Sports are an entertaining spectacle. But there are those dull days when the expected results fall one-by-one into place.
It was one of the more thrilling days in the English Premier League thus far, but taking a second glance at the results, they were all expected.
Chelsea played bottom-feeding Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in a back-and-forth classic. Chelsea pulled out the late victory 4-3, but it wasn’t pretty.
The beginning of the year saw many surprising ups and downs ,but things are slightly leveling out and the Blues have found their way into second place.
Winning ugly is a crucial part of the beautiful game just like any other sport. There are few (if any) teams in the history of all sports that were dominant enough to win convincingly against all opponents.
Manchester City should have been favored to beat West Brom on the road. They are certainly strong enough to win against any team in England on any given day, but their defensive woes and horrible home and away inconsistencies are stifling their credibility.
It started as an impressive turnaround for Manuel Pellegrini’s men, jumping out to a 3-0 lead on the road despite only one away win this season. Two late goals made the score look closer than it really was, but it is another disturbing trend for Manchester City.
It is increasingly worrisome to see such a night and day style of play from a team with championship aspirations. Another piece of a prototypical champion is consistency. The blue side of Manchester pulled off an amazing comeback to win two seasons ago, but if they continue to tempt fate and make odd-makers pull their hair out, they’re chances of winning will slim.
Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is one of the most hated soccer players on the planet. He has been suspended for things like biting and racism. However, his talent is truly unique and he is skyrocketing to being the favorite for the EPL’s player of the year award.
After missing six games for his biting incident, four goals against Norwich pushed him to the league’s scoring lead. Imagine the damage he could do if his head was on straight enough to play a full season.
Manchester United proved once again this season is a train wreck, and they are inching closer and closer to being eliminated from title contention. It is still early, but losing points like they did against Everton is a bad sign.
United was never going to be as good without Sir Alex Ferguson. But when you have the status they have, failure is inexcusable.
Expected does not mean boring. Things like Luis Suarez playing brilliantly and Chelsea beating arguably the worst team in the EPL are expected. But where England draws much of its lure is how they do it. Maybe the expected results happened, but we are continuously surprised with how they happen.
It is entirely within the realm of possibility that we come down to the final morning not knowing who will be hoisting the EPL’s most coveted trophy. As viewers, it should continue to be an astounding season.
Who do you think is the best team in England this season? Send your thoughts to jonah.beleckis@dailycardinal.com.
