Temperatures Might Be Falling, But the Heat Is Up in the Premiership Race

Arsenal

Arsenal have arguably played some of the best football on show in the Premiership this season.

And one of the success stories of their current campaign has been their currently top-placed Premiership scorer, Emmanuel Adebayor.

The previously panic-prone striker has hit his richest vein of form since joining the Gunners from Monaco in 2004. 

However, one player seeking to steal his limelight is Cesc Fabregas. Voted as Arsenal.com’s Player of the Year for last season, Fabregas he has gone from strength to strength and thrived in the pivotal role in the centre of midfield for the Gunners.

When you’re playing great football and you’ve got the leagues top scorer in your side, it’s not hard to understand why you’re sitting pretty at the top of the table.  But will it stay that way for Arsenal, as the grizzly English winter really begins to take grip?

The ninth of December saw the Gunners suffer their first defeat of the season, at the hands of a Middlesbrough side struggling to hit anything this season.  And while Arsenal bounced back from that defeat with the win against Chelsea, questions still linger about their future this season:

Can their young side cope on those frosty, cold nights in January?

Is the motivation there?

Many Arsenal fans wouldn’t hesitate to say "yes"—but then, many Arsenal fans have also been boastfully asking, "Who needs Thierry Henry?" With Adebayor thriving in front of goal, who can blame them for their confidence?

One thing you need to consider about the young Arsenal side is experience is very limited. Gallas and Gilberto are the only two outfield players who can genuinely claim any significant experience.  And with the African Cup of Nations due to start in January, it would be foolish to under-estimate its potential effect on Arsenal's charge into the New Year.

They will only lose three first team players, but two of those three players comprise half of their defence—the dependable right back Eboue and centre back Kolo Toure.  But possibly the most significant loss will be that of their inspirational aforementioned striker, Adebayor.

These players' absence could prove to be massive stumbling blocks in the Gunners path to glory.

Few would argue that this youthful Arsenal side are incapable of achieving great things—ultimately, though, a very valid counter-argument arises.

As the season hits one of its toughest stages, where energy wears thin and motivation wears thinner—could Arsenal, with all their youthful exuberance, be in need of some ‘Old Head’ experience?

Who needs Thierry Henry?  Well, we’ll soon see… 

Chelsea

Not the best start to a title campaign, some might feel.  With the loss of their inspirational manager Jose Mourinho at the very beginning of the season and rumours abounding of worn relations between certain players and the board, it wasn’t the best start to a Premier League title charge.

Chelsea fans must feel like Didier Drogba has been out injured for an eternity. Salomon Kalou has hardly dominated with a measly three league goals this season, and Andriy Shevchenko has continued to be the hot-and-cold player that English football has come to know and regularly be disappointed with.

It’s not all doom and gloom on the goalscoring front, though—Frank Lampard has stepped up to the mark, netting the same amount of goals in the league as Kalou and Shevchenko combined, sitting him at the top of the Chelsea top scorers list.

However, the estimated six-week loss of captain John Terry, Chelsea’s rock in defence, will not escape the attention of most supporters, especially as they lose significant members of their regular first team in January, with the start of the ACN.

Those players will include Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Salomon Kalou, and—if he’s fit—Didier Drogba.

Taking all things into account, Chelsea have battled on reasonably well although, the Blues' fans will be the first to say their team are not quite firing on all cylinders.  The last time Chelsea won the Premiership title (2005/06) at this point in the season, they had amassed 41 points.  That equates to seven more than after their defeat to Arsenal at the weekend, which has put them six points behind their London rivals going into the Christmas fixtures.

So what lies in wait for the Avram Grant and his side in 2008?

Well, at the moment, they are scheduled to play seven games in January alone.  However, that looks likely to drop to six—but is still, quite a strenuous fixture list by anyone’s standards. 

Assuming Chelsea progress past Everton in the Carling Cup and QPR in the FA Cup, they will be in playing in all four competitions heading into February—risking the possibility of burn-out and letting the season slip.

As we know, though, Chelsea have been there and got the t-shirt when it comes to title run-ins. Many players in the squad boast impressive years of experience at all levels of competition, meaning they won’t go down without a fight. 

So even when you do take into account the problems with injuries and the ACN in the New Year, you dare not write Chelsea off. As they have proved time and again in the past, when they really need to get a result, that’s exactly what they get!

Liverpool

There is nothing more mouthwatering to a Liverpool fan than the prospect of tasting Premiership glory.

After winning the Champions League in 2005, the Reds’ supporters genuinely felt their team had the ability to push for the league title in the 2005/06 campaign.

Unfortunately for them, their success was short lived. Since that night in Istanbul, Anfield has seen only one trophy enter its gates—the FA cup, in 2006.  Aside from that, they have come up desperately short in proving themselves as a dominant domestic force—with a tendency to prioritise Champions League fixtures, while settling for qualification for the tournament within the final season league positions.

This season, fans were once again optimistic at the thought of Premiership glory, with some sports writers even tipping them at the start of the season for the honour.  The main reason behind this new-found optimism was the declaration that Liverpool were ready to answer their fans' call, and concentrate on winning Anfields first Premierhip crown.

However, despite this declared intention, by the time November came along, Liverpool had clocked up only six wins in the Premiership and drawn their other six games.  Not only were they already off the pace in the Premiership, but they had also waited until their last group game in the Champions League to qualify for the knockout stages.
It looked as though Liverpool couldn’t make up their mind as to which competition they wanted to concentrate on.

Their first loss of the season came at the Madejski stadium—partly due to their manager, Rafa Benitez, deciding to substitute Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, and Jamie Carragher for the last 20 minutes of the match despite being 3-1 down.

Whilst this tactic was no doubt an effort to keep his players fresh for the vital midweek game in the Champions League, it also succeeded in stripping the team of three world-class players—and, perhaps more importantly, any confidence the team had left.

Three days later, Liverpool progressed into the knockout stages of the Champions League.  Since then, however, they’ve failed to win their two domestic fixtures, underlining a very real concern of Liverpool fans—Rafa Benitez’s priority is the Champions League, and he is willing to sacrifice ground in the title race in order to achieve his goal.

So what now for the Reds?

A simple fact about Liverpool’s team is although they undoubtedly have world-class players in the first team, strength in depth is not something they possess. Put bluntly, they just do not have the quality required to tackle tournaments like the Champions League and the Premiership on two fronts.  This inevitably means one will suffer.

And despite the continuing frustration of the Liverpool fans, that tournament looks likely to remain the Premiership

Manchester United

It has been a season of ups and downs for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men. It started buoyantly with the summer signings of the Brazilian whiz-kid Oliveira Anderson, Sporting Lisbon’s Nani and the talented defensive midfielder Owen Hargreaves.  Then, in the last week of the transfer window, the exceptional Carlos Tevez made his way up north from Upton Park. 

With those transfers completed, the summer spending totalled over 50 million pounds! Manchester United fans could have been forgiven for thinking that the last pieces of the jigsaw were complete.

However, the start of the season proved less glamorous than the players who had been brought in over the summer.  With one loss and two draws from their first three games, they had less Premiership points than games played. Things were suddenly looking bleak at Old Trafford.

Perhaps it was the defeat to local rivals Manchester City that spurred the revival? Whatever it was, it worked, as United went on to record a ten-game unbeaten run, claiming the scalps of title rivals Chelsea, and negotiating a draw at the Emirates stadium on the way.

In Europe, United started by winning five of their six group F games in the Champions League, and recording the highest points accumulation of the stage.

Going into the Christmas fixtures, the Red Devils take with them a five-game unbeaten run—with their last win coming at Anfield, against bitter rivals Liverpool. Another positive for the ‘Old Trafford Faithful’ to take with them into the new year is the superb way that all of their new signings have taken to the Premiership—in particular Oliveira Anderson, who is being hailed as the new ‘Ronaldinho’ from some quarters.

United have several reasons to be optimistic going into the new year.  The only first team player to be affected by the African Cup of Nations will be the newly-signed Angolian international Manucho.  And with the best defence in the Premiership and the second-highest goal tally, the good news should keep on coming.

Things look to be running well at Old Trafford.  However, a cause for concern is the long standing injury to captain Gary Neville.  The industrious right back has been plagued by injuries since breaking his ankle against Bolton in March.

Since then, Neville has suffered numerous setbacks to his fitness.  And despite official club assertions to the contrary, whispers are abound of the real worry that a retirement through injury could be inevitable.

If this were to happen, United would then lose their first-choice right back  Coupled with Wes Brown refusing his ‘final contact offer,’ this could force Ferguson back into the transfer market.

Undoubtably, United have less to worry about at the moment compared to their rivals.  Five points ahead of Chelsea and nine points in front of Liverpool, if United can perform well over the Christmas period, they will certainly have a magnificiant chance of retaining their crown this season.

After all, they know what it takes—they have won it more times than they haven’t!