Premier League Prediction Thread 2024/2025

[Jossque]

Everton at home to Aston Villa. Both teams struggled to find goals throughout the game.Everton failed to dominate as the hosts.Aston villa were far from their recent form but still tried to dominate the game.Aston villa had more scoring chances than Everton but they couldn't score either.The game ended in a 0-0 goalless draw and I don't think this result was bad for Everton.
ManU hosted Tottenham at home.ManU started the match fast and managed to take the lead with Höjlund's goal in the 3rd minute, Richarlison scored in the first half and then Rashford scored again and managed to close the first half ahead.At the beginning of the second half, Bentancur's goal balanced the match and there was no more goals.

[Antotena]

I agree because after all at this time KDB is really very much needed and her presence brings a different pattern of attack for Manchester City that is very much felt because after all with her presence in the squad indirectly this adds to the breakout power of Manchester City because KDB is one of the very good initiators in this case so it is quite natural that she is one of the players who is eagerly awaited and her presence will make a loss.
Rodri is also a good player but Rodri's role is slightly different because in the end when we compare Rodri and KDB the tasks are also different. Rodri is more focused on defence but for KDB he is used as one of the initiators in the attack so that when these two players play then indirectly the Manchester City midfield will become stronger because their attack and defence are filled with players who do have above-average performance to date.

It was written all over Manchester City performance that the absence of Kevin affected them a lot, one of them is Haaland because by this time last season, he was everywhere and was having goals in easy form but when Kevin sustained injury, he has to fight for the ball himself in most of the match. When he don't look for the ball, he doesn't get notice in the match and it was even as a result of that struggle he got that injury.
Kevin is back but Haaland is not fit but I love him for the fact that he can do well on his own but they should always start him to warm him up instead of playing half minute of game.

It depends on how Arteta manages his players. Until now Arsenal's only problem has been in terms of performance because they can play very well but on the other hand they can also turn bad so when Arteta cannot stabilise that and anticipate the problems that have long existed for them then Arsenal will not be able to do anything.
Arsenal in terms of performance at the beginning of the season was good but we know that when it came to the half of last season they had a problem of declining performance quickly and when that cannot be anticipated then the performance will be the same as in previous seasons.

I can't say exactly what is wrong with Gunners but I'm not sure if players is what they lack, they started with the same players in the beginning of the season and the same are available or is it that they are tired now and can't do much again. Saka barely perform as he was during the beginning of the season. Declan Rice was hype but I think he is a quality player that does his part in many Arsenal games but he is now flat in performance. With three loss in a row, I think it's time they make a great return but my problem is how they tend to do it with Liverpool that are so on form, that match will be tough.

[puloweh555]

With De Bruyne long injury then ya, at least previously there was an assumption that it would take time for De Bruyne to get his best performance after a long injury . But ya, that's not what happened because after all, De Bruyne can play well and De Bruyne even made a big contribution in the comeback that occurred against Newcastle . Therefore, there is no doubt that if Haaland and De Bruyne can play together again then ya, of course Manchester City will return to their best performance in the second half of this season.

De Bruyne has shown excellent performance after returning to the squad after a long injury. We thought De Bruyne's performance might be a little weak after such a long injury. But this is not the case. De Bruyne is performing as well as he did last season. Haaland was not in the squad against Newcastle due to injury. If the Haaland and De Bruyne pair can continue to perform as well as the previous season, Manchester City will be able to dominate the Champions League and Premier League again. I am looking forward to Haaland's return to the squad.

Maybe almost all football fans will also think like that. Many people initially doubted De Bruyne appearance after the injury, his adaptation would take a long time, and he would gain weight. However, the opposite happened, his first appearance after recovering from injury was fantastic. The injury didn't make him look bad, in fact it made him even more overpowered, De Bruyne master class. Moreover, Halland will recover from his injury and they will play together, of course this will be scary for his opponent.

After seeing Liverpool start to improve and be consistent with Man City, Arsenal's performance actually decreased. even though I hope that at the end of the season there will be three clubs competing to become EPL champions. However, it seems that my prediction is that there are only two teams that will compete for the EPL title, even though there are still many matches remaining and the EPL still has a long way to go, but I am sure that the ones that will compete fiercely in the EPL league are Man City and Liverpool.

[tiCeR]

Everton at home to Aston Villa. Both teams struggled to find goals throughout the game.Everton failed to dominate as the hosts.Aston villa were far from their recent form but still tried to dominate the game.Aston villa had more scoring chances than Everton but they couldn't score either.The game ended in a 0-0 goalless draw and I don't think this result was bad for Everton.
ManU hosted Tottenham at home.ManU started the match fast and managed to take the lead with Höjlund's goal in the 3rd minute, Richarlison scored in the first half and then Rashford scored again and managed to close the first half ahead.At the beginning of the second half, Bentancur's goal balanced the match and there was no more goals.

But it is astonishing how the teams from the bottom of the table give the teams from the upper part of the table a hard time to the games. They rarely have any games where they can make fun of teams like Luton Town because they still must be taken seriously. But games against Everton can be misleading because they would have 10 points more without the penalty they received. With those additional points it would actually make them a solid midfield team. But now Aston Villa had their problems, which makes it the third game without a win in the last few weeks.

[Josefjix]

Kelvin De Bruyne's inability to perform well since the start of the season is caused by the injury he picked in the beginning of the season and not because he can't do well if he was actually fit enough for games. In his first game in over four months, Kelvin De Bruyne still delivered a man of the match performance after he came in from the bench against Newcastle in their English Premier League game last weekend and I'm very optimistic that he's even gonna do more in coming weeks.

Pep Guardiola is one manager that surely knows how to rotate his squad and that's why he was able to still remain in the fight for who wins the English Premier League title this season even when his two best players of last season Kelvin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland were out injured. In the coming weeks, Erling Haaland will return to full action and I think he's surely gonna be a great help and addition to the squad.

The performance of Kelvin De Bruyne have become professional in decades, probably after Pep Guardiola took over the managerial affairs of Manchester City. There's alot I learnt about the club, they become consistent after Pep Guardiola worked on the team and bringing in his choice of players and not some random average players that would triggered Manchester City to decline in performance. Kelvin De Bruyne was ruled out for lengthy games due to the critical injuries he obtained in the early starts of the season and that have left the Belgium international behind though he has finally returned and have become one of the key project for Pep Guardiola in Manchester City.

[Queentoshi]

Spurs have got things rolling in the attacking side of things, even though they lost their best player and record goalscorer in Harry Kane. They have now successfully, for the first time in Premier League era, scored consecutively in 33 games. Credit goes to their manager Ange, who's philosophy works really well in the EPL. Attacking football.

The loss of a key player became a greater blessing for them because each and every one of them remaining players in the team have carried on the responsibility knowing that they need to take their chances whenever they have to score and try to score more goals than they did last season if they are to qualify for the Champions League and be taken seriously. The coach has done a great job, and the club has really impressed their opponents and supporters.

Kelvin De Bruyne was ruled out for lengthy games due to the critical injuries he obtained in the early starts of the season and that have left the Belgium international behind though he has finally returned and have become one of the key project for Pep Guardiola in Manchester City.

I believe he will start in the next game because of how well he played when he came on against Newcastle.

[Ryu_Ar1]

Well, but indeed the presence of Doku and KDB in Manchester City's midfield gives them a new fighting spirit and a different game because with these 2 players their attack line is more focused where Doku with his speed and of course KDB with his style that we know what kind of game pattern to encourage Manchester City's attack power with a very mature pass.
Yesterday's match was an answer that Manchester City was ready to make a breakthrough in the half of this season because even without Haaland they were very good especially if there was Haaland in their line up.

The best credit goes to KDB in the match against Newcastle yesterday because with 1 goal and 1 assist given it really makes him worthy to be used as a backbone for Manchester City in midfield.

I agree because after all at this time KDB is really very much needed and her presence brings a different pattern of attack for Manchester City that is very much felt because after all with her presence in the squad indirectly this adds to the breakout power of Manchester City because KDB is one of the very good initiators in this case so it is quite natural that she is one of the players who is eagerly awaited and her presence will make a loss.
Rodri is also a good player but Rodri's role is slightly different because in the end when we compare Rodri and KDB the tasks are also different. Rodri is more focused on defence but for KDB he is used as one of the initiators in the attack so that when these two players play then indirectly the Manchester City midfield will become stronger because their attack and defence are filled with players who do have above-average performance to date.

Now with KDB and Kovavic behind the likes of Alvarez, Doku and Bernardo it's actually very good but with Haaland it's even more complex and better but we'll have to wait until at least the end of January if we go by Pep's statement about Haaland.
I am quite optimistic for this half of the season Manchester City can return to its zone in the race for the EPL because looking at the current points gap it is actually still very close and can still be pursued so in this case I am quite sure that Manchester City will still be very likely to win back the championship for the 3rd time.

Everton at home to Aston Villa. Both teams struggled to find goals throughout the game.Everton failed to dominate as the hosts.Aston villa were far from their recent form but still tried to dominate the game.Aston villa had more scoring chances than Everton but they couldn't score either.The game ended in a 0-0 goalless draw and I don't think this result was bad for Everton.
ManU hosted Tottenham at home.ManU started the match fast and managed to take the lead with Höjlund's goal in the 3rd minute, Richarlison scored in the first half and then Rashford scored again and managed to close the first half ahead.At the beginning of the second half, Bentancur's goal balanced the match and there was no more goals.

But it is astonishing how the teams from the bottom of the table give the teams from the upper part of the table a hard time to the games. They rarely have any games where they can make fun of teams like Luton Town because they still must be taken seriously. But games against Everton can be misleading because they would have 10 points more without the penalty they received. With those additional points it would actually make them a solid midfield team. But now Aston Villa had their problems, which makes it the third game without a win in the last few weeks.

This is what makes the EPL so unpredictable because no matter what happens in 90 minutes, small or big clubs always have problems that sometimes cannot be explained because clubs in the EPL are quite competitive.

Furthermore, for Everton, it can actually be said that this season they are better than the previous season because if only this season they did not get 10 penalty points for violations at this time they were already in the middle of the table but because they got a reduction of 10 points this season made them more often near the relegation zone and 1 line higher than the bottom 3 clubs.

Although in the previous 3 matches they had problems because they had to lose in tough matches where Boxing Day was very torturous but in my opinion if they do the same thing as against Aston Villa yesterday they will still be very possible to continue to rise in terms of position in the standings.

[SUPERSAIAN]

Spurs have got things rolling in the attacking side of things, even though they lost their best player and record goalscorer in Harry Kane. They have now successfully, for the first time in Premier League era, scored consecutively in 33 games. Credit goes to their manager Ange, who's philosophy works really well in the EPL. Attacking football.

I guess even with Harry Kane, Spurs weren't doing this well offensively. The biggest factor is Son, he includes himself in positions in all matches, throws or makes others throw. Then Richarlison

Coming in, he is also a good centre-forward, he is quite adequate without Harry Kane and he has done a good job so far. They are on the same points with Arsenal, they are in a good position to stay in the top four, and they have the image to achieve this for now.

[bestcoins1]

A draw after three consecutive losses is already an improvement right? hehe. You cannot really tell after just one good game but at least they are out of the relegation zone for now. They must also show that "improvement" in their next matches so watch out if they are your favorite team. I won't be surprised if they concede 2 or 3 goals after this.

If what you say is for the Everton team, I also have confidence that Everton can reach the top fifteen this season if they don't lose more matches in the coming matches. Especially in the match against Fulham later this month, because every improvement will always be very meaningful for a team like Everton who is trying to stay away from bad zones this season. This could be quite possible for Everton to try because there are still three teams above them whose current number of points is still quite close to Everton.

[Chilwell]

Spurs have got things rolling in the attacking side of things, even though they lost their best player and record goalscorer in Harry Kane. They have now successfully, for the first time in Premier League era, scored consecutively in 33 games. Credit goes to their manager Ange, who's philosophy works really well in the EPL. Attacking football.

The loss of a key player became a greater blessing for them because each and every one of them remaining players in the team have carried on the responsibility knowing that they need to take their chances whenever they have to score and try to score more goals than they did last season if they are to qualify for the Champions League and be taken seriously. The coach has done a great job, and the club has really impressed their opponents and supporters.

In most of the teams the always have a key player whose name is called frequently because of the way he played and at the same time score goals, this doesn't mean others are not good, just because he scored very well all the time, when Harry Kane was here I have much believe in him that if he live Tottenham Hotspur they will be running goal less, not knowing that he is just being called but super star are still there, I know definitely they will miss him but I didn't expect this rapid development with the Tottenham Hotspur, truly the coach has really tried, I like their moral, Richarlison scored 5 goals for Tottenham Hotspur in their last 5 Premier League matches, son has also recorded hattrick against Burnley in an away match, this is a good development for Tottenham Hotspur.

[BigBos]

Kelvin De Bruyne was ruled out for lengthy games due to the critical injuries he obtained in the early starts of the season and that have left the Belgium international behind though he has finally returned and have become one of the key project for Pep Guardiola in Manchester City.

I believe he will start in the next game because of how well he played when he came on against Newcastle.

He was made a reserve before not that he played badly but this is a form of caution from Pep because he does not want to overwork him from the start especially since he has just recovered from injury so he will definitely be very guarded because De Bruyne is one of Manchester City very good assets in their midfield so it is quite natural that in the end before in the last 2 match he always played from the bench.

IMO Its only a matter of time because we will be able to see him play in full from the starting lineup bcause indeed his position at Manchester City will never be replaced at this time and that can happen if Pep is really sure that De Bruyne is ready to be played in full and can be strong from the onslaught so as not to get injured for a long time again.

[MinMan]

A draw after three consecutive losses is already an improvement right? hehe. You cannot really tell after just one good game but at least they are out of the relegation zone for now. They must also show that "improvement" in their next matches so watch out if they are your favorite team. I won't be surprised if they concede 2 or 3 goals after this.

They are not in the relegation zone because of the decline in performance of the teams below them. Should those teams(Luton, Burnley, Sheff United) start to play better, Everton will be in danger of dropping to the relegation zone. 
The result of Everton's next game against Fulham is full of uncertainty. Perhaps Everton can hold Fulham to a draw, or perhaps they lose together. But even though Everton is a point ahead of Luton, they still need to improve their performance, or else the relegation zone will be their landing spot in the PL table  

Before deduction of these 10 points Everton were performing good and if we have no deduction most chances they are going to have spot into middle of the league table, but this deduction brings them down near the relegation zone where they are doing their best for having better results and things are going good for them with most chances they could be able to survive and having another season into Premier League with few other teams are on decline which is surely going to have serious problems for them in coming days.

Fulham is currently also improving but still a draw could be good for the Everton with for me, they have winning chance as well because they can do upset in this game with their performance Luton is also doing good, but currently any prediction is not easy while we are having too many weeks to go for the final decision about this all.

[wiss19]

De Bruyne has shown excellent performance after returning to the squad after a long injury. We thought De Bruyne's performance might be a little weak after such a long injury. But this is not the case. De Bruyne is performing as well as he did last season. Haaland was not in the squad against Newcastle due to injury. If the Haaland and De Bruyne pair can continue to perform as well as the previous season, Manchester City will be able to dominate the Champions League and Premier League again. I am looking forward to Haaland's return to the squad.

With the return of Kevin de Bruyne we have completely changed Manchester City as they fight back against Newcastle United now things are looking impressive, and we will have the toughest challenges at the top of the Premier League in coming days while we are heading for the most exciting end of this season with too many teams are looking for the win and all are having enough quality and performance as well which is important for the win in Premier League.

No one having any doubt if we have Haaland and Kevin De Buryne back as they were doing before injury then we will have no competition and just Manchester City will be all in for the win into this season even Liverpool currently at the top, but things could be not easy for them to stay here for long time.

[bearexin]

I agree because after all at this time KDB is really very much needed and her presence brings a different pattern of attack for Manchester City that is very much felt because after all with her presence in the squad indirectly this adds to the breakout power of Manchester City because KDB is one of the very good initiators in this case so it is quite natural that she is one of the players who is eagerly awaited and her presence will make a loss.
Rodri is also a good player but Rodri's role is slightly different because in the end when we compare Rodri and KDB the tasks are also different. Rodri is more focused on defence but for KDB he is used as one of the initiators in the attack so that when these two players play then indirectly the Manchester City midfield will become stronger because their attack and defence are filled with players who do have above-average performance to date.

It was written all over Manchester City performance that the absence of Kevin affected them a lot, one of them is Haaland because by this time last season, he was everywhere and was having goals in easy form but when Kevin sustained injury, he has to fight for the ball himself in most of the match. When he don't look for the ball, he doesn't get notice in the match and it was even as a result of that struggle he got that injury.
Kevin is back but Haaland is not fit but I love him for the fact that he can do well on his own but they should always start him to warm him up instead of playing half minute of game.

Chemistry between these two are amazing, and they are surely having tag of most lethal combo in current soccer world which are doing good job and having enough success just because of the KDB injury Haaland was badly down and then as we have injury to Haaland things gone from bad to worse for the City so now KDB already started and peoples are watching how their performance is coming back on the track which is much needed at this time now as we will have Haaland back then surely Manchester City is going to have their performance back into business which is having trade-mark success for them in early matches before this decline now we have few matches which are surely important for them before Champions League as they will help for creating same depth and better results.

[Spaceman1000$]

Of course Kevin De Bruyne's return has really rejuvenated the winning spirit of Manchester city, he is one guy with so much potential to still offer, i was even thinking because of the lengthy period he has been out of play, it will take him a long time to blend into the team but i was wrong, he game into the team and continued his master stroke performance.
By the time Erling haaland returns from his injury, then with the presence of De Bruyne, Manchester city will be unstoppable. De Bruyne always feed the frontliners with passes and assist, especially now that Manchester city doesn't have a standing striker, and if the frontliners they don't score, De Bruyne himself will make attempt to score.

De Bruyne is an extension of Pep Guardiola strategy on the field, his skills are a gift that is difficult to find in other players, especially in the current Manchester City squad. It is true that in the match versus Newcastle Debruyne showed that he is a player who can make a difference to the outcome of the match, so it is natural that when he is absent Pep Guardiola experiences headaches and finds it difficult to experiment. Of course we hope that De Bruyne will continue to be fit until the end of the season, to bring Manchester City consistency and compete closely with Liverpool in the hunt for trophies.

Manchester City will be solid and unshakable again if Pep Guardiola has a complete squad, if Halaand returns from injury it will be difficult to stop them in every competition. I see that Manchester City are very favorites in all competitions, even though they were a a little unstable a few weeks before, Pep Guardiola was able to fix all the shortcomings quickly and now they are back on track.

I must commend pep guardiola for recognizing the shortcomings in the team and to fix them almost immediately but I believe the return of Erling haaland too will also improve the teams performance, yeah they were really unstable for the whole of last month and the month before. Kevin De Bruyne present will improve the attacking force of Manchester City but my problem with Manchester City is that once an opponent is able to block them from the midfield because they always conquer the midfield, once an opponent destabilizes their midfield dominance, they always find it difficult to reorganize themselves all over and that is one of the mistakes and difficulty they were facing for the past few months they've been having issues in winning their games.

[baeva]

Manchester united is poor in defense and this second half willnot be in their favor from the look of things. This is because Tottenham have decided to come with the determination of winning the match, because they have seen that Manchester united is very weak

Manchester United's fans were always let down.

I don't know if the fans of Manchester United are upset for real or saying we got a point at least this time! I mean they were playing against Tottenham Hotspur and regarding their failure, this result is positive if we can say so!
Manchester United this time scored and added another goal after Spurs got the draw. They were trying their best although the dominance of Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United were few inches from scoring a goal by McTominay in the injury time but they failed unfortunately. This result didn't allow Spurs to move to top 4 and let ManU advance a little for now.

They can still go down to 8th in the table, which isn't great. In fact, the fact that they ended the match in a draw I consider it lucky for them, because looking at the match stats Tottenham completely dominated the match, I don't even understand how MU managed to score two goals.

Manchester United indeed seems to be in very poor performance and inconsistent in its matches this season so that its position has really dropped in the standings. However, I saw that in this match, both teams played very aggressively, so they were able to put very good attacking pressure on the back lines of both teams, and created many opportunities. In my opinion, a draw in this match is very natural for Manchester United, because the opponent they faced was not easy, and Tottenham's performance is slightly better than Manchester United this season. However, I saw that in this match Manchester United really tried hard to improve their performance to be good, even though in this match the results were less than optimal.

I wouldn't say Tottenham are playing slightly better, they are definitely playing better. It's true that Tottenham have been losing ground in recent matches, but they had a sensible start. Maybe it's just this period, but I think Tottenham have a good chance to fight for top 4 this season

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip

The performance of Kelvin De Bruyne have become professional in decades, probably after Pep Guardiola took over the managerial affairs of Manchester City. There's alot I learnt about the club, they become consistent after Pep Guardiola worked on the team and bringing in his choice of players and not some random average players that would triggered Manchester City to decline in performance. Kelvin De Bruyne was ruled out for lengthy games due to the critical injuries he obtained in the early starts of the season and that have left the Belgium international behind though he has finally returned and have become one of the key project for Pep Guardiola in Manchester City.

Kevin De Bruyne is one of the important players in the Manchester City squad in their pursuit of much success. He is the best midfielder in the Premier League who has made a big contribution to Manchester City's achievements over the last few seasons. Of course Pep Guardiola must have felt lost and found it difficult to find a replacement option when De Bruyne was injured, but now De Bruyne is back.

Pep Guardiola has been telling people that De Bruyne is one of his best players. Even after his long injury, De Bruyne has not changed and his contribution can really influence the course of the match. Haaland will definitely get some decent support once De Bruyne returns, so I think Haaland and his goal stats will improve for the rest of the season.

[Zlantann]

I wouldn't say Tottenham are playing slightly better, they are definitely playing better. It's true that Tottenham have been losing ground in recent matches, but they had a sensible start. Maybe it's just this period, but I think Tottenham have a good chance to fight for top 4 this season

At the beginning of the season, Tottenham was playing good football and winning games that some football pundits predicted they were contenders. for.the EPL title. But the team's performance began to reduce and injuries played a vital to this decline in quality. Still, the Angelos Postecoglou side is In a good position to compete for the title but this will be possible if they experience fewer injuries and sign some new players to add quality to the team.

Kevin De Bruyne is one of the important players in the Manchester City squad in their pursuit of much success. He is the best midfielder in the Premier League who has made a big contribution to Manchester City's achievements over the last few seasons. Of course Pep Guardiola must have felt lost and found it difficult to find a replacement option when De Bruyne was injured, but now De Bruyne is back.

Manchester City should know that Kevin De Bruyne has become injury-prone due to his age, there is a need to scout for a replacement for this great midfielder. His impact was felt in the game against Tottenham where he scored a goal and provided an assist with a master pass. Without him in that game City wouldn't have won that game. He has what it takes to change any game positively no wonder City always struggles when he is not playing.

[Dzigie]

A wonderful return by Kevin De Bruyne to the Premier League!    He did amazing things in the Newcastle match despite being subbed in in the second half. He is always ready for duty to perform strongly. It looks like the injury lasted quite long didn't affect his skills in a bad way at all. He is 32 years old by the way but still plays like he is in his much younger time periods.

Haaland is also soon joining the team. With having Haaland and De Bruyne at the same time Manchester City will be much more competitive for the PL title. Salah had better return quickly to Liverpool. 

When talking about Manchester City you mentioned Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland, but when talking about Liverpool you only mentioned Salah. I think that's the biggest difference between the two teams. Manchester City have more players who can influence the outcome of the game. Liverpool are weaker than Manchester City in this regard. I think that will be the deciding factor for the title. When Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland start to contribute, no team will be able to stop Manchester City.

[tiCeR]

...

This is what makes the EPL so unpredictable because no matter what happens in 90 minutes, small or big clubs always have problems that sometimes cannot be explained because clubs in the EPL are quite competitive.

Furthermore, for Everton, it can actually be said that this season they are better than the previous season because if only this season they did not get 10 penalty points for violations at this time they were already in the middle of the table but because they got a reduction of 10 points this season made them more often near the relegation zone and 1 line higher than the bottom 3 clubs.

Although in the previous 3 matches they had problems because they had to lose in tough matches where Boxing Day was very torturous but in my opinion if they do the same thing as against Aston Villa yesterday they will still be very possible to continue to rise in terms of position in the standings.

They played against the Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester City and Aston Villa and I guess they didn't really expect to get away with a lot of points here. But the draw against Aston Villa was still valuable for them. However, there are now a couple of games which is again against Tottenham and Manchester City in the next three weeks, but afterwards the quality of their opponents will be a bit lower. But as we just said here, no game is an easy game no matter who the opponent is. But I think they are still set up well enough to stay in the Premier League and not get relegated. But none of the team and the bottom of the table can be written off yet, except for Sheffield, which now slowly looks more hopeless than the other teams.