How Will This Crazy Season End?

This football year is the strangest I have known since I have been following the Premier League.

Leicester City have gone from relegation battlers to top of the league with Chelsea seemingly doing the opposite. Anyone can truly beat anyone, apart from Aston Villa of course. They do not like wins.

This weekend epitomised the craziness of the season so far as newly promoted Bournemouth beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Stoke City beat apparent champions elect Manchester City with complete ease and high flying Liverpool lost out to a Newcastle United side that could not buy a win previously.

Odd results are expected from time to time and do happen of course, but you literally cannot predict anything at the moment. Coupon busters are becoming the norm.

With all of this, people are already discussing what they think is going to happen in the final few weeks of the season so I am going to try and predict, going on what has happened so far, how the Premier League table will look come the end of the season. I will no doubt be wrong and you should feel free to tweet me telling me how stupid I am! However remember, some crazy Leicester City fan may well have been laughed at for telling his friends they might do more than fight at the bottom this season!

For the title, it is tough to look past Manchester City for me, they have had their blips but they have recovered well on the back of them. The current table toppers you ask? Well, as much as Leicester fans will want to keep dreaming, they will unfortunately have a drop off at some point.

However, that does not mean they will not have some fight in them to keep up with the best of them. Vardy’s goals alone should he continue in the same vain will possibly help them to a place in the Champions League, I hope! It would be so refreshing to see a non-traditional side take part in that competition representing England, so I will stick them down for fourth.

Making up the top four will probably be Arsenal and Manchester United, meaning Liverpool missing out. Klopp will have them competing but as we saw against the Magpies on Sunday, take away the vital cogs of that team and they sometimes do not click. Over a good period of three or four years though, the title could be their’s under their new German Head Coach.

Spurs are my tip for sixth. The nearly men of the top flight.

Beneath the teams mentioned I feel the quality is a much of a muchness (Chelsea not included, but they have so much ground to make up). There are those teams who have shone a bit brighter than others so far, but then there are teams who could well shine in the remaining twenty-three games.

The battle for the drop is already much discussed. As we approach May I predict we will see four teams battling to avoid being in those two relegation spots. Yes, two. Aston Villa are certainties for me and every other sane football fan, so we will assume they will be long gone come May.

Bournemouth and Newcastle are the teams who will drop into the Championship, with Norwich City and Swansea City escaping the trap door. The latter under no doubt another new manager once the inevitable sacking of Monk occurs. Sunderland will be clear under the stewardship of Big Sam, and another success story for grinding out wins by being solid.

Here is my full predicted table:

1. MANCHESTER CITY
2. ARSENAL
3. MANCHESTER UNITED
4. LEICESTER CITY
5. LIVERPOOL
6. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
7. EVERTON
8. CHELSEA
9. WEST HAM UNITED
10. CRYSTAL PALACE
11. SOUTHAMPTON
12. STOKE CITY
13. WEST BROMWICH ALBION
14. WATFORD
15. SUNDERLAND
16. NORWICH CITY
17. SWANSEA CITY
18. NEWCASTLE UNITED
19. BOURNEMOUTH
20. ASTON VILLA

What do you think? Am I talking rubbish? Can Leicester really last the pace? Can Villa miraculously pull of an escape?

Tweet me at @TheWatts22.

Here are the statistics from the past weekend:

Stoke City 2 Manchester City 0 – Stoke have a very good record against the Citizens losing just once of their eight home Premier League clashes against them (winning two, drawing five).

Arsenal 3 Sunderland 1 – The Gunners scored yet another own goal in this encounter, this time Giroud was the culprit. Arsenal have managed three in just fifteen top flight games so far this season.

Manchester United 0 West Ham United 0 – The Red Devils have now failed to score in four of their last eight top flight games.

Southampton 1 Aston Villa 1 – Congratulations to Aston Villa as they reach six points. Southampton are yet to lose to a team currently below them in the league this season.

Swansea City 0 Leicester City 3 – Riyad Mahrez scored three times for the Foxes in this one, and in doing so became the first Algerian to do so in the Premier League. He’s not doubt a hero back home!

Watford 2 Norwich City 0 – Troy Deeney has scored in four consecutive games for the Hornets including the all important opening goal from the spot in this one.

West Bromwich Albion 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1 – The Baggies have not managed to achieve more than 40% possession in their last four games, they have however still taken five points from those fixtures.

Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1 – The winner in this game from former Palace favourite Glenn Murray, was the clubs eighteenth of the Premier League season. Chelsea have scored one less than that!

Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 0 – This result came as a bit of a shock considering the form of the Reds. Newcastle still have a lot of work to do though, they have conceded exactly two goals a game on average this season.

Everton 1 Crystal Palace 1 – The Eagles have not been involved in many draws this season, this was just their second. Palace are now up to sixth in the table.

Premier League Table