Welcome to the final part of my EPL review so far, focusing on the teams occupying 16th to 20th positions.
The EPL So Far: 16th to 20th
Leicester City have made a very decent start to the season, considering the quality of opposition they have already faced. Everton and Chelsea in the opening two games is never easy, but most realistic City fans would gladly accept one point from those two outings. Indeed, in both fixtures, the Foxes have been organised and have acquitted themselves very well. This year needs to be about consolation though, and nothing more. Their decent beginning to life back in the EPL will now determine no last minute panic buying, and if City do invest before the window shuts, you can be certain it will be a quality purchase, not a desperate one. Like any newly promoted side, home form is key, as is winning their fixtures against the sides from the bottom half of the table – EPL survival will depend on it.
Alan Pardew is arguably the EPL manager under most pressure right now. Consistently booed and jeered by his own fans, Pardew appears to be a man only ever one game away from the sack. Hugely unfortunate not to win at Villa Park last week, the Geordies dominated Villa, yet couldn’t take any one of their numerous chances. Which is something they are going to have to learn to do, if they are to avoid a relegation scrap this year. New boy, attacking midfielder, Remy Cabella looks an exciting proposition who is adapting well to life in the EPL. However, the Frenchman will do very well to not labour the huge weight of expectations placed upon him this campaign. Striker Emmanuel Rivière looks the main pick of the other new summer arrivals, and Pardew will need him to fill the boots of the last season’s loan star, Loic Remy. With major investment already made this summer, there will be no panic buying at St. James’ Park. But this could be a long, hard season, and the big question will be how much of it Pardew oversees.
To say it’s been a chaotic two weeks for Crystal Palace would be a massive understatement. The off field issues that have dogged Palace recently have arguably been entirely of the club’s own making, so external sympathy has been in short supply for the Eagles. With the squad only really lacking an established left back, Palace will be hoping to avoid the rush on last minute panic buys of twelve months ago, when Ian Holloway bought virtually an entire new team. But with a new manager in Neil Warnock now finally in place, the reality is that some player movement both in and out of the club may now happen. Warnock represents a ‘safe’ pair of hands’, yet a manager with nowhere near the nous of his predecessor, Tony Pulis, who guided the Eagles to 11th place in the EPL last term. Warnock will want to prove his doubters wrong, and claims to have ‘unfinished business’ in the top flight. With expectations now lowered, keeping the Eagles out of the bottom three will now be seen as a successful season in South London.
Unsurprisingly, ‘survival’ is the only name of the game for Burnley this season. The Championship’s surprise package of last season have looked steady yet understandably low on genuine EPL quality so far. The fans are delighted to be there, and are determined to enjoy the ride, no matter the inevitable disappointments along the way. The ‘Ginger Mourinho’, AKA Sean Dyche, has claimed to have ‘deals in the pipeline’ for new players. Lip service probably? Maybe. In reality he will not want to jeapordise either the club’s financial future or the balance of the dressing room, and phenomenal team spirit by overloading it with expensive foreigners or sidelined EPL players after a big payday. Home form is key, and the Clarets must make sure Turf Moor is a fortress this campaign.
All is far from well in the Queens Park Rangers camp. Wednesday night’s League Cup defeat at the hands of League Two Burton Albion was the latest blow to the newly promoted club’s fledgling season, and although the cup is not a priority for the R’s, the alleged lack of fitness in the players should be of major concern as it is only August after all. Rumours abound of Tim Sherwood waiting in the wings to replace Harry Redknapp in the hot seat have not helped at all, and will not aid morale within the club either. The main problem seems to be in the striking department, with no goals scored in three games. A new striker to come in before the window slams shut? Probably. Perhaps the club haven’t learnt any lessons at all. The crippling financial problems Rangers were said to have faced in the prospect of failing to win promotion back to the EPL last season have merely been papered over. Yet more expensive signings have followed this summer, on big salaries, and lengthy contracts. QPR will certainly face troubled waters if they don’t stay up this year.
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