Title Race Run In
The Premier League season is fast coming to a climax and I feel that it would be right that I lend my thoughts on what may or may not happen!
Not sure if you’re aware but I am a Chelsea fan, but I try to be as impartial as possible. I am a bit of a pessimist so I’m sure it my bias won’t shine through!
The table at the time of writing looks like this:
| Team | Pld | Gd | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 27 | 41 | 61 |
| Man Utd | 28 | 42 | 60 |
| Arsenal | 27 | 33 | 55 |
Now, if we have a quick look at the fixtures remaining:
| Chelsea | Man Utd | Arsenal |
|---|---|---|
| Man City (h) | Wolves (a) | Stoke (a) |
| West Ham (h) | Fulham (h) | Burnley (h) |
| Blackburn (a) | Liverpool (h) | Hull (a) |
| Portsmouth (a) | Bolton (a) | West Ham (h) |
| Aston Villa (h) | Chelsea (h) | Birmingham (a) |
| Man Utd (a) | Blackburn (a) | Wolves (h) |
| Bolton (h) | Man City (a) | Tottenham (a) |
| Tottenham (a) | Tottenham (h) | Wigan (a) |
| Stoke (h) | Sunderland (a) | Man City (h) |
| Liverpool (a) | Stoke (h) | Blackburn (a) |
| Wigan (h) | Fulham (h) |
At first glance it would appear that Arsenal have the easiest run-in. In my opinion Chelsea perhaps have the hardest run-in. Judging by Chelsea’s league away form this season they can drop points to anybody so I’m not 100% confident going into games like Tottenham and Blackburn away, let alone United and Liverpool.
United are flying at the moment, at the right time but they are not great at the back at all in the absence of Ferdinand and Vidic. So the imminent return of those two could be crucial. With Rooney playing as he is they are scoring goals a plenty but they do look like they could drop points away if tested. Having said that, of their remaining away games I think that only Blackburn and Man City will provide a proper test. The Chelsea and Liverpool home games are crucial. With Chelsea likely to drop points elsewhere those games are key when United haven’t always had the better of these ties in the past.
Arsenal, if they stay as injury free as possible could be set to make it very interesting indeed. They do have a couple of tricky games but they should gain a lot of points during this period. The Spurs away game obviously stands out as a big one but Stoke will cause problems as will Birmingham and Blackburn away. Arsenal are irresistible at times and yet I feel as though on any given game they could randomly lose. If they get some momentum it could be very tight at the top.
I have done some quick predictions as to the way I think (not hope) the games will go and from there I have drawn to this final league table conclusion:
| Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Man Utd | 38 | 87 |
| Chelsea | 38 | 86 |
| Arsenal | 38 | 82 |
Whether you agree or not I think we’re in for a hell of a end of season run-in!
