EPL 2016/17: 10 things we learned from Gameweek 17
Seventeen game weeks into the Premier League season and the title race is finally settling down with Chelsea leaving their rivals behind sitting at the top of the table with a seven-point lead. However, the Premier League never really fails to surprise and even a seven point gap could seem very small within a few months.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United are the other teams still very much in the title race with only six points separating Manchester City who is second on the table with Manchester United who is sixth. Southampton, Everton and West Brom are fighting hard for a spot in Europe next season – yet another battle worth looking out for.
At the bottom of the table, Hull City and Swansea are slowly looking like the favourites to be relegated while Sunderland is looking to make yet another fantastic escape. All this and more as here are the ten things we learned from game week 17.
#1 Chelsea’s defence and Costa continue fine form
Antonio Conte’s men made it 11 wins in a row with a solid performance against Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace. At the back, Chelsea was as solid as they have ever been but found it extremely difficult to break through Alan Pardew’s defence. Not only did Crystal Palace make it difficult for the Blues to break through their defence, Chelsea were nothing special going forward.
However, Costa netted the only goal of the game just before halftime. The Spaniard is having the season of his life and it looks like it all comes down to his discipline after all. Marcos Alonso was fantastic throughout the game and also came close to scoring one.
#2 Swansea City is a sinking ship
The sacking of Francesco Guidolin was clearly a sign of chaos at Swansea and the situation looks worse than feared. New manager Bob Bradley has done very little differently and Swansea looks like one of the clubs certainly facing relegation. Despite showing signs of revival in the past few weeks, the Swans are back to square one again.
Against Middlesbrough their squads quality or rather the lack of it was clear. Losing out on their best players season after season and not replacing them has put them in this state and even an overhaul of the squad in the winter transfer window might possibly not save their season.