Premier League 2010/11: The thrilling battle for the top spot
Only the initial weeks into the 2010/11 season of the Barclay’s Premier League and it is too early to predict a winner, but the opening few weeks have given us a good indication as to what might be the outcome of the race for the league come the end of the
season. The major contenders appear to be three out of the ‘Big Four’, with Liverpool currently languishing very near the foot of the table, Manchester City and to a certain extent Tottenham Hotspur.
Defending champions Chelsea do look the most likely to win the trophy this season too. With their squad well established and familiar with each other and the manager, the Blues do work like a well-oiled machine most of the time. Their premier player again
this season has been Didier Drogba with 6 goals and 5 assists, and his absence in their game against Aston Villa seemed to have a definite impact as the team failed to score. Also in ravishing form for them is French captain and winger Florent Malouda, he
too has scored 6 goals in the season until now. Chelsea’s midfield are much more solid-looking now that Michael Essien has returned in the centre of the park, the Brazilian signing Ramires too is gradually coming to terms with the pace and thrust of the Premier
League. Their overall performance, disregarding some minor hiccups, suggests that any teams looking to remove Chelsea from their perch at the top of the table are in for a serious fight.
Also coming up with remarkable performances are the now-very-rich Manchester City. Their squad depth finally seems to be doing the trick for them. With such attacking talent like Tevez, Adebayor, Adam Johnson, David Silva, and James Milner available to them
it is little wonder that they are performing so well. Their top-scorer is the club captain Carlos Tevez, who is also incidentally the league’s top-scorer thus far. City’s rich vein of form early in the season should send out a warning to other teams competing
for the Premier League.
Arsenal are always there when it comes to challenging for the title, but they always seem to falter at crucial junctures of the season. It has often been said about them that when they have the ball there is no better team than them, but when they lose it
they suddenly become too vulnerable for a title challenging team. This season too their brand of football has been mesmerizing, it has been delight to watch their midfield comprising of Nasri, the now injured Fabregas, Rosicky, Wilshere, Walcott and Arshavin,
terrorizing opponents with their smooth passing and creativity, new signing Chamakh has also been instrumental for them, scoring 3 goals and being credited with 2 assists. But it is in the goal, that their problem lies, and until Arsene Wenger manages to find
a suitable replacement keeper for Almunia and Fabianski, they will always be a tad too weak at the back to be considered serious title challengers.
On to Manchester United then, who still seem to have many problems on their plate, especially because of lack of funds that has led to an uncharacteristically shallow squad this season. Going forward they are as much of a threat as ever, with Berbatov being
in fine form, and Nani also playing his part well, still they somehow seem to lack the cutting edge that always sets them apart. They cannot be dismissed easily from the race for the trophy at all though; with Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm of affairs no gap
of points after just eight weeks gone in the season can ever be too big for them.
Whatever happens at the end, the season is bound to be a cracker. Tottenham is too showing some good attacking form too. One thing that can be said with surety about this season is that it will definitely go down to the wire with so many good outfits willing
to give their all for the prize of the Barclays’ Premier League.
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