Chelsea- This may seem strange to most of you, however I thought Chelsea would flop this season. They have been far and away the best team in the Premier League this season and are real contenders for the Champions League.
Cambridge United- My local team have fallen from grace over the last couple of years and I thought this could be the year that they bounced back and showed everyone that they deserved to be promoted. They are currently 18th.
Tottenham- A pretty similar story to Chelsea, in my opinion. I thought that they'd have a slow start and not finish anywhere near 4th this year. However, they sit 5th in the Premier League and look like the real deal this season.
Liverpool, West Brom and Blackpool do not shock me simply because things will average out sooner or later. Blackpool will still get relegated, West Brom will finish lower mid-table and Liverpool will finish sixth or seventh.
Aside from who's already been suggested, Norwich - we've been expected to come bottom-to-mid-table, but we've been in the top 5 pretty much all season.
Overachievers:
Mainz (Top of the league despite being predicted to do bad.)
Villareal (Second in the BBVA despite the usual Real Madrid/ Barcelona domination.
Blackpool, Newcastle, West Brom.
Never in my worst nightmares could I have dreamt we'd be SO poor this season. I never thought Roy Hodgson would prove so inept when he was first appointed. We have our so-so playing squad of course, but it's stronger than Fulham's was last season. Surprise is an understatement.
over achievers: QPR, Blackpool, West Brom, Newcastle, Mainz, Academica, Villareal, Brighton
under achievers: Liverpool, Bristol City, Braga, Maritimo, Nottingham Forest, Bayern Munique
these are just from the top of my head
Man Utd have surprised me. I have not been surprised by their performances or the fact they have conceded goals and only won 1 game away, but i am surprised they are near the top. They have a really poor team compared to other squads they have had. They still only do well because they still have that fear factor, but i think that is going slowly.
As for my beloved Liverpool, yeah i thought we would do a lot better, but look at our squad, look at our strongest 11. We are poor. We have arguably one of the top 3 keepers in world football a World class player in Gerrard and a world class player in Torres. As for the rest.......average. Carragher is immense on his day and he is very consistant but he won't get better. Few signings in Jan and maybe we can go for top 6. If not, top half i'll take.
Blackpool, my home team. I've been going to watch them (as well as Liverpool) since i was 5. I never thought i would see them in the Prem. They are doing everyone proud. I don't think it is no coincidence that Blackpool & West Brom are doing well and playing some really great football.
Liverpool can learn a lot from those two clubs!!
p.s. City have surprised me too. I thought they would struggle for the first half, but they have impressed. Bad result against Arsenal but the sending off played a major part.
West Brom - Have a really decent manager who i think will manage a big club one day.
Blackpool - Have had an excellent start but i still think they will go down.
I would say Pool but i thought they would strugle but obviously not this much. My view is that they have relied on Gerrard and Torres too much over the last 5-6 years they have worn them out.