Kevin Doyle on the Premier League so far, Man United v Wolves & Spurs v Man City
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Which team do you think has made the most progress so far this season?
I believe this goes to Liverpool. They are top of the leagueand seem to be comfortably coasting to the title. Their first since the 1989-90season!
I enjoy seeing how the team has progressed as a unit, andnot by going out and spending a lot of money on new players. They have asimilar group of players as they had last year. The Champions League victory gavethe team a real boost of confidence. Jurgen Klopp has been a great manager andhas given them the belief that they can go out there and win the title.
There’s been talk of Jordan Henderson getting Player of the Season which would have been laughed at last season! He’s never been seen a key player in years gone by, whereas now he’s a very consistent player and club captain. Henderson has really stepped up his game and shown his club what he is made of. He is a Champions League winner and soon to be a Premier League winner too.
There are other teams at the bottom of the table who haveimproved, but nothing compared to the leap of improvement we have seen inLiverpool this season. Having gone unbeaten in their first 23 Premier Leaguegames this season, they are going to comfortably win the league which no onecould have predicted at the start of the campaign.
Which player has surprised you the most in a good or bad way so far this season?
Paul Pogba from Man Utd is a player who has surprised methis season, and unfortunately not in a good way seeing as he has been injuredfor most of the season so far.
I was fully behind him to do well and thought this was goingto be his season. I think he is a fantastic player to watch and I love the wayhe plays. But he seems to only perform when he fancies a game whereas if hedoesn’t fancy it, his performance drops.
There is a lot of untapped ability within him that we had seen when he played for Juventus. He has shown this in glimpses for Man Utd, but not enough for the hefty cost of £89.3 million that United spent on him! He is a player which people expected to be world class for United, but he just isn’t living up to that standard.
The drop in his performance shouldn’t come down to the change of coaches at Old Trafford. How many managers did Cristiano Ronaldo go through at Real Madrid when they weren’t performing?
This doesn’t excuse his individual form and why he cannot rise above this himself and be the stand-out performer for his club.
Man Utd v Wolves, Saturday, 17:30
United’s 6-0 win over Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup last week was great for them. But looking at their overall performance this season, they seem to win a game and then their form drops the next. I feel this will be the case this weekend, I really fancy Wolves to go to Old Trafford and get a win.
You never would have imagined that Wolves starting 11 isstronger than United’s! Wolves are a club on the up and unfortunately Man Utdare stalling. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have put in several good performancesthis season, but they can’t maintain the consistency the following week.
I can see Wolves being full of confidence heading into thisgame. When I was playing for the club, we wouldn’t have had much confidenceheading to Old Trafford but would have fancied playing United at Molineux.
When you look at the strong team Wolves now have you cantell their players are clearly happy to be where they are.
Their club is going to spend money and invest which theyhave done over the past number of years which has paid dividends. Theirmanager, Nuno Espírito Santo, seems to be confident with his squad.
I can see Wolves winning this game and not just win it by defending well, having everyone behind the ball and hoping to get a lucky break – but winning it by playing good attacking football!
Prediction: 1-2 Wolves win
Burnley v Arsenal, Sunday, 14:00
Burnley have turned their season around and are going for their third win on the bounce which is a big deal at this time in the season. They had previously been down in the bottom three but have got themselves out of the danger zone. The Clarets are a hard-working, solid team and seem to have gone back to basics.
Arsenal have been struggling to win games, now on theirthird straight league draw. Turf Moor is a tough place to get a result and MikelArteta is still settling in and hasn’t got his managerial career off to aflying start.
My prediction for this game is a 1-0 win to Burnley withJeff Hendrick scoring the goal. He hasn’t had a fantastic season and has beenin and out due to injuries.
But he is a good midfielder who can get forward and scores important goals. Burnley don’t rely on a single striker to get lots of goals, everyone from their midfielders to their defender’s pitch in. They are a real hard working, solid team.
Prediction: 1-0 Burnley
Tottenham v Man City, Sunday, 16:30
Manchester City have really turned their season around sinceChristmas having had a bad spell in November and December last year. They are ateam full of confidence, but I can’t see them coming close to catchingLiverpool and I am sure deep down they know they aren’t going to win it.
City have a squad of really good players and are definitelyin a better position than Tottenham.
Tottenham are back to the form they were showing when MauricioPochettino got sacked and there are rumours of players not enjoying training orJose Mourinho’s methods. I thought they would have spent a lot of money in thetransfer window and gave Jose Mourinho some players which I presume he waspromised.
If you asked me a month ago when Mourinho was first in thejob, I would have fancied Tottenham to get something from this game.
The club have just sold Christian Eriksen to Inter Milan,with the Dane rumoured to be a disruptive influence in the dressing room. But ifyou could draw one positive from losing such a talented player, it could seethe team player with a bit more freedom going forward.
Jose Mourinho needs to do a good job at Tottenham now. Thisis his chance now to turn around what has been a bad number of years for him andclaim some silverware at the club.
For such a top manager, he won’t be happy with how his CVhas been looking over the last few years.
This new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a fantastic place toplay football. I can see Tottenham sitting back, counterattack and making it adifficult game for City.
However, Man City perform well against teams who have this style of play. They have enough technically gifted players to break you down in the final third. I see the Lilywhites sitting in with City having 70% possession or more and eventually breaking Tottenham down and winning the game.
Prediction: 0-2 Man City
My 1-2-FREE PREDICTION
MyFive-Fold ACCA
Leicester v Chelsea: Chelsea win
Crystal Palace v Sheffield Utd: Sheffield Utd win
Man Utd v Wolves: Wolves win
Tottenham v Man City: Man City win
Burnley v Arsenal: 1-0 Burnley win
Kevin
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