At the start of the 2011/2012 Premier League season, defending champions Manchester United and their big-spending city rivals Manchester City were expected to be the front-runners for the League title. And it certainly looked that way in the first two months of the season with both teams blowing opponents away and recording high-scoring wins. However, United soon began to falter as injuries disrupted their early season “jogo bonito” and a string of bad performances finally culminated in the bizarre 6-1 loss to bitter rivals Manchester City. The champions have since bounced back, going 9 games without a loss before back-to-back losses to Blackburn and Newcastle once again exposed their frailties.
City on the other hand have been fairly consistent this season. The 2-1 loss to Chelsea was their first loss of the season. However, a goalless draw against West Brom and a loss to Sunderland means the Sky Blues are only 3 points ahead of their city rivals.
With both Manchester clubs going through a rocky patch, another title contender has emerged: Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham have been in good form for much of the season. Having resolved the Modric transfer saga, the team quickly got over their early season woes. Summer signings Scott parker and Emmanuel Adebayo have slotted seamlessly into the squad while Gareth Bale and Luca Modric have picked up where they left off last season. Tottenham’s squad depth has also been a factor in their title challenge. The likes of Jermaine Defoe, Roman Pavluchencko and Niko Kranjkar are often found on the bench.
Their midweek 2-0 win over Everton moved them level on points with Man United and just 3 points behind League leaders Manchester City.
The title race is now undoubtedly between these three teams. Admittedly, the two Manchester clubs have the edge. United have more experience than any other team at this time of the season and City boast the best squad in the league. However, Spurs have shown that they are capable of standing up to any team.
Wins against Liverpool and Arsenal and a strong display against Chelsea show that Tottenham can hold their own against the big teams. Besides, the Londoners have nearly every player fit and available unlike the other two teams. If they carry on the way they have been playing and stay injury-free, they can take the title race to the wire.
Manchester city have lost influential captain Vincent Kompany to a 4-game ban while Ivorian Powerhouse Yaya Toure is on National duty at the African Cup of Nations. The League leaders have lost 2 games in a row and seem to be struggling to replace the missing players.
United on the other hand have lost 2 straight league games and despite a 3-2 win over City in the FA Cup, they seem to be feeling the effects of a lenghty injury list.
If these two teams don’t overcome their problems anytime soon, the title could be on its way to London.
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