Some letters of the alphabet lend
themselves better to this Premier League football series than others. “N” and “O”
might be slight on quantity but there is plenty of quality to make up for it.
N
Norwich City are the only team to fit into this particular chapter
and despite 3 wins in their last 5 games (they won only 2 of the first 10) this
could be another season of struggle for the Canaries. Those recent wins have
taken Norwich up to 14th (at the time of writing) with 17 points
from 15 games and they have 4 points between themselves and the bottom 3. In
the summer, Grant Holt was sold to Wigan and in came 3 new strikers in Gary
Hooper, Johan Elmander and Ricky van Wolfswinkel. These 3 new arrivals all came
with good pedigree and hopes were high that the goals would flow and this might
keep Norwich away from the relegation scrap. Van Wolfswinkel picked up an
injury, Elmander has yet to score a league goal and Hooper after a slow start
is now showing signs of promise with 3 goals in his last 5 appearances.
In their next 10 league matches,
the Canaries only face 2 of what might be considered top 6 sides (Man United
and Everton), so this will be an absolutely crucial period in which points must
be won. If you look at their last 4 fixtures of the season, it’s not difficult
to envision a zero return from them – Liverpool and Arsenal at home, Manchester
United and Chelsea away! So, where will Chris Hughton’s team finish this
season? For me, they will avoid the drop – but only just.
Manchester City brought in 4 or 5
big name signings in the summer and so far it is only Alvaro Negredo that seems to have really justified the cash outlay.
He has 6 goals to his name already and in recent weeks has been linking up well
with Sergio Aguero (who admittedly has been hogging the limelight with his
prolific goal scoring) and it seems that the manager has settled on these two
as the best partnership for now. Negredo scored goals throughout his time in Spain’s
La Liga and has a record of almost 1 goal every 2 games for the national side –
although he is not used with any particular frequency. I think the Premier
League will see a lot more goals from this Spanish International.
O
Arsenal bought Mesut Ozil at the end of the transfer
window and despite only one league defeat at the time, there was a certain doom
and gloom surrounding Arsene Wenger and the Emirates Stadium. It’s a signing
that has quite literally transformed the atmosphere around the Gunners. They
are playing great football, sit clear at the top of the Premier League and have
a number of players in terrific form, including Ozil. The German international
has brought a confidence to Arsenal that hasn’t really been present since
losing Van Persie and perhaps even Fabregas before that.
Another two “O” players
definitely worth a mention here are a Brazilian and an Argentinian Italian.
Chelsea’s Oscar has been terrific so
far this season. He was good in spells last year but now looks like he has
truly settled in England and is really showing his qualities. Dani Osvaldo was certainly a big
signing for a club the size of Southampton. He was a regular goal scorer in
both the Spanish and Italian leagues before joining the Saints. Osvaldo has had
a relatively slow start to his career on the South Coast but fans who saw his
goal against Man City recently will begin rubbing their hands in anticipation of
the kind of player they now have at their club.
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