WINNERS
Crystal Palace
Out the other side of January with easily the most improved squad in the league. They left it late but Hennessy, Ince, Ledley and Dann all have the ability to go straight in to their side and make a difference, and Jason Puncheon signed permanently for a bargain £1.75m. They also managed to ship a fair few out on loan, which is just as well seeing as they’ve got the biggest squad in Europe.
Chelsea
Juan Mata’s ace and everything, but if you’re not going to play him then £37m is even better. Persuading someone to pay £18m for Kevin de Bruyne wasn’t bad going either. In came Matic, Salah and Zouma with £13m to spare, Financial Fair Play baby! A striker wouldn’t have gone amiss but if, as is looking increasingly likely; Diego Costa’s joining in the summer then it’s probably worth waiting.
Hull
Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long might not be the world’s most prolific goalscorers, but they’ll certainly chip in with more than Yannick Sagbo and Matty Fryatt ever did. Extra bonus points for getting their business done early too.
Fulham
Heitinga, Holtby, Dempsey and Mitroglou are clearly an upgrade on Hughes, Taarabt, Ruiz and Berbatov, and the arrival of Man Utd youngsters Ryan Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole will bring the average age down if nothing else. Whether or not they’ve done enough to stay up is another matter.
LOSERS
Arsenal
Yes it’s difficult to get hold of world-class strikers mid-season, but there’s plenty better than Nicklas Bendtner, and that’s really all we asked. Kim Kallstrom came in as cover for the currently injured midfielders but it turned out he was crocked as well. The title
might have been out of reach anyway, but it certainly is now.
Norwich
Nothing against Jonas Gutierrez and Joseph Yobo, but wasn’t the real issue a lack of goals? Looking like barren, nervous times between now and May.
Swansea
The Europa League’s a cracking way to explain away your ropey domestic form, but Swansea haven’t had to negotiate a midweek trip to the old USSR for over 2 months now, and they’re still shocking. God knows what’ll happen to them when it starts up again, but you suspect David Ngog and Marvin Emnes won’t be of much help.
Liverpool
They weren’t properly desperate for additions, but make the list anyway thanks to dithering over, and eventually missing out on Mohamed Salah. Then there was the ill-fated deadline day jaunt to the Ukraine, from which they returned Yevhen Konoplyanka-less. They'd have been better off with a defensive midfielder, but didn't get one of them either.
Image source