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Published Dec 12, 2024 • 5 minute read
Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates after scoring his team second goal against Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates after scoring his team second goal against Tottenham Hotspur. Getty Images
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it’s the toughest commodity to find in soccer: A dominant striker.
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And will it play a part in this season’s title chase? Those who have one are in, those who don’t will struggle to keep pace.
If Arsenal fans think this is aimed at their club, it is, partially.
Arsenal remains six points back of first-place Liverpool, which also has a game in hand. The Gunners drew 1-1 with Fulham last week and have dropped points (five draws, two losses) in seven of their 15 games.
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And while they’ve scored the same amount of goals as Liverpool and six fewer than second-place Chelsea, when they Arsenal is in these tight games and need a goal, who does it turn to?
While Manchester City has been having its struggles, Erling Haaland is as proven a striker as they come and he’s tied with Liverpool’s Mo Salah at the top of the goal-scoring charts with 13.
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Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is in third with 11. Arsenal’s leading scorer is Kai Havertz with just five and that’s 16th place in the league.
On one hand, it doesn’t matter where goals come from, as long as someone scores them and Arsenal’s goals come from everywhere including their defenders on their lauded corner set pieces. But in those games when you need a cutting edge, having a ruthless finisher like Haaland or Salah makes a massive difference.
What happens when it’s late in a game and you can’t generate a corner?
Last Wednesday, Liverpool looked tired and flat against Newcastle, but Salah pulled out a pair of goals built on his individual brilliance and Liverpool ended up with a valuable point. Chelsea fell behind 2-0 to Spurs last weekend, but ended up winning 4-2 while Palmer had two goals.
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We’re witnessing a strange season. City clearly is struggling — after losing four in a row the Sky Blues seemingly got back on track beating Nottingham Forest, but then could only manage a 2-2 draw with 17th-place Crystal Palace. But with talents like Phil Foden, Haaland, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, they have the quality to go on a run and put pressure on Liverpool.
Chelsea quietly has crawled up to second, have a massive squad to negotiate injuries and can count on Palmer to get goals when they need them.
In three weeks, the transfer window opens and it’s going to be fascinating to see what Arsenal spends. Manager Mikel Arteta certainly runs a team-based attack, but none of their players can be counted on to be the one who’s going to pull out a goal to save the day.
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And it’s going to be fascinating to watch the others as well. It wouldn’t be shocking if Chelsea or City spent a bomb again, if only to keep other strikers away from Arsenal despite their already-loaded squads.
Dire and dull derby
While there are many fascinating teams to keep your eye on this weekend, there’s a real lack of marquee matchups.
Typically you’d point to the Manchester Derby with City hosting United and their fancy new mastermind Ruben Amorim at the helm. It’s clearly the Fubo Game of the Week, but you’re talking about a pair of teams that have three wins combined in their past 10 games.
Amorim has been shocked into realizing how big the job will be, losing his past two matches to Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, and being mired in 13th.
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This may be a tonic for City, who lost again in the Champions League, 2-0 to Juventus.
But the Red Devils look like they either don’t have the horses to run Amorim’s system, or don’t grasp it. Word has even cropped up that they are putting academy hero and life-long United star Marcus Rashford up for sale in January.
Will City spark their season with a big win over their civic rivals or will United get a jump-start from continuing City’s misery?
Champions on the ropes
Speaking of City, the once-unthinkable may be happening to Pep Guardiola’s team.
While they still face the prospect of sanctions in the investigation against their 115 financial violations, many might consider the league already lost. They’re eight back of Liverpool, which has a game in hand, but there was a school of thought that there’s no shame in not winning the league a fifth time in a row and they could concentrate on winning their second Champions League.
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But their loss to Juventus in this new format leaves the Citizens facing the possibility of needing to beat Paris St. Germain on Jan. 22 to move to the next round of the tournament. Two of the most expensive squads in the world will meet and one of them may not qualify for the next phase — it’s stunning.
Yes, City is missing Ballon D’Or winner Rodri and the squad is aging, but to see it struggle in both competitions strains comprehension. It is still loaded with talent and experience and has the supposed best manager in the world in Guardiola.
A saving grace though will be the demanding festive fixtures that see English teams play four games in nine days over the Christmas period. They Sky Blues hardly face a murderers row with Aston Villa, Everton, Leicester and West Ham on tap.
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If they can’t get going during that period, they may actually struggle to stay in the Top Four to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Who wants to break through? City and United’s slip normally would open the door to a surprise team. Spurs being all over the map, losing to Ipswich, beating City, losing to Bournemouth and collapsing against Chelsea, has ruled them out. Liverpool and to a lesser degree Chelsea have seized the opportunity at the top.
Aston Villa and Brighton have looked more than capable of breaking the monopoly in the past few seasons, with Villa getting into the Top Four last year and playing in the Champions League this season.
But both of those teams have looked the picture of inconsistency lately. Brighton has a loss and two draws in its past three, Villa has won two in a row, but that’s after going winless (three losses and two draws) in the previous five.
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Nottingham Forest has lost three of their past five, but remain one of the season’s best stories sitting in fifht, just two points back of Man City.
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The door will be open and that comes with the temptation of spending in January.
This weekend’s slate
Saturday: Arsenal v. Everton; Liverpool v. Fulham; Newcastle v. Leicester; Wolves v. Ipswich; Nottingham Forest v. Aston Villa.
Sunday: Brighton v. Crystal Palace; Manchester City v. Manchester United; Chelsea v. Brentford; Southampton v. Tottenham.
Monday: Bournemouth v. West Ham.
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