"Expensive suits, studio lights and the BIG talk" is possibly the best way to describe punditry in the modern football world.
From Sky to Fox to ART to ESPN in Asia, they are all there with, "Well, I'm thinking Arsenal are confident going into this game and they just beat Manchester United so I'll call a 4-0 for them."
Without further delay, the Final Score: Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa!
If you're betting these days, try to do the opposite of what these pundits say because more often then not they are wrong!
To be fair, it's not really their fault because football in general has become so competitive.
If you look at the Premier League, clubs like Aston Villa, Hull City and Everton have found the depth to challenge the "Big Four".
Not just in the Premier League, even in the Spanish La Liga we recently saw top of the table Barcelona against bottom side Osasuna ending 3-2 in favour of the Catalans, forced to work their socks off.
How about Napoli's rise in Italy?
The trend reveals impending doom for the bigger clubs and Arsenal more than all others appears close to crumbling under pressure.
Arsenal have a largely youthful squad which is undoubtedly without depth and with injuries like the one to Cesc Fabregas the Gunners are unable to challenge for the Premier League throne.
Defeats to Hull, Stoke, Fulham and Aston Villa have taken away the significance of their victories against Manchester United and Chelsea. It is inevitable that Arsenal will battle out yet another season without silverware and there just isn't enough to blame.
Their stadium debts have certainly had an impact on their spending which has seen more departures then arrivals at the Emirates Stadium.
As we approach the end of January, Arsene Wenger is battling hard to land Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St. Petersburg but the deal itself appears to be no closer than it was a few weeks ago.
As for Chelsea, a crushing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United has summed up the mixed bag which their season has been.
Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad is in dire need of motivation, because at Stamford Bridge, quality is found in abundance with Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole, and Didier Drogba, among others, all boasted in the team-sheet.
Despite dropping 14 points in the last eight games, it would foolish to rule Chelsea out of title race because "Hey, they are still in second place within touching distance of Liverpool—who themselves are dropping points here, there and everywhere!"
A 0-0 draw at Stoke wasn't the first time that Liverpool dropped points this season and it surely doesn't appear to be the last.
Manchester United are five points behind the Reds and with two games in hand—both home matches against minnows Wigan and Fulham—they could be even just a point ahead of Liverpool come the end of the season.
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