As a lawyer we must work in teams very often and that lends itself perfectly to talking about sports, in our legal offices that sport is soccer, and specifically the English Premier League. As you can imagine when a team of lawyers get together with varied opinions, the debates can be pretty epic. Stacey L Tokunaga and I usually butt heads about everything relating to football and recently we have been really getting into it about who will finish in the top 4. We both agree that Liverpool and City will take the top 2 spots, but what about the final 2 places?
Leicester
Stacey is adamant that Leicester will finish in 3rd by a country mile this season, and that they will be closest to the top 2 ahead of the rest. The case Stacey makes is not without merit of course, the team have been on fire so far this season and Rodgers is really getting the most out of that young and hungry team. Any team with players like Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Ben Chilwell in it are going to do well, which is the main point behind his argument. I just feel however that an injury to one or two players will massively impact the team and whilst they may finish in 4th, I think 3rd is just a bride too far.
Arsenal
Something which Stacey and I agree on is that Arsenal will not finish top 4. They are just too weak defensively and whilst their firepower is incredible, Unai Emery just looks completely lost in terms of how to manage this team. Under a better manager they may scrape a top 4 finish, under this one they won’t.
Chelsea
Frank Lampard has really impressed this season, so too has his young team with the likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi. I do believe that they will get into the top 4 because they also have some rich experience in their team, plus their competition isn’t great. Stacey of course disagrees, mainly because of his opinions towards Chelsea as a club.
Spurs
Stacey reckons that it will be Tottenham Hotspur who take the final position in the top 4 and that they have enough to turn their season around after a horrific start. I just feel that they are far too far off the pace to make up the ground, and with Leicester and Chelsea playing as well as they are, Spurs will miss out for the first time in 5 years.
Manchester United
Once again we are in agreement here that Manchester United’s season is over and that they may even struggle to finish in the top 6. A dreadful start and too much change for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to make at the club following years of poor management is why they just won’t make the grade this year.
How do you see the top 4 shaping up?
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