With the Premier League season past its halfway point, Thomas Woods makes some bold predictions as to what is to come in the second half of the campaign. And by bold, he means he is sticking his neck on the line a little with some of them.
Liverpool to win the league
Jurgen Klopp’s team are only five points behind leaders Chelsea, but they are the highest scoring side, the most exciting team to watch and have perhaps the best player in the division — Philippe Coutinho.
There are three reasons why Liverpool will fend off Chelsea and others to win their first title since 1990.
Firstly, the fixtures fall nicely for them. Due to the redevelopment of Anfield earlier in the season, Liverpool played more away games. In the current 10-game stretch, they face all of their title rivals and only one of them away from home.
It started on New Year’s Eve, when Manchester City visited Anfield. Liverpool won 1-0.
Read more:
■ Diego Forlan column: Jose Mourinho in process of returning Manchester United to good old days
■ Christmas period talking points: Chelsea defeat keeps title race alive, top six show gulf in class
■ Greg Lea: Mistakes cost Chelsea as Tottenham halt Premier League leaders' 13-match winning run
Coming up, they host Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur with a trip to Manchester United their only away trip.
Secondly, Coutinho should return to the side after the break for FA Cup matches and he is the player who takes Liverpool to another level.
As with Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal, Eden Hazard at Chelsea and Sergio Aguero at City, Coutinho’s presence in the team turns Liverpool from a very good side into an excellent one.
Finally, Liverpool have the resources the cope with absences, such as the loss of Sadio Mane to the African Cup of Nations for up to a month.
There are of course reasons for concern. Klopp needs his defence to perform to the level of the last few weeks and not how they started the season, he needs Coutinho to remain fit and he has to hope Simon Mignolet can keep it together between the posts.
Manchester United to finish top three
A winning run can do a lot for a team’s confidence and it gives your rivals little room for error.
Just look at Chelsea’s 13-game sequence. Their rivals have not played particularly badly, but they find themselves at least five points behind Antonio Conte’s team.
United are on a six-game winning run and, if they can get something when Liverpool visit on January 15, they have a comfortable fixture list until the end of February — Hull City (home), Leciester City (away), Watford (home) — before a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face rivals Manchester City.
Confidence grows with every win and Jose Mourinho is already starting to stamp his mark on his side.
He seems to have found a fairly consistent starting XI, signings Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Mkhitaryan are starting to hit their stride and United have the deepest squad in the league.
The fact that the likes of Anthony Martial and Juan Mata are not regulars speaks volumes but also shows that United can absorb a few injuries and still put out a competitive side.
Leicester City to be relegated
Claudio Ranieri’s side are six points clear of the bottom three and this prediction relies on one of Sunderland or Swansea City showing some fight and picking up wins.
However, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are performing nowhere near last season’s standards and the impregnable defence upon which their title success was built has become too easily breached.
They are now losing Mahrez and record signing Islam Slimani to the African Cup of Nations for at least three games.
Another factor is the Uefa Champions League. Claudio Ranieri’s squad rotation because of the tournament has seen the consistency of last season disappear.
And finally, they have a rotten run of games coming up. Everton (away), Chelsea (home), Southampton (away), Burnley (away), Manchester United (home), Swansea (away), Liverpool (home).
The only match in that run where you can make a strong case for a Leicester victory is against Swansea and they could easily be in the bottom three by the end of it.
Benteke to break the 20-goal barrier
The biggest beneficiary of Sam Allardyce’s appointment as Crystal Palace manager will be the big Belgian striker, who already has eight goals.
Allardyce has a reputation for playing no-nonsense football but really this just means recognising your strengths.
Palace have players with fantastic delivery — Jason Puncheon, Andros Townsend, Wilfried Zaha — and a powerful striker.
Allardyce will set a team up to make the most of this. He worked wonders for Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe last season.
Rodriguez to score 10 more goals
Like a new signing, Jay Rodriguez has arrived back in the Southampton first team after more than a year out, just in time to replace top scorer Charlie Austin, who has been ruled out for much the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
Three seasons ago, Rodriguez was emerging as one of the most exciting strikers in English football. He has a superb touch to go with bags of pace and should find himself among the goals in the second half of the season, if he can keep his starting spot down the middle in a 4-3-3.
He has got plenty of creative talent to service him from the likes of Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond, and Southampton are a side who tend to go through dips and troughs of form. If they get a nice run going, Rodriguez will benefit.
Full disclosure — here are the 10 bold predictions made before the season, it is not pretty reading.
1. Manchester City to finish third or worse
This seemed unlikely after their flying start to the season, but now entirely possible.
2. Daniel Sturridge to be top scorer
Not going to happen though Sturridge should be among the goals in the second half of the season for Liverpool.
3. Arsenal to be in the bottom half on Christmas day
Way off the mark with that one.
4. Henrikh Mkhitaryan to win Player of the Year
He impressed once given the chance at Manchester United, but took three months to earn a starting spot
5. Alvaro Negredo to score 15 or more
Five goals so far is not bad, but Middlesbrough are not scoring enough all around.
6. Crystal Palace to finish in the top seven
Maybe Sam Allardyce can work some magic, but they have been one of the disappointments of the season so far.
7. West Bromwich Albion to finish bottom
Flip Palace and West Brom round and you’d have a good prediction here.
8. Charlie Austin to score 15 or more for Southampton
This was looking pretty good until Austin’s injury. He is stuck on six.
9. Jordan Ibe to win Young Player of the Year
Has not even got a starting place in the Bournemouth side.
10. Gylfi Sigurdsson to be the top scoring midfielder in the league
Swansea City’s Icelandic midfielder is on five goals, but he has lots of competition. Dele Alli (10) leads the way from Eden Hazard and Sadio Mane (nine).
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