The Premier League title race is well and truly on, with just a point separating defending champions Manchester City and challengers Liverpool heading into the final third of the season.
City appeared to be in total control a few weeks ago, but their slip up against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham and failure to pick up all three points against Crystal Palace gave Liverpool a window of opportunity. The Reds then beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates to reduce the gap between themselves and defending champions City to a single point. Jurgen Klopp’s side have been ruthless in their pursuit of the champions, and suddenly, a title race that seemed to be a foregone conclusion appears to be very much alive.
Pep Guardiola’s men don’t lose often -Spurs and Palace are among the rare teams to have taken points off them. This is however a title race of the highest quality- both City and Liverpool are well ahead of the rest of the pack.
On paper, City appear to have a slightly easier run-in to the title. The recently concluded game between the Citizens and Liverpool was a crucial one (it ended in a 2-2 draw), and the fixture between the Reds and Man United could also have a big say as well. Over in the Gulf, a look at https://arabianbetting.com/en/country/uae-sports-betting/ suggests that City, owned by a UAE based firm, are expected to edge the Reds and successfully defend their league crown.
As https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/16/arsenal-liverpool-premier-league-match-report shows, Liverpool were clinical against Arsenal, with Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino converting chances that other sides might not have. Arsenal had a big one of their own in the first half, but Danish midfielder Martin Odegaard, otherwise so good this season, was denied by Brazilian keeper Alisson.
When we look at the rest of the league, Chelsea seem to have third place sewn up despite their off-field struggles (see https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60684038), but fourth spot appears to be a bit of a lottery- Tottenham, Arsenal, Man Utd, West Ham and even Wolves could say they’re in with a shot to claim it.
Spurs currently look like one of the most inconsistent sides in world football. While they might have had some issues adjusting to Antonio Conte’s style of play since the Italian took over the reins in North London, they remain a dangerous side. As a neutral though, you might well want to avoid them when it comes to predicting a result. This is a side capable of beating league leaders City at the Etihad but also equally capable of going down to relegation threatened Burnley.
The Lilywhites also seem to be scoring goals for fun rather than grinding out 1-0’s- both their recent games against the Manchester sides produced five goals each, and they have also thumped Everton 5-0, Newcastle 5-1 and Aston Villa 4-0. In Harry Kane, they have one of the most prolific strikers the history of the game. The impressive and ever hard-working Son Heung-Min is an able foil to the England forward, as is new signing Dejan Kulusevski, the Swedish international who has impressed since his switch from Juve.
United however seem to have gone off the rails a bit and their season appears to have unraveled after being dumped out of the CL by Atleti while injuries to Tierney and Partey appear to have hurt Arsenal badly. West Ham appear to be struggling to cope with the twin demands of the league and Europe with their thin squad, and so it appears to be advantage Spurs at this moment.