Just six points separate the top nine sides in the division but Reds Jurgen Klopp is still very much like the team that won this season
At first glance, it seems that suggestions that this could be one of the most open seasons in the Premier League were all right.
As we head into the turn of the year, only six points separate the top nine teams in the division, and the gap between fifth and 15th is just eight.
The effects of the pandemic coronavirus disease are still being felt – the shorter pre-season, the dense fixture list, the persistent absence of supporters. Consistency has been lacking; no team has won more than nine games so far, and 13 have conceded 20 or more goals. Arsenal are in the bottom half and Aston Villa are in the top six.
Everything has changed.
Well, that’s not all. Liverpool, in those craziest years, is the closest thing to reliability. They will end 2020 as they started it: top of the league and title choices.
After going up, surprisingly, against West Brom on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp ‘s side can move five points clear with a win at Newcastle on Wednesday night.
They’ve had their issues, like everyone else – they haven’t already managed to win as many games this season as they did in the last campaign – but they are still the team for the case.
Finish above the heroes, and you will become heroes.
Who can do that, though? For all the talk about a wide open title race, which sides can indeed challenge the Reds in 2021?
The range has declined in recent weeks, for sure. Tottenham, for example, started in December at the top of the hill, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference after starting an unbeaten nine-run run. They enter their final game of the month, at home to Fulham, seventh in the table and without a win in four.
Chelsea, too, have been surviving a sad holiday season. Frank Lampard’s men were soon on the lead when they beat Leeds on 5 December, but have won just one of five games since then, losing at Everton, Wolves and Arsenal before they photographed with Aston Villa on Monday. They are still, at least for the moment, within six points of Liverpool but the Londoners still look too fragile, too inconsistent despite their heavy summer spending.
The same criticism may, in fairness, have melted away at Manchester United until recently, but it is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ‘s side that will end in 2020 as Liverpool’ s closest opponent.
For a team that seems to be living in a state of perpetual crisis, being within two points of the top spot is a result of more than certainty. Especially when they visit Anfield on January 17th.
Manchester City, too, will be quietly satisfied with their place – Covid-19’s advanced testing nonetheless.
Pep Guardiola’s team started the campaign with interest, they beat Leicester 5-2 in their first home game, but they have added a bit of great determination since then. They have the best defensive record in the league, with the summer signing Ruben Dias making his mark, and although they are in eighth place, they have games in their hands on the top teams, Villa bar which is in fifth place.
Villa is one of several surprise packages gathering in the top half. Dean Smith’s side are the only team to beat Liverpool in the league this season, and have also taken points away from Leicester, Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves.
Only Liverpool have a better goal difference than the Midlanders, who would move up to third place if they won their game in their hands. They weren’t bad at all, considering they only avoided relegation on the final day of last season.
Leicester, under Brendan Rodgers, sits in third place and, along with Jamie Vardy, always offers a strong threat in any game, while Carlo Ancelotti ‘s Everton side the league form, which get over an autumn dip with a run of four straight wins, before Monday’s off against Manchester City. The Blues have big players, in Richarlison, Lucas Digne and James Rodriguez, in the coming weeks, too.
Even Southampton, ninth in the table, are within six points of the top spot, having come largely under Ralph Hasenhuttl. But while it is refreshing, at least to say, to see teams like this in the mix, Manchester – and City in particular – are certainly the biggest threat to Liverpool ‘s sovereignty.
Guardiola’s squad remains strong, especially with the likes of Sergio Aguero still returning in full spirits. City, though not close to the level of recent seasons, have been tense at the back and have, in Kevin De Bruyne, argued as a league special. The density of fixtures, however, will certainly be an issue in the New Year, following the recent Covid-19 revolution.
Can United sustain a challenge? Certainly their talent, with Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani all benefiting from Bruno Fernandes ’continued excellence, but there are still defensive (and conservative) issues, and there are more than a few doubts. about Solskjaer’s abilities, especially compared to the likes of Klopp and Guardiola.
Is Norway really a title-winning manager? And what if Fernandes is missing for any length of time? So much of United’s play goes through the Portuguese star, it seems impossible for them to be able to replace him if he is injured, sidelined or otherwise.
Whatever happens, it promises to be an exciting venture. We haven’t seen the last of the surprises, that’s for sure.
Meanwhile, Liverpool hope to sign 2020 with a win at St James ’Park. Klopp’s men may not yet have lost this season’s impressive levels, but he will put in a lot of effort to destroy them.
And at the moment, only City and United look capable.