 Yeah, welcome back to the Sports Bank Zone. We kick off the last show of the year by talking some English Premier League football. At the halfway mark of the season, it is Liverpool leading the standings, 42 points from 19 games with just one defeat. Arsenal stumbled on Thursday and as such, find themselves second in 40 points. Aston Villa and champions Manchester City round out the top four, Aston Villa on 39 points and Manchester City on 37 points, Tottenham there in fifth position on 36, West Ham with that big win yesterday on 33 and I guess I'll stop at seventh because that's where Manchester United find themselves on 31 points. It has been a poor showing from the promoted teams, Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield all in the relegation zone. Everton, of course, who suffered a 10-point deduction, set a point above relegation. They are in 17th place at this stage. The English Premier League continues on Saturday and joining us to give a preview of the matches is one of our football correspondents, Simon Evans. Simon, first of all, happy holidays. It's been a while that we haven't had a chat. It's great that we're able to catch up before 2023 is done and dusted. Yeah, good to be back. Good to see you all and yeah, happy holidays to you all as well. Yeah, I want to start by looking where we're at in the English Premier League. Liverpool atop the table, Arsenal in second position, Aston Villa in third. Biggest surprise of all the top six teams at this stage. Yeah, absolutely Aston Villa. You know, I think what Unai Emery has done with that team this year has been has been incredible, really. He's a master at taking sides that people expect to be mid-table or lower and turning into something more. We've seen him do it in Spain with Villa Real and he's doing it again with Aston Villa, taking over a team that's really not that dissimilar to the one that Steve and Gerard have and turning them into a team that are in contention at the moment. Yeah, I want to get your thoughts quickly on Leon Bailey, the Jamaican who has been fantastic for them in recent times. Your thoughts on what has been different this season. Yeah, he seems to be playing with with a freedom and he seems to be able to be have a team around him that puts him in the positions where he can excel. We know where Leon Bailey is good. He's good in the final third. He's good in wide areas and he's good when he has the freedom to come inside and doesn't have to, you know, stick out wide into a strict position. But he's effective when he's out there as well. So I think I think he's they found the perfect mix really for him of having the right players around him, playing him in the right position and crucially giving him that freedom. Yeah, I. There's no doubt that he has, I think, tremendous quality. This is a two part question. One, are you surprised that has taken him so long to deliver the type of performances we have seen from him this season in the English Premier League? And do you believe he will be able to sustain the quality that we have seen from him? I'm not massively surprised, no, because there's plenty of players when they move from the Bundesliga to the English League or from any league in Europe to the Premier League do need some time to adjust. When you join a club where there's a degree of instability and management churn as well, that can that can that can really hamper a player and they could end up not settling at all. He stuck with it, so I think he deserves some credit for that. With what went on, Aston Villa, after he was there, he could have easily disappeared from the scene and he stuck with it and come through and a lot of other players haven't done. So do I think you'll sustain it? Look, a lot of it's on fitness, isn't it? He's had injury problems in the past that have disrupted his progress at Villa and elsewhere. Hopefully he can keep himself 100% fit. And, you know, we see these kinds of performances through and throughout this season and, dare I say, in international action as well. Yeah, of course, Manchester City find themselves in fourth position at this stage. Of course, they do have a game in hand, five points of the league. So let's say they were to win that game and you'd be looking at just two points of the league. But in any case, if there is any team and they have proven it in recent seasons that can find themselves from behind at Christmas, then it's Manchester City. So I suspect that if you are a Manchester City fan, you would not be too concerned. But from your standpoint, analytically, are you seeing anything different about this Manchester City unit, this campaign? Well, what I saw against Everton in that win was City coming back to their best, really. The way they moved the ball, the passing was back to how City can play. It was interesting to see Phil Fordham playing in a central role. He so often had to be playing in the different winger positions there at City. That seemed to work very well. But they did seem to click against Everton and something came right. And I think that's a warning sign to the Leicester League. Look, they had a bad run of form. It happens to teams, even teams as powerful as Manchester City are, you know, treble winners, but I think they've come through that. And I think that five points is nothing. I still see Manchester City as the favourites for the title again, not because I don't see the teams around them as genuine contenders. But I just think that once they click, they're capable of going on a run where they win 10 in a row. They win, they go unbeaten for 16. You know, that kind of team. And I don't think the other teams quite have that in them. Yeah, you know, I want to ask you, Simon, quickly about Arsenal, because the Arsenal fans are hungrier for a title. We had a discussion with Brent Sancho this week on the show. He doesn't have a lot of confidence in them going all the way this year, focusing on his view that they aren't showing enough leadership. They aren't leaders on the field to get them over the hill when it's crunch time. He did suggest, and I challenged him on it, that they have been moderately successful this year. And I thought that was a little bit harsh. I would suspect that they are a little bit better than moderately successful so far this year. Yeah, I think so. I mean, there was an assumption that last year was a building block, a foundation for something better this year. And that raised his expectations. But I think that's turned out to be like that. I think they are a better team than last year. I think they have much more depth in their squad. They have more options and they have more solidity. I think Declan Rice has improved them greatly in the midfield. I think he gives them something that they didn't have before. And I think, you know, you look at some of the attacking talent that they have with Sacher on the right, Martinelli on the left, and then there's other players coming in off the bench. It's just one thing that they're really missing a little bit. I think it's a classic number nine. As much as I like Gabriel Jesus, he's not really the one to lead the line on his own. Eddie Nicotay is another player who's a little bit like that. They're the kind of players who I think would play well alongside a number nine, if you like. I'm not necessarily talking about a traditional old fashioned big number nine, but an essential main striker whose job it is to be in the penalty area and score the goals. And they have a player like that on their books. He was on loan in France, now placed for the United States, Florian Balaboun, who I think is a very exciting player. They allowed him to go to, they sold him to Monaco. And I wonder a little bit if they perhaps regret that now, because they missed that genuine number nine strike, somebody that the other teams have. Yeah, is there anyone out there that they could target in the general transfer window, you think? It's hard to say, because that's the hardest position of all to recruit. That's why they're the most expensive ones, isn't it? You know, the guys who put the ball in the back of the net, the whole point of the whole thing. So it's difficult to see who they might go for. I mean, across Europe, there are people scoring goals. I'm sure they'll be looking at it. But, you know, maybe Gabrielle Gillesouz does develop into that player. He's somebody who at City, he didn't ever really feel totally comfortable in that role. He seemed to be better playing through the channels. But I think maybe Brent was being a bit harsh. I think Arsenal are definitely still in the race, absolutely. There's no doubt about that. And I think they're a better team than last year. Yeah, Lance is quite happy to hear you say that, because he's been speaking about it all week and just chomping at the bit to get the opportunity to say that on international television. We've spoken about so many teams and we've not spoken about the team that's at the top of the English Premier League at this stage. That's Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp after the disappointment of last season has put together another good team, Trent Alexander-Arnold playing brilliantly again for this Liverpool set-up, Mo Salah, Ben Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez starting to come through. They have Gagpo and things are starting to look up for the Reds. How do you see it? Yeah, I think, you know, I watched them very closely in their game against the team. I support Burnley who they played on Boxing Day and they had it very much their own way for the first 45 minutes and then Burnley were down at the bottom and lacking confidence, came out and had to go at them in the second half. And Liverpool struggled a little bit. You know, the thing is, the players you've mentioned there are the players they've relied on throughout the Klopp era, aren't they? The new players who've come in, I'm still not quite sure, even though the good players and the teams getting results and so on, I'm still not convinced that all of those players are the level that the previous generation of Liverpool players were. I think some of them, I think Gagpo is a fantastic player. I think he gives them a lot. But, you know, if they can get Jota fit and regularly, he's just come back from injury, if they can get him back, scoring goals like he can do and Salah as well. And then you've got Gagpo and then you've got Darwin Nunez. They've got a lot of firepower there. So they're in the conversation. But I just feel that, you know, they've never quite, you know, the players they lost, Winaldum, Fabinho, Firmino, those kinds of players. I don't see the ones who've come in being quiet on that level. But maybe I'll be proven wrong about that. Yeah, Diego Jota does seem to know how to find the back of the net whenever he is fit. But of course, as we know, that hasn't always been the case, especially this season. But every time he gets that opportunity, he finds a way. So I'd rather like Liverpool, but we'll see how that one will turn out. Does it make sense? Asking you for a comment on Manchester United. I doubt you'll have anything to say that we've not heard for the last 10 years. But we were discussing the big six and the title contenders here. Oh, so should we talk about Tottenham then? Tottenham, who got hammered at Brighton last night. Yeah, it's a funny season, isn't it? No, United, look, everyone at United is hoping that the takeover of the football side by Jim Ratcliffe is going to bring some changes there, a different approach. And they'll fix some of those things that we've talked about a million times on this show that are going wrong behind the scenes. Let's see, but this season's a write-off for them, really. Yeah, Simon Evans says that Manchester City is still his favourite to go on and win the English Premier League. My favourites as well. And I know they're Lance's favourite as well, right, Lance? Or is it Arsenal? No, no, no, City. It's not? No, it's City, yes. You talk about Arsenal so much. Arsenal deserves a little more respect than some people are giving them. But if I was a betting man, I'm taking City. Yeah, yeah. All right, I like that for you. Let's go to a break. Simon, happy new year when it comes and we'll chat in 2024. Take care. Look forward to it. Happy new year, guys. Yeah, man.