With 119 matches played and a total 356 goals scored at the time of writing this article, the Barclays Premier League continues with its cutthroat competitive nature that sees only seven points separate second-placed Manchester United and 7th placed Arsenal.
The season has barely been short of goals as only ten barren draws have been recorded so far. Surprisingly though, the scoreless draws have come between the relatively small teams, bar the 0-0 draws for Arsenal versus Newcastle and Chelsea against Stoke.
More startling though has been the string of high scoring matches that we have witnessed among the top six teams, who you would expect to have watertight defences. It all started on August 28 when Manchester United ran riot at home, hitting six past Arsenal who were arguably experiencing a tumultuous period after the exit of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick as the Red Devils trounced 8-2, a result that remains the biggest home win, the widest winning margin (tied with Fulham’s 6-0 win over QPR) and the highest scoring match of the season thus far.
The same weekend saw Manchester City batter Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane with Edin Dzeko scoring four goals. These two big wins seemed to have opened the floodgates for goals.
Since then, we’ve seen Tottenham win 4-0 against Liverpool, Manchester United experience a 6-1 karma at the hands of Manchester City at Old Trafford and Chelsea lose 5-3 and 3-1 to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively.
The only team that is yet to experience an ignominy of goals is Manchester City. The Citizens, though struggling in Europe, have been in impeccable form back at home in England. Roberto Mancini’s side have conceded the least number of goals in the premier league standing at 11, same as Liverpool and Newcastle.
They have not conceded more than two goals since the season began. The big question however is whether they can maintain their rich vein of form and will they find a side lethal enough in attack to hit them where it hurts.
Liverpool provides the opposition this weekend and the Merseyside club will go into the match brimming with confidence after dismissing Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. It will be a matchup of two clubs with the meanest defences.
Both teams won 3-0 against each other in their own backyard. Can Liverpool give the Sky Blues the beating this weekend? Never say never.
And That's thesteifmastertake!!
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