The Premiership Title 2009-2010 Contenders

This is the tightest premiership title battle  ever, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester Utd, Aston Villa, Manchester City......... and maybe Spurs are all involved.

Since last Season Arsenal have added one player to the Squad.

Chelsea no notable additions, only a couple of squad players and a new manager.

Champions Manchester utd have lost Christiano Ronaldo, the most influential player in the premiership, over the past two years and arguably one of the best players in the world. They have added Antonio Valencia and Micheal Owen.

Aston Villa and Manchester City are two fast improving sides, they may lack the experience and the consistency of the  famed top four, but do they have enough depth that they will most certainly need to lift the premiership title this year?

However at some stage the top four teams dominance has to be broken and maybe this is the season.Afterall nothing lasts forever.

Spurs have an exciting squad with good attacking options a great goalkeeper, but are suspect in the fullback positions. Very much like Manchester City and Aston Villa they lack the experience to be consistent for the whole season but time will tell.

Liverpool, unfortunately are in transition .Effects of board room squabbles have filtered down on to the pitch. Liverpool’s strength in the past has always been its united front. Liverpool f.C once percieved by the football public as the most finely tuned and well oiled of footballing machines now finds itself with its reputation in tatters. The revelations of financial problems and wranglings between board room members have made them vulnerable right to their core. Liverpool F.C  who once prided themselves on being one of the top clubs in the World, are now in meltdown fifty years after the late Great Bill Shankly. 

These problems will take time to resolve, Liverpool fans will have to be patient.Liverpool supporters probably the most knowledgeable fans in the premiership, understand more than anybody that the principles that the club had been built on has been severely disrupted,and are sympathetic to the situation Rafeal Benitez now finds himself in.

Unlike previous seasons the premiership title race is wide open and will be decided by a number of factors.

Chelsea:

How will the African Cup of Nations affect them? Chelsea,have more players involved than any of the other premiership contenders in the African cup of nations  Didier Drogba, Micheal Essien,Obi Michael and Solomon Kalou.

Drogba and Essien are two of Chelsea's most influential players, Chelsea have a supposedly easy run of games over the period that messers Drogba And Essien are away in Africa.However it’s a well known fact  that there is no such thing as an easy game in the premiership, these days. 

What condition will these players come back from Africa in? Also will the fact that they are an ageing squad bring problems of fatigue and injuries later on in the season?

Arsenal:

I think when Arsene Wenger decided to off load Adebyour and Toure, he did  so with the African Cup of nation in mind. A lot will depend how Arsene's boys mature over the course of the season and Will Manuel Almunia finally decides to show us why Arsene Wenger puts so much faith in him.

We suspect that Mr Wenger will not buy in the January transfer window, because of lack of availability of top quality players eligable for champions league.

Arsenal too have African Cup of Nation commitments with Song and Eboue, who are not as influential as the Chelsea pair of Drogba and Esien of Chelsea. Nevertheless Song has matured this season and has become a big personality within the Arsenal team. It will be interesting to see how they cope without him and Eboue. The jury is still out on Arsenal.

Manchester Utd:

Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester utd have the knowhow and have been there by winning the title on numerous occasions but do they have that spark that Christiano Ronaldo used to give them? Christiano Ronaldo was worth at least 12 points a season sadly for Utd this is the reason why they will not win the title this year they are simply missing Christiano Ronaldo, arguably one of the best players in the world, and have not found an answer to their loss this surely will have an effect on their title aspirations.

Aston Villa: 

Will the lack of experience find them out again this season?. Is the squad strong enough? If they have a couple of injuries especially in midfield,  ( Sylian Petrov)for example, can they cope? We will not really know about Aston Villa till March. A lot will depend on the main part of the squad staying injury free for large part of the season.

Manchester City:

Manchester City blow hot and cold, they don't have the consistency yet to make them a really threating challenger this year, but next year if they make a couple of more signings they could be the team to beat. Not sure about the back four, or how the loss of the African players will effect them.

All in All this makes for a very exciting premiership campaign hang on to your hats and be prepared for the twist and turns,and thrills and spills for the rest of the season. This 2009-2010 premiership campaign promises to be one of the most fascinating premiership title races ever.

With every premiership team having the ability to beat each other, I am glad I am not a betting man. This premiership title campaign will go all the way to the wire. May the best team win