Will this year’s EPL have a thrilling finish?

The English Premier League is, undoubtedly, one of the most competitive and popular competitions in the world. It comes as no surprise that the major sponsors like Nike and Adidas and similar other top brands have for many years focused their attention on the EPL to promote their products.

Advertising using the clubs, players and venue facilities is big business. This has enabled many football clubs in England and elsewhere in the world including Europe, to financially benefit from big money. This vast financial revenue has prompted football clubs to make infrastructural works on their facilities and stadiums; training grounds and improve the medical service offered to players and coaching staff.

However, probably the most important investment made by various English clubs like Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal is the importation of foreign coaches. Like in the case of Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp. And if you check a top bookmaker’s review, you will find out that the German is considered the favorite to lead Liverpool to unified glory.

Moreover, the English Premier League has attracted world-class players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Virgil van Dijk, Joao Cancelo, Bruno Fernandez, Harry Kane and Edison Cavani. The arrival of top-class and highly ranked world players together with talented players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, has made the Premier League one of the most followed competitions and one of the most exciting football leagues in the world.

In the recent past, most megastars preferred to play their football in Spain’s infamous clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Nowadays, it seems that top-class players are opting to interact at the peak of their career by playing in the Premier League.

This influx of stars and well-experienced coaching staff raises two important questions:

1. Which player is the best of the best?
2. Which EPL team is the strongest of all to compete with the Premier League and possibly other major European competitions like the Champions League?

Answering the first question, one tends to nominate Cristian Ronaldo as the best of the best. This goal-scoring machine has been making its mark on the game for quite a number of years. He commenced scoring power when playing in Portugal and continued scoring when he was at Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and now back at Manchester United.

Scoring goals will always attract special attention. Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspurs is another prolific player, scoring goals for his club as well as the English national team. Defenders like Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool is a bollard at the heart of his team’s defense. Other overlooked players who have positively contributed to the performances of their clubs include N’Golo Kante of Chelsea, Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspurs, Joao Cancelo of Manchester City, Trent Alexander Arnold of Liverpool and Mohammed Salah also of Liverpool.

Investing wisely and targeting the right players to fit into the football philosophy of the manager is of the utmost importance to have a well oiled and balanced football team geared to win games and titles. With hindsight, one may argue that Manchester City, under the guidance of the football genius, Pep Guardiola, has been very careful how to spend their money. Recruiting players like Kevin De Bryne a solid attacking midfielder; Joao Cancelo bought from Juventus and a capable attacking fullback; Jack Grealish with his fantasy football and his attractive dribbling skills and; Riyad Mahrez a non-stop machine in the middle of the field, has enabled Manchester City to win the English Premier League title last year and are hot favorites to repeat their feat once again this year. Despite stiff competition from Chelsea and Liverpool, Manchester City remains the favorite to win the English Premier League title this year.

Last season, the Liverpool F.C  football club had to contend with a number of long-term injuries, especially in defense. Virgil van Dijk is virtually out for all the season due to an injury sustained during one of the Premier League games. This season the Merseyside team are back to full force.

Having Virgil van Dijk back at the heart of their defense and Mohammed Salah retaining his scoring skills has made Liverpool a top rival to regain the Premier League title from Manchester City. Under the management of the German-born coach, Jurgen Klopp, the Reds will surely give Manchester City a run for their money and will fight and combat until the very end to upset the current league table standings.

Manchester United was expected to make a more serious challenge to the Premiership title. Signing on players like Cristian Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho, it seemed that the Red Devils managed to find the appropriate elements to build a strong team and contend for the title. Maybe the changing of the guard (Ralf Rangnick replacing Ole Solskjaer) mid-way through the season has dampened their race to the title. Nonetheless, Manchester United can still recover pace and their standing in the table thus making the run to the title even more exciting.

The Blues from Stamford Bridge in London, Chelsea football club are also having a good season. Trailing on the heels of Manchester City, Chelsea have enough talent to give all the other contenders a stiff challenge to the English Premier League title. Under the direction of their German coach, Thomas Tuchel and with skilful players of the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Kai Havertz, Antonio Rudiger and N’Golo Kante, the blues from London have the perfect ingredients to make it to the top of the Premier League table.

The above teams together with other contenders like West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs and Leicester City, the English Premier League has the appropriate recipe for an exciting finish to the title. All teams need to focus and hope that injuries will not hinder their march towards the title. The coaching staff and medical experts need to ensure the well being and fitness of all the players. Considering the number of games each team has to play, the manager has to juggle and manage his players correctly to avoid fatigue and injuries. Also, maintain a high level of motivation and eagerness within the players. Keeping away injuries, especially from important and crucial players will be a determinable factor on who will win this year’s English Premier League title.

For sure, we are in for a very exciting finish that is just looming on the horizon.  Will it be Liverpool, will it be Manchester City or will one of the other teams strike an upset at the end of the league?  We would need to wait till May to see.