English Premier League: One Word to Describe Each of the Top 7 Teams

Most of the Premier League teams have played 11 games already, and we are starting to learn quite a few things about them with almost a third of the season completed.

As the table stands right now, Manchester City top England, with Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea following, as Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal are in fifth, sixth, and seventh place, respectively.

The leading scorers right now are Robin van Persie, Edin Dzeko, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero and Demba Ba.

Within those top seven teams mentioned above, I will give one word to describe each one of them according to their current form.

Arsenal (7th Place): Reborn

After the first few games, the Gunners had their worst start to a season in decades. The main matches that highlighted how badly they played were an 8-2 demolition at Old Trafford and a 4-3 loss to Blackburn, as Arsenal scored two own goals.

Now, however, Arsene Wenger's side are on the rise.

The climax of their road up the table was in a 5-3 thriller against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, as Robin van Persie bagged a hat trick.

In the Premier League, Arsenal have won four matches in a row, and the Dutch striker is proving to be the hero of the squad—it wasn't clear that he was the leader when Cesc Fabregas was a Gunner.

Players like Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Laurent Koscielny, Alexandre Song and Gervinho have done extremely well in the last few games, and the first two are maturing as footballers.

Hopefully for Gooners, Arsenal can keep this up, and they might even be able to finish in the top four and earn yet another Champions League spot for next year.

Liverpool (6th Place): Erratic

Liverpool have a great squad in terms of quality and depth.

The only thing they lack is togetherness and consistency (the two exact problems that were present with Manchester City in the last few years).

With Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Steward Downing, Charlie Adam and Dirk Kuyt as their big-name players, Kenny Dalglish has so far failed to have the Reds play up to their skill level.

The odd thing about this team is the inconsistency: on some days they are brilliant, but on others they are awful.

For example, King Kenny's team beat both Arsenal and Everton 2-0, as well as drawing 1-1 with giants Manchester United. Those were all strong performances from the squad.

However, in September, they fell at the hands of Stoke 1-0, as well as getting hammered 4-0 by a brilliant Tottenham side. On Saturday, they drew 0-0 at home against Swansea; those three were all dismal performances from Liverpool.

They need to work on playing well on a regular basis in order to work their way up the table.

Tottenham (5th Place): In-Betweeners

All top teams have their superstars, and Tottenham are no exception.

With the likes of Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor, Luke Modric, Aaron Lennon, Scott Parker and especially Gareth Bale to provide the talent, the Spurs can be described as being "stacked."

By "in-betweeners," I mean that Tottenham can compete with teams outside of the top two; not only worse teams like West Bromwich Albion, Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa, but even better ones like Arsenal and Liverpool.

However, against the best teams, Harry Redknapp's side failed to come up with the goods, losing 3-0 to Manchester United and 5-1 to Manchester City.

However, they beat Arsenal 2-1 and Liverpool 4-0, so they can beat the second-tier teams.

Gareth Bale has really stepped up this year, as Tottenham have consistently beaten the third- and fourth-rate teams, so it looks as if Spurs can really challenge for the top four—or even three—slots.

It won't be easy, however, and it will require the best players to step up. Nonetheless, it is an excellent position to be in at this point in the season.

Chelsea (4th Place): Slipping

Chelsea started off the season quite well, winning six out of their first eight matches. Despite that, they did have a couple of worse matches: a 3-1 loss against Manchester United and a 0-0 draw against Stoke.

But then in their last three Premier League matches, they have failed to produce the best results.

In an October 23rd fixture at Loftus Road, Chelsea disastrously had both Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba sent off in the first half. QPR managed to capitalize, pulling off an unexpected win over the Blues.

Then, six days later, something just as bad—if not worse—happened. Chelsea lost to Arsenal in a thrilling match, the scoreline of which was hilariously described as "Chelsea Attacking VI 3-5 Arsenal Attacking VI" by the Guardian's Scott Murray. The defending in that match by both sides was all over the place, but more so for Chelsea.

On Saturday, though the Blues beat Blackburn 1-0, it was an unimpressive performance from them, given that Blackburn are one of the worst sides in the Premier League.

Despite having many excellent players like Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata and Petr Cech, their form isn't so good.

Andre Villas-Boas needs to talk to his men before the situation gets worse.

Newcastle (3rd Place): Pretenders

Talk of surprise stories.

Newcastle United, who finished in 12th place last year, and were always considered second-rate—or even third-rate—are now No. 3 in the EPL.

The departures of alpha males like Joey Barton and Andy Carroll certainly helped, as there has been a better sense of equality in the dressing room, as described by some players.

Many people don't take this team's amazing run seriously at all, despite the fact that the Toon have yet to lose a match.

It is true that the only big teams they have played are Arsenal and Tottenham, and no doubt they will drop points in their next three matches—Manchester City (away), Manchester United (away), Chelsea (home).

And out of the all these seven teams in the slideshow, Newcastle is the only one without the big names; their biggest stars are Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Leon Best, Ryan Taylor and Shola Ameobi.

I really don't think that they will be able to keep up this record, especially as they begin to face bigger and bigger teams.

They're not here to stay.

Manchester United (2nd Place): Solid

Manchester United are rock solid, as usual.

Somehow, Sir Alex Ferguson's side, no matter how talented, always manages to pull off a win, whether it's a 1-0 tough one, or an 8-2 trouncing.

The climax of the season was on August 30th, as every fan knows, when they did undescribable things to Arsenal, winning 8-2. However, in October, the low point of the season so far came, as Manchester City brutally exposed their weaknesses in a 6-1 win for the "noisy neighbors."

Wayne Rooney started off the season extremely well, establishing himself as the leader of the Premier League Golden Boot race within the first few games.

Since then, however, the Englishman, who is the key player in United's offense, has slowed down, and isn't scoring as much.

Their attack, which possesses great players like Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Luis Nani, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck and their defense—Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling, and Patrice Evra—were so good that their midfield looked worse than it actually was.

Now, however, they look much better, as players like Anderson, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Park Ji-Sung are improving greatly.

The Red Devils will have no trouble finishing in the top three, and the top two finish is probable, but can they win the Premier League yet again?

Manchester City (1st Place): Unstoppable

How to describe this team?

For many years, a team loaded with superstars was unable to play together and solve ego problems, but now, would you look at these guys?

Players like Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, David Silva, Adam Johnson, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Yaya Toure, Micah Richards, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott and Gael Clichy make up this brilliant squad, and even though they are being accused of going against fair-play rules, they are living proof that buying superstars works.

The best Manchester City player has been David Silva, who is making a claim as one of the best players in the entire Premier League.

Meanwhile, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko are proving that they have no problem putting the ball in the net, having scored nine and 10 EPL goals respectively.

They have a goal difference of 29, having scored 39 goals and conceding 10, as this group of players are showing that stars can play together.

Of course, Carlos Tevez and Roberto Mancini's row makes that one major conflict in the team, but that will be ended come January, when the Argentine will most likely be sold.

I don't think there's any stopping the Citizens, as they will cruise to Barclays Premier League victory for the first time in club history.

Looking Ahead

With that, here are my predictions for the top seven of the EPL by the end of the season:

1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Chelsea
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Liverpool
7. Newcastle

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