English Premier League Mid Season Review and Best XI
Back in August we gave you our premier league predictions for the season. With each team having played 19 games, we are exactly halfway through the season. Here's a midseason review.
So far, the top four is a bit different than predicted. With Liverpool yet to lose a game they occupy first place and are seven points above Manchester City, the preseason favorites. Not only are City not in first, they find themselves in third place after suffering two defeats in a row and earning only 1 point out of the last 9 possible. Tottenham are in second despite no investments in the summer transfer window which is a testament to Pochettino's coaching ability. Despite a 22 game unbeaten streak in all competitions, Arsenal somehow find themselves in 5th place.
As far as the newly promoted teams go, we had Cardiff finishing in the relegation zone at 19th, Fulham in 12th and Wolverhampton at 10th. Cardiff are currently one spot above the relegation zone at 17th and Wolverhampton find themselves at 11th. However, the biggest surprise are Fulham who currently find themselves at 19th despite boasting a talented squad. The issue is that Fulham are a lot worse defensively than expected, with 43 goals conceded Fulham are defensively the worst team in the league and may look to address that in the January transfer window.
The biggest surprise so far this season are Leicester and Watford who respectively find themselves 9 and 7 spots above our preseason predictions. The addition of James Madison has been perfect for Leicester while Watford distributed the wealth with eleven different goal scorers so far this season.
12 of the 20 teams are within two spots of our preseason prediction but with a long season still to go all 20 could become accurate.
Here's our Premiere League Midseason Team of The Year:
Alisson makes the team of the year despite a few goal conceding mistakes. The reality is no goal keeper in the premier league has stood out this season so Alisson earns the spot by default of conceding the least goals. The rest of the back four consists of Robertson and van Dijk of Liverpool, Laporte of Manchester City, and Pereira of Leicester City. van Dijk is arguably the player of the year so far and his inclusion was by far the easiest.
The midfielders were a complicated line up to choose. There are many players worthy of recognition but the three chosen have performed their roles the best this season. Sigurdsson is the highest scoring midfielder so far this season with more goals than the likes of Firmino and Dele Alli. Bernado Silva has been the most consistent midfielder for Manchester City this season with 5 goals and 4 assists to go along with a host of impressive performances. The last of the three midfielders is the man some consider to be the best signing of the premier league season so far, Lucas Torreira has been nothing short of sensational for Arsenal so far this season.
There were many attacking options to consider for the season. The most obvious inclusion is Aubameyang, the top scorer in the league gets an automatic spot. Mohamed Salah and Eden Hazard are the only two players to rank in the top 5 in both goals and assists and as a result earn a spot in the starting eleven.
Starting eleven and midseason positions aside, the first half of the season as been incredible and if the rest of the season is anything like the first half then we are in for a tight race.
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