-What we have learnt from the Premier League so far

We have reached the halfway point of the Premier League season and it has been one of the finest campaigns we have witnessed in recent times.

Several teams have topped the standings including Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City and it remains very much unclear who will be champions.

Liverpool tops the standings at the start of 2024 and the Reds have done well considering that they had to completely rebuild their midfield.

That spot cost them a place in the top four last season and forced them to sign some remarkable players.

Manchester City won the treble in the last campaign but will have to do what no one else has done if they win four consecutive Premier League crowns in this campaign.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal has remained competitive even though most people believed that they would not challenge as they did in the last term.

Unai Emery is doing an amazing job at Aston Villa who are surprisingly in the title race alongside the top clubs in the Premier League.

This has been one of the most interesting seasons in Premier League history and we believe there will be some upsets in the league standings when the term ends.

Premier League ticket buyers will be delighted with how the season has turned out so far and we look at some things we have learnt.

Arsenal is still not ready to be champions

Arsenal nearly won the Premier League last season and were the top club in the English top flight for more than 200 days.

Having not qualified for the Champions League in the previous campaign, the Gunners shocked everyone with their start to the campaign, but they eventually missed out on winning the league.

Impressively they made some massive signings in the last transfer window including breaking their transfer record to sign Declan Rice from West Ham.

The Gunners have been in fine form this term and are battling with Liverpool for the Premier League title.

However, Mikel Arteta’s side has shown in the last few weeks that they are not ready to be champions of England.

They have lacked the consistency that is required to win the Premier League and it is hard to see them triumph.

Beating Manchester City and Manchester United earlier in the season was a clear sign that they could have a better season in this campaign.

However, losing to, Fulham and West Ham in the last few weeks show this Arsenal team is far from the finished article and may finish this term without winning the league.

Manchester City can still defend the title

Winning the Premier League for four consecutive seasons has never been done in the history of the competition and we all wanted to see Manchester City could do this at the beginning of this campaign.

Pep Guardiola will end his coaching career as arguably one of the best managers the game has ever seen and one thing he thrives on is ensuring that he breaks records people think he cannot.

Manchester City has remained in top shape and is comfortably inside the top four.

The Citizens endured a tough run of form for some weeks and went on to win the Club World Cup, which was a chance for other clubs to pull clear of them.

However, they have returned to find themselves above Arsenal on the league table with a game in hand and just two points separating them from the top.

This is poor from their title rivals and a big boost to City in the race to be champions again.

What the Citizens will simply do is to go on a long winning run that Manchester City ticket buyers are accustomed to and they will pull clear of everyone again to become champions.

Everton could be European contenders

One of the finest stories of the season has been Everton’s return to form under Sean Dyche as they finally begin to win games and make progress.

For several seasons, the Toffees struggled to make any kind of impact and were nearly relegated in the last two terms.

This forced them to hire Dyche, who had been relegated with Burnley from the Premier League and he helped them to achieve their immediate goal of staying in the top flight.

He was expected to develop the team further and has done so, with Everton now one of the in-form clubs in the league over the last few months.

Their fine performances mean they will almost certainly survive the drop, but if you consider that they have been docked ten points for off-field offences, you begin to wonder if they can play in Europe next season.

There is a long way to go, but if they keep winning, they could play in Europe next term.

Liverpool’s rebuild has been faster than we expected

Liverpool were dismal last season, which is why they are playing in the Europa League this season and not in the Champions League.

The Reds had to completely rebuild their midfield in response to that and cut off the likes of Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, among several others.

Jurgen Klopp has a completely new midfield apart from the likes of Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones who were not starters.

We all expected the new midfielders to take some time to bed in and that means they were not expected to challenge for the Premier League title this term.

In truth, only a few people had expected Liverpool to be at the top of the Premier League table by the new year.

The Reds are now serious title contenders, especially as Manchester City and Arsenal are plagued with inconsistency.

This makes it hard not to see them winning the league and it will be interesting to see how far they will go, but we now expect much from them and forget that they have just rebuilt their entire midfield.

The Asian Cup and AFCON will disrupt the momentum of teams

Asia and Africa will have their continental championships in January and it will be a tough time for most Premier League clubs.

Liverpool will lose Mohamed Salah who has been one of their biggest influence and the main reason they have stayed competitive.

The attacker will be in the Egypt team in the competition alongside Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny.

The Gunners will also lose Takehiro Tomiyasu who will play for Japan at the Asian Cup, just like Liverpool’s Wataru Endo.

Endo has been a revelation for Liverpool in the last few weeks, even though he was not their first-choice midfield target in the summer.

His departure and that of Salah could be a big problem for Liverpool and could derail their bid to win the title.

Manchester City do not have a major absentee from Asia or Africa and Kevin de Bruyne is returning to the team, this could be the month that the defending champions will go back to the top of the Premier League table.

Manchester United is another club that will be affected by the January competitions as Andre Onana will be away with the Cameroon national team at the AFCON, but they are confident that their second choice will be a good replacement.

Chelsea’s rebuild will take longer

Chelsea is rebuilding their team and Mauricio Pochettino is the latest man to try and help them to return to form.

He did a good job at Tottenham, turning them into consistent Champions League campaigners, but the job at Chelsea is slightly harder.

The Blues have splashed the cash on several fine players, but it seems they have not made the right signings, despite spending a lot of money on these men.

They are stuck in midtable for weeks and only a few of their players are performing well when they step on the pitch.

This has left them with a big task in getting back among the top clubs in England and it is certain that this rebuild will take time.

It remains to be seen if the club will stick to Poch for a long time, but Chelsea ticket buyers should not expect a quick return to European football.