Is Ollie Watkins a serious golden boot contender?
Ollie Watkins increased his goal tally for the season from 14 to 16 at the weekend after netting twice in Aston Villa's 3-2 win at Luton. He's now just two goals behind Erling Haaland in the goal scoring charts and he's also a goal ahead of Mohamed Salah. Is he serious golden boot contender?
You would say yes based on the the recent form he's been in and if he can keep up that form, he could be right up there to win the award at the end of the season. But with a lack of squad depth and the pressure of being in the top four race likely to catch up with Villa towards the end of the season, Watkins' form could dry up as Villa's season potentially begins to fade.
His two rivals for the award in Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah are both challenging for the Premier League title with Man City and Liverpool respectively, and are likely to bag more goals than Watkins with both sides in such great form and likely to take the title race right down to the wire. Both players are also on a different level to Watkins which gives them both a better chance of winning the golden boot.
Watkins will definitely be Harry Kane's back up striker at the Euro's this summer because of the form he's been in this season and the season he is having. He could also potentially attract interest some some of the top teams in the league if he can get over 20 goals this season.
How long does Mauricio Pochettino have at Chelsea?
Chelsea might've avoided defeat against Brentford on Saturday, but the fans are starting to turn on manager Mauricio Pochettino and one of them held out a banner saying "I don't want your shirt!! I want you to fight for ours." So how long does Pochettino have at Chelsea?
A lot of people including myself were expecting things to be much improved at Chelsea this season after an absolute mess of a season last year. Well, it hasn't been as they're once again sitting in mid-table instead of competing near the top of the league - which is where their fans think they should be.
Their form has been very inconsistent and the team itself has looked disjointed for the majority of the campaign, like it was for a lot of last season. They again spent a lot of money in the summer and when you spend the amount of money that Chelsea spent, you'd expect your team to be doing well. That hasn't been the case at all for Chelsea who have only gone backwards.
Pochettino will carry most of the blame for the blues underperforming as he's the manager and it's up to him to get his side results on the pitch. I do hope he gets time as he's in the middle of a long term project but at a big club like Chelsea, you don't always get time as the pressure of managing a big club is so high. The amount of time that Pochettino gets at Chelsea is likely to be discovered over the next few months.
Is Phil Foden becoming Man City's main man?
Phil Foden has been one of Man City's main standouts this season with 11 goals and 7 assists so far in the Premier League this season. He was the star of the show in the Manchester Derby on Sunday as he netted twice and ran the show throughout the game. Is he becoming Man City's main man?
If you were asked who is Man City's main man, you'd probably say either Erling Haaland or Kevin De Bruyne. But with the form that Foden has been in this season and the authority he showed in the Manchester Derby, you might want to put him in that conversation.
He always wanted the ball and when he had the ball he was always looking to do something with it. He was in control of every situation he was in and in doing so, he showed his maturity and why he is capable of stepping up as one of the go-to players in the team. If he can carry on putting in performances like the one he produced in the Manchester Derby, he could one day be City's main man.
Sheffield United are doomed
I've said this for the last few weeks or month and I'm saying it again. Sheffield United are doomed. They're 11 points from safety and are currently looking like a side who have no confidence. They certainly looked like that against Arsenal on Monday where they got beaten very easily and showed no fight whatso9ever.
When you're at or near the bottom of the league, you need to show some sort of fight in order to give yourselves a fighting chance of staying up. Sheffield United aren't showing that and it's why they're going down this season.
Their squad isn't Premier League quality and you can argue that they did lose two of their best players from last season in Iliman N'Diaye and Sander Berge in the summer. But you still need to adapt and show some fighting spirit with the players you have. I don't think I can see them showing that between now and the end of the season.
Comments