English Premiere League 2023/24

[Zzzptm]

Looking at Liverpool's schedule and results thus far, I'd agree with you. No real challenge wins in there, and some concerning draws with bottom-tier teams that should have been wins. They had a chance to show strength vs Tottenham, but got a loss there. They're about to go into a stretch where they see Arsenal 3 times, so they need to step up to that challenge to prove they can do more than beat middling or poor teams.

[Charger]

The only thing that really hits me with that is the fact that Aston Villa is in 3rd! They've usually been on the bottom end of the list....but quite often there is one weaker team that gets a good run....which usually ends before the season is done.

City seems to be on the decline this season...not surprised by that really...I think they've been getting more and more cocky over the years...time for them to get a step down.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Most teams have played 20 games now. It's the new year and the top 5 seem to be pulling away from the pack (although a good run could see the chasers close the gap.

Top 5

Pts
45 Liverpool (Still doing well, but will lose Salah for African Cup in January)
42 Aston Villa (still over performing I think)
40 Man City (They have a game in hand, but recovered a little from a recent wobble but missing De Bruyne amd Haarland)
40 Arsenal (Big slump, losing 3 of their last 5 games)
39 Spurs (on a really good run but still prone to slip ups)

We then have West Ham on 34pts, Brighton and Man Utd on 31pts. Man Utd are in the midst of a poor streak.

No change at the bottom of the table except that Luton are closer to the pack than they were.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Jurgen Klopp is stepping down as Liverpools manager at the end of the season. Possibly only second to Bob Paisley on the list of greatest Liverpool managers. It gives them time to select a suitable replacement, Steven Gerrard might be the obvious choice if he's able to.

[Zzzptm]

Saw some moaning from Liverpool fans on a sports Discord channel I'm on. They were hating on Gerrard as a replacement.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Gerrard has blotted his reputation somewhat. He did well at Rangers, started okay at Aston Villa before everything went crap and now he's sold his soul to the Saudis... but I do believe he is destined to manage Liverpool at some point.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The Premiere League finished this past weekend. In some ways it was a classic, 3 teams were in it until the last few matches when Liverpool had a blip in form, but on the last day it could have gone to Arsenal or Manchester City but Arsenal needed Man City to at best draw for them to win. They both won so Manchester City took the title for the 4th year running (yawn!).

Liverpool finished 3rd and Aston Villa rounded out the Champions League spots in 4th. Tottenham got the Europa League spot in 5th with Chelsea possibly joining them in 6th (After a ghastly first half of the season they had a really good finish).

Relegated were the 3 teams who came up last season. Sheffield Utd, Burnley and Luton, but again results on the last could have seen Luton stay up at the expense of Nottingham Forest. Sheffield Utd have the dubious honour of being the first Premiere League team to concede 100+ goals although they did manage to beat the lowest ever points total.

Replacing those 3 are Leicester and Ipswich with the 3rd place to be decided this weekend with play-offs final between Leeds and Southampton (come on Leeds!!).

On a personal note my local team Portsmouth were promoted as Champions into the 2nd tier.

The only game still to play (other than the play-iff final) is the FA Cup final this weekend between Manchester's Utd and City.

We already have managers leaving their posts: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) was announced months ago and his replacement has been announced as Arne Slot (I've never heard of him!). David Moyes (West Ham) we knew was going a few games ago. Roberto de Zerbi (Brighton) announced he was leaving this past weekend. Then today Mauricio Pochettino parted ways with Chelsea despite their good recent form. Lastly, Burnley's Vincent  Kompany has been linked (among others) with the vacant post at Bayern Munich.

[Charger]

City has had an incredible run the last few years...

Aston Villa got 4th? That's quite surprisingly well done...they haven't been that close to the top in quite some time have they?


I read about Klopp leaving some while ago indeed. Arne Slot? Who?

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

City have won 6 of the last 7 seasons! It gets boring!

Geezer will be happy with Villa's progress.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

A new Premiership Season is upon us. This being the third weekend of matches, and all teams have played 3 games....

Meet the new league, same as the old league (to plagiarise The Who)! Two teams have maximum points Manchester City and Liverpool with Arsenal, Brighton and Newcastle hot on their heels!

It's nice to see Everton and Southampton propping up the table... long may that continue!