How Does the Premier League Look Like After the First 18 weeks?
Eighteen weeks have passed since the 2021/2022 season of the Premier League started and there have been quite a few developments that are worth pointing.
The Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea are currently leading the scoreboard while the popular Manchester United is surprisingly standing at the 6th position.
The City is surpassing the Anfield’s home team by two wins even though it has scored 6 less goals than its closest rival. At just 3 points of distance from the leader, Liverpool needs to keep winning and hoping that the City somehow loses its way at some point down the road.
What is happening on the benches?
On 21 November, the senior management of the Manchester United Football Club decided to let go of its former coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following the team’s latest losing streak including a 4-1 against the Watford, a 2-0 against the Manchester City, and a 5-0 against the Liverpool.
Such an abrupt change in the team’s leadership is making fans hesitant about what could happen next. However, these kinds of changes haven’t been necessarily bad in other instances. For example, Chelsea’s decision to bring Thomas Tuchel to its ranks after he was sacked by the PSG in December has turned out to be a great call as reflected by the team’s positive track record since the coach took the helm.
Even though the weight of these latest defeats typically falls on the shoulders of the team’s coach, the United’s goalkeeper David de Gea took some of the blame for what has happened lately as he recognized that it is often easier to blame the coaches instead of the players.
Rumors have been circulating about who will be taking the lead of the United after Solskjaer’s departure. Some media outlets have cited Zinedine Zidane and Mauricio Pochettino as potential picks but nothing has been confirmed yet. For now, the management has appointed Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the season ends.
Season 2021/2022: Some statistics and surprises
The West Ham United is considered the up-and-coming team of this season as they managed to steal three points out of the Liverpool on 7 November. This victory allowed the team to climb to 4th place but a subsequent defeat against the Manchester City ended up pushing the team to 5th place.
These results are coming after the team decisively invested as much as EUR 249 million in the past three seasons to add key pieces to its line up including Kurt Zouma, Saïd Benrahma, Nikola Vlašić, and Jarrod Bowen.
Thus far in the Premier League, Mohamed Salah leads the scoring board with a total of 13 goals followed by Jamie Vardy from the Leicester City who has scored 9 goals during the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo accumulates 6 goals during the 11 matches he started playing with The Red Devils.
How To Bet on the Premier League?
Betting on football can be quite entertaining and the Premier League is one of the best tournaments for this activity as there are many strong teams and many matches tend to defy the odds due to this strength.
Those who are just getting started in football betting should know that finding the best online sports betting sites in the UK is not an easy task to do. This is something that should be taken seriously. There are also various recommendations that could help you enjoy this activity to its fullest.
First, it is often a great idea to diversify your bets. Even though you may be a die-hard fan of one team, putting all your eggs in a single basket is typically a bad idea.
If you have been following the league for a while, you probably know the strengths and weaknesses of other teams aside from the one you follow and that could help you in placing informed bets about those other teams – whether you think they will win or lose.
Meanwhile, it is also a good idea to keep an eye on any updates concerning the team including unexpected player absences, abrupt changes in the leadership, and strategic shifts. These situations can tip the balance either toward the team or its rival depending on the nature and expected impact of the situation.
Interesting facts about the Premier League
Something that fans may not know about the Premier League is that this competition is considered one of the oldest in the world having started in 1992 but dating back to 1888 when it had another name.
The Manchester United is the team that has won the most titles (shocking!) but in this season it is struggling to remain at the top even though it has incorporated top players into its roster including CR7 who was brought back to the club only months ago.
On the other hand, this season is only a few steps away from being the one that has seen the most coaches fired. So far the record was established during the 2017-2018 season when a total of ten coaches were ousted from their respective teams.
The first to be sacked this year was Xisco Muñoz, the former coach of the Watford, after less than 10 months at the helm. Meanwhile, the new owners of the Newcastle United – the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia – came in fast and hard at the team’s former coach Steve Bruce who was immediately deposed after the Middle East investment fund took over the team.
There is a lot of questioning about this latest wave of firings in the Premier League. One thing is sure, some teams will suffer while others will emerge stronger and there will surely be surprises resulting from these decisions in the not-so-distant future.
