1st place: Manchester City City have taken residence at the summit of the Barclay Premiership from early on in this seasons campaign and its a location I expect them to still be found come May.
The blues expensively assembled squad is undoubtedly the strongest in the premiership, packed with more creativity than a Harry Redknapp tax return City’s attacking options are unrivalled by any side in the country. The strength in depth means that even an injury to the sublime David Silva is unlikely to prove catastrophic as Samir Nasri could easily deputise.
The only question mark is how would Mancini’s side cope with the loss of the unique Yaya Toure, while City have dropped points in the midfielders absence the favoural run of fixtures City are about to enjoy mean that his absence will not be fatal.
2nd place: Manchester United United are currently level on points with city after Tuesdays win over Stoke, but I believe the failure to recruit a truly-world class midfield play maker will result in United falling just short of their cross-city rivals.
Michael Carrick has been much improved of late but he isn’t as dynamic as Man City’s midfield trio of Nasri, Silva and Toure. While Vincent Kompany has been wonderfully consistent so far this season, United’s backline have started to look shaky of late embodied by the nightmarish derby debacle at Old Trafford.
United’s defensive issues may stem from the lack of a solid presence between the sticks and with this issue unlikely to be resolved any time soon its effects on United’s title challege looks like being deadly.
3rd place: Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham’s inexperience of chasing the league will see them fall below masters of the course and distant United. The effects of Tottenham publicly stating they could win the league has already seen some valuable premiership points thrown away as the players daydream of joining Ledley King in the hot tub in the throws of celebration.
One thing Harry Redknapp’s side can be certain of is meeting their pre-season goal of Champions League football. The addition of the workhorse that is Scott Parker has dramitcally reduced the amount of running required of King resulting in the injury-plagued defender finally spending as much time on the football pitch as he does in the swimming pool.
With King bringing a sense of serene calm to spurs’ back four in front of the ever reliable Friedel, ‘Arry Redknapp’s only worry will be wether he can adapt to using the tv remote of Wormwood Scrubs in time to watch his sides European outings next season.
4th place: Chelsea Chelsea’s year of “transition” and AVB’s, ‘squad-building’ has seen the once mighty Londoners stutter their way into the final champions league place.
The addition of Cahill, if he’s ever actually used by Boas, will sure up the defence with the erratic David Luiz likely to soon be seen struggling to fit his hair into a woolly hat on the Chelsea bench. Although Abramovich may be desperately reading the returns policy attached to his purchase of Fernando Torres the goals of Daniel Sturridge and the Flair of Juan Mata will see the residents of Stamford bridge safely into the Champions League.
5th place: Liverpool Despite the often baffling tactics of Dalglish and his difficultly grasping the basics of football such as if you play with strikers your more likely to score (I’m sure nobody needs reminding of the side he picked to face Stoke) I expect Liverpool to ensure another season of magical European trips to face clubs they’ve never faced before, and won’t want to ever again in the now infamous Europa League.
The quality of the returning Steven Gerrard should see Liverpool find more consistency in the second half of the season. While the scintillating form of Bellamy should ensure a supply of goals to secure 5th position.
