Photocredit: metro.co.uk
As James Maddison hopes to redeem himself as far as his standing with the national team is concerned next week, he may get to have a brighter outlook on the possibility of playing Champions League Football next season with the Foxes as it looks more probable by the week than possible.
This weekend marks the final weekend before the last international break before March. So club football becomes king in two weeks time. But it's around this time that you start to get a better feel of how the season is going to look as it is a quarter complete. But luckily for quite a few premier league clubs, it's only a quarter. Many clubs aren't remotely meeting expectation.
We start to see rifts in the table by around Christmas but this year we are seeing it already in early November. With a 6 point gap separating 4th place Chelsea (23) with 5th place Arsenal (17), and the next 6 point gap going all the way down to 17th place Everton (11), then a 3 point gap separating them from 18th place Southampton, you're starting to get rifts in the table. Gameweek 12 looks particularly interesting as Everton and Southampton play each other in what is a clear must win situation for both. Everton wins and the gap gets bigger and we may already have our relegated teams. With Leicester City hosting Arsenal, the gap may get bigger at the top end as well and we may well have our top 4 set already. And the biggest one of all of course is Liverpool could make their lead 9 on top of City and put the league title essentially to rest as well.
The weekend starts with Norwich hosting Watford which will likely be a Championship matchup next year. These 2 squads are the two you have to be the most certain will likely not survive the season in the top flight. Norwich seemingly ran out of gas and the win over Manchester City was deceptive. However, it could cost City the season potentially that it happened. If Watford is going to finally win a game though after 12 tries, this has got to be the one.
Saturday the early fixture is Chelsea-Crystal Palace. Frank Lampard has recently been named manager of the month for October and rightfully so. Palace is a solid squad but Chelsea should manage to secure the win at the Bridge in this one. At the main time slot we've got Burnley hosting West Ham, Newcastle hosting Bournemouth, Spurs hosting Sheffield United, and the Southampton-Everton matchup. Burnley and West Ham feels like a draw but it would be a massive win for one of them should they manage it. If Bournemouth want to be a top 10 side, traveling to Newcastle and getting the win should be doable. Spurs-Sheffield could be very interesting. Classic Spurs would pull this one out at home no matter how well Sheffield has been doing and I expect them to pluck this one from Sheffield's clutches. Can't help but feel that Sheffield will have fought hard enough to get something but will end up not doing so. Just a gut feeling. The final game on Saturday should be a good one as Leicester host Arsenal. I see Leicester making a statement and winning this one. If both they and Chelsea win their games, the gap gets bigger between 4th and 5th and potentially quite a bit bigger.
Leicester and Chelsea wins combined with the right results could widen the gap to 9 between 4th and 5th, essentially making it clear who the top 4 are going to be. Does anyone think Leicester or Chelsea would collapse enough or that anyone under is really good enough to change your view?
Predictions:
Watford beat Norwich
Chelsea beat Palace
Burnley and West Ham draw
Bournemouth beat Newcastle
Everton beat Southampton
Spurs beat Sheffield United
Leicester beat Arsenal
Manchester United beat Brighton
Wolves and Aston Villa draw
Liverpool beat Man City