2019-2020 EPL Discussion Thread

[K]

Elsewhere, Aaron Mooy (Mooij!) scored his first goal for Brighton:

https://wwos.nine.com.au/videos/football/mooys-stunning-bergkamp-epl-goal/ck4q1qh5700430gse1o9ilp6j

[K]

Rory Smith, NYT:

In Premier League, Everyone Is Talking Title Except Liverpool

"Even now, Liverpool's fans will not sing that song. ...

They will toy with it, play with it, allude to it, as if in doing so they are indulging a little frisson of danger. They will take the melody and apply it to other subjects: declaring their team champions of the world; singing the praises of Trent Alexander-Arnold, their local hero; or expressing their dislike of Boris Johnson, a man who has long had an uneasy relationship with the city of Liverpool.

But those words are off-limits, taboo, proscribed by some unwritten covenant. No matter how well their team plays or how many games they win or how large their lead in the table grows, Liverpool's fans will not do it. They will not sing the line: "We're going to win the league."

There is a reason. Liverpool's fans know more than most about tempting fate. ...

It is 30 years now since Liverpool did win the league, and that long, painful wait has bred a desperation, a trigger-happiness, a willingness to believe. Liverpool's fans are, it seems, determined not to be fooled again.
...

He will see all of the pitfalls that lie in wait, of course. He will know that he has already lost two central defenders to injury and that the absence of another one would leave his team exposed. He will know that Liverpool will be without Fabinho, the cornerstone of their midfield, for the most challenging run of matches of their season, and that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is out for the next six weeks, too.

Klopp named a squad for the Leicester game with five "adult" players – his word – on the bench and two kids. Liverpool have spent far too much money building this squad in recent years to plead poverty but, still, he might feel that his resources are a little thinner than is ideal.

That will be his greatest fear: the effect of cumulative fatigue. Just because Liverpool have managed to endure a run of 11 games in 33 days so far does not mean all that workload will not tell – either in a dearth of form or a dearth of players – at some point in the next two weeks or, perhaps, even later than that."

[Jezza]

[Jezza]

Perfect way to end the decade by beating another London rival away from home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJDfQPVBb8

[Jezza]

Latest Results:

Saturday December 28 2019:
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 AFC Bournemouth
Newcastle United 1-2 Everton
Southampton 1-1 Crystal Palace
Watford 3-0 Aston Villa
Norwich City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United 1-2 Leicester City
Burnley 0-2 Manchester United

Sunday December 29 2019:
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
Liverpool 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Manchester City 2-0 Sheffield United

The Ladder:
1. Liverpool 55 - Played 19
2. Leicester 42 - Played 20
3. Man City 41 - Played 20
4. Chelsea 35 - Played 20
----------------------
5. Man Utd 31 - Played 20
6. Tottenham 30 - Played 20
7. Wolves 30 - Played 20
8. Sheffield Utd 29 - Played 20
9. Crystal Palace 27 - Played 20
10. Everton 25 - Played 20
11. Newcastle 25 - Played 20
12. Arsenal 24 - Played 20
13. Burnley 24 - Played 20
14. Brighton 23 - Played 20
15. Southampton 22 - Played 20
16. Bournemouth 20 - Played 20
17. West Ham 19 - Played 19
-----------------------
18. Aston Villa 18 - Played 20
19. Watford 16 - Played 20
20. Norwich 13 - Played 20

[K]

[Jezza]

New Year Matches:

Wednesday January 1 2020:
Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea - 12:30
Burnley v Aston Villa - 12:30
Newcastle United v Leicester City - 15:00
Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur - 15:00
Watford v Wolverhampton Wanderers - 15:00
Manchester City v Everton - 17:30
Norwich City v Crystal Palace - 17:30
West Ham United v AFC Bournemouth - 17:30
Arsenal v Manchester United - 20:00

Thursday January 2 2020:
Liverpool v Sheffield United - 20:00

All local times.

[Jezza]

New Year Results:

Wednesday January 1 2020:
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Chelsea
Burnley 1-2 Aston Villa
Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City
Southampton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Watford 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Manchester City 2-1 Everton
Norwich City 1-1 Crystal Palace
West Ham United 4-0 AFC Bournemouth
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United

Thursday January 2 2020:
Liverpool 2-0 Sheffield United

The Ladder:
1. Liverpool 58 - Played 20
2. Leicester 45 - Played 21
3. Man City 44 - Played 21
4. Chelsea 36 - Played 21
----------------------
5. Man Utd 31 - Played 21
6. Tottenham 30 - Played 21
7. Wolves 30 - Played 21
8. Sheffield Utd 29 - Played 21
9. Crystal Palace 28 - Played 21
10. Arsenal 27 - Played 21
11. Everton 25 - Played 21
12. Southampton 25 - Played 21
13. Newcastle 25 - Played 21
14. Brighton 24 - Played 21
15. Burnley 24 - Played 21
16. West Ham 22 - Played 20
17. Aston Villa 21 - Played 21
-----------------------
18. Bournemouth 20 - Played 21
19. Watford 19 - Played 21
20. Norwich 14 - Played 21

[K]

FiveThirtyEight's predictions (Jan 2, 4:49pm.) -- win EPL:

Liverpool 97%
Man. City 3%

The rest <1%.

[K]

Bookies' odds:

Liverpool ~93%
Man. City ~6%
Leicester ~1%.

[K]

[K]

Rui Patricio offers jacket to freezing young mascot:

https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/1214240680211558402

[K]

"But, perhaps, the three biggest tests of Liverpool’s season are set to occur in the next three weeks.

If the Reds can take away nine points from their do-or-die clashes with Tottenham, Manchester United and Wolves then maybe, just maybe, they can start celebrating a Premier League triumph long before the season itself draws to a close."

[I don't know how they can be described as "do-or-die"... For Liverpool's opponents, maybe, but not for Liverpool. If they stumble, they'll still have a healthy though smaller lead.]

[K]

"In its 46 years, the PFA’s Player of the Year award has been given to 41 people, representing 15 clubs and 12 countries from England to Egypt. The winners have been young and old, tall and short, but they all have one thing in common: none of them have been full-backs. There is a lot of football still to be played this season but already it seems there is no doubt about the destiny of the title, and though there are several Liverpool players who will be in the discussion when the individual awards are handed out, I think based on the campaign so far Trent Alexander-Arnold is edging it.
...

People talk about him redefining the position, and he is clearly doing something that right-backs haven’t managed before. The vision, finesse, technique and the number of assists Alexander-Arnold has contributed over the past two seasons have raised the bar for the position.
...

Jürgen Klopp might be a master of motivation but one of his great skills is the ability to recognise talent in a young player and then develop it to the point where they become what Alexander-Arnold is now, where other managers might just spend a ridiculous amount of money on an established full-back who still wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. It seems to be hard sometimes for a manager to see the quality of players he is working with, when others are getting headlines elsewhere – look at De Bruyne, who was not rated at all by José Mourinho at Chelsea but has since become, well, Kevin De Bruyne.

Liverpool focus a lot of their play on getting the ball wide to their attacking full-backs, but it is what they do with those crossing opportunities that sets them apart. Andy Robertson is exceptional on the left but he is being left in the shade by the man on the other flank. It is not only what he does with those crosses, it’s his ability to come inside and see a pass, to shoot from outside the box, to take set pieces, to pull the ball back to the forwards with pace and accuracy. In Liverpool’s win over Leicester on Boxing Day, Firmino’s movement for their third goal after the ball was played to Alexander-Arnold on the right showed that he knew where the ball was going, and the delivery was perfection. Everyone bangs on about the corner he took against Barcelona last season – the fearlessness, the vision, the quality – but he has just continued from there, making it look almost routine."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/jan/09/trent-alexander-arnold-unassuming-icon-liverpool-league-quest

[Jezza]

Weekend Matches:

Friday January 10 2020:
Sheffield United v West Ham United - 20:00

Saturday January 11 2020:
Crystal Palace v Arsenal - 12:30
Chelsea v Burnley - 15:00
Everton v Brighton & Hove Albion - 15:00
Leicester City v Southampton - 15:00
Manchester United v Norwich City - 15:00
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Newcastle United - 15:00
Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - 17:30

Sunday January 12 2020:
AFC Bournemouth v Watford - 14:00
Aston Villa v Manchester City - 16:30

All local times.