Liverpool and Manchester City in the last three seasons have dominated the Premier League. The two teams are like Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Spanish League in the last decade, the champions are predictable.
But this season, the status quo of Liverpool and Man City as rulers of the Premier League for the last two to three years is in danger of shaking.
Man City won twice in a row in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons. Three seasons ago, The Citizens were even far superior, 19 points from Manchester United in second place at the end of the standings.
The following season Man City won again, but only 1 point difference with Liverpool. That’s because in the last two seasons Liverpool have experienced significant developments. In 2017/2018, Liverpool ended the season in 4th place.
They immediately raced in the 2018/2019 season and became strong competitors for Josep Guardiola’s squad. At that time, the title must be determined until the last weekend. Because the two teams only differed by one point until week 37.
In the last game Man City must travel to Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool host Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Both teams won the 2018/2019 Premier League closing match. This means that there is no change in the final standings, where Man City will win.
In the following season, 2019/2020, Liverpool, who turned to dominate. As if avenging the failure of the previous season, The Reds appeared dominant.
Jurgen Klopp’s team were completely unopposed that season. Just look at the half of the season, Liverpool’s 19 matches are impressive with 18 wins and one draw.
They are comfortable at the top of the standings with 55 points, 19 points ahead of second-placed Leicester City and 20 points from Man City in third.
Liverpool’s pace then became increasingly unstoppable. They even locked the title in Week 29 with a collection of 86 points. That number is no longer possible to be pursued by Man City with whatever happens to Liverpool in the remaining seven games.
At the end of the season, Liverpool have 99 points, while Kevin De Bryune and colleagues have only 81 points.
Not only that, Liverpool in the 2019/2020 season also became the club with the fastest league champions in the history of the Premier League. Mohamed Salah cs surpassed the achievements of Everton (1984/1985), Manchester United (1907/1908 and 2000/2001), and Man City (2017/2018).
The 2020/2021 season has entered its eighth week. Liverpool are currently in third position, while Man City are in 10th position.
Although it is undeniable that the two teams are still the favorites to win, but the map of strength this season is different from last season. Plus, the Reds are currently having a back line crisis. Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and most recently Joe Gomez had to step up on the treatment table due to injury.
At least Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Leicester City can be a threat to Liverpool and Man City.
Tottenham under the control of Jose Mourinho looks promising enough to tackle the championship favorite team. In fact, it is not impossible that The Lillywhites can be brought in as one of the favorite teams to win if you see Mourinho’s quality.
The experience of The Special One shows this. With Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, Mourinho can always be a champion.
Mourinho has the ability to manage the squad and is not hypocritical about playing pragmatically on the pitch in search of victory. That is what he began to show with Tottenham.
This season, Tottenham have brought in a number of players to add strength. For example Gareth Bale and Sergio Reguilon were brought in from Madrid. But overall, old faces still adorn such as Harry Kane, Son Heung Min, Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela, Moussa Sissoko, Serge Aurier, Eric Dier to Hugo Lloris.
The results were good. Although they lost the first match to Everton 0-1, they went on with five wins and two draws in the next seven matches. Even a team like Man United they destroyed 1-6 at Old Trafford.
They are currently ranked second with 17 points. Meanwhile, Son and Kane were the top scorers with 8 and 7 goals.
Leicester is the same. Brendan Rodgers’ team since last season has shown a dark horse for The Big Six. Last season they finished fifth and qualified for the Europa League.
The Foxes did not bring in many new players. Their squad is also still inhabited by old names such as Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, to Jamie Vardy.
But Rodgers was able to make his team play with the balance and depth of the squad. The interlines are equally well made.
So far Leicester, who lead the standings, have lost twice. But they have won six matches. They also beat the strong team Man City 5-2.
Then Chelsea. Was doubtful at the start of the season, but Frank Lampard is slowly starting to show his quality. By spending a lot of money, Lampard brought in Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva, and Eduardo Mendy.
Lampard began to be able to formulate the squad that was deployed in each match. The Blues’ back line has also improved recently, especially after Lampard decided to shift Kepa Arrizabalaga from the position of main goalkeeper and replaced by Mendy.
Chelsea in the last few matches have also started to stabilize, although their last two opponents were teams such as Burnley and Sheffield United. At least Chelsea is getting better in the organization of the game in every game.
The two previous occupants of The Big Six, namely Man Utd and Arsenal, were the opposite. They are likely to find it difficult to enter into the title hunting competition.
Arsenal for example, instead of targeting the league champions, fighting to finish in the top five to qualify for European competition will be very tough.
Meanwhile, Man Utd is the same. Those who are now not far from the relegation zone also feel that they will work very hard to qualify for European competition rather than targeting champions at the end of the season.
The stagnation of the two teams at the beginning of the Premier League could not be separated from the coach. Mikel Arteta doesn’t have the quality to formulate strategies for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cs.
Arteta looks like he is confused about creating a responsible midfield and balancing the squad. Their back line was not very solid, but their attack was also stuck. The loss of the creativity factor caused Arsenal to stutter.
Mesut Ozil’s true creativity. However, the German player of Turkish descent is now frozen by Arteta for no apparent reason.
Meanwhile, Man Utd was even more devastated. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks totally unable to implement the right strategy. Solskjaer can be convincing in their attack, but not in the midfield and back.
In particular, Man Utd’s defense this season is in shambles. The defense commanded by Harry Maguire also looks so weak, especially when facing a counterattack.
When facing Istanbul Basaksehir, a clear example of how the Red Devils’ back line is very soft.
The absence of a general behind like the Rio Ferdinand era made Man Utd’s defense hollow. Solskjaer needs to focus on their defense.
