Mid-Season Circus Shaping Close-Season Crisis

While many English Premier League (EPL) managers complain about the lack of a winter break, fans watch breakneck activity on and off the pitch with great excitement. Organizers may have only had holiday entertainment in mind, but the schedule congestion and squad reinforcements add an element of surprise that make the EPL arguably the toughest league in the world.

This mid-season’s headlines were dominated by lowly Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and Newcastle making six signings a piece. While QPR has recently enjoyed some really impressive results against table toping sides like Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City, they can’t seem to conjure up a much needed winning streak. With just 2 league wins for the season and a massive 7 points away from safety, one can’t help but fear Harry may have facilitated a worse financial disaster for QPR than he did at Portsmouth.

It was however Newcastle’s mid-season signings that irked Mr. Wenger the most. They may have helped pick up points against major rivals Chelsea, but Wenger clearly believes it is his final game of the season against Newcastle will determine Arsenal’s Champions League destiny. With the odds now firmly stacked against Arsenal making it past Bayern Munich in this season’s UEFA Champions League (UCL), a top-four finish, Wenger’s “only trophy” of the last eight years is imperative. To help realize this goal, a single £8.5m left back was signed from Malaga to help restore the defensive solidity that gave Arsenal so much promise earlier in the season.

Events at Old Trafford, home of English football’s only other UCL survivor may play a key role in the long term UCL future of Arsenal and other UCL qualification contenders. While Manchester United’s sole mid-season purchase immediately loaned back to Crystal Palace was not of much concern to rivals, it is their current UCL adventure that places rivals in a “Catch-22” situation. Unless United have a good run during this season’s UCL, the English league which has lost its dominance of recent seasons runs the risk of losing their fourth qualifying place as Italy’s two representatives are well placed to advance to the next round. On the other hand, should United break the Real Madrid jinx to advance against them for the first time since 1968, they will have a good chance of winning the UCL final in Wembley Stadium which may not delight major domestic rivals. Domestically, United continue to do just enough to win each game. They depended on outscoring the opposition earlier in the season but now have defensive organization to help while they score less and grind out results.

United’s cross-town rivals had hoped to gain advantage in the title race from a lighter football schedule but have slumped to a 3 game winless streak that has placed them closer to 3^rd place than top of the table. Surprisingly, Manchester City’s only mid-season activity was the sale of maverick Mario! If their last game in the FA Cup is anything to go by, City’s unorthodox approach may have sparked life into their misfiring strike force. This weekend’s game against Chelsea may go a long way in determining whether the respective seasons of these two financial super powers will continue to promise success or if the season will diminish for one of them.

Like their billionaire rivals, Chelsea had a quiet mid-season transfer window by their extravagant standards, only adding £ 7million worth of talent. While Demba Ba has shown enough promise to give Chelsea hope of reviving their faltering season, it will take some doing to overcome the club’s miscalculated November gamble to sack Champion’s League winning manager, Di Matteo. A win against City on Sunday will place Chelsea just a point behind City in the league table, and following their Europa League success may finally get the crowd off Benitez’s back to rally them around their heroes. A loss will allow Tottenham to leapfrog them into 3^rd place and potentially allow Arsenal to exert significant pressure on them for 4^th place.

Besides Newcastle, Liverpool is the club that added significant quality to their squad. Sturridge and Coutinho signed for a combined £20 million should give Liverpool a realistic chance of returning to the Europa League next season.

Although the rest of the league signed a combined 27 players during the mid-season window, it is Southampton’s controversial managerial change that is threatening to make the biggest splash in the pond. Mauricio Pochettino has now made the Saints a threat against any opposition and if as expected they stay up this season, they will be the team to watch next season, probably generating more excitement than the Swans have done so far this season.