Arsenal Has No Chance of Winning English Premier League

Arsene Wenger thinks the English Premier League title race is "not over till it's over," and he is quite right—it's far too early to predict the champions.

But it's never too early to say the champions won't be Arsenal.

The Gunners were slain 3-0 in a London derby on Sunday as rivals Chelsea maintained their five-point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table.

Wenger, however, obviously wasn't watching. He still claims his side have the fight needed to force their way back into the title race. In reality, there is no evidence to back up his statements.

Two main reasons why: strength and depth.

Not strong enough man for man

A weakened Arsenal, without key player Robin van Persie, were bullied by a larger, more experienced Chelsea side on Sunday. Persie was ruled out for most of the season with a ruptured ankle.

The EPL is a strong, physical league. Although the Gunners' ability on the ball and their potential to be a cracking side is not in question, their ability to be consistent certainly is.

You see, it is awfully hard to be consistent winners at this level and virtually impossible with a constantly changing weakened team.

A weakened team which occurs, I’d argue, because the Gunners are simply too soft.

Where is the midfield hard man? Where is the Martin Taylor in defence? And most importantly, when was the last time Arsene had his strongest team available for a long run of games?

Probably during the 2003-04 undefeated season.

The choice not to replace striker Emmanuel Adebayor in the summer is coming back to haunt the Arsenal boss. With the loss of his key striker Van Persie, there is yet more evidence Eduardo Da Silva is still a little weary of big burly English centre backs.

But in all honesty, I would not fancy having John Terry man handling me for 90 minutes either.

The gulf in experience between the two squads is summed up by the fact Chelsea had Michael Ballack on the bench. Carlo Ancelotti never felt his team needed the World Cup and Champions League finalist.

Ancelotti chose instead to use Portuguese pair Deco and Paula Ferreira—Champions League winners with FC Porto—and French international Florent Malouda who was not even playing despite being in the best form he has ever shown in England. This all shows serious strength and depth at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal brought on the fragile Tomas Rosicky, an underdone Theo Walcott and had a final desperate throw of the dice with Mexican forward Carlos Vela.

I rest my case.

Already well behind

There is a massive 11 points between the two sides in the table which effectively means Chelsea must lose four games during the run in without Arsenal dropping another point.

Yes, Wenger’s team has a game in hand, but there is no way this Arsenal side will go unbeaten for the rest of the campaign.

To be fair, it was the Gunners first home defeat this season—their last coming in May – another thumping by Chelsea 4-1—but if you cannot beat the form team in the title race then it is unlikely you will win the league.

Chelsea are very much the form team and it looks at this stage like it will take something special to spoil a blue title party.

That something special—as proved this weekend —is not Arsenal Football Club.