Now the season is a few weeks old, from what I've seen of the 13 that we tend to refer to as Prem II. Bournemouth - They seem to have lost their mojo, they don't play with the gay abandon as they did last season. Despite this being their third season at the top a lot of their squad screams of Championship. I can't see them finishing higher than 16th. Brighton - No fire power, they didn't really strengthen enough in the summer and I can't see them finishing in any place other than rock bottom. Burnley - Despite the outgoings over the summer, Dyche has them performing well with grit and determination, they'll be relatively safe this season. Crystal Palace - No goals and no points from 5 games, they don't have a great squad of players bar one or two individuals. I can see Hodgson scrapping points here and there but I think that as the rot has started to set in it will be difficult to turn it around. Bottom three. Huddersfield - Great start, pretty good signings and a charismatic manager, they will get a clutch of good and bad results. If they are clear of the bottom three in January and can strengthen they could very much survive. Leicester - They have quite a decent squad and their opening away fixtures were horrible but they'll have more than enough to finish mid-table. Newcastle - They look pretty poor but I think they will cobble enough points to be safe, I reckon they'll get no more than 45 points though. Southampton - Not as good as the pundits make out, years of selling the crown jewels is coming back to bite them, will be about the same as Newcastle. Stoke - Hard working team, will probably finish mid-table. Swansea - Weaker than last season, I can't see them finishing higher than 16th like Bournemouth. Will probably be 18th though. Watford - Silva has us playing much better football, we have missed having quick attacking players over the last couple of years so should finish much higher than last season provided the injuries don't keep stacking up. WBA - Boring, methodical, predictable and tough to play against; a better version of Burnley. Should be well clear of relegation. West Ham - Like Southampton and Newcastle, they flatter to deceive the pundits mainly because of the club's name. Not particularly exciting to watch but they have enough to be clear of relegation. I think that I can split them down into these groups: Should be well clear: Leicester, Stoke, Watford, WBA. Will probably be safe: Burnley, Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham. In danger for most of the season: Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Huddersfield, Swansea (underlined who I think will go down with Brighton). Finish last: Brighton
Most these teams made on average 9 changes to their epl starting 11, so can't see fitness being an issue. Those that are travelling a long no way might play a factor extra nights in hotels Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Does anyone know of a site that shows past league tables during the course of a season? There were a couple of good websites - statto.com and the individual Footymad club sites, but infuriatingly the former seems to have stopped working altogether and the latter has been completely revamped and only shows the current league table. I remember West Ham and Stoke having terrible starts but doing alright in the end, so at this stage it's hard to accurately predict where most teams will end up, but still it would be interesting to see what the table looked at the same point last year and compare the positions of the teams at the bottom back then to where they finished (and vice versa).
On the premier league website, you can change the filter to show each season, then change the matchweek filter to matchweek 1,2,3 etc: https://www.premierleague.com/tables
nearest to statto.com I've come across is soccerstats.com, I've not tested all the options but they look similar.
Thanks, had a quick look. Sunderland 1 point Stoke 2 points West Ham 3 points Hull had 7 and Middlesbrough 5. Palace had 10, so definitely early days After 8 games the table had a more familiar look to how it ended (in hindsight) and Sunderland had only picked up 1 more point. Therefore, if palace do lose next 2 they'll have quite a mountain to climb. Apparently Benteke is out for 2 months
Thanks - so (and I know this is a bit O/T) where would I go to see mid-season league tables for this one? http://www.soccerstats.com/latest.asp?league=england2
I find your opinions interesting and usually valid, but I consider this one to be a bit strange, considering at the time you posted that they'd had an impressive and convincing win over WBA and are the only team we've failed to have a shot on target, let alone score against. I wouldn't have considered them serious relegation candidates back then, especially not now after their latest win against Newcastle. The jury is still out on Hughton as a Premier League manager, but I can see them having a similar season to us, Norwich or Swansea during their first season back up, bottom half but comfortably clear of relegation throughout.
You can look at any weeks league table for other divsions on this site: https://www.11v11.com/ Just change the filters to whatever week of the season you want to see. Here's a few examples from the Championship at the halfway stage, if that's what you're after: https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/26-december-2016/ https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/26-december-2015/ https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/26-december-2014/ https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-championship/26-december-2013/
They're one of a few clubs without much depth and without much pulling power to strengthen in January, Huddersfield the same and Muff too for that matter although I rate Howe smart enough to come good as usual. West Brom getting sucked in wouldn't surprise me either and as for the Hammers, Bilic is a problem, he sets up too open and the squad really is not that good to do it. Jekyll and Hyde Leicester are too good and will pick up I'm sure and Stoke is just same old Stoke, they'll finish exactly midtable with equal win/ losses and a goal difference of plus minus zero with Swansea one place below them, Newcastle one place above. Palace are down already.
I agree with Godfather, Palace look virtually doomed already, what a pity never mind Bournmouth are not looking so hot either! As for who else, I'll reserve judgment for now!
Palace already now need 40 points from 32 games, obviously that's doable but its essentially a case of needing to get at least a win and a draw out of every three games they play, not exactly easy when you've not scored a single goal in NINE hours.
Actually it's 10.5 hours they haven't scored in, they lost 2-0 to Man U at the end of last season and the last time they've scored and picked up any points was the 4-0 thumping of Hull the previous game. Actually their decline goes back some way into last season, the Hull game being the only match they've scored in in 11 games. Palace's last five games of 2016-17: Tottenham (h) 0-1 Burnley (h) 0-2 Man City (a) 0-5 Hull (h) 4-0 Man Utd (a) 0-2 You know the rest...
Yeah Palace already look to be in huge trouble. I had a pre season bet on Stoke to drop after a Stoke supporting friend told me about trouble in the dressing room, looks like they might be fading already. Could also be Bournemouth's turn.
We did play for over an hour with 10 men against them plus we were overrunning them in the first 10 minutes before we sat back a bit; after the sending off it wasn't really the type of game for Gray and Silva was slow to act. They may have beaten WBA the other week but I don't think Brighton have strength in depth and I don't think they've bought well. If Palace continue to do poorly then they may make it to 19th. It's still quite early and apart from Man City for their opening game they've yet to face any of the other bigger teams.
Palace are rumoured to be looking at signing a free agent as Benteke is the only striker on their books. There's a discussion going on their forum about who'd they would prefer - Rickie Lambert or Carlton Cole. Unsurprisingly, the answer most are giving is neither! To make it even funnier - a couple of weeks ago, one of their fans contacted Steve Parish on Twitter saying that they'd be in real trouble if their one striker got injured and his reply was "And what if he doesn't get injured?". Some of the replies from Palace fans now it's happened are pretty funny: https://twitter.com/CEO4TAG/status/906953247071580160
Wow, so I make that a -19 goal difference over those 11 games and they only scored in one of them, yet they've now somehow got to fashion around 4 points out of every 3 games they play. Remarkable stuff!
I will admit that l had Watford down in the bottom 3. This was before we signed Gray and Richarlison. Pace and power upfront has made a great deal of difference. Losing Chalobah is not good news. Capone is not the answer for Silva's midfield style. Palace look doomed already. Has Huddersfield's bubble burst? The below 7th place league has Watford sitting in a good position right now. Bournemouth early poor form is rumoured to be down to player unrest. They were unhappy with Defoe's wages £104,000 pw at 37 yrs old. When you throw in Ake's £100,000 pw and Afobe's £110,000 pw, some of the seasoned/younger players were a touch pissed off. Howe' stubborn streak did not help the players gel together over the gap in wages. They appear to have resolved this issue. The American partners are pulling the strings now not Max Denim.
I thought Huddersfield were going to be like Hull last season and sink like a stone after a bright start, but their win against title contenders Man U suggests they may well have what it takes to stay up. What an amazing job Wagner's done there over the last 15 months, even more so winning 2-1 against Man U with only 22% possession lol. Stoke really look in trouble, I think Mark Hughes' time is up. I know Arsenal don't have a great team, but how on earth did they lose to Stoke? This division thankfully looks a lot more open and competitive after the disappointing divide between the top 7 and the rest last season.
Starting to look interesting down there. Palace new manager and picking up points. New West Ham manager. New West Brom manager. Swansea look gone. Can't see anything good about them. Stoke too. How on earth did they beat us??? Everton have big sam who knows how to survive. At this point J'd say Swansea Stoke and Huddersfield.
I'd go with that. But wouldn't rule out wba or whu. Both have new managers but both aren't winners and esp wba must be a risk as they are trying to change from an engrained style.
True. Wba players may react better as they've probably wanted to play more expansive football but have been stifled. Agree with west ham. Think they will be bottom 4 as it's going. They just look pants.
The initial Pardew bounce may save WBA this season. This time next year though they'll probably be back in the same boat with Pardew's job under threat.
Newcastle, Palace and Huddersfield for me. Muff will be safe. Stoke and WBA will bore themselves to safety.
