Early Season EPL Observations
By Sam McPhee
Everton and Manchester United’s draw on Saturday where the Toffees did a Man U to Man U and scored two goals in stoppage time is a draw that suddenly thrusts Chelsea to the role of favorite in the EPL title race. Man U’s uncharacteristic late collapse is an early alarm bell for the Mancunians as the Blues have looked nothing short of dominating so far this season. With Sir Alec Ferguson dropping Wayne Rooney from the lineup rumors are cropping up that what was once unthinkable- Rooney on his way out of Man U- have begun. Obviously, that possibility is in the “that’s crazy talk” category but with Ferguson’s prior history of shipping out players who get too big for their britches or become too big of a distraction no matter who they are, the situation is intriguing & bears monitoring. It’s probably much ado about nothing…. or it’s only one kicked boot to the head away from being the Beckham situation all over again.
Chelsea so far has come out of the starting gates up & running no doubt boosted by Michael Essien’s return. Furthermore, Essien has recently committed himself to club football & put international football with Ghana on the backburner for now, & his early season form has been outstanding including scoring 2 goals at the weekend. Essien’s muscle & solidifying presence in midfield may see Chelsea run out to back-to-back EPL titles as they are already threatening to open up a gap on the rest of the pack & look formidable to say the least.
Arsenal is scoring goals, as expected, and have already picked up two good wins for them- away to Blackburn & over former bogeyman side, Bolton- and are also looking to capitalize on the sudden “crisis” at Man U and the sluggish start for the second year in a row at Liverpool to try and keep pace with Chelsea. But as always is with Arsenal, only time will tell if they have the depth & enough experience or can avoid enough of the injury bug to regain the title for the first time since the “Invincibles” squad of 2004.
Aforementioned Liverpool and North London side, Tottenham Hotspur, have had somewhat of a listless (and disappointing) start with drawing multiple matches already that they, on paper anyway, should win. Spurs also will have to deal with match congestion at some point, as they are in the Champions’ League for the first time, and for teams that haven’t experienced that before, it can become a critical issue late in the season if not handled properly as the matches & injuries begin to pile up.
Manchester City also has had slow start compared to vast amounts of money they’ve invested in their squad and are in danger of getting bit by the same draw bug that doomed their season last year. City is running the risk of having to learn the lesson that it takes more than just money to build a championship side again if they don’t start turning these draws into wins.
Blackpool, yes!, Blackpool is in FOURTH currently to, you’d have to admit, everyone’s surprise. Even though we’re only through four games of the EPL season, I think even the most ardent of Tangerines supporter would’nt have ever dreamed of a fourth place standing at any point in the season.
Birmingham and Fulham are currently in fifth and sixth, respectively, riding a wave of draws while the rest of the EPL are still trying to sort out where in the table they’ll be challenging although EPL stalwarts Everton, despite the originally mentioned draw with Man U, are so far underachieving in the penultimate place with only a very disappointing West Ham United side which has looked nothing but awful so far this season. Although, in Everton’s case it’s a matter of turning their play into goals rather than playing poorly but if they drop too many more points they may be chasing a mid-table spot as their goal but must be boosted with confidence by their recent point against Man U.
Summary after the first month-plus of the season is that it looks to this football/soccer fan that it’s already becoming Chelsea’s title to lose…