With the promotion exams on the horizon, Polar Star Dorm students are expected to face their biggest challenge yet by possibly battling members of the Elite Ten. Before digging into possible scenarios for "Shokugeki no Soma" chapter 172, here is a recap of the previous chapter.
Erina, after tasting Soma's dish, decided to support the PSD students in the upcoming exam. She told Soma to gather all PSD students outside the next morning as she has something very important to announce.
When morning arrived, Erina told everyone that those who plan to succumb to Central's demand of following their method of cooking may start to pack up and leave the dormitory. Those who plan to oppose her father for his ideals are welcome to stay. Her speech moved the students and Soma did not expect any less from her. As the chapter ends, Erina's motivations were revealed, she is doing it for the love of cooking and for Soma as well.
Fans over at Manga Helpers are excited with the upcoming arc as the students of the dormitory are expected to pull an upset over the higher-ranking officials of Central. Despite the odds, Erina will be able to use her influence as an Elite Ten member to protect her friends.
However, she will not be able to spare all students as some fans believe Megumi will be expelled due to her introvert nature. However, others rejected the idea as the author has used this subplot early in the story and using it again would be overkill.
Meanwhile, fans at Reddit think that each PDS student will be successful in their quest to become second year students. However, the final part of the grueling promotion exam will pit them against the Elite Ten.
This means Soma will have to fight Tsukasa Eishi one more time to pass, who easily beat him in a Shokugeki match before and could have resulted to him being forced to join Central as Eishi's right hand man. Should Eishi lost that contest, he had to turn over his position in the Elite Ten Council to Soma. Here is the review of the previous chapter.