There is no doubt in saying that the English Premier League is one of the most competitive and money spinning leagues in the world.
The 2018/19 season is getting exciting with plenty of upsets as league leader Liverpool and Manchester City are the prime contenders for the title.
Six weeks back, Manchester City looked quite set to clinch their second consecutive premier league title, but three unprecedented defeats in four games puts their title hopes in balance.
Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool side took full advantage of the slump and leapfrogged Man City to claim the top spot in the league. In the home leg, Manchester City defeated Liverpool 2-1. At the moment, only four points separate both sides with 57 points and 53 points from twenty two games played.
CIES Football Observatory in its report suggests that Manchester City will beat Liverpool in the race for English Premier League title.
Manchester City achieved so far 5% of points per match less than expected according to its pitch production. Conversely, Liverpool obtained 15% more and its results are supposed to decline in the second part of the season. The over- or under-performance were calculated according to a regression model built on the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons including shots on target, ball possession and shots conceded from the box. The data comes from the specialist company InStat.
In the other big-5 leagues, the pitch production of three out of four teams at the top of the table should allow them to lift the trophy: Barcelona in Spain, Juventus in Italy and Paris St-Germain in France. However, in Germany, the analysis suggests that Bayern Munich will outrank the current leader Borussia Dortmund. The data for 27 further European competitions are available on demand. More data is also accessible in the exclusive CIES Football Observatory Performance Atlas.
No team has managed a successful defence of the Premier League title since Manchester United in 2009 – but will this season be different?
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, a winner of three consecutive league titles in Spain (Barcelona, 2008-11) and Germany (Bayern Munich, 2013-16), who saw his side finish 19 points clear of the pack last season will hoping to do a double.
But, the big question is who will challenge them in 2018-19 season? Can Liverpool mount serious title challenge or will Manchester United rejuvenate form narrow the gap?
Man City still have an advantage considering the strength and depth in the squad.
Football pundits and former Newcastle United striker, Alan Shearer believes City can clinch the premier league title ahead of Liverpool
“It has been a long time since anyone won back-to-back titles but I think City will win the Premier League again because of Pep; he won’t want their standards slipping. He will play exactly the same way and they are going to be very hard to stop, although I think Liverpool and United will both be a lot closer to them this time.”
A pull conducted by BBC sports, 43% fans voted that Liverpool would make it into the top four last season, and only 13% thought they would be higher than third – they finished fourth. This year 14% think they will win the title and 96% think they will finish in the top two.
Ian Wright shares his own analysis “I want this season’s title race to be more spicy and I think it will be. If Liverpool can get some impetus, then we don’t know how Manchester City will react under pressure if a team can stay close to them at the end of the season.
“You also have to consider that Liverpool are City’s Kryptonite. That’s why I am backing Jurgen Klopp’s side to pip them to the title.
“When Liverpool are doing well in the league, the league seems better. And, when they have got a good team, with the crowd at Anfield they are literally unstoppable – as we saw against City in the Champions League last season.”
Ruud Gullit: “If City have to battle for the league, we don’t know if they can do that. They will be up there at the top but I am backing Liverpool to win it. They are contenders because of the way they play, and how they control games but they also want to entertain and they want to attack – they play the right way.”
Anthony Nlebem
