It Christmas season and one of the gifts we receive is Premier League football. The holiday season brings us games, games, and more games. Weekend games and midweek games mean we have soccer opportunities all over the television. I hope you are checking it out and hopefully have some vacation time, sitting by the fire, watching the weather channel show we are going to be below zero all week and deciding….what a great day to relax and watch a soccer game.
It’s Saturday and we are working our way thru Matchday 21. What are the story lines to keep up with?
Manchester City. Still has not lost a game this season. It is really pretty amazing in a league as competitive as the Premier League that they have a current record of 19 wins and 1 draw. Incredible. A few fortunate games where they scored late to earn a win or a draw. With all the games being played and the extra tournament games in the Carabao EFL Cup, FA Cup and Champions League…now is the time to nick a game from them….we’ll see. They just keep rolling along.
Relegation Zone is heating up. Teams in the bottom three and making moves to jump start their campaign and find a way to get out of the bottom three and maintain their position in the Premier League. Swansea City fired their coach last week as they have been floundering at the bottom all season. They replaced Paul Clement after less than a year with new head man Carlos Carvalhal. Why do team make these mid-season changes. Seems crazy to us in the states, but the pressure to stay in the Premier League is incredible. Does it work….well the first week proved positive. Swansea City just beat Watford 2-1 today to move from 13 points to 16 points and from the 20th position up 1 spot to 19, but more importantly, just two points from safety. They will be challenged all year to stay in the league but the first week with the new coach was big. Bournemouth moved from 19th to 13th with a big win today over 9th place Everton. The 3 points vaulted them 6 spots. Currently 6 teams are within 3 points of the 18th position. It is going to be a crazy battle to finish 17th or higher and stay in the league. Two big wins today for teams in the bottom three
Battle for Champions League is holding Steady. The top 4 is unchanged in the past few weeks. Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all holding down their positions and creating a little distance on the next four. Tottenham and Arsenal both have a chance to close within 1 point of Liverpool and the 4th spot later this weekend.
Current Table
We are halfway thru Week 21. Here is where we stand.
Manchester City 19-1-0 58 Points. Still on record pace.
Chelsea 14-3-4 45 Points.
Manchester United 13-4-3 43 Points. Play later today.
Liverpool 11-8-2 41 Points.
Full Table.
On to some Highlights.
Liverpool v Swansea. Some great goals in a blowout over Swansea. This is the game that forced Swansea to make a coaching change.
Harry Kane Hat Trick.
This week marked a record for Premier League soccer. Harry Kane now holds the record for most goals in a calendar year. (Premier League season runs over into the new year). He scored his 39th goal of the year this week . What makes it even more amazing is that it was a hat trick (3 goals) after scoring a hat trick last week as well. Back to Back. Crazy Good! He surpasses legend Alan Shearer who scored 36 goals back in 1995 when he was leading Blackburn Rovers to the title. As another sign of how difficult the Premier League is….Blackburn Rovers, who won the title in 1995, are now in the English League 1, two levels down from the Premier League. From the pinnacle of English soccer to the third level. Man this league is hard.
Lots of matches this weekend still to catch as well as more mid-week games. A busy soccer season. Check it out!