A SPECTACULAR SEASON: SO FAR, SO GOOD!

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A SPECTACULAR SEASON: SO FAR, SO GOOD!

After just 11 games in the new 2016/2017 English Premiership campaign, the football world is awash with so many talk points and flashpoints. We have witnessed great and historic matches.Clubs have dazzled and have been humbled, (at times humiliated). Fans have sorrowed and jubilated. The football world has held its breath almost for every single Premiership game this season. True to predictions, with the arrival and inflow of so many great players and coaches into the Premiership, the 2016/2017 Premiership season is really living up to its billing as a very special season!

At the instance of our last edition after just four games into the new season, seven teams were atop the Premiership table namely Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal. We predicted that come the end of the season, we would not expect to see any major surprises. Thankfully, providentially or coincidentally, two months thereafter, after 11 games, these same teams still sit atop the table with shifting variations.

Liverpool FC sits at the highest rung of the Premiership ladder with 26 points after 11 games. She is closely followed by Chelsea FC with 25 points, then Manchester City FC and Arsenal FC jointly at 24 points, Tottenham FC at 21 points and then Manchester United FC and Everton FC at 18 points apiece.

Among these seven top teams, every club, apart from Tottenham has lost a game, at times scandalously! Liverpool FC has lost to an unfanciedBurnley 2:0; Chelsea has lost to Liverpool,1:2 and then to Arsenal 3:0; Manchester City has lost to Tottenham 2:0; Arsenal began the season by loosing to Liverpool at home 3:4; Manchester United and Everton has lost very scandalously, for instance both have lost to their eternal rivals Chelsea with a 4:0  and 5:0 margins respectively. Tottenham FC, the only club that is still unbeaten in the Premiership campaign this season, has not faired any better because she has drawn more games(6) than she has won(5)!

With these brief statistics, what are we to expect come May 2017?

We expect a very tight and highly contested fight to the finish. For instance, only two points separate the first four teams. Again, managers are digging into the innermost recesses of their technical know-how and abilities to surprise and supplant, to change their fortunes for the better. As an instance too many, since after the back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal, Anthony Conte, the Chelsea boss has “reinvented” a 3-4-3 formation that has enabled him and his team to run rampart against opposing teams, winning five straight matches and scoring 16 goals without conceding any in the process. Liverpool's Klopp has also been able to perfectly adapt to a very fluid 4-2-4 formation that is able to so easily confound and rout opposition teams flat to the ground. Guardiola is a “master inventor.” He knows what to do at any given situation and he has that uncanny ability to develop a “new team” for each new game. So is the tactical Mourinho as well as the tested and trusted hands Wenger, Pochetino and Koeman. Thus, apart from the battles in the field of play, we expect to see more iconic and historic technical battles outside the field of play as the season unfolds.

Presently, Liverpool and Chelsea are at the topmost of the rung. And in my own estimation, they can remain there longer or even till the end. This is accounted for in the main by two main reasons. The first is that opposing teams have not learnt how to counter or puncture their present systems of formation. Things could change if teams get to learn how to counter such. But the two teams can only get better if they keep anticipating their opposing teams, adapting and readjusting to soar higher. Secondly, both Liverpool and Chelsea are enjoying a certain energy and freshness, week-in, week-out.This is because of the reality of their not having any European engagements unlike other teams like Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United. Things could change in the future. And with every change, there are bound to be other changes as well!

We await with bathed breaths as the season unfolds. By and large, it will appear too early to begin to make predictions as to which team will prove victorious come May. This is because so many things are still very much unclear. Some players will drop down in form while others will pick up! Motivations will come! Motivations will fade!  Injuries will come! And sheer luck and serendipity will also play their paths.

At the end, the good news is that the Premiership clubs are giving us a good run and fun for our money and time. And also for our fanship! Let us just sit back, relax and enjoy the roller-coaster season ride! Fanning is allowed! Fanaticism and violence is foolhardy. Everyone, beware!