The 2021-22 English Premier League season is really hotting up and it’s well worth taking a look at the variables and permutations ahead of the new year. At the time of writing, Manchester City continued to be on track for another title. Having won three of the last four seasons, a fourth title looks very possible amid a run that only Liverpool managed to punctuate.
City have had a solid campaign despite the arguably indifferent form of Jack Grealish, who will be the first to admit he has not scored as many goals he would have liked to by this stage of the season. That said, manager Pep Guardiola is pretty confident that this should change in due course.
“One day he’ll unlock, he’ll score,” said Guardiola.
“Jack is a player whose decision making is always really good. In the final third he needs to do it but it will come. For strikers, when you play with 10 players, nine players in the box it’s so difficult.
“That’s why when one team doesn’t want to play and it’s just long balls and they don’t press, it’s just shoot and cross, passive movements, always it’s so difficult.”
Whether Grealish manages to climb up there and be among the season’s highest goal-scorers remains to be seen. A solid goal in a recent seven-nil Prem win over Leeds United will certainly help. But it’s the following players, though, that have topped the English Premier League fixtures, results and records so far.
Mohamed Salah has already hit double figures and continue to be a major force to be reckoned with for Liverpool. Just below him are Jamie Vardy, Diogo Jota, Emmanuel Dennis, Cristiano Ronaldo and the like. For Man City, it’s Bernado Silva bringing the goods on a consistent enough basis. It’d be handy for City fans if Grealish joins Silva soon enough in those goal-scoring exploits.
While Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, West Ham United, Manchester United and Arsenal are among the genuine title contenders this season, it’s worth looking at the other end of the standings, too, and into the relegation zone.
Norwich City, Newcastle and Burnley are trying hard not to get relegated to the Championship. Watford, Southampton and Leeds United are doing the same, but are not in as much danger as Norwich, Newcastle and Burnley.
In the middle of the table, there are handful of teams whose trajectory could go either way – up or down. They are, in no particular order, Brentford, Brighton and Crystal Palace. Brentford, of course, are newly promoted and their mid-table meandering is perhaps excusable.
“There are maybe eight clubs who are very difficult to compete against and then there’s 12 clubs where the difference is not that big,” said Brentford head coach Thomas Frank recently.
“We have seen in recent years that a couple of teams have done well after they got promoted. Hopefully we are one of them that can continue doing that.
“The difference between the top six in the Championship and the bottom ten in the premier league is not that big. Over the season it can escalate to a lot of points but over one game, the difference is very, very small. That is why everyone can compete.”