Premier League mid-season review: Team of the year, rising stars, underperformers and predicted table
Given the hectic festive schedule, there was little time to reflect upon the first half of the Premier League season when the competition reached its natural mid-way point of 19 games at the turn of the year.
However, with the English topflight placed on hold for the second week of January, so as to make way for the third round of the FA Cup, the 20 match milestone make for a fitting, alternative opportunity for review, especially given the weight of the fixtures played in the first week of 2017.
League leaders Chelsea were finally stopped, and beaten 2-0, in what would have been a record 14th consecutive win for the Blues by a resurgent Tottenham Hotspur, to change the complexion of the top four days after Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield to humble Pep Guardiola’s own title charge.
With 18 games left to be played in the Premier League to decide who will claim the title, who will survive and suffer relegation, and which teams will rise to secure European football for the year ahead? There’s still plenty at stake for sides across the division to compete for in the final, decisive half of the season.
TITLE RACE
After an uncertain start, Chelsea have dominated since November with a 13-match winning streak. They remain five points clear even after losing to Spurs, who boast the best defensive record. Liverpool are second yet first for goals scored and chances created with Tottenham and Manchester City another two points behind.
RELEGATION BATTLE
Four points separate the bottom four. Swansea are two points above Hull, now onto their third manager of the season. The Swans have already sacked a manager themselves and are level with an improving Sunderland who have 17th-placed Crystal Palace in sight despite Sam Allardyce replacing Alan Pardew in December.
TEAM OF THE SEASON
UNDERPERFORMERS
Club: Leicester City
The Foxes have been victims of their own success this season. After stunning the world by going from relegation contenders to Premier League champions last year, the romance of their fairytale rise has given way to some hard realities as the small matter of not only defending their title but maintaining a respectable league position has been complicated by Champions League commitments.
Even so, they’ve still had their moments: a 4-2 home win over a Manchester City side seemingly set up with no prior knowledge of what made them so dangerous on their way to winning the league offered a glimpse of the Leicester side the game grew to know and love last year. Unfortunately, and perhaps inevitably, such moments have been too few and far between in their follow-up campaign.
Player: Riyad Mahrez
Just like his club, the Algerian has suffered a fall from grace this season. After adding the PFA awards for Players’ Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year for 2016, his dazzling ability to take teams apart and slip dangerous balls through into the path of his attacking colleagues has all but disappeared since the summer.
He is creating half a chance less per 90 minutes than last season, completing more than 1.31 fewer take ons and has been involved in 0.30 goals as a scorer or creator compared with 0.83 in 2015/16. Despite having scored three goals and providing the assist for another in the Champions League, the Algerian has regressed more than any other player in the Premier League this season, and is therefore the competition’s big underachiever.
Manager: Pep Guardiola
A coach needs time to work with their players, build their own team and install a philosophy. However, there is little doubt that Manchester City’s new man in the dugout has been something of a disappointment so far – a judgement that stands as testament to his reputation and past record as much as anything else given that his side remain fourth in spite of their failings.
The Catalan has admitted that he doesn’t have the quality of player he needs for his team to play at the level he demands, and while City have created plenty of chances, a lack of care at the back has also led to some dismal defensive displays.
Guardiola may resent the focus on second balls, aerial duels and physical challenges in the Premier League but a manager has to manage the situation they find themselves in.
He has left himself open to accusations of being naive at times, appearing to set out his team in the assumption that a belief in his values would be enough to overcome the challenges of the English game. Much more is expected of the Catalan in the months (and years) to come.
OVERPERFOMERS
Club: Chelsea
Back in October, betting was suspended on Antonio Conte being the next Premier League manager to be sacked. Now, 20 games in, the Blues are sitting pretty at the top of the table, in spite of their streak-ending loss to Spurs, having assumed pole position in November. No team has looked as complete as Chelsea have since their shift to a 3-4-3 formation back in October – a shape that has allowed N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic to dominate the middle of the park as Eden Hazard and Pedro destroy defences by coalescing around Diego Costa, flanked by the side-stretching width of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
In defence, Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta, watched over by Thibaut Courtois in goal, have set the benchmark for conceding the fewest goals after taking up position in a back three. After their implosion under Jose Mourinho last season, they will take some stopping.
Player: Adam Lallana
The former Southampton midfielder has been involved in 14 goals this season as a scorer or creator, more than any other Liverpool player, with only Christian Eriksen ahead of him for midfielders in the Premier League. Yet he isn’t just a finisher or provider of chances.
His work rate under Jurgen Klopp has been extreme and Lallana has come to be one of the players who best embodies the German’s style of play on the pitch for the Reds.
While his doubters may still dismiss his form of late as a purple patch that will soon run out, his rate of improvement under the former Borussia Dortmund manager has been such that he reigns as the league’s greatest over-performer at present, and could yet clinch the honours to prove it this season.
Manager: Tony Pulis
West Brom are up in eighth after 20 games. Tony Pulis is on-track to challenge for and secure a European place for the Baggies this season.
While his former clubs Stoke City and Crystal Palace have struggled at the wrong end of the table, the Welshman has set about perfected his style of play with a hard-working and resolute squad of players who fight for every single point. That’s all down to the coaching and man management of Tony Pulis.
RISING STARS
Nathan Ake
On-loan from Chelsea for the season, the Dutch defender has thrived at Bournemouth where fans of his parent club have already begun sizing him up for a role in Conte’s 3-4-3 system next season. However, Ake has suggested he could remain on the south coast or look further afield for first team football with the wider game beginning to take an interest in his future.
Jordan Pickford
The goalkeeper keeping the Premier League team of the season safe between the stick and whose heroics prior to injury could go some way to saving Sunderland’s topflight status. Now sidelined for the foreseeable future, David Moyes side will struggle to cope without him.
Dele Alli
With 10 goals in 19 league appearances, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder now has a higher rate of goals per minutes in the Premier League than any of his England predecessors when it came to the time it took them to run up a 20 goal tally.
GOLDEN OLDIE
Gareth McAuley
The 37-year-old West Brom defender has been active at both ends of the pitch this season with four goals in 20 Premier League appearances – he is also yet to miss a single minute of league action.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland international has won 65% of his aerial duels and averaged nine defensive actions per game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal return has been impressive but McAuley has been even more crucial to West Brom’s season, and is two years older than the Swedish striker.
SIGNING OF THE SEASON
Sadio Mane
Liverpool’s detractors thought they’d erred when the Reds made a sizable bid for Southampton’s Senegalese winger in the summer yet since his arrival on Anfield, Sadio Mane has won almost every single one of his critics round. He has topped the charts for goals scored for the Premier League’s second-placed side, with nine goals from 19 appearances out wide, adding four assists for others to finish off too. If anything, he now looks a bargain as the finishing touch to Klopp’s hard-pressing system.
FLOP OF THE SEASON
Moussa Sissoko
There’s no getting around it. A club record signing for a panic buy that Newcastle United couldn’t wait to get rid of in the Championship. Despite impressing for France at Euro 2016, the midfielder-cum-winger hasn’t enjoyed many minutes under Mauricio Pochettino for Spurs – in part due to rumours his manager doesn’t rate him, hinting that the player isn’t matching expectations in training.
However, with the English topflight placed on hold for the second week of January, so as to make way for the third round of the FA Cup, the 20 match milestone make for a fitting, alternative opportunity for review, especially given the weight of the fixtures played in the first week of 2017.
League leaders Chelsea were finally stopped, and beaten 2-0, in what would have been a record 14th consecutive win for the Blues by a resurgent Tottenham Hotspur, to change the complexion of the top four days after Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield to humble Pep Guardiola’s own title charge.
With 18 games left to be played in the Premier League to decide who will claim the title, who will survive and suffer relegation, and which teams will rise to secure European football for the year ahead? There’s still plenty at stake for sides across the division to compete for in the final, decisive half of the season.
TITLE RACE
After an uncertain start, Chelsea have dominated since November with a 13-match winning streak. They remain five points clear even after losing to Spurs, who boast the best defensive record. Liverpool are second yet first for goals scored and chances created with Tottenham and Manchester City another two points behind.
RELEGATION BATTLE
Four points separate the bottom four. Swansea are two points above Hull, now onto their third manager of the season. The Swans have already sacked a manager themselves and are level with an improving Sunderland who have 17th-placed Crystal Palace in sight despite Sam Allardyce replacing Alan Pardew in December.
TEAM OF THE SEASON
UNDERPERFORMERS
Club: Leicester City
The Foxes have been victims of their own success this season. After stunning the world by going from relegation contenders to Premier League champions last year, the romance of their fairytale rise has given way to some hard realities as the small matter of not only defending their title but maintaining a respectable league position has been complicated by Champions League commitments.
Even so, they’ve still had their moments: a 4-2 home win over a Manchester City side seemingly set up with no prior knowledge of what made them so dangerous on their way to winning the league offered a glimpse of the Leicester side the game grew to know and love last year. Unfortunately, and perhaps inevitably, such moments have been too few and far between in their follow-up campaign.
Player: Riyad Mahrez
Just like his club, the Algerian has suffered a fall from grace this season. After adding the PFA awards for Players’ Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year for 2016, his dazzling ability to take teams apart and slip dangerous balls through into the path of his attacking colleagues has all but disappeared since the summer.
He is creating half a chance less per 90 minutes than last season, completing more than 1.31 fewer take ons and has been involved in 0.30 goals as a scorer or creator compared with 0.83 in 2015/16. Despite having scored three goals and providing the assist for another in the Champions League, the Algerian has regressed more than any other player in the Premier League this season, and is therefore the competition’s big underachiever.
Manager: Pep Guardiola
A coach needs time to work with their players, build their own team and install a philosophy. However, there is little doubt that Manchester City’s new man in the dugout has been something of a disappointment so far – a judgement that stands as testament to his reputation and past record as much as anything else given that his side remain fourth in spite of their failings.
The Catalan has admitted that he doesn’t have the quality of player he needs for his team to play at the level he demands, and while City have created plenty of chances, a lack of care at the back has also led to some dismal defensive displays.
Guardiola may resent the focus on second balls, aerial duels and physical challenges in the Premier League but a manager has to manage the situation they find themselves in.
He has left himself open to accusations of being naive at times, appearing to set out his team in the assumption that a belief in his values would be enough to overcome the challenges of the English game. Much more is expected of the Catalan in the months (and years) to come.
OVERPERFOMERS
Club: Chelsea
Back in October, betting was suspended on Antonio Conte being the next Premier League manager to be sacked. Now, 20 games in, the Blues are sitting pretty at the top of the table, in spite of their streak-ending loss to Spurs, having assumed pole position in November. No team has looked as complete as Chelsea have since their shift to a 3-4-3 formation back in October – a shape that has allowed N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic to dominate the middle of the park as Eden Hazard and Pedro destroy defences by coalescing around Diego Costa, flanked by the side-stretching width of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
In defence, Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta, watched over by Thibaut Courtois in goal, have set the benchmark for conceding the fewest goals after taking up position in a back three. After their implosion under Jose Mourinho last season, they will take some stopping.
Player: Adam Lallana
The former Southampton midfielder has been involved in 14 goals this season as a scorer or creator, more than any other Liverpool player, with only Christian Eriksen ahead of him for midfielders in the Premier League. Yet he isn’t just a finisher or provider of chances.
His work rate under Jurgen Klopp has been extreme and Lallana has come to be one of the players who best embodies the German’s style of play on the pitch for the Reds.
While his doubters may still dismiss his form of late as a purple patch that will soon run out, his rate of improvement under the former Borussia Dortmund manager has been such that he reigns as the league’s greatest over-performer at present, and could yet clinch the honours to prove it this season.
Manager: Tony Pulis
West Brom are up in eighth after 20 games. Tony Pulis is on-track to challenge for and secure a European place for the Baggies this season.
While his former clubs Stoke City and Crystal Palace have struggled at the wrong end of the table, the Welshman has set about perfected his style of play with a hard-working and resolute squad of players who fight for every single point. That’s all down to the coaching and man management of Tony Pulis.
RISING STARS
Nathan Ake
On-loan from Chelsea for the season, the Dutch defender has thrived at Bournemouth where fans of his parent club have already begun sizing him up for a role in Conte’s 3-4-3 system next season. However, Ake has suggested he could remain on the south coast or look further afield for first team football with the wider game beginning to take an interest in his future.
Jordan Pickford
The goalkeeper keeping the Premier League team of the season safe between the stick and whose heroics prior to injury could go some way to saving Sunderland’s topflight status. Now sidelined for the foreseeable future, David Moyes side will struggle to cope without him.
Dele Alli
With 10 goals in 19 league appearances, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder now has a higher rate of goals per minutes in the Premier League than any of his England predecessors when it came to the time it took them to run up a 20 goal tally.
GOLDEN OLDIE
Gareth McAuley
The 37-year-old West Brom defender has been active at both ends of the pitch this season with four goals in 20 Premier League appearances – he is also yet to miss a single minute of league action.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland international has won 65% of his aerial duels and averaged nine defensive actions per game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal return has been impressive but McAuley has been even more crucial to West Brom’s season, and is two years older than the Swedish striker.
SIGNING OF THE SEASON
Sadio Mane
Liverpool’s detractors thought they’d erred when the Reds made a sizable bid for Southampton’s Senegalese winger in the summer yet since his arrival on Anfield, Sadio Mane has won almost every single one of his critics round. He has topped the charts for goals scored for the Premier League’s second-placed side, with nine goals from 19 appearances out wide, adding four assists for others to finish off too. If anything, he now looks a bargain as the finishing touch to Klopp’s hard-pressing system.
FLOP OF THE SEASON
Moussa Sissoko
There’s no getting around it. A club record signing for a panic buy that Newcastle United couldn’t wait to get rid of in the Championship. Despite impressing for France at Euro 2016, the midfielder-cum-winger hasn’t enjoyed many minutes under Mauricio Pochettino for Spurs – in part due to rumours his manager doesn’t rate him, hinting that the player isn’t matching expectations in training.
posted from Bloggeroid
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