We are eight games into a Premier League season that has already delivered drama, buckets of goals, tantrums and training ground bust-ups — and that’s just in the city of Manchester. With the international break and three teams level on points at the top, it is a good time to take stock and look forward. The next six games for those teams will be vital and will determine who triumphs in May.
The Next Six Games to Decide the Title?
We will concentrate on the league, though of course, Manchester City and Chelsea have League Cup games, Chelsea are in the Europa League and City and Liverpool have the Champions League to contend. Of those, Liverpool have, on paper, at least, the more difficult task in Europe. Chelsea are likely to take their European ventures less seriously, with Sarri no doubt using it to rotate his squad. It is in the blue half of Manchester where it will have the most impact though.
It is no secret that Guardiola and those paying his wages are targeting the Champions League this season. And City are joint-favourites with Barcelona to lift the trophy in Madrid next Spring. With their surprise defeat at home to Lyon, they will not be able to take their foot off the gas as early as they would have hoped in this qualifying round. They will also be looking to establish their position at the top of the EPL before they get into the business end of the Champions League early next year. They cannot afford any slip-ups.
The Top Six
Manchester City
Burnley H
Tottenham A
Southampton H
Manchester United H
West Ham A
Bournemouth H
Except for the Spurs away, there is not too much there that will cause Pep or City’s fans to lose sleep. Burnley have improved from a poor start, but away from Turf Moor, they are not quite the side that could crush City’s plans, and even an improving West Ham and a Bournemouth side playing wonderful football should be dispatched empty-handed. It is also hard to make much of a case for Hughes’ Southampton. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround at Old Trafford, the derby could be an even more traumatic event for them than their 6-1 mauling in October 2011.
Predicted Points: 16
Chelsea
Manchester United H
Burnley A
Crystal Palace H
Everton H
Tottenham A
Fulham H
Chelsea have enjoyed a better start than even the most optimistic fan could have hoped. Maurizio Sarri has managed to implement his style of play quickly and the players are enjoying playing the attacking, free-flowing style that has been missing at Stamford Bridge for what seems like a long time. Eden Hazard is back to his best and David Luiz is playing some of the best football of his career. Even Alvaro Morata is finding the back of the net again. Like Manchester City, their hardest fixture is away at the Spurs, the London rivalry adding extra spice to that fixture. Again, like City, they host Mourinho’s United, and again, it merely serves to make United’s month a rough one as opposed to Sarri’s. Burnley away will be tricky and could see them drop two points, but they will be confident coming away with all the spoils from the three home fixtures.
Predicted Points: 14
Liverpool
Huddersfield A
Cardiff H
Arsenal A
Fulham H
Watford A
Everton H
Along with those at Chelsea, Liverpool fans could not have wished for a much better start to the campaign. Last season’s deficiencies would appear to have been resolved, and their squad is suddenly looking like it has the depth to compete for the duration. The squad that Klopp has at his disposal could very much be key. But thus far, he has relied almost exclusively on the same dozen or so players. The German will now no doubt look at the forthcoming league fixtures and know he can rest some players, safe in the knowledge he has almost like-for-like replacements. That was not the case in previous years.
Liverpool’s forthcoming fixtures represent banana skins that they would have slipped up on at other times in Klopp’s tenure. Now, they will go into the games with a higher level of confidence that they will find a way to get all three points. Like City and Chelsea, they have a derby, but their hardest fixture is at the Emirates against an Arsenal team who have shown they are, alongside Spurs, the best of the rest in the league.
Predicted Points: 15
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