EPL 2009-10: What We Have Learned So Far

(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

This break in the EPL season gives us a perfect opportunity to sit back and analyze the year so far. From the good (lots of scoring), the bad (Portsmouth, Hull) to the ugly (Adebayor's antics, diving controversies, Portsmouth's financial mess) this has been a busy season so far and hopefully the following months are as exciting as the first two.

At the top of the table, you can find the usual suspects Chelsea and Manchester United (yawn). Both went through relatively quiet off-seasons, with Man United losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez and Chelsea adding a Russian midfielder (Yuri Zhirkov) who is yet to see the field.

Still, both have strong enough squads and barring any injuries both figure to play a part in the title race - again.

Rounding out the top four are Tottenham and Manchester City. Spurs have beaten Liverpool in Week One, but then were unceremoniously thumped by Chelsea and therefore are a big question mark. Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane (four goals at Burnley) are playing well so they have a chance to make some noise.

Man City has started well and seemed that all who called for them to finish in the top four this season were saying 'told you so' and patting themselves on the back. Adebayor-gate and the loss to United in the Derby took some of the air off the City balloon but it is clear that so far the new kids of the group are alright.

Chasing the top four are two familiar faces.

On sixth place, Liverpool are not really hanging by a thread but certainly are walking the tight rope. With three losses already they are already six points off the lead and will definitely not have room for error as the season goes along.

What bothers me about the Reds is that they do beat the teams they are supposed to (Stoke, Hull, Burnley) but whenever they play someone who is on a par with their talent level (Tottenham, Villa, Chelsea) they look totally outmatched.

Arsenal sit fifth, five points off the pace with a game in hand. As is typical with Arsenal in the last few several years, injuries have hit them hard all over the board, and the team has had to play many different players along the season.

The Gunners have also not been out of the headlines, most of the times for the wrong reasons. Lately Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has demanded that Arsene Wenger end the team's trophy less run this year. Things are interesting in North London to say the least.

A memo to Gazidis: Delivering a public ultimatum to the most successful manager in club history is not the best signal to give a team that has been coming under fire over the past few years.

(That concludes my Arsenal fan rant, now back to your regularly scheduled programming).

Aston Villa and Sunderland are playing well and sit right on the cusp but will probably not be more than spoilers to the big clubs and hang around the 7-10 spots throughout the season.

Bad news to the fans of everyone sitting nine to 20. Your team is not going to win this year and is most likely to play the part of cannon fodder for the big guns up top. Sorry, that's life.

Big ups for the new boys though. Wolves, Burnley, and Birmingham, the newly promoted clubs, are all hanging in there. Burnley in particular are proving to be a pain on the behind to all who go play at Turf Moor (Just ask Rooney and Co.).

I could go out on a limb and say that Burnley has a great chance to stay up and that since they are sitting at ninth, they would only have to win a certain amount of matches and all would be rosy but then I remind myself that at this time last season Hull was sitting way up there on the table and everyone was crowning Phil Brown as the next genius manager.

That was all before we all found out that Brown was a nut job and before his players quit on him - in December!

Which is around the same time I stop thinking Burnley is in the clear.

Speaking of Hull...Boy, where to start? A -12 goal difference, the fact that they have Jozy Altidore on their team, who rarely plays, but when he does he makes a difference (Hint: Play him more often!) or that they either win close or get blown out of the water makes this the worst team of the Premiership.

No, Portsmouth is off the hook even losing their first seven matches. Well, at least my 'opinion hook,' because they still are dead last and will most definitely be relegated. What is ironic is that they played so well during their losses (okay, in a few) but then won a complete stinker. Go figure.

And don't even begin with their financial situation, that requires another article, which I would have no patience writing - given the amount of b.s. involved.

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