This season’s Premier League campaign is taking the usual twists and turns. Some bookmakers have decided to pull the trigger and payout on Liverpool winning the division, despite there still being more than a quarter of the season to go. The Reds enjoyed an excellent weekend in the title race. They took advantage of Arsenal’s surprise loss to West Ham by beating Manchester City to move 11 points clear at the top of the standings. Head coach Arne Slot spoke this week about what an excellent situation his side are in.
“We are in a good position but we also know how hard it is to play against Wolves. Now we play Newcastle, we played 3-3 over there, which in my opinion was also a good result, but we also experienced how difficult that one is. We work every single day to achieve this and it is three months of very hard work to maintain this. There is no secret. We are 11 points clear but Arsenal has one game in hand.”
Premier League odds are still attractive for fans wanting a slice of the action outside the Champion’s place, and one side refusing to acknowledge defeat at this early stage, is Arsenal. Manager Mikel Arteta says “over my dead body” to giving up on the title but is asked if he thinks it is still possible: “If not I will go home. Mathematically, it is possible. You are there, you have to play every game, suddenly three days ago we could close a gap, and you are like ‘you are one-and-a-half games away’. It doesn’t matter, we have to continue to go. The difficulty is higher than three days about but if you are going to win the Premier League you have to do something special. If you are going to win the Premier League with the circumstances we have you will probably have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League.”
One side that can not be ignored is the super-consistent Nottingham Forest, who have had an exceptional season so far, but can they stay the course? Manchester City are looming over their shoulder, and Pep Guardiola’s boys have form for strong finishes.
As far as Tottenham are concerned, all eyes turn to the Europa League, after involvement in all other competitions has floundered. Ange Postecoglou is still sounding upbeat about the Lilywhite’s experiencing a revival, but surely any ambitions of making a dent in the eleven sides above them seem overly optimistic.
