Home of football statistics and historyThe Premier League is entering its final stage and every match is an unpredictable pendulum swing. While a few things were clear from the get-go, many issues the league has have been left resolved with March ahead of us. While picking the champion throughout the middle of the year might be ungrateful, the picture the table makes a few things clear with 12 matches to go. So, how is it going to be?
Are Liverpool Crowned Champions Already?
Everyone can have an opinion, and this is ours: Liverpool will be the PL champion for the 2024/25 season. The Reds have been the team to beat from September until today, and not many teams have done it. Their only defeat came in the hands of this year’s overachievers, Nottingham Forest. While seven draws is plenty, Liverpool rarely loses matches, and with eighteen wins, they are standing at the top of the league with 61 points already. If you’re a betting man, this is the moment to put your house on Liverpool winning the title, and if you’re up to it, online casino and sports betting outlet Stake is the place to do it.
It is hard to imagine Liverpool slipping in the next 12 rounds, and even if they do a few times, they have an eight-point advantage over the second-placed Arsenal. Their top player, Mo Salah, is playing out of his mind and has enough confidence to publicly claim he’s a better player than Erling Haaland, scoring his goals from the wing and assisting quite a few more while calling the Norwegian prodigy a pure scorer who relies on others to provide for him. The biggest rivalry this season is not between City and Liverpool or between the Gunners, the Reds, and the Citizens. It is the Golden Boot race between Salah and Haaland. Salah currently leads with 24 goals and 15 assists, while Haaland is trailing quite a bit with 19 goals and three assists. Salah is maybe right.
The Arsenal Conundrum: The Curse of the Forever Second
Was this Arsenal team cured? Were the Invincibles the pinnacle of North London Football? Are they the reason why Arsenal can no longer take home the domestic title? Anything is possible. The matter of fact is that for the last few years the Gunners are one of the top two teams in England. The issue is that they’re always the second. This year, Manchester City slipped, were out of the form for bigger parts of the season, and were out of the title race before December. Many people saw this as a chance for Arsenal to finally take home the crown. Instead, the Gunners are still second, playing the same way they did last year, trying their best, but simply seeing the title being taken out of their hands by a dominant Liverpool side. While there’s still plenty of games left to be played, Arsenal is missing that attacking spark while Liverpool is blessed by the clinical finishing of the Pharaoh.
Sergio Aguero’s Views on 2024/25 PL Season
While it’s been a few years since Kun left the PL, he’s still very much involved in the world of sports. Considering that he’s long been the most prolific scorer in the Premier League and Golden Boot winner, his word still means something in the world of English Football. One of the reasons for Arsenal’s downfall, in Aguero’s eyes, is the team’s focus on the ‘humble’ situation, which was, according to him, blown out of proportion and should have been left on the field. The over-dramatic reaction, followed by City’s sloppy form, was supposed to be Arsenal’s wind in the sails but it didn’t happen.
Furthermore, Sergio Agüero’s Premier League Interview addressed the newly founded rivalry between Arsenal & Manchester City. Aguero admits that there is rivalry but that no team or fans should push it into the domain of hatred. The misfortune of this season was the fact that while City & Arsenal were battling their demons, Liverpool took the lead at the top of the table.
Aguero is not eager to exclude the Gunners from the title challenge, but he remains realistic that the Reds are a team to beat. At the same time, Kun is adamant that City will be one of the top four teams come season end and sees it hard to accept City not playing in the Champions League. As far as the strikers go, Alexander Isak’s form didn’t go unnoticed by Aguero, who claims that the Swede still has plenty of work left to be seen as one of the PL top strikers.
The Race to Europe
While the title race might be over, those close to teams not in the top two positions still have plenty of games to be stressed over. Not even the most optimistic fans of online sports betting and Nottingham Forest had this team fighting for a Champions League spot. Yet, here we are, with Forest being one of the biggest surprises not only in English but also in European football. Forest are currently third with 47 points. While at one point a title challenge was on the cards, ending the year at one of the top 4 spots is more realistic. But, even that goal will be hard to achieve as the competition is hard as it gets. The disillusioned Manchester City is breathing behind their neck, and with millions spent in the January transfer window one might expect for the Citizens to even make a title run, while the top four finish is a must for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Trust us when we say it, the race for CL spots is not a two horse race. Instead, we’re talking about five or six teams aiming for those spots. In addition to Forest, the biggest surprise of the season is Bournemouth. With 43 points so far, and some mesmerizing performances by Andoni Iraola and his men, the Cherries have plenty to hope for. While seeing Bournemouth in the Champions League would be a true football fairy tale, the same can be said of Brighton too. The Seagulls are currently 9th with 40 points and feel they can push for that sweet CL spot.
Reaching the Champions League will not be an easy task for any of these teams. The biggest competitors so far remain to be Chelsea, who spent billions, and not reaching the CL this season will be seen as a disaster. The downside of Chelsea’s run is that they’re currently dropping points left and right, and are entering the most important stretch of the year, with their confidence down.
What’s even worse for the Blues, they are losing games to direct rivals. Their most recent defeat came in the hands of Aston Villa who now that have felt that CL football wants more this year too. They share the same ambition with Newcastle, that desire to establish itself as one of the leading PL teams. They have the Saudi backing but have spent their funds wisely, and are playing some great football under Eddie Howe this year. The Magpies will be cheering for Villa and the rest of the English teams playing in Europe still as more wins could bring them the much desired 5th CL spot. If they manage to do so, we will without a doubt have a surprising team from England playing CL next season.
As far as Europa League and Europa Conference Leagues go, these same teams are in contention. Some, such as Brighton and Bournemouth will have to settle to playing European fixtures in the second best European competition, while for teams such as Fulham and Brentford this is a dream. Tottenham will be eager to join that race, but with the amount of injuries the team has sustained this year, it is hard to predict their trajectory in the next few fixtures.
The PL Purgatory
For some teams, being in the so-called purgatory is a blessing. A league of its own without worries. The team that perfectly fits into this description is Crystal Palace, a team that is usually safe from relegation but without having the quality or aspirations to gun for Europe. This year, Palace is once again sitting right there – 13th with 33 points and without a worry in the world. This season they’re joined by a resurrected Everton, which is playing the best football in recent memory from the moment David Moyes took over.
The surprise additions to the Premier League purgatory are the likes of Manchester United and West Ham. Ruben Amorim took over the Red Devils a few months ago and since then the already banged up Manchester vehicle has lost all of its wheels. They’re playing the worst kind of football – desperate and without results. United has had some bad years post Sir Alex Ferguson but nothing comes close to the disaster Ruben Amorim’s United is. The talented Portuguese manager is trying his best, but it’s just not enough. This United side lacks talent, determination, and grit. They’ve become a managerial graveyard and it’s hard to imagine Amorim turning this side around even next season when he will tailor the team according to his wishes after another United summer of free spending.
The only positive thing to say about United this year is that they’re clear of the relegation battle. The same can’t be said for the teams below.
2024/25 PL Relegation Struggle
With West Ham, Manchester United, and Everton winning a few matches at the right time they’ve managed to stay clear out of the relegation struggle. While none of these teams has the clear-cut 40 points needed to stay in the top tier of English football, the teams below them are far from reaching them and bringing one of those three teams into the relegation pit.
The one team that is already in the Championship is Southampton. Nine points from 26 matches is a disaster, and they will be going down there’s no doubt about it. The team that currently has the best chances of staying up are the Wolves. Wolverhampton Wanderers have been amazing during the last three matches. They’ve won against Aston Villa and Bournemouth without conceding, while only lady luck saved Liverpool from losing points against the wolves at Anfield. With 22 points from 26 games, Wolves have not been playing well throughout the year, but they’re still sitting safely at the spot No17.
The two teams still hoping to stay up are Ipswich and Leicester. Both have 17 points, and with 5 points gap between them and Wolves, there’s still hope left for both. The way things stand right now, it would appear that the PL competition was too much for the newcomers, as all three newly-promoted teams are now slated for relegation. All three have made changes at the manager posts, with only Ipswich remaining loyal to their coach Kieran McKenna. After all, Ipswich overachieved last year in Championship, and even if they go down, McKenna will remain coach unless he gets poached by one of the better PL teams as his quality can’t be doubted.
At the same time Wolves and Leicester parted ways with Gary O’Neil and Steve Cooper. While Vitor Pereira managed to shake up things at Wolverhampton and string a few wins along the way, Ruud Van Nistelrooy failed to make a difference with Leicester City. Yet, a clear sign that nothing is over is that these three teams play each other in the next 12 rounds making this relegation scrap even more interesting.
2024/25 PL Season Recap
A late February recap of the year, will mean little come the season end, but the way things stand now Liverpool will be the champion. As far as relegation goes Southampton is already down, and will be joined by two teams from the trio of Leicester, Ipswich, and Wolves. As far as Europe goes, there will be plenty of slots leading there, but the CL ones, the most valuable ones, will be decided between Forest, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton, Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Aston Villa. Lastly, and without anyone taking offense, this will be the worst year in recent Manchester United history.
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