As the Premier League gets ready to lift its curtain for the second time, it is important to remember how much is left to play for in these remaining games this season
The Premier League is set for a historic return this week. Football in England has been on hold for the best part of three months and now it is back, much to people's relief.
Despite the biggest prize in England pretty much already at home at Anfield, there is still a lot left to play for. Liverpool themselves are not only hoping to seal their first-ever Premier League trophy but are on course to beat the record for the most amount of points gained (Man City 2018, 100) in a season.
The Reds should be able to wrap the title at Selhurst Park should they win their first two games after returning. The only way Liverpool can win the title sooner is by beating Everton at Goodison Park and if Arsenal causes an upset and beat Manchester City on Wednesday.
The Battle For Europe
The battle for the Champions League places is as competitive as ever. Second place is basically nailed on for the Citizens, however, they are yet to know if they will be allowed to participate in the Champions League next season after they allegedly broke FFP rules.
This would mean that fifth place would entitle the holder to a Champions League spot, should City be denied their place. Leicester City is sitting comfortably in third place, five points ahead of fourth-place Chelsea.
Leicester City has had an amazing season under Brendon Rogers. The Foxes are set to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in their history. Leicester striker Jamie Vardy will also be wanting to get going as he has his eye on landing a golden boot. Vardy is currently the most prolific striker in the Premier League with nineteen goals.
Chelsea has already started to make moves in the transfer market, signing Hakim Ziyech, and agreeing to a deal for Red Bull Leipzig striker Timo Werner. Qualifying for the Champions League is paramount for the Blues to succeed.
Manchester United are also in the mix for European football. The Red Devils will be buoyed by the return of key players Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Eric Bailly. This will be the most fit the United side has been in recent memory.
United currently occupy fifth place but are closely followed by Sheffield United and Wolves. Sheffield United, however, have the chance to overtake United should they win their game in hand against Aston Villa.
There is still a chance of Tottenham and Arsenal making late surges up the table to snatch the Europa League places, however, they are four and five points behind United and facing tricky run-ins.
Arsenal and Tottenham will battle each other in a very anticipated North London derby. This game could be crucial in deciding the success the London clubs have this season.
The Dogfight
The relegation battle is set to be one of the closest in recent memory. Norwich is sat rooted to the bottom of the table. If the Canaries don't pick up a win fast they could find themselves cut off pretty quickly. What doesn't help Norwich is that they have a very hard run-in, facing four of the typical 'big-six' in their remaining games.
Norwich will need to start finding the back of the net on a more regular basis if they are to have any hope of staying up. The Canaries have only scored twenty-five goals this season, the worst record in the League.
Aston Villa is currently sat in nineteenth position two points away from safety. The Villians do have a game in hand against Sheffield United and should they win, it would lift them to sixteenth place. Villa, however, does face difficult matches against Europe chasing Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolves, Chelsea and League Leaders Liverpool.
Villa fans will be hoping the team has used this break to work on their defending. Dean Smiths side has conceded the most amount of goals in the league this season (56).
Villa and Norwich may have too much to do in order to escape relegation. The next three teams up the league are all tied on twenty-nine points. Bournemouth, Watford and West Ham have all had disappointing seasons.
Bournemouth will have welcomed the mid-season break, what seemed to be half the squad was out injured. The Cherries now have some important players back, such as David Brooks who will be key in changing the club's fortunes around.
Watford started the season in horrific form and have battled back into a competitive position under new manager Nigel Pearson. The Hornets are the only team to beat league leaders Liverpool and definitely are. capable of putting together a run of results to drag themselves away from the relegation zone.
West Ham had spent over £100 million last summer on new talent, and it has not seen their fortunes change. The Hammers have found themselves back towards the bottom end of the table. David Moyes has returned to manage the club, this has seen the club start to perform better before the break.
Hammers fans will be hoping the club will pick-up from where they left off in terms of performance standard. West Ham will also have benefited from having the break as Andriy Yarmolenko, Jack Wilshere, Ryan Fredericks and Felipe Anderson have all recovered from injury and will be ready for the run-in.
A key match in the relegation battle will come on the last day of the season, Aston Villa will travel to the London Stadium in what could be a relegation shoot-out against West Ham.
Brighton and Hove Albion are the last teams that need to be looking over their shoulders once the season restarts. The Seagulls are only on twenty-nine points and face an extremely difficult run-in.
The South-coast side is yet to win a game in 2020 and will face Leicester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool in their run-in. If Brighton does come out on the losing side of could be enough to send them down to the Championship.
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