Premier League 2018/19: 5 underdogs that could upset the status quo this season
With the change in rules for teams playing in the Champions League -- that is the top four teams from the top four Associations of UEFA, according to the coefficient rankings (currently these teams are Spain, Germany, England and Italy), will get direct entry into the group stages -- the big clubs all around Europe are finally at peace.
There is now more opportunity to participate in the showpiece tournament of UEFA as well as more incentive to invest in the top players and managers. So, with an extra berth in the Champions League assured, the only thing that can upset the "top six" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, the Manchester clubs and Spurs) is an unexpected challenge from, presumably, the smaller clubs (who nowadays spend over a 100 million pounds in the transfer market) as was recently done by Leicester.
The Champions League acts as a major attraction as well as a strong incentive for clubs to recruit the best in the business and the "top six" do have a very strong stranglehold on the competition. However, with much more money coming into the premier league along with some shrewd business deals there is a fighting chance that someone can upset the status quo, or at the very least qualify for the Europa League, in the upcoming season. With four Gameweeks gone the signs are looking quite ominous.
Let us take a look at the five clubs capable of pulling off an upset this season.
Everton
For a long time now, Everton have remained as possibly the biggest threat to the top six. Remember last year when Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Cenk Tosun, Idrissa Gueye and Oumar Niasse could do everything but score a goal. In 38 Premier League matches, Everton could only manage to score 44 goals while they conceded 58 and could have certainly finished well below the 8th place finish had one or two results gone the other way. Their top goalscorer was Rooney who scored a paltry 10 goals.
However, that seems a thing of the past now as the new summer recruits Richarlison (Watford), Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes and Lucas Digne (Barcelona) and Bernard (Shakhtar Donetsk) have added much-needed teeth and firepower to the frontline. In the first 4 games, the Toffees have managed to find the back of the net 7 times with Richarlison contributing the most with 3 goals. Tosun is also displaying glimpses of why he was one of the most sought-after talents last summer as he already has 2 assists to his name.
Kurt Zouma's presence and influence in the backline is easily visible as the other half of the Merseyside are yet to taste defeat in the league this season. Add to all this the technical genius of none other than Marco Silva and Everton stock suddenly becomes a hot potato in the Premier League business.
The only area of concern for the toffees is the form of Pickford, as he has already let in six goals already and it will be absolutely vital for him to regain his form if he wants to assert his authority as the best goalkeeper in England.
Current Standing
7th (W1, D3, L0)