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This time of year is one of the reasons the English Premier League is so popular.
Dramatic twists and turns happen so quickly thanks to the demands of so many games on tired legs and minds.
After a stunning week when Liverpool beat Real Madrid and Manchester City in convincing matter, they looked weary and were fortunate to get a 3-3 draw at Newcastle on Wednesday in a rapturous back-and-forth affair.
It was a typical Premier League December match, Liverpool twice fell behind only to go ahead with a brilliant double by Mohamed Salah, but then saw several players make amateur mistakes in allowing Newcastle the equalizer late.
Regardless, with Chelsea and Manchester City winning, Liverpool dropping two points still has them with a seven-point cushion atop the league.
So what, right? It’s just two points, but a slip can become a wobble and then a slide.
Another massive test for Liverpool awaits immediately, an early Saturday trip to hostile Goodison Park, home of their bitter rivals Everton in the FUBO Game of the Week, the last game they’ll play in the storied 132-year-old ground before Everton move to a fancy waterfront stadium next season.
Everton has been battling relegation, but always brings the fight to Liverpool, especially at Goodison. The supporters there are rabid and with Everton coming off its best game of the season — a 4-0 walloping of Wolves — the atmosphere will be especially feral.
The prospects of being nine points clear down to just four in a week would pile the pressure on Liverpool, it’ll see this as a significant match to set up the rest of their season.
Two years ago, Arsenal were the subject of ridicule for blowing an eight-point lead at the top to Manchester City. To see Liverpool nine points ahead was nearly unheard of at this point, only one team had been ahead at that stage by that margin before. But there’s so many games to be played it was always folly to expect the Reds to run away with this.
There are too many games, too many demands physically and mentally, international breaks where players fly all over the world and them come back to face multiple games in a week and compete for multiple cups.
Liverpool has had a dream start to the season, but if there has been one criticism of new manager Arne Slot, it’s that he hasn’t rotated his team enough and relied on so many of the same players.
Injuries have set in and some players were given a rest on Wednesday and it showed. Liverpool was fortunate to only be down by one at halftime and had to bring in the rested starters late.
The Everton match now provides a significant challenge as crucial midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who looked exhausted on Wednesday, picked up a yellow card and is now suspended.
Who’s number two?
There was so much focus last week about Manchester City losing and falling 11 points behind Liverpool that the other true contenders were overlooked.
Arsenal and Chelsea both won midweek, their third matches in a row, to take advantage of Liverpool’s wobble. They both sit seven points back of the leaders, Arsenal go to Fulham this weekend and Chelsea to Tottenham.
But don’t write off City, it looked to have finally bust its slump thumping Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday, so the Sky Blues are just nine points back.
Obviously, Liverpool is hardly gritting its teeth quite yet, but with City playing woeful Crystal Palace this weekend, should Liverpool not overcome Everton, things are going to tighten up in a hurry.
After this weekend, Arsenal has Everton, Crystal Palace and Ipswich. Chelsea has Brentford, Everton and Fulham. City has Manchester United, Aston Villa and Leicester.
Maybe not quite ‘soft’ but to see those four clubs win all of those games wouldn’t be surprising.
The heat’s getting turned up as the games start rolling through the league’s busiest month. If Liverpool can’t get back on track, it’s going to be a full battle royale at the top of the table headed into the New Year because none of these teams play each other.
Returning to form
The various broadcast licence holders around the world have to be happy.
While teams like Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest have been good stories, them coming back to earth and the members of the so-called Big Six climbing up the table brings a lot momentum to the TV audiences. Seeing a top four of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City guarantees a good audience.
But don’t rule out the teams in that next tier, either. While they may not have the experience or deep squads to consistently grind out results, Brighton in fifth, Forest in sixth, Villa in seventh, Spurs in eighth, Brentford in ninth and even Newcastle in 10th seem to be able to beat anyone on their day.
Newcastle is especially tough at home, having drawn Liverpool and City and beaten Arsenal at St. James Park. They’re not a team you can expect to overlook.
Bottom feeders
Just as it’s frantic at the top, there’s angst building at the bottom.
As we head into this period of multiple matches, the extra whammy is the opening of the January transfer window.
Southampton is close to being hopeless already, with just five points the Saints are already seven points from safety. Wolves and Ipswich both are on nine points, three back of Crystal Palace, four back of Leicester and five back of Everton.
A team like Wolves, who haven’t been shy to spend money in the past, will have to decide if they’re confident they can reel in one of those teams with what they have or if they want to spend to bring in reinforcements and try and stay up.
Ipswich has actually played well, but like Luton last year, they just don’t have the resolve to defend well enough to finish games.
Wolves have scored 22 goals, but having given up an astonishing 36 goals so far.
This weekend’s slate
Saturday: Everton v. Liverpool; Aston Villa v. Southampton; Brentford v. Newcastle; Crystal Palace v. Manchester City; Manchester United v. Nottingham Forest.
Sunday: Fulham v. Arsenal; Ipswich v. Bournemouth; Leicester v. Brighton; Tottenham v. Chelsea.
Monday: West Ham v. Wolves.