TTSK– After the 12th round, the candidates who can compete for the 2023/24 Premier League championship with Man City have gradually appeared. But will this be a three-horse race or a four-horse race?
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Chelsea 4-4 Man City: Confirmed the position (Super Sunday matchday 12)
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Wolves 2-1 Tottenham: Overcome difficulties? (EPL matchday 12)
Video Chelsea 4-4 Man City
Candidates gradually appear
Before entering the 2023/24 season, Man City was determined to be the number 1 candidate for the Premier League championship. Pep Guardiola’s team still retains most of the important pillars, and is even reinforced with many quality rookies.
Although No. 1 striker Kevin De Bruyne was injured early and had to take a long break, the Blue Man’s strength did not change much. Stars like Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish or rookie Jeremy Doku are still doing their job very well. And Man City, as usual, returned to No. 1 after only 1/3 of the season.
After the 12th round, the order of the Premier League has gradually taken shape, especially in the championship race. Man City, as mentioned, naturally occupies the number 1 candidate spot. And their title challengers are also gradually appearing.
The first opponent is Arsenal, the runner-up last season. The Gunners still maintain the same strength and form as in the 2022/23 season. They are even more dangerous when they have quality rookies, especially Declan Rice.
And Man City’s familiar competitor, Liverpool, has also returned to the race for fame. After a few inconsistent matches, the Red Brigade found stability when the chains began to operate smoothly.
In addition, there was an unexpected dark horse in the championship race. That is Tottenham with newness from new coach Ange Postecoglou. The Australian strategist has just achieved the achievement of being voted the best coach of the tournament for 3 consecutive months. And Tottenham also showed admirable performance.
Can Tottenham keep up with the game?
In terms of scores, the top team Man City is only 1 point ahead of the following two teams, Liverpool and Chelsea. The gap between them and the 4th ranked team, Tottenham, is only 2 points.
With their performance from the beginning of the season, many people think that Tottenham can compete fairly with the three powerful teams mentioned above. However, it will be difficult for the Rooster to maintain its presence in this race.
Teams with a new coach will often have a period of excitement at the beginning, which people often call the “changing generals, changing fortunes” effect. But not many teams can maintain long-term sublimation. Usually they will soon decline and return to their original situation.
And perhaps, Tottenham is no exception. Spurs had an unbeaten record in the first 10 matches of the season, in which they won 8 and drew 2. Together with Arsenal, they took turns occupying the top spot in the rankings.
But in the last two matches, Tottenham lost both. The first was a shocking 1-4 loss to Chelsea and the latest was a 1-2 loss to Wolves. It’s worth noting that Spurs were both leading teams but eventually lost because of negligence in the last minutes.
The reality is that the quality of Tottenham’s squad cannot be compared to giants like Man City, Liverpool or Arsenal. That’s why, after the first phase of the sublimation season, they will reveal their weaknesses. The pillars that have to work too hard will decline while the reserve factors are not good enough to replace them.
Tottenham is also currently facing a serious crisis in terms of strength, when many pillars such as James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison or Ivan Perisic are injured. A star who has also played very well since the beginning of the season, midfielder Cristian Romero, is also serving a suspension after the red card he received in the loss to Chelsea.
In addition, pillars such as Udogie, Bissouma, Pape Sarr and even captain Son Heung-min also began to show signs of decline. Luckily for Tottenham, they will have 2 weeks of rest to make room for the national teams to compete to regenerate energy. However, the ability of the Rooster to find its sublimation circuit again is very difficult.
Therefore, only Liverpool and Arsenal will be the real opponents that can challenge the English throne with Man City. Both of these teams have abundant forces and stable performance. Only they have the ability to overthrow the domination of the Green Man. But of course, this is not an easy task when Pep Guardiola’s army is still frighteningly stable.
Maika
