The 2015-16 Premier League title will be a hard fought battle until the end probably. Although Arsenal, Leceister and Manchester City are destined to fight for the trophy based on the first half of the season, teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United will not give up that easily. On the opposite side Chelsea is sitting 19 points behind the leaders and 15 points behind Champions League berth… the second half of the season seems to a be a very long way for them. 2016 is just around the corner and with the football action coming thick and fast, give your betting bank a boost and get treble the odds on your 1st bet at 888Sport. Managers and players comment on what to come for 2016 as early as January second. There is no break for the Premier League.
Wenger comments on a mature Arsenal side: “From January 1 to December 31 we were consistent and have improved our results. The team has grown in stature, is more mature, more reliable and we won the FA Cup and the Community Shield. We are in a strong position in the Premier League so hopefully 2016 will be better.
We are mature enough and we have the requested quality to fight and compete. The most important thing is to feel, at the end of the season, that we have given absolutely everything to be successful. After that, if somebody has been better than us, we will accept it, but we want to fight to show that we have a chance”.
Manchester United Chris Smalling reflects on his hopes for 2016: “We want to stick at the top end of the table and when you dominate games you need to win them,” the defender added. “We’ll take some positives and make sure we come back stronger. I think there are a good few of us who need some days’ recovery now after this period and, once we’ve done that, we can prepare for Saturday and come back to Old Trafford with the same energy and enthusiasm to keep driving and get that win.”
Midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin added: “We know that if we can improve on the first part of the season, by scoring more goals and getting back to the strong defensive performances we had before the last few games, then anything can happen. This isn’t finished. There are five months left, the second part of the season. We must be confident because we are Manchester United, we are one of the biggest teams in the world.”
For Manchester City as International goalkeeper transcribes in his own words: “We just need to focus on ourselves, win as many games as possible and hope that’s enough at the end of the season.” And there is hope to win another title. But after a flamboyant start the Citizens have slowed down despite a solid third place a victory away from the leaders.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane on a last minute winner in Watford last weekend: “To get the goal in the last minute is always special, though, and to win the game is very important. We’ve had two tough games in three days and three wins out of three now over a tough Christmas period so we couldn’t be happier, we go into the New Year buzzing and hopefully we’ll continue it at Everton next week.”
For Guus Hiddink and Chelsea, it is a day-by-day approach as he mentions: ‘You see how it is, all the big teams are losing points as well. Nowadays it’s very difficult and if you see where our next opponent is in the table they are close to the Champions League positions. So it’s not that easy now to have a long-term winning sequence but we have to go there.’
