By Josh Daniels
Matchday 10 officially concludes a quarter of the premier league season, and the title race is starting to unfold. As it stands, Chelsea is sitting at the top of the table with one loss from Manchester City and only three goals against the whole season. The team is led by Edouard Mendy at the back, who has been in unstoppable form. Liverpool and Manchester City, the second and third place teams, both dropped points this weekend, leaving Chelsea comfortably in the driver’s seat. Manchester United, Arsenal, and Wolves are all eyeing West Ham’s Champions League spot as they sit in fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.
On the other end of the table, relegation seems inevitable for two teams: Norwich and Newcastle. Norwich, sitting dead last with two points, has the lowest goals for this season at three and suffered the most embarrassing loss of the season to Chelsea, with a brutal scoreline of 7-0. Newcastle, right above Norwich at second last, has four points and is struggling to stay afloat. Burnley is currently in the top relegation spot with seven points, only three behind Leeds who has ten points.
Some surprising performances this season have come from Brighton and Leicester. Brighton finished at sixteenth last season, and was only expected to climb slightly higher. No one thought they would be in contention for a Champions League spot. Leicester City, however, has gone the opposite direction. Last year finishing fifth, they currently sit at eleventh with little hope. Mohamed Salah for Liverpool looks as though he is going to take the Golden Boot title. He is currently averaging a goal per game at ten goals, and the closest player to him is Jamie Vardy at seven.
Marking the quarter of the season, Matchday 10 was nothing but exciting and dramatic. The biggest match of the weekend was Manchester United vs. Tottenham — two big clubs off to a shaky start this season. Manchester United needed to respond from their horrendous showing in a 5-0 loss to Liverpool the weekend before. With head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s job on the line, the three points were a must win. Just before half, Bruno Fernandes played a brilliant ball over the top for Cristiano Ronaldo. The goal turned the tide for United, with a final result of 3-0 in a fantastic performance. Although Ole was on the hot seat, it was the Spurs manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, that was sacked after the game.
The most unpredictable result was the 2-0 Crystal Palace win over Manchester City. City recorded their second loss of the season in a must win game to a bottom half of the table team. In order to really challenge for a title, they need to be able to score goals up top. Palace have kept up their great form as they are unbeaten in the last five matches and slowly continue to climb the table. Patrick Viera, the new manager, is proving to be a great fit for the club.
Looking forward to next weekend, the Manchester Derby is the big highlight. City look to keep themselves in the title race and respond to the loss, while United hope to move closer to a Champions League spot and Ole struggles to keep his job.
