Premier League: Mid-Season Review

Welcome to the final instalment of our mid-season mini reviews. We move onto the centre piece. The pinnacle. The Premier League.

We can’t help but start at the very top and commend Arsenal on a great start to the season. The genius signing of Mesut Ozil has made the Gunners tick but you can’t help but feel that they need a quality striker if they are going to fend off free-scoring Manchester City, who will be looking to break the thousand goal barrier by the end of the season and Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea who have shown that not having a goalscoring striker will hinder your chances of winning the league. Oh, hang on…

Liverpool are slowly improving under Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers and have a real chance of finishing in the top four but face tough opposition from Merseyside rivals Everton. Martinez, who has real drive, determination and more importantly, a long term plan, sold himself by saying he’d get The Toffees in to the top four. If Romelu Lukaku can find his early season form, who would bet against it? We wouldn’t. Spurs are improving under Tim Sherwood with four wins on the trot and you suspect that those 6 will battle it out for the top four.

Cardiff City prop up the Premier League after 22 games with barmy man Vincent Tan appointing Ole-Gunnar Solksjaer in a bid to revive the Welsh clubs fortunes. The other Welsh side are also struggling with Swansea City only 3 points off the bottom in 15th place. The Europa League seems to be catching up with them and with the club still involved in the competition, you have to worry about their Premier League place.

Capital One Cup finalists Sunderland are in 19th but appear to be slowly improving and Poyet may just drag them out of trouble but it’s another story for West Ham United who are struggling for performances, consistency and results. The Hammers will be desperate for Andy Carroll’s return to first-team action to coincide with an upturn in form. Fulham’s change of manager seems to have done little stop the rot and they now seem set on unsettling a player in every one of their relegation rivals’ squad instead. Crystal Palace have a weak (but massive) squad but Tony Pulis has never been relegated as a manager and will be hoping to maintain that record and keep The Eagles up.

There are only 6 points between 10th and 20th in a The Premier League so far, with every side having played 22 games. Aston Villa sit top of that group with 24 points as their young side look more capable of reaching their potential this season. Hull City (yes, City) have a very solid home record but need to pick up more points away to avoid slipping into the relegation places whereas Stoke City, Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion languish in mid-table and will be pining for a run of 3 or 4 straight victories to pull them away from danger.

The mid-table sides with little chance of upsetting the applecart are Southampton and Newcastle United. We would love to rule Manchester United out, but we can’t, can we? They’re really struggling although the signing of Mata and return of van Persie and Rooney should result in more consistency and points.

So. Champions? If Arsenal sign a striker, them. If they don’t, Man City. Top four will be Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton.

Going down we reckon are Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Who do you think will win the league? Are any of the bottom 10 safe from the drop? Get involved and let us know!

The Couch Pundit team.