Football with Faris: The week’s hottest stories from the beautiful game

By: Faris Gohir

The Premier League title race has heated up. Which teams are favourites for Champions League places? Which teams are as good as relegated, and who is the surprise package? Time for a mid-season wrap-up.

Surprise Premier League title race
If anyone stated at the start of the season that Liverpool would be flying in this race with Chelsea in second heading into December, they would’ve been laughed at. Despite a new manager in Arne Slot, Liverpool have taken this season by storm, only dropping points in three out of the 14 games they’ve played – the scariest thing is they don’t show signs of slowing down. Sitting four points clear with a game in hand, it’s hard not to look past the Merseyside reds as the clear favourites to clinch the club’s 20th league title.
Chelsea have risen as a new force with Enzo Maresca now in charge. They officially announced themselves in the title race after the statement 4-3 win away to bitter London rivals Tottenham, after coming back from 2-0 down. Cole Palmer continues to shine, and Nicolas Jackson is in red-hot form as Chelsea are playing exciting attacking football, manufacturing the most open play chances in the league so far. Perhaps the near £2 billion spent was bound to finally amount to something.
In hindsight, Manchester City’s season ended the day Rodri was sidelined for the campaign, as they later went on a seven-game winless run with four league losses on the bounce denting their title hopes. Pep Guardiola, during this chaos, signed a two-year contract extension – perhaps heavy cash spent in the January transfer window can reignite the dream of five in a row, if Liverpool were to slip up.
The Gunners have had a rocky start to the season littered with red cards, injuries, and a lack of vintage Arsenal attacking flair. They look far off the pace and were supposed to be the ones in line to snatch the league title if Manchester City were to collapse, as they have. The top four Champions League places seem to be locked down with these four clubs.

Surprise package Nottingham Forest
After years of spending money on transfers, a point deduction last season, and narrowly surviving relegation, Nottingham Forest seem to have turned a corner, with things looking good after a long time. A defining factor is the appointment of Nuno Espírito Santo, who has been a revelation, as he looks to repeat his feat with Wolverhampton Wanderers in grasping Europa League football, as Forest have reached fifth place.
If a surprise package took the form of a player, it would be the team’s gunman up top in Chris Wood, who, after years spent in the Premier League at Burnley and Newcastle, is displaying the form of his career with double digits in league goals, with still more than half the games left to play. Sprinkle this with quality players in Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga, Murillo, and Danilo, Nottingham look like a decent outfit.

Relegation fodder
Southampton will inevitably go straight back down to the Championship as they sit rock bottom of the league. Saints manager Russel Martin will die on his sword of constantly deploying suicide expansive football against superior opposition. Ipswich have had bright moments thus far, giving Luton vibes from last season, but like what happened to the latter, the former look like they’ll follow suit and go down.
The last spot to go down looks like a toss-up between Wolves and Leicester City. Maybe the new Foxes manager Ruud van Nistelrooy can aid Leicester to secure another season in England’s top division