Premiership Title Race: Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United?
Everyone who loves football watched United draw with Chelsea at the Theatre Of Dreams. Many a pundit and even both managers came out with their own conclusions about the results. One factor remained however: The status quo has not really changed.
Ferguson’s side are still top by three points, the point a piece made sure that the top two pulled further away from their strongest rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, yet both sides are still some way off their brilliant best, as proven by their two indifferent halves of football.
A myth has been promoted in football recently that Chelsea’s squad is the strongest in the premiership. In truth man for man Liverpool and Arsenal are equipped better with a deeper bench of all round quality yet are horrendously under performing. While Manchester and Chelsea’s problems mirror each other. United are better covered in defence, are short in midfield and reasonable upfront (if fully fit, Ole, Saha, Rooney and Smith are actually a rather good forward line). Chelsea are desperately short in defence, awesome in midfield and reasonable upfront. Only because upfront they can play with one striker. But with Scheva out of sorts it can be argued that minus Drogba Chelsea are probably short upfront too.
The period in the next month will be crucial for both sides. Games will come thick and fast, both teams will start to pick up their true best form, while the squad strategy and injuries may come into play. Chelsea will have a slight advantage here since both Ballack and Scheva might get true form in this period. However any injuries to say Terry or Carvalho at the back or Drogba in this period and Ballack and Scheva remaining as they are now and the going could get difficult since they have to visit Arsenal in this period and a few other stubborn premiership sides. As for United an injury to Rooney and Saha before Solksjaer and Smith return fully could really be bad. Practically they could probably survive without Scholes or Carrick.
January is where however the keys to the title door will lie. If Chelsea spends on a few defenders the gaping hole in their squad will disappear. Money won’t be the issue. United on the other hand need another striker as cover for Saha, another center midfielder or two to cover the lack of back up for Scholes and Carrick and possibly serious back up for Giggs since Richardson doesn’t cut it. What happens in the January window will go a long way in determining the titles fate.
Furthermore, if the top two slip up in the busy Christmas-New Year period, letting Arsenal and Liverpool back in the title race could prove costly. For one feels if those two get a chance to come back to par. They might not let it slip again.
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Discussion - 21 Responses
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“Chelsea are desperately short in defence”…..whoa hahaha!!! England Center-back, England Left-back, 2 Portugese internationals, a Dutch international, 3 Keepers besides Cech, World’s best holding midfielder and Ghana’s best player who taught Gary Neville infront of 76,000 people at Old Trafford how to play right-back…….. hahaha “desperately short” - What are you thinking man?
I would have liked Essien to be up against Giggs playing as a proper winger, or Ronaldo or Robben or Joe Cole…and then seen how well he matched up to Neville in positioning and defence.
Chelsea were player 3-4-3, not 4-3-3
Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge not the other way round.
Azar - Pretty much 100% wrong. This article focused on back up, the bench. Who is Chelsea’s 4th centre back? I’d imagine Boularouz could do the job, but he’s far from proven in the prem in that position. Essien didn’t really have to defend the entire time at RB, as for some reason United decided not to test him. As for 3 keepers besides Cech, almost every team in the Championship has 3 keepers in their squad, question is are they any good. (For me only Cudicini is. Hedman..?)
But anyway, if you really believe that any team would replace Gary Neville with Michael Essien in that position, well, that says something about your knowledge doesn’t it?
This article tries to say Liverpool and Arsenal could catch up to BOTH United and Chelsea. HAHAHAHAHAHA. And pigs can fly. Maybe one, not both.
I think people should focus on the key points the author makes - that neither Chelsea nor Man Utd hold any considerable advantage, and that January will tell us more about their title chances.
I’m convinced that one of the top two will slip by then. I could be wrong
erm
i think liverpool gained two points on both united and chelsea
they won 1-0 aginst man city.
Danny
RE: Beachryan - And you completely lost my point there. My comment’s purpose was to criticize the glaring use of words - “desperately shortâ€?? WTF? You SIMPLY can never give a statement like this for Chelsea defence [ManU has had 7 goals against them, Chelsea only one more, 8]. I’m sure you can agree with that? And if you keep looking for first-team quality in backups as well then majority of the teams are gonna be “desperately short”!! Do you think Brown, O’Shea, Silvestre are as good as the first team guys? No. Do you think if EVDS would be to sidelined for injury, can you come up with 2 keepers of similar quality? No. Cudicini is not bad at all, and Hilario survived against Barcelona! Like all other teams Chelsea have to compromise on the bench as well (although a lot less), and yes while they do not have a complete “set” of back-up back four, they have fortified their mid-field enough that Essien can be dropped back any time they want - and he WILL play very well….. and I’m sure you got what my point was about Essien/GN but I guess you simply decided to make a fuss out of my words. I never said Neville was replaceable, all I wanted to point to was, Essien covered RB while cutting the ball up to the box on a number of occasions, he gave an emergency cover for RB position, a support for mid-game midfield reshuffle AND built moves from the right. I have VERY seldom seen GN juggle these duties the same way. Yes it is NOT his role to do that, but still I doubt if he’s capable of it. Talking exclusively of RB position, of course GN IS BETTER than Essien hahaha but if it weren’t the case, GN would be worth nothing coz that is what he DOES for his bread and butter!!
Not to nitpick, but there\’s a typo - Chelsea has been spelled incorrectly. Check the title, please.
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I\’d like to make a point about Liverpool - I think that although they have a very strong squad, Rafa\’s inability or rather unwillingness to keep a team together is their major cause for not doing as well as one would expect them to. The team simply isn\’t gelling together. There\’s a lot of miscommunication as is evidenced by their sometimes wayward passing and when there are players who are in the form of their lives and scoring goals all over the place (Crouch), he puts them on the bench. Rotation is all well and good as a term but when you\’re very short of goals especially on your visits to other stadia, you\’ve got to put the guy scoring the goals on the pitch.
Ryan - the only reason United didn’t really “test” Essien was because the guy holds a PhD in theatrics - or at least he should! You’d reckon that the presence of players within a 2ft radius of the lad would result in him going down. lol. But nah, before people start charging at me all guns blazing, lets drop the humor. Can’t really argue with the author - reckon its just the Chelsea bench for their mid/forward lineup that makes you question “wtf is this defense?” Agreed you can’t have a tit-for-tat replacement, but really, when a squad has the depth to quite substantially replace the likes of Ballack and Sheva, you really have to question why they haven’t gone on and done the same for the backline. Easy money on Chelsea splashing some major cash on quality defenders (just for bench purposes…(sounds so wrong!!))
No doubt that the two will slip up as the season progresses, but you really can’t see them slipping that bad. The rest of the pack needs an X-mas miracle to get back in contention…
Funny enough, the one team that you can guarantee to pull off a miracle recovery is United - and they’re on top.
United don’t stumble after Christmans - so the next month should be interesting for us
Michael Essien has been head and sholders above every other player in terms of performance in the chelsea team this year, including drobga. You get the feeling that he might also be a better bet in goal. He is a hard and fair player and anyone accusing heim of being theatrical has clearly been watching a different league.
Its good for the game that the league is actually competitive this year, even if only 2 clubs are competing (though how anyone can say that Liverpool and Arsenal have stronger squads than the top 2 is a mystery - Liverpool may have more players than the other 3 clubs put together - all mediocre bar 2 or 3 and Arsenal ar a one player team). In the end it will be Utds away trips to Liverpool Chelsea and arsenal and How Chelsea get On against Utd at home and Arsenal and Liverpool away (I’m pretty sure Arsenal will lose to Chelsea at SB) that will decide the detiny of the title
PS: Chlesea’s back up keepers are all bullshit. Kuszcack isnt. Ha ha ha
PS: Chelsea’s back up keepers are all bullshit. Kuszcack isnt. Ha ha ha
on the basis of wednesday night’s matches…
1) there is a genuine chance that Arsenal and Liverpool won’t finish 3rd - leaving a ’smaller’ club to grab the honours.
2) United and Chelsea will go tooth and nail till one of them drops points. The one who does, might has well have lost the title.
3) Liverpool are desperately unlucky with injuries, although part of it is upto bad luck (Momo, Alonso), the rest up to poor buys (Kewell, Zenden).
4) Arsenal are - oh my gosh - crap.
Pre-season, pundits were all about Liverpool pushing Chelsea for 2nd spot, Tottenham pushing for 4th, Arsenal in 3rd and United out of the title race by September.
Some rational souls had us at 4th instead of 5th (But I suspect they were Arsenal fans and didn’t want to predict Spurs getting a CL spot).
No one thought we would start Dec as leaders.
Boro away - another tricky fixture, although Giggs, Scholes, Vidic and Saha will be rested enough to feature in it. Another win, and then it’s Benfica at home and the weekend after that, it’s Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Wenger said the next four games would define his season - Arsenal lost the easiest one - now they have a home game to Spurs, a trip to Porto and are away to SB.
3 defeats in a row, UEFA Cup, Henry leaving in January?
I’m being cruel, I know. They should beat Spurs, but Porto and Chelsea will be tough. And Henry - well, he’s not getting younger, and he’s not winning the Prem or CL with Arsenal for the rest of his playing time.
Hehehe Keith…. like Aerosmith said…. “Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream on till your dreams come true!” [;)]
You’ve forgetten to include Spurs, who will be picking up 3 points this weekend from an Arsenal side that can’t even beat Fulham.
Totally agree with you “T” if Arsenal are beaten by a very low-scoring Fulham side this year, What kind of a future is there for Arsenal ???
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And about Arsenal winning at the Bridge? Stranger things have happened. Remember ho the mighty Liverpool lost a title at anfield to a lousy George Graham side?
hahaha-What a bunch of kids you all are,there are more important things in life than football.The season ticket prices are a scandel,and who really cares who wins.There is too much money in football-I prefer to watch the lower league sides….They do not argue with the referee,or dive to gain advantages,or throw handbags at each other.they play good hard football-the way it used to be.It makes me laugh seeing a big strapping 15 stone striker fall over when a tiny midfield player shoulder barges in.
I played in tougher games at school-whats the matter with you……..hahaha