A shortened gameweek and the transfer window being open means there are all sorts of nonsense stories flying around at the moment. Gary Lemke cuts through the noise to highlight a few talking points ahead of the weekend.
LIVERPOOL LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDER
Just over halfway through the season and Liverpool top the Premier League by three points and all is aligning for the Anfield club. Only Man City have scored more goals than them, and Liverpool lead in terms of log position (1st), fewest goals conceded (18), fewest defeats (1), most wins (13) and widest goal difference (25).
By all the important metrics they should go on to win the title. They’re away to 12th-placed Bournemouth on Sunday as well. What can go wrong? Well, the bookmakers believe plenty will.
They have Man City, five points behind Liverpool with a game in hand, at 72/100 favourites to win the title, with Liverpool at 9/4. Arsenal are 6/1 and Aston Villa 25/1. Who’s your money on?
BLUES HIT ANOTHER LOW
Chelsea’s defeat (we seem to write those two words quite often) to Middlesbrough in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg was the first time they lost a game in that competition to a lower-league team since Huddersfield in 1999.
That’s not all. The 1-0 defeat was their 31st in all competitions since the start of last season. Only Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth (32 each) have lost more.
Advantage Middlesbrough as they BEAT Chelsea in the 1st leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final 🔴 pic.twitter.com/4HyDoa9aIo
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 9, 2024
WILL WERNER FIND HIS SCORING BOOTS?
While we’re with Chelsea, the big news of the week was their former striker Timo Werner joining north London rivals Tottenham. It could be an inspired move by Spurs, because while the German scored only 10 times in 56 Premier League games, Chelsea have become known as the graveyard of strikers.
Werner’s Chelsea stats make for bleak reading. Those 10 goals from 56 games (0.18 per match). 124 shots, with 48 on target (39% accuracy). Hit the woodwork eight times and missed 25 big chances. The positive news is that Werner is in his prime at age 27 and will be better at Spurs than he was at Chelsea. Surely?
Timo Werner is intent on making an impact at Tottenham Hotspur. pic.twitter.com/idxb97EcD6
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 10, 2024
RONALDO WINS 2023 RACE, BUT WHO’S SECOND?
This slipped my mind last week, but it’s worth highlighting as we close off the second week of 2024. The answer to the simple question “which (top flight) footballer scored the most goals in 2023”? If you answered Cristiano Ronaldo you’d be correct, although that in itself is not a seismic shock.
Ronaldo closed off the year with 54 goals, many of them with Al Nassr in the Saudi league. However, second place caught my eye. Harry Kane, on 52. He has already netted 25 times for Bayern Munich, more than he got for Tottenham (18) in 2023.
Kylian Mbappe joined him on 52 (42 for PSG), while Erling Haaland finished on 50. From there it was to goals down to 40 for the season, German Cano, of Fluminense, Denis Bouanga (Los Angeles FC), and Romelu Lukaku (Roma and Belgium).
Cristiano Ronaldo – Top scorer of 2023 at 38 years old. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/AKxceLxZiC
— TCR. (@TeamCRonaldo) January 11, 2024
FOREST WILL FEEL SQUAD DEPARTURES
The Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cups are kicking off and it has had an effect on Premier League squads. In fact, only Burnley, Man City and Newcastle aren’t losing players to the two continental showpieces. Those clubs most affected are Nottingham Forest (6 players), Brentford (4), Arsenal, Man United and Tottenham (3) and Liverpool (2).
However, arguably the biggest influences that will be missed are Mo Salah (Liverpool), Mohammed Kudus (West Ham), Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace) and Andre Onana (Man United). It will be interesting to see how things play out over the next couple of weeks.
🇪🇬👑 Mohamed Salah with 14 Premier League goals this season!
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) January 1, 2024
Now, off to AFCON with Egypt. 👋 pic.twitter.com/0d59urKfKk
