Premier League: Season of surprises and plenty competition
Sunderland players celebrate victory following the Premier League match against Newcastle at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Picture: Steve Welsh/PA Wire
With Christmas Day now retreating in the rear-view mirror and 2026 fast approaching, let us take a moment to review a season with many surprises and competitive results, so far.
There are several sides that can add their name to this claim. Some sides with smaller budgets and big ambitions have done well this year. Crystal Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth, and Fulham have all performed this year, but really cannot be seen as surprising as they were doing as well and better since last season. No, the big shock to the league has to be Sunderland. Who, over the space of just four months, have gone from relegation favourites to vying for a Champions League finish.
They finished last season’s Championship 24 points behind fellow promoted sides, champions Leeds and runners-up Burnley. And were even rather lucky to see off Sheffield United in the promotion play-off. A side they finished five points behind in the table. But somehow, they have ripped through the Premier League’s top sides without a moment of self-doubt. They may not make the top four, but it would still not be surprising if they do pull it off. But if for no other reason than to break the three promoted sides going straight back down to the Championship cycle of recent seasons, than this is a welcome change. Leeds and Burnley are trying their best to set the stage that all three will stay up, if a bit unlikely for Burnley.
A notable mention in the surprise bracket is Aston Villa. Unai Emery has shown in previous season that he and the club are a serious prospect. But after an indifferent start to the season, they are now on a 10-game winning streak in all completions, culminating in Morgan Rogers wonderful brace against Man United in last Monday’s festive season opener.
The obvious one for this category is Liverpool. The champions started well enough with seven straight wins in all competitions. But all of them were wins by a single goal margin and many by late…very late winners. At the time it was interpreted as them not quite clicking with the transition of so many new players arriving at the club. But the fact was, that were actually clicking and the subsequent results were their true form. Nine defeats in the following 12 games knocked a lot of the shine off last May’s title celebrations.
They have since steadied the ship and are now on a six-match unbeaten run. But they are nowhere near getting back into title contention and will struggle to make the top four still, and also must deal with the Salah fallout when he returns from duty with Egypt.
Notable mention in this category is Nottingham Forest. After last season’s terrific performance surprising so many sides at the City Grounds, they have sadly fallen away this term due to a series of bad decisions from the club ownership, which now sees them lie in 17th spot in the table and in genuine trouble of being dragged into relegation trouble.
Arsenal came second in the past three seasons and are desperate to take the final step to title glory. With Liverpool’s collapse, it looked like this was going to be their season. Yet, without doing too much, if anything, wrong, they entered the Christmas period just two points ahead of Man City. And you don’t want a side like City breathing down your neck with just two points to spare.
Wolves are sadly dead and buried in the relegation zone. And it’s looking tough for Burnley. But there are only nine points between West Ham in the top relegation spot in 18th and Spurs in mid-table 13th. In a season where every club has the potential to beat any other side, this relegation journey may take some curious turns yet.
Liverpool set out an early marker beating their title pretender Arsenal 1-0 back in August and then proceeded to throw it all away against a multitude of sides ever since. So many sides have gone on runs only to lose in unexpected circumstances against unfashionable sides. One such sequence sums up the season: Spurs beat Everton 3-0, Everton beat Forest 3-0, Forest beat Spurs 3-0.
One of the best outcomes this season, from a local Cork point of view, has to be the performance of Leesider Caoimhin Kelleher at Brentford.
Many of us feared for the former Ringmahon Rangers shot stopper when he moved from his mighty Liverpool perch to go to lowly Brentford in order to guarantee first team playing time. But he has manfully stepped up to the challenge and has had some inspired performances for the Bees, not least against his former side, who Brentford beat 3-2.
Kelleher finishes the year holding the record for the keeper to stop the most penalties from play (not in shootouts) than any other keeper in the top five leagues in Europe. A significant achievement for the Corkman stepping out from the shadow of Alisson Becker in Anfield.
App?
