I guess most of you have asked this question and since there are just 17 games left in the season I guess it’s a good time to evaluate each team’s chances. The first thing that I did was to check the Football Betting sites and see their odds. It’s no surprise that Manchester City are the big favourites at the moment with Manchester United not far behind followed by Tottenham and Chelsea. The other teams seem out of the race: Arsenal’s odds to win the title, for instance, are 190 to 1.
Let’s make a quick recap of the league table situation before moving on to other considerations: Man City are in command with 51 points, reigning champions Man United are three points behind while Tottenham are in third position with 46 points. Chelsea need a half-miracle at this point to close the gap as they are 11 points behind the leaders while the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool would need more than a miracle since they are more than 15 points behind the Citizens.
We don’t have a clear favourite at this point in my view, I think that any of the current top three teams could go to win the title this season. I have to admit that I support Tottenham in this three-horse race, mainly because I really admire their manager and what he achieved at the club. But let’s see the facts:
Manchester City have lost just two games out of 21 but the important thing is that those two losses were in the last seven games and that shows a slight dip in form. Compared to last season when they relied mostly on Carlos Tevez for goals and offensive actions this season Man City have quite a few viable options upfront: Sergio Aguero who scored 14 goals so far, Edin Dzeko with 11 goals or even Mario Balotelli (8 goals), David Silva and Adam Johnson (5 goals apiece). Will that appetite for goals be enough for Mancini’s men to lift the title? It seems so at the moment.
Manchester United are going through a rough patch at the moment as they lost two of the last three games but the Red Devils have the maturity and experience to bounce back. However, compared to Man City, they only have one man to drive them forward and that is Wayne Rooney who bagged 13 goals so far while Javier Hernandez or Dimitar Berbatov only scored six apiece until now.
The dark horse in this race is Tottenham, they have lost just three games so far but two of those defeats were at the very beginning of the season. They recovered from that slow start and seem very solid at the moment even though they recorded a few disappointing draws lately. Adebayor is their top goalscorer so far with 9 goals but Van Der Vaart, Defoe and Bale also contributed with seven goals apiece. They do have a chance to lift the title and I really hope they will even though their bid might seem unlikely to many football fans.
As for Chelsea, they are out of the race if you ask me because 11 points is a huge gap at the moment. The main problem for the Blues is that their star strikers are not scoring: Torres has just 2 goals while Drogba has 3. Frank Lampard and Sturridge have scored 9 goals apiece so far but the team doesn’t seem to have a leader upfront. If Torres finds the way to the net they might have a chance, if not they might even drop out of the top four.
These are my thoughts but I’m really curious to see yours, so stick’em into the comments box!
junior
20 января, 2012 at 14:31
liverpool fc!
Johnny Karp
20 января, 2012 at 15:44
I’d call that wishful thinking :) But maybe next season.
nielsneutron
20 января, 2012 at 14:52
I would love to Tottenham win the title but if I had to bet on it I would pick Manchester City.
vaibhavc
20 января, 2012 at 15:09
United
Jordy
20 января, 2012 at 15:23
This is biased, but i expect Sir Alex to do some magic and we’ll win that 20th title… That said, City look very strong this year, but i’m hoping they’ll fail a bit with Touré(s) at the ANC :)
Johnny Karp
20 января, 2012 at 19:36
The African Cup could be a problem for Man City indeed, good point.
Dino Ozbolt
20 января, 2012 at 15:32
I’d like to see Tottenham on top as they have many Croatian players ( Modric ftw), but my vote goes to City this year.
Alex
20 января, 2012 at 16:08
As much as I despise them I’d have to say Manchester United. I just don’t think the other teams have the mental strength to lift the title. It’s a shame that as an Arsenal fan the best I can hope for this season is a top four finish.
Laxeyman
20 января, 2012 at 16:13
It pains me to say it (or should that be type it? ;) ) but I think Man Utd will win the league :( I can see City imploding at some point, and United will keep grinding out wins despite not playing particularly well. I can’t see Tottenham winning it, and Chelsea are too far behind, they have no chance.
Kevin
20 января, 2012 at 18:46
Even though I’m a United «fan» and that’s using the term loosely,I’d actually like to see Spurs win as I think the game as a whole needs a different champion. Also I very much admire Harry Redknap and if he can pull off a title win it will surely increase his chances as the next England manager. I’d love to see Harry lead out England in Rio or Sao Paulo.
So it’s Spurs for me :)
Darren Smith
20 января, 2012 at 18:51
Newcastle all the way lol :) Nah been serious I have to go with Manchester City.
Johnny Karp
20 января, 2012 at 19:37
Maybe Newcastle will pull it off next season ;)
Sears
20 января, 2012 at 18:52
I would love it if Spurs won, but the title will probably end up in Manchester again, not sure which team tough. It’s far to close to call.
Woody
20 января, 2012 at 19:23
i’m a chelsea fan but they’ve been really disappointing this year
with the current state of affairs i don’t really care who wins because chelsea are’nt going to win with this form.
i just don’t want united to win
anyway interesting post and it’s going to be close that’s all that i know
Thomas Pimenta
20 января, 2012 at 19:37
United always get good last months, we’ll have to see but I think United might be able to pip city
bigbaz
20 января, 2012 at 19:38
man utd, they have the best set-up in the whole premiership, the best manager and paul scholes lol. but seriously they just the best team in the league and im a wolves fan.
onecapwonder
20 января, 2012 at 19:40
Before this weekend (Super duper and a bit more super SundayTM) its probably a bit rash to make predictions but if I had to I’d suggest its Manchester City’s to lose.
Clearly the top 3 are the only ones in the race and Tottenham have a very tough run coming up, starting at the Ethiad on Sunday, so they may well be 8pts behind on Monday with matches against Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Stoke and Newcastle in the next two months. From that I’d say only the two Manchester clubs are really in and of those two I’d go for City based on the points advantage and their squad.
Man Utd looked weak at the start of the season in terms of squad (Cleverly and Anderson as a starting midfield partnership? Was that the plan to stop Barca?!?) , add injuries and on top of that Scholes coming back with Giggs still playing it speaks volumes about what Ferguson thinks about the depth and talent in his squad. The fact that Utd have done so well with the clear inadequacies in their team says a lot about how good Ferguson is as a manager and also about how poor a lot of the teams in the PL actually are.
CsAtlantis
21 января, 2012 at 02:46
Tottenham have a genuine chance, but they have to take points off Manchester City, they don’t have Yaya and Kolo Toure and with Vincent Kompany suspended they have never looked more vulnerable
Normally I would really rate Manchester United for the title but they have not signed a creative central midfielder and are relying on the returning Paul Scholes (and the likes of Carrick, who looked like a kid when he faced up to Xavi), Cleverley might be a solution but as far as I have seen he is pretty injury prone (even with Wigan last time)
Manchester City on the other hand, let’s just say I really hope that a club which can afford to pay a guy 250k pounds a week to improve his golf handicap does not win the league, money shouldn’t buy titles, though I really do love watching David Silva play, he’s a class act
Mark
21 января, 2012 at 12:03
I have always been a Utd fan and think Man Utd will win simply because UTd always get good in the last 4-5 months and Man City are hitting their ‘bad form’ time, if Spurs beat City on Sunday and MU beat Arsenal, Its utds to lose.