Unlike last year, the Premier League is shaping up to be competitive right through until the season’s end. With City running away with the title and the Champions League places secured, 2018 was low-stakes stuff in the league.
This season, we have healthy battles for both the title and European qualification. In particular, the race for the Champions League places is impossible to predict, due to the number of teams involved.
There are three, sometimes four teams chasing the two remaining Champions League positions. With City and Liverpool locked into 1st and 2nd, the fight is between Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Depending on their form, Tottenham are either dark horses for the title or the frontrunners for the top four chase. They could be sucked into a proper fight, but in reality they probably have third, or at least fourth, secured.
It’s the three remaining teams who make it so hard to predict.
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Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are three teams all with new managers who are showing remarkable resilience. At this point last year, Arsenal and Chelsea were already out of contention. This year, they along with UTD have swapped the 4th, 5th and 6th league positions amongst themselves, without one team either pushing ahead or falling away.
Currently UTD are in 4th with 58 points. Arsenal follow them in 4th with 57 points, while Chelsea are in 6th on 56 points. The Blues could move ahead of both of them to 4th place if they win their game in hand.
The thing is, it doesn’t make much sense to be talking about any of these teams as a challenge for anyone to overcome. Arsenal have had one or two poor runs of form, the most recent featuring a 0 – 1 defeat to BATE Borisov. However, after two consecutive league wins followed by a North London derby which they could have won at Wembley, they look like they could stay the course. Of all three teams, Arsenal’s run in is the easiest. Their upcoming game with UTD at the Emirates this weekend will be instructive.
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Similarly, Chelsea lost 6 – 0 to Man City after some poor away results, and then lost the league cup final. It looked like Sarri’s time was up. Now, the ship is steadied and Chelsea have won vital London derbies with both Spurs and Fulham.
United were written off for years under Mourinho, which shows how fast things can change in football. Caretaker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has proved he’s not just a pretty face, and UTD look like their old, relentless selves.
Paddy Power has Chelsea at 4/5 to make the top four. Arsenal are 15/8 while Manchester United are 10/11.
