English Premier League is one of the hotly contested football leagues in the world attracting so many fans across the globe. In fact it is the most popular league in the world. All the teams that qualify to play in this league are always formidable and whenever they play against other teams within England or from other countries, the opponent always has some hard task awaiting them. We are in the 2023/2024 season and still there is no clear favorite due to several challenges affecting these teams. I want us to dig deep and try to identify the most outstanding team to win this title according to the stats, current performance and future prospects.
The season started on a higher note with some teams such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City showing high potential of snatching this opportunity. After a few matches were played new developments were on display. Teams such as Tottenham and Newcastle proved to be too strong to be ignored and were automatically added to this title race.
It is almost halfway of the season and new developments have also emerged. To start with Newcastle, the team is struggling with so many injuries. The team started the season in a solid form managing to stay undefeated in many matches and gaining points easily from any opponent they faced. With time this has turned out to be a tale to be told due to increasing number of first team players in the medical room, the team performance has dropped drastically and is loosing matches back to back. Title race has now become a dream never to be achieved for them.
Chelsea began the season with so much hopes, in fact the team was considered as one of the greatest contestants of the title. As the season progressed the team has been performing dismally to the disappointment of many. In fact winning matches is a rare thing for them even to teams placed below the half of the table. Player coordination in the team is very poor and with the current performance they have found themselves at position 10 after 17 matches played and with more than 15 points gap with table leaders. The best they can hope for now is to be in top 7 at the end of the season.
After 16 matches played, Manchester united find themselves in the 7th position. The team has really disappointed this season by losing so many matches in the first leg of the season. In fact they have been kicked out of Champions league at group stages after winning only one match out of the possible 6 and remaining rock bottom of that pool. Manchester United are now hoping to remain in the top 4 so that they can taste another Champions league come next season. EPL title race seems to have slipped their mind at the moment.
Tottenham started the season well and were unbeaten after 10 opening EPL matches. That was really an outstanding performance. However after that performance they lost 3 back to back matches against Chelsea, Wolves and Aston villa. They managed to draw the next match against Manchester City but were defeated by Aston Villa in the next match. Currently the team is position 5 with so many injuries to content with and they are no longer talking about winning the league title.
Manchester City has been faced with so many injuries lately with their key player Kevin De Bruyne missing so many matches. He has not been in a position to save his team from frequent thrashing from their rivals such as Newcastle, Wolves, Arsenal and lately Aston Villa have added to that list. Key players such Kevin De Bruyne , Grealish and Rodri whenever they miss in the squad the teams struggles so much. The team is currently position 4 after 17 matches played, a few points shy of current leaders. Kevin De Bruyne is expected to come back to the team soon and they are very hopeful for improvement. It is important to note that Manchester City won all the Champions league group stage matches and they are cup champions, they have an intention of winning these two titles back to back.
Aston Villa is surprisingly in the title race and in position 3 after 16 matches played. They have shown some consistencies and perhaps they want to give us a surprise this season the same way Leicester did. The team is still lucky not to have faced many injuries but when that happens we shall see how they can maneuvers around. Certainly I can’t really bank on the team to win this title but they can qualify for champions league next season. Given that they have qualified from the group stages, they have so many things moving on their table and these multiple tasks may see the EPL title slip from their hands.
Arsenal has been very solid this season and have only lost two EPL matches against Newcastle and a recent painful and disputed one against Aston Villa which also saw them slip off the first position of the table after being at the top for the very good part of the half season. The team is only one point shy off league leaders Liverpool but things will be demystified when these two teams lock horns before Christmas Holiday. Last season at Christmas time Arsenal was at the top of the table and they are keen to make this happen once more. However, holding onto this position until the final match is what matters. They let the title slip from their clumsy clutch last season and I hope they learned a few lessons from that experience.
Liverpool has been very excellent this season and they have only lost one EPL match against Tottenham by a score of 2-1. In that match the team played with only 9 men for the best part of the match when Curtis Jones was shown a red card after 26 minutes of play and Diogo Jota was given a second yellow card in the 69th minute. The team held on to a draw until dying minutes when the pressure was too much for Joel Matip and gifted the opponent an own goal. Even with the departure of Sadio Mane, the team seems to be doing well with Salah leading the attacking force. The team has finally gotten access to the top of the league spot and when this happens, they always hold on like glue to it. Liverpool must be having high ambitions of seeing this premier league trophy in their cabinet this season.
After keen analysis there are three teams left on the debating table; Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. The team that will carry the day will be determined by their consistency in the remaining part of the season. Arsenal can be very vulnerable especially when faced with injuries. They have been very lucky this time round but we do not know for how long this luck will last. From their previous experiences they can get overwhelmed and take their eyes off the goal and therefore it is difficult to bank on them. On the other hand Manchester City may soon bounce back and put some pressure on current leaders. We all know what Pep Guardiola is capable of when the trophy is at stake. Conversely, Jurgen Klopp is not letting this trophy slip his hands without giving a fight. This title race is between Liverpool and Manchester City and Liverpool are closer to winning it this time round.
Impressive research