Two weeks ago I already said it's a 2 horse race for the top 4 with Tottenham and Arsenal in contention but at this rate, I am not certain who will win this race anymore. This is why we love the Premier League and football in general because a lot can change in a little bit of time. I felt Tottenham got their momentum going after winning 4 games in a row but as I said before, I knew how inconsistent they can be especially after their Manchester City game, I've been very careful to think too much about them.
All the teams playing for the 4th spot this season are inconsistent. West Ham looked like it but we know they don't have that depth in class to win it. They have been having trouble winning games and that made them drop off the wagon. Don't get me wrong, they are trying a lot but I knew they wouldn't be able to handle the pressure and we have seen how they fell off.
Arsenal enjoyed some brilliant runs only for them to get ahead of themselves and dropped too many points. They have been losing games they should be winning and dropping points against teams they should be beating. Losing to Brighton was a major blow for them and despite Southampton losing to Chelsea, Arsenal still lost to Southampton with a solitary goal. They have a game in hand, yes, but Arsenal has some terrible fixture lists and I don't see how they would navigate these games to still stay in the hunt for top 4 effort others dropped points too.
Tottenham still stays in 4th but their inconsistent gameplay would get the fans worried as to whether they can get into that top 4. They were nullified today against Brighton and I didn't expect them to be so predictable as they played against Brighton today. Brighton kept them out, Mwepu dominated before he was taken out and Welbeck replaced him. Antonio Conte couldn't find an answer to the attack and Kulusevski couldn't do much either. It's strange to see that in the entirety of the first half, Tottenham only had one shot and it wasn't even on target. You would expect so much from a team that has blown others away before now. Tottenham can't be confident about claiming the top 4 either.
Manchester United is another team but I think they top the others when we are counting inconsistency, bad gameplay, terrible attack and lack of desire. They managed to get the job done against Norwich City but they were lucky to have won that game. Norwich stays at the foot of the table and yet they managed to cause a lot of problems for Manchester United. If not for Ronaldo's hat-trick, you can be sure they would not come close to winning this game.
After checking the fixtures for these teams, I am not confident about who will take that top 4. The team presently in the top 4 which is Tottenham would always have the edge but can they handle the pressure? Can they sustain it? Will others rise up to it or they would give Tottenham an easy run-in with lacklustre performances when they wouldn't let whatever result Tottenham get to matter when they all keep losing their games? It is a hard call and I have no words because of the peculiarity of the situation.
Who knows, maybe West Ham can sneak in but the likelihood of that is very hard. I am not confident about Manchester United either because they would play Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. If they win the 3 games in between and others lose too then they might have a chance but we all know that this is Manchester United, they are full of disappointments so it's better not to get your hopes up. The pressure thickens and it looks like no one is ready for this top 4 especially with Tottenham and Arsenal's defeats today.
Cheers.
Gingered Up! ❣️
