With the entrance into a new year, the English Premier League proves its worth as a top source of entertainment for soccer fans worldwide. Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town stand under the relegation line, highlighting the cruel nature of the league. With Ipswich managing to pull off a shocking win against Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester scraping a point away from Crystal Palace and Southampton beating Everton, the league’s top-flight teams proved difficult for the newly promoted club, with doom currently brewing in their future.
Climbing further up on the league ladder, Manchester United stands 13th, currently in abysmal form from what fans expected. Following the dismissal of Erik Ten Hag, the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe began the search for a replacement, and found Portuguese Primeira Liga coach Ruben Amorim. Coming off of a league title with Sporting Lisbon, Amorim left his mark on Portuguese football. Including his aggressive, forward press and four-three-three formation, Amorim’s ability to develop and retool players into top-tier players, such as Swedish national and top goalscorer Viktor Gyökeres, who turned his season around with a move from second-tier club Coventry to Sporting, becoming the centerpiece of the attack and garnering attention from clubs worldwide.
“I can’t believe it’s another struggle of a season. I don’t think we’ve been this bad through my 16 years of supporting this club. We have a lackluster attack backed by a woesome defense. Giving our young players time to play will change the trajectory of our team and potentially a whole new philosophy will enable us to reform and enter a new era at Old Trafford. But God so help my team for I know we need it,” Kell High School junior PJ Samu said.
While his tenure at Manchester began rather rocky, dropping points to Ipswich Town November 24, 2024, Amorim showed United’s capability with a 4-0 win over Everton. Despite the powerful showing, things quickly came downhill for United, losing 2-0 to Arsenal with only five shots on target in comparison to Arsenal’s 14. Currently, United remains on a seven-game losing streak, with whispers of relegation loudening in the background of an inexorably negative season.
Cracking into the top five, Chelsea F.C. remains in strong contention despite manager Enzo Maresca’s continued assurances that they can not contend. Ending the 2022-2023 season, Chelsea fans felt demoralized with a 12th-place finish in comparison to the exorbitant spending by owner Todd Boehly. The club chose to tear down a majority of its core, with numerous players such as Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz from their Champions League winning lineup finding new clubs. With the profit gained from the transfers, Chelsea acquired Cole Palmer from Manchester City, an academy player only known for scoring in the Football Association (FA) community shield final against Arsenal, garnering some criticism for the price of €47 million plus add-ons.
Hoping to bounce back with a shorter schedule for the 2023-2024 season, Chelsea began its climb back to the top half of the table, securing sixth place and a spot in the United European Football Association (UEFA) Europa Conference League. Almost as surprising as Chelsea’s comeback, Cole Palmer broke into form and set his name as a world-class player, posting 22 goals and 11 assists, winning the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Young Player of the Season. With the core roster beginning to materialize and the club flying through the conference league, Chelsea holds a steady pace, hoping to build off the successes brought by its young players.
“Since last season they have improved a lot on the depth, even coming down to the third option players, everyone can make an impact on the field. The chemistry has improved too, the players work together to get wins against good clubs. They just need to improve on the consistency, that’s what sets them apart from the contending clubs. But besides that, I think Chelsea can get a lot out of this season if Cole Palmer remains at the level he plays, it’s always amazing watching what he does on the field” junior Nathan Martinez said.
Standing at third behind Arsenal by goal difference, Nottingham Forest stormed into the top four in surprising fashion, defeating Liverpool and Champions League top table club Aston Villa. In the 2023-2024 season, Forest scraped away from relegation by only one position, finishing 17th in the league and with many pundits placing them in the relegation bracket for the following season. To worsen conditions for the club, they lost four points due to a violation of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, almost dropping the club down to the championship. Rather than accepting the hand dealt by the league and its rules, Forest chose to keep marching on, pulling off a win over successive wins against several sides.
With the last six consecutive wins, striker Chris Wood maintains his superb scoring form, scoring in three out of the last four matches and standing alongside other world-class players such as Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland in the top ten for goalscorers in the league. With the current form and pace Forest keep, whispers grow over the likeliness of Nottingham Forest completing a Cinderella story the likes of Leicester City in 2016 and winning the league title despite all odds.
Standing at the top, Liverpool holds a si- point lead ahead of second-place Arsenal, finally heading towards a title for the first time in five years. Beginning the season, Liverpool needed to say goodbye to Champions League-winning manager Jurgen Klopp, a heartbreaking moment for players and fans alike. In his place, former Feyenoord manager Arne Slot would take the reins, hoping to build off of the Champions League spot and Carabao Cup which Klopp left for the squad in his final season. Immediately, Klopp’s management tactics proved troubling for the league, as well as internationally with dominating wins over Manchester City, Real Madrid and Aston Villa.
Differing from Klopp’s Gegenpressing style, Slot utilizes a 4-2-3-1 lineup, intending to isolate players one-on-one with defenders. A key factor in developing these situations, Mohamed Salah leads the league in goals and assists, either committing the progressive pass to begin the situation or finding himself in the spot to break past his defenders and take a shot. While the odds of finishing under first remain, Liverpool holds a lead only meant for champions.
With a table nearly completely flipped upside its head and numerous upsets pulled off only in the first half of the season, the league keeps fans on their toes. The title race proves to hold a clear favorite, but there remain countless ifs on the likely champion, Liverpool’s lead may maintain or Arsenal could break their title drought and finally hoist the trophy once again, or perhaps City can come back into form and secure the title in the dying moments. The randomness of the Premier League remains what pulls fans in yearly, showing its favor to certain clubs, while striking other clubs out of the sky and spoiling their hopes for the season.
