The Premier League is every bit as strange this season as we all thought that it would be following the odd season we had last year. I can still remember chatting with football expert Stephen Stapinski at the beginning of the season on his podcast, and he predicted that this would be a strange one. I say strange because so far we have had 5 leaders in the table, dominant Liverpool were hammered 7-2 at Aston Villa and last year’s success story Sheffield United are propping up the table with just 2 points after 11 games.
Much has been made of Chelsea and Spurs with regards to who will challenge Liverpool to the title, the reality is that both Manchester clubs are being written off way too early.
Manchester United
A huge amount of fans have been trying to get rid of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer since he was brought into Manchester United, after all he has never found much success before, at clubs which demanded far less than the Red Devils do. Occasionally OGS has given United reasons to smile, but he is so often hauled over the coals, just as he was after United’ Champions League exit last month. The reality however is that this team which he has is very good indeed and he deserves great credit for knitting them together. This team has skill and pace, most importantly it has resilience and that is why this team is going nowhere. Win their games in hand and the club will be 2 points off the leaders.
Manchester City
Manchester City have not been perfect this season and have already dropped points and been beaten twice. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem for any club, but given the standards which this club has set, this is a catastrophic start. Despite this however, City are coming back strong and everyone needs to watch out for their title challenge. Currently they are just 9 points off top spot with a game in hand, but they still have to play Liverpool at home, assuming the Reds are on top by that point. Guardiola has Aguero coming back and players like Ferran Torres and Cancelo are looking like they were born to play for this club. The biggest danger which City have, is in Kevin de Bruyne and if he stays fit then he could single handedly take the club to a title challenge.
Both Will Be There
Both of these clubs have great depth to their squads, especially in the case of Manchester United. The league winners will be the team who manages to stay fit and who manages to benefit most from the points which are being taken off the rest of the teams in that top 6 bracket. There is absolutely no way that you can count either of the Manchester clubs out of a title tilt and we can certainly expect that by the end of the season, they will be right up there.
