Unlike in the last few years, a legitimate title race has begun to shape up in the English Premier League, with Manchester United looking to hang onto the top spot and ride the challenges of Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea.
In some ways, it's incredible that Man. United has been able to stay in first place for this long. With the Wayne Rooney saga eating up much of the start of the season, the Red Devils have used a mix of timely goals, incredible individual performances and a little luck to dominate most of the league this season. In fact, it did not lose a single game in the league until the 24th game of the season (a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Wolves).
Many pundits and fans alike, though, have said throughout the season that Man. United really has not been that good. It seems to always get the critical goal or a fortunate call from the referee to save it from losses and draws. The fact remains that if Rooney (and/or Berbatov) does not score, the team struggles mightily to find other sources of goals. Nowhere was that shown more than in its two most recent games: a tough 1-2 loss against Chelsea and a blowout 1-3 defeat against Liverpool.
Those losses left them just three points clear of Arsenal, but if Arsenal wins its game in hand, the two sides will be tied in points with just nine games to go. The Gunners have almost been the opposite of the Red Devils this season — Arsene Wenger's club has blown numerous leads, most egregiously a 4-0 halftime lead against Newcastle (it drew the game 4-4).
But in my mind, Arsenal has a distinct advantage over Manchester United in the title race simply because it has many more players with offensive ability. If Robin Van Persie is healthy (which is hardly a guarantee), then it has a player who is among the best finishers in the world (if Arsenal had him for this weekend's 0-0 draw against Sunderland, I have no doubt that it would have won that game by several goals).
But if he is out, Arsenal also has players like Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner who can step in and at least give the team a steady presence up front. United, on the other hand, has been forced to call on players like Gabriel Obertan and Michael Owen when it needs a replacement up front — hardly names that inspire a great deal of confidence.
As for the other clubs, Chelsea and Manchester City could be just six and seven points behind Manchester United if they win their remaining games. Neither of these clubs, however, have a reasonable chance of winning the title.
No matter how many scarves Roberto Mancini wears on the sidelines, Man. City is still just an amalgamation of high-priced, occasionally misfiring stars, not a cohesive team (and the suspension of Kolo Toure did little to help the problem). Chelsea, meanwhile, even with its purchases of David Luiz and Fernando Torres, will not be able to overcome its aging roster. The era of the Mourinho group (Cech-Terry-Lampard-Drogba) is over.
In the end, I'm going with Arsenal to win the title, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the title go down to the last game of the season. If it does, any of the four clubs would be deserving of the trophy, but unfortunately, only one team's name can get engraved on that silver cup.
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David McIntyre is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.McIntyre@tufts.edu.
