State of play after 12 games
=======State of play after 12 games
>>>>>>> .r8797At the end of the weekend, let’s have a look at how United are shaping up in the defence of the title and what our main challenges are doing.
After 6 games United were 4th, 2 points behind league leaders Arsenal who had a game in hand. 5 victories and one draw against Arsenal later we are 2nd, level on points with Arsenal who still have that game in hand. We’ve closed the gap because Arsenal drew with Liverpool and if it hadn’t been for a last gasp Gallas equaliser we’d have gone 3 points clear.
On their showing against United, Arsenal look to have a slightly shaky goalkeeper in Almunia and Wenger is denying the rest of world some entertainment as I do like laughing at Jens Lehmann’s antics. Arsenal look like they could be opened up by the best teams, but on their current form they will be our main challengers at the end of the season.
Chelsea have sneakily got themselves into 3rd place only 3 points behind us. It seems that after Mourhino left everyone wrote them off and yet they are still right there with quality players still playing for them. It only remains to be seem if they can continue to win under Grant, and if they can beat the top teams like Arsenal.
Liverpool appear to be struggling now for form and are down to 7th place. Without Torres and Alonso they lack quality up front and I don’t think they can turn themselves around before the form of United, Arsenal and Chelsea have pulled too far away.
Are for ourselves, United are purring now. Scoring aplenty and the defence as tight as ever. We’ve converted poor performing 1-0 wins into big scoring 4 goal wins. We’ve beaten Chelsea at home and drawn away to Arsenal, both results an improvement over last season. We’ve actually only 1 point worse off from 12 games last season which, considering the start to this season, is very good indeed.
Looking at the bottom of the table, Derby looked as doomed as Watford were last season, whilst the other two places could be filled by any team from 12th placed Reading down, including Spurs who having sacked Martin Jol didn’t get off to a winning start under Juande Ramos.
The top of the table
1 Arsenal 11 15 27 2 Man Utd 12 15 27 3 Chelsea 12 10 24 4 Portsmouth 12 10 22 5 Blackburn 11 6 22 6 Man City 11 2 22
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