The Premiership Title Race- The Climax

According to the ”experts” at the Daily Telegraph, Manchester United will win this accolade on goal difference, with both the Red Devils and the West London giants Chelsea (Chavscum, Chavski, Chevski, Chelski, Chavscumski, Oil Army etc.) will finish on 85 points.

Apparently, Manchester United will lose to Arsenal, Liverpool and Pompey, draw against Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Fulham and defeat Watford, Spurs, Charlton, Bolton, Blackburn, Sheffield United, Everton and West Ham.

And once again, the expert that is Tim Rich believes that Chelsea will lose only one game, that being to Arsenal, draw against Liverpool, Pompey, Spurs and United themselves and then beat Blackburn, Charlton, Boro, Man City, Sheffield Utd, Watford, West Ham, Newcastle, Bolton and Everton convincingly.

 But whatever the critics claim, football is not possible to predict. Form is only in the eye of the beholder- some say there is a crisis at Stamford Bridge, others say that even when they are running out of players in the back four, they can still draw games- it all depends on how your personal outlook is.

 One team that might make a definite push for a place high up the table this season if Chelsea and Man Utd slip up is Arsenal- I’d back them to even finish 2nd if they get convincing results against United and Chelsea and can continue their unbeaten run and go on a run of consecutive wins.

As a Manchester United fan, it pains me to believe that Arsenal will become a European super-power, but only take a look at their reserves and youth team to realize they will be regularly challenging for top honours in the future with the likes of Robin Van Persie, Julio Baptista, Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas maturing into international-class players…….but I’ll say it anyway.

As for the title race, I personally believe that it would be good for football if Manchester United could stop Chelsea from receiving their third consecutive premiership title- it would be unfair for a club to dominate a league purely due to their ability to conjure £250million in the transfer market and bring the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack to the club without breaking a sweat (and of course, there are rumours that some particular players are going down quite easily in order to win free kicks, but that is hardly fair to comment upon).

Personally, I like the idea of a jaded Cristiano Ronaldo breaking the Player of the Month record books and lifting the premiership title after the world club, I’d like to see Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes end their careers on a high and feel hungry for silverware again, I’d like to see Gary Neville, one of the most passionate United supporters I have ever witnessed, lift the title above his head (his face when we won the Carling Cup, I swore he thought we had beaten Wigan Athletic 4-0 in the Champion’s League Final) and the jubilance of a team that despite Glazer putting us in debt and fans raging over the boardroom, the on-the-pitch performances of a young team with a nucleus of promising youth from Britain can take charge and the small squad of determined and hard-working players could overcome the odds (FourFourTwo predicted Man Utd to finish 4th and Chelsea to win the league by 11 points) and celebrate the English Premier League.

I don’t see too much hatred when it’s Liverpool and Man Utd or Man Utd-Arsenal anymore, only the odd few extremists fans that still show bitterness. It’s very much an all against Chelsea mentality now, but Jose Mourinho is relishing it and will continue to put fuel to the fire.