The Season Starts Now

This is the time of year when the title is won and lost. You have just come out of the busy Christmas/New Year period but the amount of games isn’t diminishing – there are FA Cup and European ties to contend with in addition to the Premiership games.

At this point in time Chelsea look like the time to beat. They didn’t have the best run in late December and early January but the thing is that they they didn’t drop as many points as they could have They are still top and have the springboard to go higher.

Manchester United haven’t had it any easier. They lost in the third round of the FA Cup under Sir Alex Ferguson for the first time and also dropped points. They are second and just ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal have made ground on Chelsea – following their loss to them, Arsenal fell to being eight points behind Chelsea but this is down to three.

There is a fierce battle for fourth spot with Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa all contending for it. You could include Liverpool but they just aren’t playing good football. They are out of the Champions League but still in the Europa League but out of the FA Cup. Who knows what is happening at Anfield apart from the fact that things have to change.

Everton are in good form and have climbed from relegation danger to mid-table safety. They are slowly receiving all of their injured players back and should finish in the top half of the ladder after a disastrous start to the season.

Relegation wise, Portsmouth look absolute certainties to go down. Most soccer betting isn’t even accepting any more bets on this. That is if they aren’t kicked out for bankruptcy. The truth of the matter is they will be lucky if they can compete in the Championship. Bolton and Hull are also in high-danger. Hull only escaped relegation on the final day of the season last year and two years in a row could be too much.

You could also include Burnley, West Ham and Wolves in the mix. It is going to come down to the matches involving these six teams and who gets the points.

David Wiseman writes for this blog. He also writes about the Australian Open.