Not only is the Christmas season a particularly hectic time for English football, it also brings with it a particularly significant milestone – the halfway point of the campaign.
It looks like Benitez is going to make me – and thousands of others – eat our hats- James Calvert
By now, teams have put the nerves and anxieties of the opening few weeks behind them and settled down into something resembling their true form. Patterns that will ultimately decide glory and despair have very much started to emerge.
So, with that in mind, I thought this would be particularly appropriate time to take a look at how the 20 Premier League club are faring thus far. And, while I’m at it, see just how wrong my pre-season predictions were…
Manchester United: The current Manchester United team is a rather strange beast. When it comes to going forward they are extremely effective and have attacking flair in abundance. But defensively they are a mess.
It’s almost as if Sir Alex Ferguson has adopted the approach that it doesn’t matter how many they concede as long as they score at least one more than their opponents. In fact, you’d be forgiven for wondering if Kevin Keegan had joined the coaching staff. Still, you don’t fix something that isn’t broken and you can’t get much better than being top of the pile at the halfway point of the season.
I said right at the beginning they would reclaim their title and, despite being so defensively challenged, I see no reason to change my prediction.
Manchester City: Last season’s brilliant title win should have been the platform upon which Roberto Mancini was able to build a glittering future for the club. However, halfway through the following season they find themselves seven points behind their city rivals and out of Europe entirely.
City cannot be described as a club in crisis; however you cannot help but feel, with the money they have spent, the sum product of all the expensive parts should be so much more than it is. They will push United all the way for the title but will fall short come the final reckoning.
Chelsea: It pains me to say it but it very much looks like Rafa Benitez is going to make me – and thousands of others for that matter – eat our hats. Despite having the odds stacked against him in such dramatic fashion, he has transformed Chelsea into a team that plays some delightful and effective football.
If they keep on going the way they are at the moment, then a serious title-challenge is definitely not beyond them. Who would have thought that when those ‘fat Spanish waiter’ chants rang out around Stamford Bridge?
Tottenham Hotspur: After a shaky start to the season, it would appear that André Villas-Boas and his boys are getting their act together quite nicely. They are going to have a massive fight on their hands to hold on to fourth place but I’m sure that’s a fight they will be relishing.
My concern is that when you take Gareth Bale out of the equation they tend to look a bit ordinary. Then again, most teams would. I thought the transition from the Redknapp era would take longer but credit to AVB for ensuring it hasn’t.
Everton: Having to cope with a budget that some Championship managers would turn their noses up at, it’s not hard to see why David Moyes has become such a hugely respected manager over the past decade. Despite never having any big money to spend, his team is nearly always in the right half of the table and, more often than not, on the fringes of the European places.
I would love to see them make the Champions League just because I think Moyes deserves it for going about his business in a calm and dignified manner. But they don’t have the strength in depth to maintain a serious top-four challenge.
West Bromwich Albion: The surprise package of the season so far, Steve Clarke’s West Brom have dished out more than their fair share of shock results. They’re playing attractive football, scoring goals and, despite a bit of a wobble a month or so ago, are getting back to winning ways.
I still feel they will have dropped off the pace come May, but it’ll still be a remarkably solid first season in charge for Roy Hodgson’s replacement.
Arsenal: You never know what you are going to get with Arsenal do you? One week it all clicks and they look like a team that is going places. The next week they look like half the team has never met before.
Arsene Wenger has changed course this season and is rebuilding his team around a nucleus of British players who will probably serve them well in future. But they are going to have to do something special in the present if they are not to miss out on the Champions League for the first time ever.
Personally I still believe they will snatch fourth place but a bit of silverware is probably an even bigger priority if Wenger is to be around next season.
Stoke City: Frankly I am getting sick and tired of hearing so much negativity about Stoke’s style of play. They are no Barcelona, admittedly, but they have adopted a system other teams hate playing against.
Yes they are physical, yes they are direct, but only a fool would argue that they aren’t effective. Give me a team with their work ethic and passion over the more skilful but soulless variety any day of the week.
Swansea City: More humble pie for me here. I initially thought Michael Laudrup was going to be one of the first managers looking for new employment this season but he has categorically proved me wrong.
Of course, his situation has been considerably helped by the startling form of Michu, a player who is on course to have one of the most remarkable debut seasons in the history of the Premier League. Good value for a mid-table finish.
Liverpool: What can you say about this Liverpool team that hasn’t already been said before? Not a great deal really.
Their lack of strikers has cost them dearly this season but even that is no excuse for some of the performances they have put in. One week they look like genuine top-four material, the next you wonder if they could actually get caught up in a real relegation battle.
I have admiration for the way Brendan Rogers has blooded the youngsters and that bodes well for the future. But this still remains one of the most bizarre and unpredictable versions of Liverpool I have ever seen.
Norwich City: Another of those teams I though would seriously struggle and, for the first few weeks they looked destined to do just that. But Chris Houghton has slowly got things moving in the right direction and Norwich are now looking a bit more like the team that surprised everyone last season.
Survival was always their priority and a second 19 games like the first 19 will ensure it. Called this one very wrong.
West Ham United: You’ve got to love Big Sam. Well, in actual fact, apparently you don’t. Despite getting West Ham promoted at the first attempt and then enjoying a relatively solid start to the season, there are still dissenting voices among the club’s supporters who don’t like Sam Allardyce’s style of football.
Personally I think they’re just being a bit greedy and should be content, at least for now, with staying in the top-flight. And the one thing you’re very unlikely to get with Big Sam at the helm is relegated.
Sunderland: Despite all his achievements in a glittering managerial career, the one place where Martin O’Neil would have wanted to be successful more than any other is the Stadium of Light. So far however, in his first full season in charge, it hasn’t really worked out the way he would have hoped at the club he supported as a boy.
Results have improved recently and the win over Manchester City should have worked wonders for the team’s morale. But they really need to sort out their goal-scoring issues if they are going to pull away from the dogfight at the bottom.
Fulham: At the start of the season, Fulham looked quite handy, and the signing of Dimitar Berbatov looked like it was going to prove inspired. But their away form is an absolute nightmare.
Martin Jol has been around long enough to know where the problems lie and is experienced enough to solve them. Their reasonably solid performances at Craven Cottage should be enough to secure safety.
Newcastle United: Last season Alan Pardew was the best thing since sliced bread. This season he is somewhat less the toast of the town. Newcastle haven’t been helped by injuries, of course, but even so you wouldn’t have expected them to struggle quite as badly as they have.
I don’t subscribe to the theory that they are in a relegation battle and still expect them to finish comfortably in the top half. But they do need to start getting stringing some results together sooner rather than later.
Aston Villa: Now here’s another of those teams you can’t quite put your finger on. A few weeks ago they looked destined for relegation so poor was their form. Then they seemed to turn the corner with a couple of decent displays and the fine win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Reading fans should start stocking up on tissues from now- James Calvert
But they now seem to have gone full circle and managed to follow up their 8-0 thrashing at Chelsea with a 4-0 home defeat to Spurs. No team can survive those sort of hammerings on a regular basis, and I would imagine one more result of that magnitude will have Randy Learner looking for a new manager.
Southampton: I have massive admiration both for Saints manager Nigel Adkins and his board of directors. After their very poor start to the season it would have been easy for either Adkins to throw in the towel or for the board to panic and sack him. However, they remained united and the results have slowly started to turn around.
They still have one heck of a fight on their hands to avoid the drop but if they all keep pulling in the same direction, survival is not beyond their grasp.
Wigan Athletic: I started the season with the firm belief that Wigan would finally lose their never-ending fight against relegation. And nothing up to now has made me change that opinion. If anything it has been reinforced.
Roberto Martinez is a decent manager who will probably go on to great things in future. But he is hampered by Wigan’s lack of financial resources, not to mention lack of supporters.
Reading: As close to a certainty for relegation as you are likely to get. I thought they would struggle this season and they haven’t let me down in that regard.
It’s not nice to say negative things about newly promoted teams that are still finding their feet, but in some cases you just know it’s going to end in tears. Reading fans should start stocking up on tissues from now.
Queens Park Rangers: Considering the money they spent and the squad they have, nobody could have predicted QPR would struggle so badly this year, let alone achieve the unwanted record of the worst start to a season in the history of the Premier League.
Bringing in Harry Redknapp to try and save the sinking ship was a sensible move, although you have to wonder if it might have happened a bit too late. I have a sneaky feeling, however, that he will pull it off, which would be further evidence that England picked the wrong man.
sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade