Race for the BPL Title

With just 6 games left of the 2015-16 Premier League season, Leicester sit top of the table with a 7 point advantage over nearest rivals Tottenham. Just four more wins from their last games secures Premier League glory in what has been an astonishing team performance galvanised by the managerial expertise of Claudio Ranieri at the helm. Where does this leave the 'top four regulars'?

After a horrific start to the season, Roman Abramovich quickly waved the axe at Jose Mourinho to be replaced by Guus Hiddink. Since then Chelsea have rose up the league table and are now hunting for a spot in Europe. Despite the supporters not wanting to admit it, neither Manchester United and Liverpool are ready for a title charge and contain too much 'dead weight', evidenced further by either side not being able to topple Leicester and Spurs. The other side of Manchester have faltered too much and Pellegrini has rightfully paid the price by not getting his contract renewed at the end of the year. Admittedly, injuries have not helped, but with the quality in depth in the City set up, they really should be blowing the rest of the competition away.

That just leaves Arsenal. Currently sitting in 3rd place, a point off their North London rivals, this was Arsenal's year, to borrow the phrase, and yet again they have blown it. Arsene Wenger will be held to account even more than in previous years, where they had the ever-young excuse of 'we can't compete against Chelsea/United/City (delete as appropriate) who spend all around them.' At 8 points adrift, I don't see Arsenal catching Leicester particularly with tricky away matches to West Ham and Manchester City. Admittedly, it the rest of their fixtures are against considerably weaker opposition, most of which are currently battling relegation. Dropped points at the weekend will make it very difficult to catch up and even if they throw together a run of form, it could be a case of too little, too late for the Gunners.

Leicester City have been a breath of fresh air for the Premier League this season and have quickly endeared themselves into the hearts of everyone. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have ripped defences to shreds and are rightly at the top of the pile and much of this can be attributed to the managerial expertise of Claudio Ranieri, who possibly would not have been at the club had his Greece side not succumbed to back to back defeats to Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands. Nobody could have predicted the mesmeric rise of Leicester City and I can even be quoted as to say that they will finish outside the top 6! A win at the Stadium of Light on Sunday secures the side Champions League football next season, and nice amount of money for the owners to hopefully put back into the club.

The real challenges start when the league concludes for the East Midlands club. Regardless whether they win the title or not, they will come under pressure to sell their key men such as Kasper Schmeichel, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante among others. Ideally, I'm sure they would want to keep hold of most of their side and improve it with additions from the transfer window, but I don't think they would pass up on the opportunity to charge one of their rivals a fortune. After all, they got most of their players for pennies compared to the rumoured values of them currently. From a business aspect, it will be a win win situation.

On any other season, Spurs would be the side that everyone wants to win but they have been pipped to the post by Leicester. Spurs are beginning to reap the rewards of the signings that were acquired with the money gained from the sale of Gareth Bale. Nacer Chadli and Christian Erikson in particular have often gone under the radar in terms of performances. Erik Lamela blows hot and cold but on his day can be scintillating. It is often a frustration of mine that he cannot be more consistent and injury free as he has the talent to beat any defender on his day. Toby Alderweireld has been a revelation at the back having been bought from Atletico Madrid in the summer. Sent on loan to Southampton last year, the Belgian was constantly at the heart of the Saints' early run of form and has picked up from where he has left off.

Undoubtedly however, all the plaudits have been going the way of Dele Alli. The teenager was signed by Pochettino in February 2015 for an initial fee of £5m. Hindsight may be a wonderful thing but there will be many other sides kicking themselves at not purchasing the player. He announced himself to the stage with his first goal in the 1-1 draw against Leicester City, as well as scoring memorable goals against Crystal Palace as well as cracking strike in an international friendly against France. Like Leicester, Spurs have unearthed a lower league gem and one that has rose to be touted as one of the best English prospects. He will also be exciting to watch for English fans in the white jersey when playing at the European Championships this summer.

How will Spurs and Leicester fair in the transfer market and in the Champions League next season?

The club owners will be licking their lips at the prospect of Champions League football. From a financial point of view, they will receive €12m for competing in the group stage of the Champions League while also bagging a healthy €1.5m for each win and €500k for each draw.  On top of this, they have the added market pull of offering Champions League football. The money must be spent wisely, or else they will just descend back into mid-table mediocrity, particularly as the other teams around them will spend big. According to http://www.totalsportek.com/, the champions will collect just under £78.8m while the runners up will receive £77.6m and this is excluding television money. The managerial nous of Ranieri and Pochettino will be seriously tested as they aim to replicate what they have achieved this year.

The season is reaching an exciting climate and it is looking likely that we will have a new name on the Premier League trophy and I certainly look forward to see how the current top 2 sides approach the coming transfer market. 

Another Season Draws to a Close!

It seems like it was only yesterday when we were gearing up for the start of the 2013/2014 Premier League campaign. Now, at the conclusion of the season, each team will be analysing the positives and negatives of the past season in an attempt to eradicate any faults in preparation for the next campaign.

The Champions

What better way to start a review than at the top? Manchester City finish the season at top of the pile for the second time in three seasons. Under new management, Manuel Pellegrini was able to clinch the title last Sunday along with the Capital One Cup. It can be argued that if City had surrendered the title to Liverpool, then their season could be labelled a failure, instantly putting pressure under the Chilean. There are fine lines in the world of football.

City's attacking threat was monstrous and they always had at least 2 world class strikers available, contributing to a staggering 156 goals in all competitions. At the back they had a rock solid defence, only conceding 37 goals in the league. What won Man City the league was that they had the right balance between defence and attack, something which Liverpool and Chelsea lacked.

Overachievers

As we move down the table, Liverpool were undoubtedly the overachievers of this season. I can honestly say that if anyone had told me Liverpool were going to challenge for the title and end up in 2nd position back in August, I would have laughed at you and told you to stop dreaming. Their Uruguayan centre forward has been instrumental in their success as he notched 31 goals as well as assisting 12 times. Whether Liverpool maintain the momentum of the success from this season into next, may be down to whether they can retain the services of Suarez for the foreseeable future. 

As for Chelsea, they had an indifferent season and Mourinho's return to English football was greeted with a trophy-less season. Throughout the last campaign, it was evident that the Blues lacked a clinical striker as Ba, Torres and Eto'o were inconsistent. The trio could only muster 17 league goals between them, in comparison to Suarez's 31 and Yaya Toure's 20 goals. This problem will need to be rectified for the beginning of next season, or else Mourinho could find himself looking for another job.

Similar to Chelsea, City and Liverpool, Arsenal had an spell on top of the table back in November, December, but failures in the Summer and January transfer markets meant that their challenge tailed off as the season progressed. While it can be deemed that they failed in the league, Wenger and the Arsenal have a chance to end their trophy drought on Sunday in the FA Cup Final against Hull City. Failure on Sunday could result in the imminent departure of Arsene Wenger. As with Chelsea, the piggy bank will need to be broken in order to strengthen for next year. Personally, I'm hoping Arsene has a world class striker on the shortlist as well as strength and depth in defence. A busy summer ahead for the Gunners as they aim to prolong their stay in the title challenge next year.

Relegation Contingent

Relegation is always a nasty experience to go through and this year, Fulham, Cardiff and Norwich were the victims. I believe that all 3 relegated teams could have escaped the drop if they had kept faith in each of their managers. Each team sacked their managers in a desperate attempt to improve their form, and not one decision was successful. On the other hand, this technique worked for Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace. Pulis was appointed manager back in November when Palace were languishing in 19th position and managed to raise them to an 11th place finish at the close of play on Sunday. 

Fulham were able to score goals, but a leaky back four sealed their fate to the Championship while Cardiff and Norwich found hitting the back of the net harder than it sounds. Norwich's offensive incapabilities was not helped by the lack of goals from club record signing, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, who only contributed a solitary goal all season.

Period of Transition

It was a season to forget for Manchester United as they watched their neighbours win the title and they slipped to 7th position after a dismal display in the league. Not much went right for the Red Devils as they broke many different records, all for the wrong reasons. The 12 games lost were more than the previous 2 seasons combined, highlighting an ageing defence and a team which was low in confidence for the majority of the season, even if they were the holders of the title. With a new man at the helm in David Moyes, United were in a period of transition after the end of the Ferguson reign. Moyes never had the support from the players and was sacked, rather controversially with only 3 games until the end of the season. 

Much like United, Liverpool's Merseyside rivals, Everton, were also in a season of change. However, this season proved to be more fruitful than the Red Devils, as they reached fifth, and were close to beating Arsenal to the last Champions League spot, when two losses to Southampton and Man City effectively ruled them out of Champions League football next season. An exciting football philosophy coupled with the promotion of some quality youth players, Roberto Martinez enabled Everton to finish in a respectable position as they will look to build for the future.

Another campaign has drawn to a close, and many teams will need to strengthen their squads if they are to maintain or better their position from this season. It has been yet another exhilarating term, with many highs and many lows for each team. Now, we must enjoy pre season and all of the transfer rumours that follow it, before turning our attention to the thrills and spills that come with next season.

Champions League Semi Final

UEFA have treated us to another spectacular Champions League Semi Final line-up. Two very different ties sees a tactical battle between Atletico Madrid and Chelsea, while Real take on Bayern in a match that promises free flowing, end to end football.

Real Madrid v Bayern Munich

Gareth Bale v Arjen Robben. Cristiano Ronaldo v Franck Ribery. Real v Bayern. Surely there cannot be a more mouth-watering tie than this? Could Real Madrid reach the final for the first time since 2002? So many questions need answered, yet we need to wait until 29 April to find the answers for them. Both teams have impressive attacking options, but also may concede goals, as proved by Dortmund in Real's 2-0 defeat away leg and Bayern's 3-0 humiliation at home. 

At the start of the season, I tipped Bayern to be the first team to win the Champions League back to back, but now I'm not too sure. Even though I still think they will win, weaknesses were highlighted during the games against Manchester United, particularly when players like Danny Welbeck were running at the centre backs.  In addition to this, Real have scored 32 goals already in this competition, which included a 6-1 romp of Schalke, while Bayern have scored 8 less than the Madristas. There certainly will be plenty of goals. The wide men are the key opponents to look out for. If Bale, Ronaldo, Ribery or Robben are anonymous throughout the tie, then it could have a pivotal effect on the outcome of the game.

It promises to be an exhilarating tie and ever since it was announced, it had the world gripped with Champions League fever. Even though I am beginning to doubt myself with recent results, I still feel that Bayern Munich will be able to reach the final for the third time in a row.

Atletico Madrid v Chelsea 

Atletico Madrid and Chelsea make up the other semi final. A battle between 2 tacticians of the highest order in Mourinho and Simeone. On paper Atletico would have been the opposition Chelsea fans would have wanted, I'm not convinced that this is what Mourinho would have wanted. Unlike Real and Bayern, Atletico pose their threat through their very efficient counter attack, much like Chelsea. This means that Chelsea will be less able to rely on this tactic than if they had been drawn with Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. On a more positive side for Jose, Chelsea have the second leg at home, enabling them to sit back in the first leg, hoping that they may nick a goal, and finish the job at Stamford Bridge. 

Chelsea do certainly have a chance in this tie, though their lack of a star striker could prove their downfall. This match sees Chelsea come up against one of their transfer targets, Diego Costa. It has been widely tipped that he will be a Chelsea player by the summer and that he will form the new Chelsea attack, as it has been rumoured that all four of Chelsea's strikers are heading out the door in the summer. 

Two very tactically driven teams could create a tentative tie, but will no doubt provide no less excitement than the other tie. This tie is very difficult to call, as either team has the ability to go through, but I have to predict that Mourinho will be able to out fox Simeone and get revenge from that Copa Del Rey defeat last year.

Only Chelsea are flying the flag for the English teams while the possibility of a Spanish final in Lisbon is not out of the question. The first legs are to be played on 22/23 April respectively while the second legs are on 29/30 April.