- The Premier League 2022/23 season is almost over with teams fighting for European competition slots and some battling it out in the relegation fight.
- We look at the major talking points as we bid the 2022/23 season goodbye.
The Premier League 2022/23 season is almost over with teams fighting for European competition slots and some battling it out in the relegation fight.
We look at the major talking points as we bid the 2022/23 season goodbye.
CITY TAKES THE TITLE AGAIN
Dominant Manchester City, won the Premier League title this past weekend, making them the reigning champions of England.
City has won 12 straight Premier League games to surpass Arsenal and win a fifth title in six seasons, cementing the club’s status as the best in the league.
City is now only the second club to achieve it during the Premier League era and the sixth English side overall to win three straight top-flight championships. Amazingly, it is the third of the top five leagues in Europe that Guardiola has won three straight times, having done it with Barcelona (2009–2011) and Bayern Munich (2014–2016).
The Spaniard, who has won 11 league championships in his 14 seasons as a manager, is now aiming for yet another treble triumph. With the FA Cup and Champions League finals yet to be played before the season ends, City is edging closer to immortality.
Guardiola already has a compelling case to be considered the best coach in history. It may be about to strengthen much more over these crucial few weeks.
BRIGHTON SECURE A EUROPEAN SLOT
Brighton team celebrate. |PHOTO: FourFourTwo|
After defeating Southampton to go to Europe, Brighton will play in European action for the very first time in the club’s history in the upcoming season.
For Roberto De Zerbi’s team, Evan Ferguson scored twice as they defeated their South Coast opponents 3-1 to guarantee European competition at the Amex Stadium the following year.
The team is already assured of at least a Europa Conference League spot and this season is already established as the finest top-flight campaign in Brighton’s history. To qualify for both the Europa League and a top-six finish in the Premier League, the Seagulls just need one point from their final two games.
It’s a generous reward following a spectacular campaign at Brighton, where one of the best-run clubs in the league earned European football with an outstanding style of play. The Seagulls are moving forward and will play in Europe the next season.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST ARE SAFE
Taiwo Awoniyi celebrates after securing safety for Nottingham Forest. Photo/Nottingham Forest
Last summer, Nottingham Forest acquired Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for a then-club-record price. The attacker arrived with pedigree after scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga the previous season.
The Nigerian scored the winning goal on his home debut against West Ham, but it took him some time to adjust to life in the Premier League this year. However, Awoniyi has found form at a key point in the season, and his five goals in three games have helped Forest stay in the playoff picture.
The 25-year-old earned his good fortune when Gabriel Magalhaes’ challenge deflected off the Forest striker and into the goal as he scored the game-winning goal against Arsenal to secure Forest’s place in the Premier League for another year.
Awoniyi resumed his remarkable pattern of scoring crucial goals by scoring for the third game in a row. This season, Awoniyi has made 16 Premier League starts and scored nine goals, four of which have come in 1-0 victories. Without his goals this year, Forest would be in the bottom half of the division and 16 points worse off.
LEEDS IN TROUBLE
Leeds could be relegated. Photo/talkSPORT
After the club’s 3-1 loss against West Ham this past weekend, Leeds are in serious trouble and Sam Allardyce’s team’s destiny is out of their control going into the last day.
After blowing a lead at West Ham, Leeds is now two points from survival and will need help from other places to have any hope of surviving. It maintained Leeds’ dismal trend of losing points in leading positions in the Premier League this season; Leeds has dropped 25 points from such positions so far this year.
No Premier League team has dropped more points when in the lead, and Leeds has now lost seven of its previous nine games in which it has scored first.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login