat City in the champions League a couple years back so I feel the pain. As long as City loses
Chelsea-Arsenal love in shocker. Didn’t see that coming.
What the fuck
And this sums everything up about the “Chelsea-arsenal rivalry”!
This fuckwit doesn’t speak for any actual Chelsea fans though.
There’s no such thing as the Arsenal Chelsea rivalry
And they call it a rivalry 🤣
Asinine. Arsenal winning means more. Man City winning means nothing to anyone but Man City fans.
Another Chelsea fan told me that , I’d rather anyone else win at this point … Except spurs obviously
nah, it’ll be Liverpool and City up until April and then City will win it, as per usual
this year will be an 82/84/85 final with a serious upset in the 3rd to 8th places
the gap has been closing at the top
Kdb comes back and city doesn’t drop a point for the rest of the season let’s be realistic
It sucks but city only ever gets somehow twice as good after Christmas
Sounds like 2007/08 all over again.
Its gonna be Arsenal and City until the very end again. But, as usual I would say Manchester City. Liverpool will also stay close.
When has been it Arsenal and City until “the very end” before?
City aren’t winning shit with Doku. Biggest downgrade ever.
Bruh, what are you talking about? Doku’s been solid! And young! Gonna be a stud.
Downgrade from who? He rotates with Grealish who played that position heavily last season. Foden has been covering KDB’s position while he’s been out on injury so he wouldn’t play that position anyways.
He’s got 2 goals and 5 assists having played in 10 matches (not even a full 90’ in all 10 either). That seems pretty solid to me.
I think the quality of the majority of teams has improved this year for sure. We’ve got the big 6 who are all getting the required points so far (maybe not Chelsea but I do think they’ll get better). Then Brighton, Newcastle and Villa to throw in the mix too.
I also think West Hams start has gone a bit under the radar as well.
The bad teams are BAD this season (Burnley, Luton and sheffield) but the teams above them seem to have improved massively.
Also shoutout to Gary O’Neil at Wolves, I think he’s doing a superb job at Wolves.
At this point villa has clearly shown they at the moment have completely replaced chelsea in big 6
Remember the memes about Leicester replacing us in the big 6? Let’s give it more than a few months before we make this claim.
For the moment based on last year and this years form, in the context of this season and next villa should be expected to place higher. Their manager is incredible and they have fully backed him and it has fully worked. Long term sure chelsea will return but in the context of now
Too soon to say that
Fuck off. Villa are a better side on all fronts than man utd, Chelsea and spurs.
Genuinely interested in how villa are a better side than tottenham on ‘all fronts’.
Ùp the Villa!
This is how it’s supposed to be. Tight race till the end.
However, I don’t think we will have to wait till May.
As we learnt from Arsenal last season, things could change in April.
Liverpool haven’t once looked like genuine contenders, no idea where this has come from and they could easily miss out on top 4
We just went to the best team in the worlds back yard and got a draw and went toe to toe with them. We’ve played pretty much every top 6 team away. We sort out breaking down the low block we will be right up there’ . Should be top if we weren’t robbed by the worst var decision ever at spurs
Okay I remember your username from your constant shitetakes mate. I literally don’t remember any other than mine and I wasn’t even trying.
Genuine question, are you trying to rile others up or are you just this dumb?
It’s all about Injuries. City have great depth and don’t tend to run out of steam. I feel Arteta is trying to limit injuries by playing less of an intense play style and Klopp just has his players at 120% at all times which may cause injuries later down the line.
Smart Money is always on City but I’m happy that the top of the league is so tight.
Liverpool this year reminds me a lot of Arsenal last year. That’s a compliment don’t get me wrong. Arsenal got every point they could early on but in the end had too many injuries and fell apart. I don’t know if that will happen with Liverpool but they certainly do not have the depth of City. And I agree that Arsenal has been sort of playing a slower pace. But we did just get two of our key players back this week. It feels pretty great to somehow be top of the table right now having missed out on Jesus than odegaard. Not to mention that we should get timber back for the end of the season.
Liverpool barely give 100% now, they play a much slower game than they did 5 years ago when they were a counterpressing machine.
We don’t even do a high press anymore we’re more possession based and play a mid block now in games. Haven’t played heavy metal football in ages. Way more controlled we have technically good players now who can control games.
Glad someone sees it. At this level, with these incredibly regimented and meticulously planned systems, being used with the most elite, world class, one-of-a-kind players, injuries define everything. The margins are so fine and everything is so controlled, but injuries (and, increasingly, VAR) are the big thing you can’t control. It’s out of your hands and can ruin everything in an instant
When a team performs below expectations these days it can nearly always be attributed to injuries. They’re an absolute blight on the sport
They lost one key player for three games and lost all three games. Their depth seems impressive but might be a bit of an illusion.
However, they do tend to start worse than they end a season so if Arsenal or Liverpool aren’t several points clear by February I think it’ll be going to City.
As a Liverpool fan that 97 point season was heartbreaking. City just went ahead and won their last 14 games.
I just feel like City have done this without getting into 2nd gear. How many matches have they looked lifeless only to end up getting a result?
They have the depth and experience…I just can’t see them not winning it this year.
they’ve done that in past seasons though