Manchester United Will Finish second, Chelsea Will Finish first

2. Their back four is formidable, and will be all the more so following the signing of José Bosingwa—not only a more accomplished defender than Juliano Belletti, but quicker and more energetic going forward.

By this definition, Chelsea’s defence should cause us to fear them because they are impressive, powerful or difficult. Now, whilst I am not questioning that they have a fairly decent defence, I wouldn’t call them scary.

It’s all a matter of opinion I suppose, but I’d argue all the players in our back four are superior to those in Chelsea’s. I’d rather Evra in my team than A Cole, I’d rather Vidic and Ferdinand over Carvalho and Terry, and I’d rather Brown/Neville starting ahead of Beletti/Ferreira. (Bosingwa’s form in the Premiership is yet to be proven).

But if we look at this statistically, to see whether we would be right to fear Chelsea’s defence as is suggested, maybe it can surpass my mere opinion.

In 38 league games, Chelsea conceded 26 goals (0.68 goals per game) in contrast to United’s 22 goals (0.58 goals per game). If we look at all the games the two sides played in, taking in to consideration the European Cup, as well as the FA and League Cups, the point is emphasised all the more.

Chelsea conceded a further 19 goals in other competitions, a total of 45 goals in 61 games (0.74 goals per game). United conceded a further 10 goals, a total of 32 goals in 56 games (0.57 goals per game).

So, pretty simply, United’s defence is better than Chelsea’s, but that is not the point I’m arguing here. For Chelsea to instil fear in the opposition, it means they need to be exhibiting something other teams don’t have.

If you look at Liverpool’s record in the league, they conceded 28 goals (0.74 goals per game) and in all competitions, 50 goals in 59 games (0.85 goals per game). Therefore, Chelsea’s defence is more alike to that of Liverpool’s, the side which finished fourth in the league, some 11 points off the top spot.

Or are we supposed to believe that the inclusion of right-back Bosingwa, who I concede is a good player, will revolutionise the Chelsea defence?

3. The bookies make Manchester United favourites for the title but Chelsea have a more talented squad and were undone last year only by a United team elevated by Ferguson and the league’s best player in Cristiano Ronaldo. This season, Chelsea have a canny manager of their own, while Ronaldo looks set to miss the first two months of the season for United. With the margins at the top as slim as they have been in nearly a decade, Chelsea don’t hope to win the league, they expect it.

If you thought it was just moronic WUMs on football forums that preached the "United are a one man team" bollocks, then it looks like you were wrong.

There is no way to work out where United would have been last season without Ronaldo, because to take away his goals would suggest that if Ronaldo wasn’t scoring for us, no one would be, which doesn’t make sense. However, if we look at the top scorers last season, striking Ronaldo’s name from the list, then you’ll see two Manchester United players feature in the top 10 scorers in the Premier League, Tevez and Rooney.

In contrast, if you look at Chelsea’s top scorers, the highest was Frank Lampard, who scraped in the table at 17th.

Wayne Rooney was one short of assisting as many goals in the league last season as Frank Lampard and Joe Cole put together.

To suggest that Chelsea have "a more talented squad" is quite a strange one, and sadly, is not backed up with any evidence, opinion or otherwise. If Chelsea’s squad were more talented though, you imagine they wouldn’t have come second to United in the league and wouldn’t have lost to United in the European Cup final.

Next season is less predictable than most Premiership seasons, it has to be said, with Scolari coming with the potential to be a superstar or a flop. However, it shouldn’t matter much what Scolari does with Chelsea if Sir Alex Ferguson continues to work his magic with United.

"United Will Finish 2nd, Chelsea Will Finish 1st" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

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