With Arsenal and Manchester City winning their bye games, this season's champions and relegated teams have been determined, only the "race for the fourth" only one suspense, Jerk is also a review of this season's Premier League so far all the matches, selected the most representative of the season's 8 matches.
Burnley 2-0 Liverpool (August 20, 2016): the Reds' lifeblood spotted
Liverpool showed their strength in the first game of the season, taking down Arsenal 4-3. However, in the second match, they were not able to continue their good form and suffered a defeat at Burnley. Sean Dyche's men were able to pick up a nice win at home with their correct tactical strategy and tenacious defense. Despite Liverpool's 80.6% possession in the game, defeat still looked inevitable.
Liverpool have dropped eight points on the bottom three teams so far this season, and have failed to pick up satisfying results against Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth - interestingly enough, the same teams that are part of the relegation melee.
Jurgen Klopp's team relies heavily on high pressing, attacking at high pressure up front and forcing the opposition to throw their hands up in the air while seizing possession of the ball. However, whether it was in the boring draw with Southampton or other matches against mid-to-lower-tier teams, Liverpool were never able to find a proper way to beat their opponents, just as they lost to Burnley in the second round of the Premier League, and they were never able to break through in the face of the iron barrel formation.
If they had addressed such an issue early on in their defeat to Burnley, perhaps they could have been a more credible title contender this season.
Hull City 0-2 Chelsea (October 1, 2016): Blues open title race
After a poor performance against Arsenal, Conte decided to make a change and was determined to get three points at Hull City.
Hull City beat defending champions Leicester City in the first round of the Premier League. And they wouldn't have conceded three points against Manchester United had it not been for Rashford's breakaway goal. Despite saying that they lost big to Arsenal and Liverpool before taking on Chelsea, they are still looking to get their confidence back in Chelsea.
Chelsea's three-at-the-back tactic proved to be the right one, and the goals from Willian and Diego Costa were what gave Conte and his team a newfound confidence. In addition, players such as David Luiz, Kante, Hazard and Diego Costa continued their good form throughout the rest of the match, helping to kick-start the winning streak and set the tone for the team's eventual title win.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester City (October 2, 2016): first defeat for Guardiola
Prior to the loss to Tottenham, City had been having a good run under Pep Guardiola, with his side keeping a clean sheet, and it looks like City will soon be on their way to success under Guardiola.
However, goals from Kolarov and Alli brought the laughter of the City fans to an abrupt end, as a series of brilliant performances from the Tottenham players not only put City in a difficult position in the game, but also dealt a direct blow to the confidence of the City players - in the next four games against Everton, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, and Middlesbrough, City did nothing more than won against West Bromwich Albion.
Of course, Tottenham's start to the season hasn't been particularly smooth - after all, they picked up six draws in their first 11 games of the season - four in a row after their win over Manchester City.
Swansea 5-4 Crystal Palace (November 26, 2016): the inevitable fate of dismissal
Swansea's 5-4 win over Crystal Palace was a game that is sure to bring back memories for Bob Bradley and Alan Pardew for some time. As Swansea made it 3-1, Crystal Palace came out firing and quickly made it 3-4, and after that, the Swansea show began, with Llorente scoring twice in stoppage time to help turn the game around and win.
A month after this game, Swansea manager Bob Bradley was still sacked from the team and replaced by Clement. As for Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew, he also left the team during that time. And after these two teams changed their managers, the status of Swansea and Crystal Palace also stabilized: under the leadership of Allardyce, Crystal Palace is now in a relatively safe position, while Clement's Swansea jumped out of the relegation circle with a win over Everton in the last round of matches.
Arsenal 1-2 Watford (January 31, 2017): wenger in trouble
Although it seems that Watford is not a match for Arsenal at all, they are also getting stronger and stronger in the crucial moment of relegation. In the first half of the season, Arsenal's performance is still worthy of recognition, but in the game against Watford, their performance really let people down.
Fifteen minutes in and Wenger's side were two goals down. Although in the second half, Iwobi pulled a goal back for his team, it was nothing more than a face for a goal. It was after this game that Arsenal's performance started to decline, while Tottenham Hotspur has been steadily pressing ahead of Arsenal. It looks like this season will be the first time since 1994/1995 that Spurs will end the season above Arsenal in the standings.
Despite the fact that Arsenal still keep their hopes of fighting for fourth place so far this season, it's an uphill battle to be honest. If they don't manage to finish fourth in the league this season, it will be the first time since the 1996/1997 season that the team won't be able to compete in the Champions League.
Swansea 2-0 Leicester City (February 12, 2017): the end of a fairy tale
In less than a year, Leicester City went from a dark horse fairytale, to the abyss in one fell swoop. Previously Ranieri was still the hero of Leicester City, but in February 2017, he has become a fallen from grace. Things have been really saddening for Leicester City this season as well, as they were knocked out by Millwall in the middle, eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League after turning back Sevilla, and stumbled in the league. And after the team's loss to Swansea, Ranieri's story at Leicester City has come to an end.
Manchester United 1-1 Bournemouth (March 4, 2017): what a lackluster home performance by Manchester United
Mourinho wants to fulfill his team's goal of competing in next season's Champions League by playing in the UEFA Cup, but it seems that his idea of doing so has not made things so ideal for his team in the league. In the match against Bournemouth, Man Utd never managed to beat the 10-man Bournemouth. Although United were awarded a penalty in this match, Boruc did well to deflect the penalty taken by Ibe.
Apart from not being able to beat Bournemouth at home, Manchester United have not been able to take down Stoke City, Burnley, West Ham United and Hull City. Because of this, the only way for them to qualify for next season's Champions League is to win the UEFA Cup.
West Ham United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (May 5, 2017): Tottenham's title hopes completely dashed
Tottenham Hotspur failed to beat West Ham United away from home in last week's Premier League match, further widening the gap between them and Chelsea, which has led to Tottenham Hotspur being criticized once again for being a team that must drop the ball at critical moments.
As for West Ham United, a win like this also goes some way to saving Bilic's job. West Ham United have been adapting to the new surroundings of their new stadium all season, and after the 1-0 win over Tottenham, they are finally finding a home at the Bowl of London.
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