EPL Title Contest?
August 22nd 2007 23:34
Now that three rounds of Premiership action have passed, full of surprises and curious situations, the big question of who will obtain the title this year gets even harder to answer a view on the performance of the top teams in the first rounds would make this task a little bit easier.
Chelsea are the current favourites of the bookies(2.10), but to be frank I'm not impressed with them. Pizzaro, Malouda and co are yet to show their capabilities, and they are quiality players, but this season I think that the problem for Chelsea won't be up front, they have too many top-class players there, and in case they don't play against Liverpool for instance(sorry but Chelsea were so plain and without any ideas against Benitez's boys last week), they will score enough. The issue is that they concede too many goals. It's not the pragmatic Chelsea of the last seasons, who scored one or two but didn't allow the opponents to respond(it was trendy to bet 1-0 or 2-0 correct score when Chelsea are at home). Now we have 3-2 at home against NEWCOMERS of Birmingham, 1-2 away to Reading and 1-1 at Anfield. The first two wins were very hard, and basically for a team with Chelsea's likes, such matches are supposed to be easier. And the draw against Liverpool was a gift from the referee, Liverpool were the winners there.
Liverpool is the team that is about to be the new participant in the pursue of the title. After spending more than 50 million euro for players like Torres, Babel and Voronin Benitez has no excuses now. Previous seasons Liverpool made more than enough for the capabilities of their squad, but now they have to fight for the Premiership, 18 years without a title is just too much. Benitez will put into action his famous rotation principle, that enabled Valencia some years ago to win two times La Liga. Still, we haven't seen enough from Liverpool, but judging from the performance against Chelsea,
their style remains the old one - pragmatic, deadly tactical and disciplined football. But now that they have a variety of performers, Merseysiders could be more stable and endanger not only the Champions League contenders as before, but Chelsea and Manchester United as well.
The odds for Liverpool to win Outright were 6.50 in the beggining of the season, and now are 4.50, which speaks for itself.
Keep eyes on the Sunderland - Liverpool match in the weekend, I consider it a very important one for Liverpool's self-confidence after the blow against Chelsea.
Manchester United hit a bad streak in the first rounds. 2 draws and 1 lost in a row are results that we haven't seen from the Red Devils in the last two seasons. But it would be an airy statement that United are out. They just need one win to boost their confidence, and good results will flow. I guess, Tottenham this Sunday will be the first victims, though this promises to be a very tight fixture. Yes, it will be more difficult without injured Rooney and the suspended Ronaldo, but a team with the likes of United must be able to cope with such situations. My personal prediction is that United will bounce back in the next rounds and we will witness a three-sided fight for the title this season. A really intriguing one.
Arsenal, the other member of 'the big four', don't have the capability and the squad for the title. No offence to their fans, but this is reality and now without Henry it's even harder.
Some said that Tottenham will be able to intrude in big four's hegemony, but they still are quite unstable. And I'm really puzzled why did Jol buy Darren Bent for so much money, instead of strengthening his defensive line with experienced backs. So now he has around 5 forwards, but if a defender is injured(like skipper Ledley King is now), defensive problems occur.
Sorry, just UEFA for Tottenham, or the maximum is a fight with Arsenal for the 4th position.
So, perhaps the most intriguing season in the best league in the world is in front of us.
For previews and stuff before the rounds, see my b-log
Opinions are welcome!
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