3. The Greatest Show On Earth
The Premier League this season has been an exhilarating ride. Certainly the most competitive and enjoyable season I have seen since I first started following football. That we go into the new year with the top five so close to each other with their points tally tells you how neck and neck the race for the title and European spots has been. Without assuming too much, it is safe to say that barring an absolute disaster, the top three will comprise of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, the order in which cannot be predicted, maybe even until the last day. This leaves one Champions League spot (which doesn’t guarantee Champions League football yet, but a qualifier berth) up for grabs with Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham competing with Manchester United.
Everton have been a bastion of solid defence this season, showing extreme stinginess with the likes of Distin, Jagielka, Coleman and Baines/Oviedo refusing to let goals through. The presence of the powerhouse Romelu Lukaku up front supplemented by the excellent Ross Barkeley (the find of the season, surely), the talented Gerard Deulofeu and the experienced Gareth Barry behind him. They have their sights set on a tough fight for fourth spot.
Liverpool this season have been in patches of scintillating form until Man City and Chelsea brought them crashing back in the space of one week. Through the likes of Sturridge and Suarez, they will still have their sights set on breaking into that top three and with the form of the toothy forward, writing them off completely is still a hazard to some extent.
Tottenham Hotspur seem to be the easiest threat to deal with for Manchester United what with an inability of their star signings to force themselves on games and a recent managerial change. Then again, they did go to Old Trafford and come back with three points.
So with the problem of tactical inertness, injuries to key players, some heavy dead wood lying around and stiff competition for fourth spot, Manchester United with their current run of form look highly unlikely to make it to the Champions League next year. However, they will hope to overcome Sunderland in the second leg of their Carling Cup tie and win it to qualify for the Europa League or go on a dream run to win the Champions League (which has been shown to be doable by Chelsea under Roberto Di Matteo) but those hopes are, in the opinion of this writer, given the current state of things, extravagant to put it mildly.