TITLE RACE TIGHTENS: WHO IS FAVOURITE TO WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE THIS YEAR

Featured Image Credit: The Liverpool Offside

The 2020/21 Premier League Season has been bursting with drama so far, there have been some fantastic games and freakish results.

Despite fans only just starting to make a return to matches, they have been thoroughly entertained whilst watching from home.

At the top of the table things are already starting to unravel, with teams finding their form and putting in a claim as to why they should be in the conversation of who could become the title winners.

With eleven games played for most sides, and the Christmas period rapidly approaching, this is an important time to stop and look at where things currently stand:

The favourites – Liverpool:

Having won the Premier League title last season, many have fancied Liverpool to do the same again this year, just maybe not with quite the same dominance.

From the offset there was much talk about the race being mainly contested between Liverpool and Manchester City again, but a poor start from the blue half in Manchester has swayed people’s opinions.

Liverpool are sitting second in the league at the moment, and under the management of Jurgen Klopp they are always going to pose a threat.

They have already claimed some big wins, sweeping both Wolves and Leicester away 4-0 and 3-0 respectively in recent weeks.

However, there is a real outlier in their results so far, they suffered a shocking 7-2 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa.

Adding more misery on top of this, Liverpool have been struggling with a whole host of injuries, particularly in defensive areas.

The one that hurt them the most was Virgil Van Dijk, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the Merseyside derby.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker and many others have had injury problems as well, but fortunately for Liverpool the other key players have managed to step up.

New signing Diogo Jota has been a revelation for the reds and has scored five Premier League goals already.

Alongside the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah could he help Liverpool to back-to-back Premier League trophies?

The Current leaders – Tottenham Hotspur:

An opening day defeat to Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton made it look as though this season could be a very tough test for Tottenham Hotspur.

Since this though spurs have gone unbeaten in their last ten games, resulting in them sitting at the top of the table with a grand total of 24 points.

It seems as though Jose Mourinho’s low possession, counter-attacking style has been implemented perfectly into this team.

With Harry Kane and Heung-min Son both on fire so far this season, spurs have become a tricky opponent to play against.

Coming into the season, there were not many that would have tipped them to have such a positive start, they have really been able to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the league.

As well as Kane and Son being on top form, the signings made in the summer transfer window have done Spurs a fair few favours.

Perhaps the most impactful signing being Pierre-Emile Hojberg from Southampton, he has bought them exactly what they needed in the middle of the park.

There are some other useful players they picked up as well, such as Sergio Reguilon and of course Gareth Bale on loan from Real Madrid.

This is shaping up to be a very good season for Tottenham, with more depth in the squad and star players firing.

After coming so close in the recent years, can spurs get a league title they have desperately been wanting for so long.

The outsiders - Chelsea

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea have found some fantastic form, following a slightly shaky start to the season causing some doubt, they are now picking up points week in week out.

With a number of new signings arriving this summer, Chelsea had a lot of pressure placed on them and it was vital for the players to hit the ground running.

There are a lot of differences in the squad from last season and the new members have largely impressed.

Despite a pair of 3-3 draws against West Brom and Southampton and a 2-0 loss to Liverpool, they are finding their rhythm.

With the joint most clean sheets in the league, it is evident why the signings of Rennes goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, experienced PSG defender Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell from Leicester were so important to the blues.

They struggled in this area last year, and something had to change, and with an almost completely new look defence, Chelsea have gone from having one of the poorest defences in the league to potentially the best.

There has been no problem at the other end of the pitch as well, as they are currently the second highest scoring team just behind Liverpool.

With a mix of the new signings and players that broke through last season such as Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, Chelsea now look like one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

It was vital that Lampard’s side were able to gel together quickly and get results, and right now he will be delighted with the way his team is performing.

Just like Tottenham no one had really predicted that Chelsea would come out as the title winners, but they are definitely in the race.

Manchester City:

At the beginning of the season many would of had Manchester City down as favourites, alongside Liverpool, to win the league, however as things stand you would have to consider them as an outsider.

It hasn’t been the smooth start to the season Pep Guardiola’s side would have been hoping for.

Man City, who are currently 7th in the Premier League, have had disappointing defeats to both Leicester and Tottenham already this year.

If they really want to impose themselves and be considered as title contenders, something is going to have to change.

There have been some glimpses of good form however, in their last two fixtures they have picked up six points and scored seven goals without conceding.

They will be hoping to build upon this, and try to get a good run going, will it be enough though to get them back where they need to be.

The underdogs – Leicester City:

Everybody loves an underdog and Leicester City are the perfect example of this.

Last year was a fantastic season for Leicester, narrowly missing out on a Champions League place.

Unfortunately, they did lose young left back Ben Chilwell to Chelsea in the summer, but their squad is still full of quality, with a mix of experience and youth, they are definitely one to watch.

Sitting in 4th place at the moment, Leicester are just three points off the top of the league, and with lead talisman Jamie Vardy firing on all cylinders they could be set for another great season.

There have been some impressive results achieved by this Leicester side as they demolished Manchester City at the Ethiad stadium 5-2 in the opening weeks of the season.

Despite this though, they have had two 3-0 defeats to West Ham and Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers will be working on ways to avoid defeats like this and will be hoping to produce something magical at Leicester.

The question remains though, can Leicester shock everyone and be in the battle for the title, of course we all know they have done it before.

Overall, the Premier League is shaping up to be very tightly contested at the top, and in one of the strangest seasons we have seen to date, could there be a big twist in what happens?