With the 2024-25 Premier League season having crossed the halfway mark and the January transfer window having opened, teams will scramble over the course of the next month to try and apply the finishing touches to their squad in hopes of flying through the upcoming congested fixture schedule.
Is the title race already sealed?
With Manchester City going through what has been their worst season under Pep Guardiola, the league is in unprecedented territory. In recent years the Mancunian side has been within touching distance of the league leaders, if not at the top themselves, but with their injury crisis, the four-time defending champions are 14 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Heading into the season, Liverpool were expected to enter into the transition period under new head coach Arne Slot, but the Dutch coach has so far passed his trial through fire, having lost only one of their first 18 games so far. It’s important to point out that Liverpool have been the luckiest of the title contenders when it comes to injuries. The two vital cogs of the side in Mohamed Salah and club captain Virgil Van Dijk have made it through unscathed when compared to Arsenal, who were without Martin Odegaard for a long period and Bukayo Saka, who has recently suffered a torn hamstring, and Manchester City, whose midfield was left tattered with injuries to Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne.
With Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca remaining adamant that his side is not in the title race, and having dropped points in their last three league outings, the Italian head coach’s comments may be springing to life. Realistically speaking, that leaves the Gunners as the only side who can potentially chase down the Reds.
Does Arsenal have the potential to end their title drought?
The Gunners, who fell agonisingly short by one point last season, have been title contenders for the third straight year now. They have a mammoth task ahead of them as they sit in third place, having played one game less than second-placed Nottingham Forest, nine points behind Liverpool. The Gunners struggled seriously without Odegaard’s creativity and scraped through during his absence with their relentless set-piece routines. Out of the eight games that the Gunners have dropped points in, four came during Odegaard’s absence.
There is no doubt that a fully fit Arsenal side is one of the best in the league, which was evident during their 5-1 routing against Crystal Palace, and a player of Odegaard’s profile is hard to replace, but the question remains: Will Mikel Arteta be able to adapt his side to play without their most lethal attacking outlet?
Saka has so far provided 15 g/a in 16 games this season and was leading the league in assists before his injury. Although the Gunners still possess one of the best defenses in the league.
Will Gabriel Martinelli or someone like Gabriel Jesus be able to fill the void, or will Arteta be looking to bring in reinforcements during the upcoming window?
Manchester United’s relegation battle: A cause of INEOS’ making?
Let’s backtrack to the 2023-24 season when Manchester United’s majority stakeholders in INEOS were chasing the appointment of Dan Ashworth for the club’s sporting director, and despite Newcastle United’s resistance, succeeded in bringing him to Old Trafford. The Red Devils, who finished the 2023-24 season in eighth place, were on the brink of sacking Erik Ten Hag over the summer, but the side defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and according to reports, it was Ashworth who backed the Dutch head coach and extended his contract.
Fast forward to now, when both Ten Hag and Ashworth are unemployed and new head coach Ruben Amorim seems to be a fish out of water. The number of issues that need to be addressed in the club seems to be rising day by day.
Amorim, who went 34 games unbeaten with his previous side Sporting CP, now has five defeats in his first eight league matches, as his side sits in 14th place. The head coach agreed his club is in the relegation battle, which may be a tad bit drastic given the difference in competition with the teams that are at the bottom of the table, but Amorim’s statements were not meant to be taken literally. What it implies is that given the state of things at Carrington, the club’s status, fan base and value is decreasing day by day.
It is likely that they enter the transfer window to try and bring in reinforcements, particularly in the wingback position, but will have to navigate the thin line between bringing in players who will help the club in a long-term capacity and the PSR regulations.
What happens to Van Dijk, Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold?
Liverpool’s inability to tie down Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Van Dijk may prove to be costly for the side as they have now entered the dangerous January period. With the club’s three biggest stars now in the final six months of their contracts, foreign clubs are now permitted to approach the players in hopes of signing a pre-contract that would see them leave the club at the end of the season.
Out of the three, Alexander-Arnold is perhaps the most likely to leave. A report by The Athletic on Tuesday claimed Real Madrid have already offered the player a four-and-a-half-year contract with a huge signing bonus and also that Trent is quite close to accepting the agreement.
However, the player remains adamant that no discussions have taken place and he is not close to making a decision on where his future lies.
Club captain Van Dijk is expected to sign a new contract with the club, already having begun talks with the Dutch defender. Unlike Salah, Van Dijk has also remained hopeful in the public, stating he wants to stay at the club.
Salah, on the other hand, obviously wants to stay at Anfield and is believed to already be the highest-paid player at the club with a salary reported to be around 300,000 pounds. Liverpool as a club have never been one to overpay a player, with fears of disrupting their books.
However, with the Egyptian currently leading the league in goals and assists, may be worth the big bucks. He recently revealed that even though discussions have begun, the two parties are not close to an agreement.
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