English Premier League - Table

EPL - 2016-17

After 20 rounds Chelsea is leading by 5 points over Liverpool in English Premier League.

Rank (#)	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea	20	16	1	3	42	15	27	49
2	Liverpool	20	13	5	2	48	23	25	44
3	Tottenham Hotspur	20	12	6	2	39	14	25	42
4	Manchester City	20	13	3	4	41	22	19	42
5	Arsenal	20	12	5	3	44	22	22	41
6	Manchester United	20	11	6	3	31	19	12	39
7	Everton	20	8	6	6	28	23	5	30
8	West Bromwich Albion	20	8	5	7	28	24	4	29
9	AFC Bournemouth	20	7	4	9	29	34	-5	25
10	Southampton	20	6	6	8	19	25	-6	24
11	Stoke City	20	6	6	8	24	32	-8	24
12	Burnley	20	7	2	11	22	31	-9	23
13	West Ham United	20	6	4	10	23	35	-12	22
14	Watford	20	6	4	10	23	36	-13	22
15	Leicester City	20	5	6	9	24	31	-7	21
16	Middlesbrough	20	4	7	9	17	22	-5	19
17	Crystal Palace	20	4	4	12	30	37	-7	16
18	Sunderland	20	4	3	13	19	37	-18	15
19	Swansea City	20	4	3	13	23	45	-22	15
20	Hull City	20	3	4	13	17	44	-27	13

Top six running away

Liverpool thrashed hapless Newcastle United 5-1 to stay top of the league at the end of the year 2008. This score line could have been 10-1 easily. Say Given was outstanding under the bar and he saved at least six times in the first 30 minutes of the match. Liverpool played this match without Torres and Keane. Gerrard scored twice. Will 2009 bring back the title in Liverpool after 19 years? At the moment they are playing well but still 18 more rounds left and anything can happen.

Top six teams are creating a gap with the others. Manchester United, Arsenal, and Aston Villa all had a narrow victory over their dogged opponents. Berbatov of Manchester United scored the match winner in the 69th minute. Zayatte’s own goal in the 88th minute gave Aston Villa victory over Hull. Hull is running out of stream and this is third consecutive defeat. They are now lying in the 8th position. Gallas scored in the 81st minute to help Arsenal to overcome Portsmouth 1-0.

Everton remain in the sixth place with an easy victory over Sunderland. They won the match by 3-0 with Arteta scoring twice. Chelsea is the only team in the top six to drop points. They were held 2-2 by Fulham. Chelsea paid for their missed chances when Dempsey equalized in the 89th minute. Lampard scored twice in the second half to give Chelsea the lead after Dempsey opened the scoring for Fulham in the 10th minute.

The relegation fight is becoming close affair. Blackburn drew 2-2 with Manchester City to remain the 19th position. Robinho scored the equalizer deep in the injury time (94th minute). West Brom registered a crucial victory against Tottenham with two late goals from Bednar and Beattie. They are still lying at the bottom of the league with 18 points same as of Blackburn. Stroke went down to West Ham 2-1 after a bizarre red card of Fuller who tried to hit his own captain after West ham equalized.

In another match Wigan defeated Bolton 1-0. Zaki scored the winner from a penalty.

Next week we will have matches from the FA cup.

Liverpool mantains lead

Liverpool remains on the top of the league by defeating Bolton 3-0 at Anfield. Robbie Keane scored two goals in the second half to take his tally to 3 goals in two matches. Liverpool dominated the match and deserved to win. Chelsea played very professionally to defeat West Brom 2-0. Chelsea scored both goals in the first half. Manchester United overcame the jetlag to defeat Stoke 1-0. Tevez scored the winner in the 84th minute. But the turning of the match was sent off of Wilkinson. He needlessly fouled Ronaldo in the 72nd minute for his second yellow card. With this defeat Stroke moved into the relegation zone. It will be very difficult for them to move out of this zone.

Manchester City crushed Hull 5-1. Caicedo and Robinho scored twice. They were leading 4-0 at halftime. Manchester city have to be consistent to finish on the top. They moved out of the relegation zone. But Hull started to slip. This is their second consecutive big defeats. They now conceded 9 goals in last two matches after drawing 2-2 with Liverpool. It will not be easy for them to qualify for Europe if they do not improve.

Arsenal and Aston Villa played a thrilling 2-2 draw. Aston Villa should have won this match. They have hot the crossbar thrice in the first half. Aston Villa are now placed fourth whereas Arsenal is lying in the fifth position.

Everton moved quietly in the sixth position with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough is now lying 17th position. Tottenham who played a 0-0 draw with Fulham is in the 16th position. Middlesbrough, Tottenham, and Stroke all have 20 points. Sunderland played a 0-0 draw with Blackburn who is still in the relegation zone.

Wigan defeated Newcastle 2-1 and West Ham defeated Portsmouth 4-1 to register valuable win.

More excitement will be on Sunday. I will be more interested in the relegation zone battles.

Exciting Relegation Fight

Chelsea again missed the opportunity to go the top. They drew 0-0 with Everton. Chelsea played with 10 men for 55 minutes as their captain Terry was shown red card. Chelsea for the first time dropped points in an away match this season. Liverpool maintains their slender lead over Chelsea. They are now going for Boxing Day match as league leaders. Liverpool played 1-1 draw with Arsenal at emirates. Manchester United who won the World club championship will be most benefited team with the above results. They are now 7 points behind the leader Liverpool with 2 matches in hand.

The most intriguing fight this year will be the relegation fight. It is very difficult to say who will go down at this stage. Hull who is in the sixth position with 27 points is just 9 points away from the relegation zone. West Bromwich Albion is at the bottom with 15 points 1 point behind Blackburn Rovers. The two rounds in the Christmas time will determine who is going to down. Manchester City with 18 points is the third team in the danger zone. But I believe they will come out of this. Stroke who is lying fifteenth with 20 points will be the team most likely to be in the danger zone.

Will Liverpool able to maintain the lead in the half way stage or not we have to wait and see.

Fustration for Liverpool

Frustration continues for Liverpool. Liverpool fans booed their team off the ground. I can understand their disappointment. This is their team second successive 0-0 draw. Against Fulham and West Ham they are supposed to win at home if they want to win the Premier League after 20 years. Torres is out so it is tough time for Liverpool ahead. They must win against Blackburn to regain their confidence. They started the season with a bang. Suddenly, their fighting spirit is seems vanishing. They are missing Torres very much. Keane I am not sure whether he alone can make a team champion. Liverpool needs to pull their socks up quickly to regain their confidence otherwise we may see another triumph by Chelsea or Manchester United.

Scolari are u there? What happened to your team? Just 1 point in their last two home matches. But still they have the ammunition to hold on their current position. Manchester United is coming strong now. They are just 6 points behind Liverpool with 1 match ion hand. Arsenal bumpy performance continues. But their win over Chelsea will do lot of good to their confidence. They have beaten Manchester United earlier. The young Arsenal guys have to show consistency if they want to end their trophy drought.

I can see the frustration of Robinho in Manchester City. He should have thought that before joining them. I am not sure how long he will survive their. He has to understand that money always do not bring success. Will Kaka join him? I have a doubt…

Arsenal and Tottenham brought down to earth

Tottenham’s golden run under Redknapp was ended by Fulham. They lost the match by 1-2. It all started with an awful error by Heurelho Gomes. He is very inconsistent. If he makes ten saves then he makes two awful mistakes. Though Tottenham played badly compared to their earlier matches under Redknapp and slipped back to relegation zone but it is temporary, they will finish between 8-12th place.

Arsenal is so unpredictable this season. They played superbly against Manchester United in the previous week to win 2-1 but played just the opposite against Villa this week. Villa won 2-0 though they missed a penalty. Aston Villa is lying in the fifth position with 23 points same as Arsenal who slipped to fourth position.

Manchester United thrashed Stroke City 5-0 to move in the third place with 24 points and one match in hand. Stroke defended awfully to gift goals to Manchester United. Ronaldo scored two goals both from free kicks. Chelsea and Liverpool played clinically to remain on the top. Chelsea and Liverpool defeated West Brom by 3-0 and Bolton by 2-0 respectively. Anelka scored twice and he has scored seven goals in last four premier league matches. Kuyt and Gerrard scored goals from header.

Newcastle missed a golden opportunity to win against 10 men Wigan. Bramble scored a dramatic equalizer in the last minute to deny victory to Newcastle. The match ended in 2-2 draw. Cisse scored the winner for Sunderland against Blackburn. Sunderland won 2-1. With this loss Blackburn moved into the relegation zone. Paul Ince now will be under tremendous pressure to give results. West Ham played a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth.

In Spain Valencia was surprised Sporting Gijon and Real Madrid was surprised by Valladolid. Sporting Gijon won the match by 3-2. Luis Moran, Barral and Diego Castro scored for Sporting Gijon whereas Villa and Mata scored for Valencia. Canobbio scored the winner for Valladolid. These results will help Barcelona and Villarreal who will play today.

In Italy Inter Milan defeated Palermo 2-0 to remain in the top.

Newcastle and Tottenham fighting back

Tottenham continued their fight back to save relegation. They brilliantly came back to score two goals in the dying minutes to draw 4-4 with Arsenal. Like Spurs, Newcastle also fighting back. They defeated West Brom 2-0 to move out of relegation zone. Stroke City also moved out of danger zone with 1-0 win over Sunderland. Wigan and Bolton moved into the danger zone. Wigan lost to Fulham 0-2 and Bolton lost to 0-1 to Everton. This year the relegation fight will be very interesting but I believe Spurs and Newcastle will be out of it. Stroke, Fulham, West Brom, Wigan and Bolton will fight for the relegation.

On the top except Arsenal, other top clubs won their match. Chelsea and Manchester United scored facile victories against Hull and West Ham. Hull was clueless against Chelsea, who put their defeat against Liverpool behind to win comfortable 3-0. Manchester gave another professional display to win 2-0 against West Ham. Ronaldo scored both the goals.

Liverpool maintain their lead on the top after their hard fought victory against Portsmouth. Gerrard scored from a penalty in the 74th minute. Aston Villa moved to fourth position with 3-2 victory over Blackburn. In another match Middlesbrough defeated Manchester city 2-0.

This weekend the interesting ties will be Tottenhum vs Liverpool, Newcastle vs Aston Villa, Manchester United vs Hull, and Bolton vs Manchester City.

Will Liverpool Succeed?

Liverpool is new identity this year. After long long time they are showing that they are real challengers for the EPL title. They are coming back again and again. Against Wigan they came back twice to win 3-2 but against Chelsea they showed their real quality. They didn’t allow Chelsea freedom to move. Chelsea had no clue on how to break the defensive wall of Liverpool. They meekly surrendered their 86 match unbeaten run at home over four years and eight months. Liverpool, after their win against Manchester United and Chelsea, has to be taken seriously for the title. Liverpool the only unbeaten team in the EPL, are leading by three points over Chelsea and surprised team Hull.

Manchester United also dropped two more points against Everton. They are lying in the sixth place currently but they are still a strong contender for the title. Arsenal has defeated West Ham 2-0 and Everton 3-1 to be back on the track. They have to consistent when they face the big three.

Aston villa and made a strong start. They defeated Wigan 4-0 to lie in the fifth position. But the most surprise package is Hull. They won against West Brom 3-0 and West Ham 1-0 to lie in the 3rd position. Hull is making lot of noise but can they keep this tempo up. Manchester city is becoming more and more dependent on Robinho. They have to play more as a team to make any serious impact in the game. Spurs started their revival under the new coach Rednapp. They won their first match against Bolton. But it is long way to go for them this season.

Elsewhere in Europe, AC Milan is slowly recovering. They are lying in the fourth position with 16 points and just one point behind the leaders. Udinese is the surprise leader at this stage. Barcelona is getting their awesome form back and is just one point behind the leaders. Real Madrid is in the third position having same points as Barcelona.

Liverpool: New Character

Character, Never say die, Fight to the end … these are the words that are being associated with Liverpool this season. I have seen them to come back against AC Milan in Istanbul from 0-3 deficit. But they were not consistent in previous seasons. They are showing lot of character. What a match they played against Manchester City. Down and out at half time they came back strongly at half time. They put lot of pressure on City and scored three goals to be joint leaders with Chelsea. Torres and Kyut is just outstanding. Will they win English Premier League or not that is question only time will tell?

Chelsea and Manchester United played very professional football to register comfortable win against Aston Villa and Blackburn rovers. Manchester United is lucky to get the first goal for the second successive week but they deserved to win. They are catching up the top 3 fast. Chelsea played great soccer against high flying Aston Villa and showed the difference between the top four and rest in EPL.

Arsenal is losing ground fast. They have to consistent to win laurels. But Hull is maintaining their good run. They defeated Spurs 1-0 to move to third place alone. But Spurs and Newcastle have to climb the mountain to stay in upper league.

Next we will see the next round of Fifa World Cup matches. I will come back on that later.