The shockers this season; Chelsea, Leeds, Everton and Leicester
The premier league is hands down the most entertaining league in the world. In terms of the competition, the fight for the title and champions league places is as hardly contested as the fight to avoid relegation. In terms of investment, the money that these clubs spend and make is insane!
Fulham, Bournemouth won automatic promotion, while Nottingham Forest won the playoff final to make it to the premier league for the 2022-23 season.
Although they just got promoted, at the start of the season, some of us might have thought that Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham would be in the relegation battle with Southampton but to our surprise, they are all safe. Nottingham Forest defeated the team in the premier League title race Arsenal and secured their spot in their premier league next season.
Everton and Leicester were solid mid table teams and at some point were teams that finished in the top half of the table. Those days when Leicester won the premier league in their fairytale season in 2015-16 are long gone! Brendan Rodgers is considered as a good manager in England but he struggled this season with what I thought was a decent Leicester team. The lack of investment or poor management can lead to bad results. In some strange cases, even over investment can lead to shockers. Look at Chelsea for an example. They were premier league champions and European champions with one of the best midfielders in the world, Ngolo Kante playing for their side. They had a great system too. Too little or too many tweaks, can break the whole system. With the new owners, eventhough they had an established english manager, they have struggled. The old saying makes sense now; too many cooks spoil the broth! Chelsea lost so many games back to back, it was one of the worst runs we have seen!
Leeds are one of the teams that were interesting to watch under Bielsa with their aggressive high pressing brand of football! But the premier league has changed a lot. Other teams have improved, invested and looks like these teams have struggled to adapt and maintain the same levels as previous years. They still have some good players with the likes of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson but even they sold their best winger Raphinha to Barcelona.
Everton achieved a lot of success under the likes of David Moyes. They had some good managers like Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez and are an established premier league side for more than a decade. The last season and this season though the situation has worsened drastically due to poor management and bad signings. They also sold Richarlison one of their best players.
Southampton are going down and it looks like two of these three teams Leeds, Leicester and Everton will go down this season. Leicester City have one game in hand having played only 36 games this season as opposed to 37 games played by all the other teams and are on 30 points. Leeds are on 31 points with 37 games played. The Toffees are on slightly better grounds with a few more points on the board at 33 with 37 games played. This one is going to be decided in the last gameweek!
Meanwhile, we will witness Sheffield and Burnley next year. They are the two clubs that earned promotion and the third team would be either be Luton Town or Coventry City.
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