Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 14
Liverpool FC
Credit: Klook
Matchweek 14:
Newcastle 2-2 Man City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton 2-1 Watford
Norwich 2-2 Arsenal
Wolves 1-1 Sheff United
Leicester 2-1 Everton
Man United 2-2 Aston Villa
Only The Start Of December And The Title Race Is Over
Liverpool are an absolute wagon. Through 14 games they have 13 wins and just a single draw. They have 40 out of a possible 42 points to start the season. Meanwhile their main challenger for the title sit in third place in the league with 29 points. Manchester City picked up another disappointing result this weekend with their draw against Newcastle United and they now have 9 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses through 14 games. In most other seasons, City would still be very much in the title race but I’m willing to go ahead and call it. Liverpool are off to an incredible start and this has just continued over from last season. Liverpool are now 26-5-1 in the 2019 calendar year in the Premier League. Funny enough, that 1 loss was in their very first game of 2019 against Manchester City. Now I would be surprised if Liverpool finished out the 2019 year with only 1 loss in the Premier League as we are about to start the 2 games a week December schedule, but regardless of if they pick up a loss or two, this title race is over. Manchester City just don’t have it this season.
And I don’t want people to think that I’m glossing over Leicester City sitting in 2nd place. What they have done so far has been incredible. But they’re likely overachieving at this point and they are still 8 points down to Liverpool. Still rooting for Leicester to finish top 4 and get a Champions League spot, as long as it doesn’t cost Chelsea one.
Other Notes:
For the second week in a row, a London manager is canned. Arsenal finally parted ways with Unai Emery on Friday after they picked up another loss, this time in their Europa League campaign. For the time being, Freddie Ljungberg, has been appointed caretaker of the club. In their first game under Ljungberg, things didn’t get much better for Arsenal fans as they tied against 19th place Norwich City, 2-2. Scoring isn’t really the issue with this club, it’s the defense. And that is what Ljungberg, for however long he stays in charge, or whoever is appointed manager is going to have to fix.
Mourinho and his Tottenham Hotspurs have picked up another 3-2 win, this time over Bournemouth. Just like last week, Tottenham jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but gave up 2 late goals to make the scoreline a lot closer than it should have been. This is definitely something Mourinho is going to need to fix. Mourinho gets his first look at stiff competition this Wednesday against Manchester United.
Here’s an interesting tidbit that reflects just how competitive the middle part of the table has been. 7th place is separated from 17th by just 5 points. Sheffield United currently sit in 7th place with 19 points and Everton sit in 17th place with 14 points.
Watford fire their second manager of the season, this time it’s Quique Sanchez Flores who lasted just 85 days as manager. I talked about how stupid of a hiring this was when it happened. They got rid of Javi Garcia, who actually had a decent run with the team for a guy who wasn’t that great his first time around at Watford and was even worst this time around. Flores got just 1 win in his 10 games in charge this season. Now Watford find themselves in search of a third manager while sitting dead last in the league with just 8 points.
Mid-week Premier League games start this week.
Thanny