[nava_31]

At the moment Machester United are toping the Premier League table going into the New Year.Arsenal, Chelseas, Liverpool and the other teams are still on United's toes.

At the moment Arsenal are 1 point behind with Chelsea 7 points and Livepool 9points behind with a game in hand.

Who do you think will be the the closest challenger to Uniteds second title in the same amount of years?

Will Arsenal overcome their recent stumble, will Liverpool rally at the end of th season or will Chelsea dominated even with the injuries and the African Cup of Nations.

Please vote and write your views on this thread.

Votes and Views are widely appreciated.

[GocartMozart]

And here i was planning on posting on the Terrace Talk (the UZ blog) on this exact topic. In my opinion, I think the next month and a half will bring down arsenal too much. To have the kids deal with mentally already losing the league by late january, when they were ahead in december might be too much to deal with.

With Chelsea, I can't see them handling it without Drogba and Terry, and at the rate that Cech is making mistakes, they might as well not have him in there.

Liverpool is the most likely contender, but they still have to go Stamford Bridge, Ashburton Grove, City of Manchester Stadium (what a fucktarded name for a ground) and Old Trafford. Besides that, they're just shite.

If they arent careful, united might jump out infront really quickly.

[funkdoctorspock]

It is basically going to be United and Arsenal till around March... and then United will cruise to the title.

A lot of teams are going to play Arsenal the way Portsmouth did. Sit back, cut out passes and play hard... hmmm, sounds a lil like Blackburn.

Having seen a couple of Arsenal games, they really are a quality side. I'm still up in arms why they play that twat Eboue over Walcott. Eboue is so useless as a winger its not even funny. Arsenal will definitely be dropping more points as the season progresses. This is there first title run in awhile. So players are now learning what it takes. So with that, I dont' think they will finish strong. I would actually rate them to really challenge United next season.

Chelsea were beginning to come into there own. Now they have lost ALL of there defensive starters through injury and suspension. That is a massive blow. Lampard left last game with a thight complaint and you have quite a few players leaving for ACN. Chelsea will be depleted.

Liverpool is... Liverpool... they will not be closing that 7 point gap anytime soon. They don't have the mindset to do it. Plus, they are bollocks.

[GocartMozart]

you really see this staying tight until march? i'm really thinking united might just jump out quick with this African Nations Cup business. A few draws is enough to put a good 5 or 6 points in front of any of these teams.

[funkdoctorspock]

Arsenal has a lot of depth.

Adey stays, because Togo didn't qualify.

Toure, Eboue go. Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head.

They can fill those positions with Sanderos and Walcott. They'll be able to keep up the pace with United. Unless they are majorly hit with injuries, I don't see why they can't.

The only thing going against them as mentioned before is experience come the 2nd half. We'll see what happens, but I'm thinking March they are done.

[GocartMozart]

what about that sagna kid?

[christ0pher]

hmm well...from the perspective of an arsenal fan..i think liverpool and chels still have a slight outside chance, but very slim.
as wenger said, 1 point isn't much. you lot drew @ pompey too, so not a terrible result. all it takes is a draw for you and a win for us and it's back our way.

with gallas taking the knock yesterday, i just hope he gets fit by the time toure leaves for ACN-which i think he will. with eboue gone, hleb or theo can play on the right.. even with a loss at everton, we're not out of it. although i expect a win or draw, and even then, if we draw and united win.it's only a 3 point gap. no trophies have been won or lost yet. that happens in may.

[moley]

Liverpool are far to inconsistant to aim for the prem.

Chelsea have to much against them at the moment: injuries, suspensions and the african nations think by the time they have themself sorted we will have pulled too far ahead unless they splash the cash in jan.

Arsenal tbh I think they have been over achieveing now they are being asked to show the ability of champions which is being able to pick up wins when your not playing your best and recently they have dropped a few points because of it.

They wont be losing many players to the african nations but Senderos is awful so hopefully he will cost them a few games