On The Spot: The battle for mid-table supremacy

We’re 11 games into the Premier League season, which could only mean one thing — it’s time to take stock of where each team might be. While City is top, the rest of the top six are settling nicely into place; it’s time to see who finishes on top in the battle of the rest.

This year’s candidates appear to be Watford, Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield, which is really surprising given that three of them were newly promoted. But these clubs are similar in terms of their coach’s calibre, which will lend them a lot of ammunition going into the rest of this trying campaign. Newcastle has a smart and experienced manager in Rafael Benítez.They’ve brought in technically gifted players in Joselu and made permanent the deals for Mikel Merino and Christian Atsu. Benítez is an astute manager who will have his tactics for the right occasions to keep Newcastle up.

With Brighton and Huddersfield, one might be a bit more skeptical as to whether they’ll finish in the top 10. They’ve got two very young and skillful coaches in Chris Hughton and David Wagner. They’ve also got two very determined squads without big egos, which always helps. In particular, Wagner’s style matches that of Jurgen Klopp — that’s no surprise considering he had worked under Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. Not many teams can successfully execute that, but even fewer teams can counter against it.

Watford has spent smart money in hiring Marco Silva, who almost pulled off a miracle at Hull City last season. The team invested smartly this transfer window — signing Richarlison when he was about to board a plane to confirm his transfer to Ajax was probably the best deal this club did. The fact that Everton made an approach for him speaks testament to his capabilities.

Then there’s Burnley, who I think might surprise a few this year. Those in the soccer circles know that Sean Dyche is a really good coach, the “Ginger Mourinho.” I thought the team would struggle this year, to be honest, after losing Tom Heaton to injury, Michael Keane to Everton and Andre Gray to Watford. But Burnham reinforced smartly by adding Jack Cork from Swansea and Jonathan Walters from Stoke, who add experience and composure to the team. Buying Chris Wood from Leeds will give them significant strength up front as well. What Burnley has going for them is its team spirit and an intimidating home ground.

Where these teams finish up come May is, of course, still too early to be determined. Everton may finally come good, and surprisingly, Leicester seems to be improving under Claude Puel’s management. Southampton may rediscover its form, assuming the team finds a way to score goals again. But what you can count on is that the managers of Watford, Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield will find ways to make lives difficult for the rest of the league, and in the meantime accomplish what their clubs would have wanted them to do when the season started.