We’re around halfway through the 2022/23 Premier League season…and what a season it’s been so far.
Who could have called last season’s Europa League semi-finalists West Ham battling relegation? Who would have predicted the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool scrapping in mid-table? And who called Arsenal running away with the title?
Probably very, very few.
Some sides have thrived in the first half of the season, negotiating their way around a mid-season World Cup to set themselves up for strong finishes, while others have done nothing but faltered throughout.
But who has found it toughest in the top flight thus far? And what Premier League clubs can look forward to the most difficult run-ins?
Well, evidently, some have found it much harder than others. It’s easy to blame things on the all-seeing fixture computer that’s wheeled out at the start of the season but, in truth, it all comes down to how well you handle what’s in front of you.
The likes of Southampton and Bournemouth might have been dealt cruel hands to kick off the campaign, but intermittent defeats between similarly disappointing results against the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea for both sides didn’t exactly help their subsequent settling at the foot of the table.
In similar fashion, Everton and Wolves can have very few complaints about their accumulation of defeats, having both failed to overcome the likes of Leeds, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in their opening five fixtures of the season.
Consistency has been missing for Chelsea and Liverpool, who both languish in mid-table.
The Blues were set up for a good season with a friendly run of games against the likes of Everton, Leeds and Southampton but couldn’t make use of those early-season fixtures before stumbling with consecutive meetings against Man Utd, Brighton, Arsenal and Newcastle more recently, taking one point from those four encounters.
Similarly, Liverpool couldn’t build momentum from a 9-0 battering of Bournemouth earlier in the season and, despite getting challenging games against Newcastle, Man Utd and Arsenal over and done with relatively early, have faltered against the likes of…
..
