#lfc supporter

LIMITED EDITION 'I don't live in Liverpool but Liverpool lives in me'

LFC Hoodie ***Summer Sale***

So, with 7/8/9/10 games to go - depending on who you follow in the Premier League - another few key matchups have been completed. Liverpool have look to have sealed their top 4 place with very important consecutive away wins at Southampton and top 4 rivals Manchester United, 3-0 apiece. Meanwhile Tottenham has seemingly ruled itself out of top 4 contention after falling to Chelsea and then Arsenal in consecutive games, leaving them 9 points off the top 4 race with only 8 games left to play. Although they have a chance to close that gap with a win at home to Southampton tonight, albeit having played a game more than Arsenal. Speaking of which...

Wenger's nightmare, Chelsea and United progress

In Arsene Wenger's 1000th game in charge of Arsenal his side suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on the weekend, with the tie being as good as over in the 15th minute. Two goals and a converted red card penalty meant that Arsenal needed to play 75 minutes with a 3 goal deficit and only 10 men on the pitch. Many now believe Arsenal's title ambitions are as good as over, with their place in the top 4 even potentially at risk to the ever strong Everton. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Chelsea has bounced back well after their shock loss to Aston Villa and retains their place at the top of the table, whilst still managing to progress in the Champion's league courtesy of 3-1 aggregate victory over Galatasaray. In the background Manchester United also progressed at the expense of Olympiakos, only to be handed a tough draw against favourites Bayern Munich. Good luck to the Red Devils.

Back to the league...

So it has been a busy few weeks, and the top 2 teams have held their respective positions amidst a flurry of fixtures. The top 4 seemed set, but with Everton continuing to churn out the victories, Arsenal are only 8 point ahead having played a game more. A nervous finish to the season awaits the Gunners, with Martinez declaring his Toffee's will be ready to pounce on any slip ups among the top 4. On current standings, assuming each team in the top 7 wins their games in hand it currently reads:

 93 Manchester City  90 Chelsea  89 Liverpool  86 Arsenal  81 Everton  77 Tottenham  75 Manchester United So is that what the final standings will be? Of course not, we all know it's not that simple. But then, what will the final standings be? Well we're going to have to have another look at each team's run in...

Recap

Last time I looked at each team's run in back in February, I had Chelsea to finish on top well ahead of second placed Liverpool, with Arsenal to take 3rd ahead of 4th placed Manchester City. With 7 points seperating Arsenal from Manchester City (after games in hand), it looks unlikely that Arsenal will finish above them. After Chelsea's loss to Aston Villa it also seems like they are unlikely to finish on top as predicted last time around. But let's have a look at that run in again.

Arsenal 3rd-4th

Arsenal after their horror fixture list of the last month or so will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as their fixture list gets much easier from here on in. And with the potential of FA Cup glory on the horizon, it could be just the injection of belief they need to go through the rest of the season with almost a maximum set of points. Difficult games against City at home and Everton away aside, the rest of their fixtures are very much winnable and as long as they forget their horror show at Chelsea and focus ahead, Arsenal may drop as little as 4 points until the end of the season. And with key unlocking players in the form of Ramsey and Ozil yet to return to the ranks, it's very possible for Arsenal to get through to the end dropping very little points. Although is that enough to catch the current leaders?

Chelsea 1st-3rd

Chelsea have the least amount of games to play til the end (7), and it doesn't really get that much harder for them. 6 of those final fixtures are against teams in the bottom 10, and 5 of them are locked in a tightly contested relegation battle. However, each side in the top 4 has has at least one player that helps them unlock defences. For most of the season Chelsea have lacked that player, but recently he's turned out to be old man Eto'o. But now he's out with an injury playing against Arsenal, Chelsea will be extra reliant on their midfield star Eden Hazard, who has struggled to break down the more resolute defences on his own in the league. However even so, it seems unlikely that they'll drop more than 5 points til the end of the season. So what about the title favourites?

Manchester City 1st-4th

Well, Manchester City have what is basically a 3 point buffer over Chelsea, and 4 over Liverpool in second. However, they haveat least 2 more games to play than anybody else in the top 7 (10) and have 4 away games against the top 7 teams. Although widely expected to win all their remaining home encounters, these games may prove difficult to the Manchester giants. The games they've won so far they have been widely expected to win, but now things are going to get a little tricky: Consecutive games at Manchester United and then Arsenal are almost guaranteed to see them drop points, particularly when they're missing Sergio Aguero - their defence unlocker. With Dzeko and Negredo unable to find answers, all rests upon Yaya Toure to break defences, and as good as the man is, he can only do so much alone. Manchester United will most certainly be keen to take some points off their cross town rivals in what has been a season to forget, especially after being dominated on home turf by their other main rivals only last weekend. Arsenal meanwhile will be looking to come back from their 3rd embarassing defeat by a top 4 rival this season. They'll be content in knowing that no top 7 rival has beaten them on their home turf this season, and they'll be eager to keep that record up when City visit them in the coming weekend. Everton await them in their second last fixture of the season as well, and having only lost at home once this season (due to an early red card penalty), even the mighty Manchester City will find it difficult to break down the resolute Toffee's defence. But before that game, they need to travel down the road to...

Liverpool 1st - 3rd

Liverpool have been outstanding since the turn of the year, and have only dropped 4 points in that time to deservedly find themselves in 2nd place. Scoring 36 goals in the 10 games they've played in 2014, on a 6 game winning streak, they look unstoppable at the moment. With home games to Chelsea and Manchester City they hold a great advantage against their direct title rivals, with a chance to make up 3 points on each of them. With only 8 games left, 5 of them at home, Liverpool will be widely expected to take maximum points in most, if not all of those encounters, particularly Newcastle, Tottenham and Sunderland. Tottenham have crumbled against the top teams on the road, and after their capitulation at home earlier in the season, the trend seems likely to continue. Meanwhile their 4 away games against relegation candidates West Ham, Crystal Palace and Suarez's favourite - Norwich City - Liverpool are in an excellent position to potentially take maximum points in their remaining 8 fixtures. One would expect them to drop points somewhere, but the way they've been playing it's difficult to specify where. Regardless, they'll be going into the Chelsea and Manchester City games as strong favourites to win, and that could give them the edge they need to take out the main prize. In fact if Manchester City drop points this week against either Arsenal or United, Liverpool have their fate in their own hands. Scary, no?

Now let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Liverpool have shown the results that good form can lead to and Manchester City are certainly good enough to be able to emulate the scintilating form the Reds have been in. They are still the frontrunners for the title, however I don't believe they'll get through this week's fixtures without dropping points missing the service of Sergio Aguero. If Liverpool can stay composed and see out this week's fixtures against Sunderland and Tottenham, they could find themselves in pole position to take out the main prize come May. Can they do it? Of course!

Will they though? That is a question we'll know the answer to soon enough...

Manchester United FC vs Liverpool FC. A greater rivalry has never been in the Premier League and despite a gap in class in recent seasons, it is still quoted by Liverpool and United veterans as the game they most look forward to in the fixture list.

In the past... two decades or so, United has looked down at Liverpool in the table (and likewise in stature). However in an unexpected turn of events, Liverpool find themselves sitting in 2nd place (although virtually 3rd with City's games in hand) while United languish in a very disappointing 7th. They now sit behind Everton and Tottenham in the battle for European football, and unfortunately for them, their position is fully justified with their performances this season.

However, not even the most optimisitc Liverpool fan could see this coming.

So who's going to win it this weekend? I'm going to make something of a prediction for this one, because I feel like I have a bit of a knack for this (as all fans feel they do).

Manchester United

United are ever so slight favourites with the bookies due to their home advantage, however I don't believe in home advantage being as strong as bookies hold it out to be. Playing at home hasn't quite been the frightening ground it has been in the past for United and their results reflect it. Having only managed to beat Arsenal out of the top teams so far this season by a solitary goal, United have struggled to perform against quality opposition at home this season. Along with that win they've managed a toothless draw against Chelsea in their second game of the season (0-0) and losses to what are essentially their direct rivals for a top 4, or even a Europa League spot, losing 1-0, 1-0 and 2-1 to Everton, Newcastle and Tottenham respectively. They are yet to play Manchester City. This is all at home.

Now let's look at Liverpool.

Liverpool

Liverpool have also struggled on the road (as most normal teams do), but against those same teams, they've managed to hold Everton and Newcastle and destroy Tottenham at their home ground. Close losses to City and Chelsea and an early season loss to Arsenal suggest that a good team can beat them on the road. Then there's Hull City but I think most can agree that was an anomaly, a poor performance that will not be repeated in a Manchester United game. They've also improved a lot on the road since then but we'll get to that.

But back to United, where do they rate as a team compared to the rest?

Can United rise to the challenge?

Overall they're still a very strong team, last week's 3-0 romp of West Brom clearly showed that. However at home, there seems to be a negative effect that makes them actually perform significantly worse at home than they do on the road. Their records are very similar (6-3-4 at home, 8-3-4 away) and is in fact better on the road. But why? I believe it's a combination of the expectation they have on themselves to perform at home, coupled with the fans impatience when they aren't 3-0 up at half time. Although there's no way to be sure, if that's the case, then there's a good chance that negative aura will be significantly diminished for this tie. The crowd will certainly not be expecting United to cruise to victory against on of the in form teams of the league at the moment, they have a little more patience on Sunday. However United will still heap a ton of pressure onto themselves to get a positive result after that West Brom rout, and they'll believe they need to - and can - get the 3 points. Perhaps a little more than they should though, as United are currently playing more like an Everton/Tottenham level than that of Arsenal/City/Chelsea. But their arrogance has famously led them to overperform in the past, so perhaps it'll do the trick.

Liverpool's power

Liverpool have a knack of taking the lead early this season, having done so 11 times in their 14 games on the road, impressive. However they have also fallen behind 7 times in the first half on the road, which takes the gloss off a little. Recent performances suggest that they've managed to keep taking early leads whilst limiting the amount of times they allow the opposition to do so. With United roughly evenly split with taking and conceding first half leads (5-4), it looks like a game that Liverpool is likely to take an early lead, so how will both the teams react? Liverpool have a habit of continuing to score after taking the lead, but they also have a habit of conceding, period. But with Skrtel and Agger reuniting as centrebacks, they will hope to have a similar performance to their clean sheet two weeks ago at Southampton. Goals may be a little harder to come by this time around for United, particularly as they've average a measely 1.4 goals a game at home (compared to Liverpool's 2.2 away). Despite United's 3 consecutive clean sheets (all away), Liverpool's last 5 have seen them score 1, 5, 3, 4 and 3. It seems a certainty that Liverpool will score, it's just a matter of whether or not United will be able to keep up. Their 3-0 romp of West Brom says they can, but one would expect that even Liverpool's defence at their worst will defend better than a very poor West Brom side.

Prediction

Personally? I can't see United keeping up. Liverpool now hold the title of most devastating attack in the league with 73 goals to their name, and they show no signs of slowing in recent weeks. United on the other hand have been inconsistent at best, and despite an impressive couple of wins against West Brom and Crystal Palace on the road, where teams have struggled this season, I can't help but feel them crumble against a team with the calibre of Liverpool at the moment. Coupled with their own suffocating ego which has just weighed them down time and time again, particularly at home this season, I can't see them being able to score enough goals to reel in Liverpool. My bet is United's only hope is a dodgy penalty or red card to get them across the line, otherwise at best they can only manage a draw.

Don't get me wrong, it'll be a tough game, but United are up against it, and even though they're playing at home, this will very much feel like a Liverpool home game. If we can hold off United and take the 3 points, then our title challenge will live on. Here's to hoping that happens.

Being a Liverpool fan this season has probably been one of the hardest seasons in the last 10 years or so, but not for the normal reasons. Of course that's not to say I'm finding it difficult myself, but just being in the category of being a Liverpool fan has been hard on my fellow Reds followers. Bear with me here for a moment.

It isn't because we're fighting relegation, as we were when Roy Hodgson took over, and like the ten teams in the bottom half of the table this season (4 points seperate 10th from 18th, the relegation zone). It isn't because we're facing a potential meltdown, or potential administration as we did a few seasons prior to the arrival of FSG. It's not even that we look out of sorts to finally return to the Champion's League like we have since the 2009-10 season. Barring a rough patch at the end of December last year, we've been comfortably in the top 4 all season. No, it's the fact that with only 12 games to go, we still have no idea what we should be aiming for, or where to set our ambitions for the end of the season and despite being in a favourable position, that is one of the hardest things to deal with.

Cloud of doubt

Generally speaking, a club's ambitions are set out at the beginning of the season, whether that be top 4 ambitions, winning the title, playing in Europe or avoiding relegation. And, as the season progresses, expectations are adjusted to fit the form of the team. For example, newly promoted teams generally set out to avoid relegation, and those who start well, hope to finish in the top half of the table, or right up there around 12th and over (like Swansea the last two seasons). Then there's teams that challenge for the title at the beginning of the season, and adjust that ambition to a Champion's league spot when they inevitably fall short of their targets *cough*Arsenal*cough*. They're still doing ok for now.

But this season our pre-season hopes of reaching the top 4 have finally been matched by our performances this campaign, and now Liverpool fans as a whole have been left confused, almost dizzy from the possibilities that lie ahead of us. Will we make top 4? Should we be looking to go for the top 3 (automatic qualification)? Or perhaps we're in with a shot at the title? Let's have a look at what possibilities lie ahead, and set ourselves a target for what we hope to see at the end of the season.

The three scenarios

Some fans think that we're still going to struggle to make it into Europe's elite next season, whereas some have their eyes set on the title. As you can imagine, this makes discussions extremely heated when it comes to our end of season ambitions, and that's among ourselves. See, fans are confused, because with seasons past, despite always having those top 4 ambitions, realistically we simply haven't really been in the mix for the last 4 seasons, despite our hopes and dreams. And I don't even mean that some fans think this and others think that, there will always be discrepancies between what one fan thinks to the next. But genereally as a whole, fans of a club have certain expectations, and the collective opinions of the individual fans averages out to reflect those expectations, giving it a sort of... direction so to speak. But this season, the fans are split in 3: Following the trend of the last few seasons and missing out on Champion's league; making the Champion's league; winning the title. So which is it? Well let's take look at why fans are so divided in opinion, why each scenario seems to have equal merit.

Missing out on the Champion's League

This one is probably shared by at least half of the Liverpool fan base, if not slightly more.

No, I don't have statistics to back me up but trust me on this one.

But as an outsider, Liverpool have been favourites for almost the entire season to make the top 4 now, despite starting out as clear underdogs (6th behind Tottenham and Manchester United if memory serves). So good was their start to the season, that very quickly they leapfrogged Tottenham and Manchester United and have held on strongly as favourites to return to Europe's elite since probably 8 games into the season. In fact they're $1.14 to make the top 4 as I type this.

So why so much doubt?

Liverpool have been pushing for the Champion's league for what feels like a decade, but has only really been 4 seasons (still a long time). During that time, fans have always felt that we were the favourites, right up until the very end, despite being out of the running generally by the time we got to January, usually well before. And that was even in the season we were 13th in the league prior to King Kenny's re-appointment as manager of LFC. Now there's a bit of delusion there.

So now, even though we are genuinely favourites for a top 4 finish, fans feels like we're in the same position we have been in the last 4 seasons. Despite being well ahead of the 8 ball, in incredible form, having the most favourable run in out of anybody in the top 8, and probably the league for that matter, we're likening that to being 8th in the league, 8 points adrift of the top 4 and devoid of the stability we have had throughout this season. This having been a recurring theme in the last 4 seasons, shared probably by 80-90% of fans, it's understandable that the shadows of the past cloud our judgement, and reveal the pessimist in the majority of fans. But not to worry, the failings of seasons past shouldn't be compared to this season, and barring Manchester United winning the Champion's league and thus taking that 4th spot into the competition next season, Champion's league football is looking set to come back to Anfield next season.

Rest assured pessimists, Liverpool is back.

Title Contenders

Only a small group of fans feel like we're set to end our title drought this season, but a significantly greater amount believe that although unlikely, we're definitely in with a shout.

Note the difference between, "We're dark horses, but if the top 3 slip up, we're more than capable of winning," and,

"We're going to win the title!".

I'd like to consider myself in the former category, but let's have a look at this as we did the previous category.

Why do fans think we'll win? Well because every fan wants their club to win of course! And while it's mathematically possible, part of every fan, however small, will believe that their club can do it. Depending on how deluded they are, they might even convince themselves that they are the favourites. Hell, stay a United fan long enough and they'll believe they're the only team that can win it.

To be fair in many seasons that's been true, but I digress.

But there is a growing number that is starting to genuinely believe that Liverpool are in with a shot. Part of that being that Liverpool are yet to play their biggest rivals at home, which basically means that if either of them drop any more points, the title will be Liverpool's to lose! That's right, if Arsenal lose another game and either Chelsea or Manchester City drop as little as 2 points, the title is actually in Liverpool's hands! Scary thought? Well don't get too carried away, because there's still 12 games to go this season and no matter how favourable the run in is, winning 12 from 12, particularly this season with so many teams fighting relegation and looking to make the top 4 and win the title, well, lets just say you can forget it. No, if Liverpool is to win the title this season, City and Chelsea need to drop more than 2 points, and we just need to drop 2 less. Oh and 3 less than Arsenal, who haven't officially melted down yet this season (I think they'll have a little more steel this time around). We'll just have to take one game at a time and see how far we can go.

Champion's League!

The far more realistic scenario is that we will be back amongst Europe's elite, albeit that title that has escaped Steven Gerrard so far in his illlustriuos career. More and more fans are starting to get on board with this idea and these fans are split between the idea we're a dark horse and believing that top 3 is within our grasp. Given the difficult fixtures approaching the chasing pack, Tottenham and Everton will soon drop off (even slightly) and one of Arsenal, City and Chelsea will surely stumble, giving us a chance of clinching one of the 3 automatic qualifying spots for the Champion's League and avoiding the disaster of Tottenham a couple seasons ago.

The evidence for this one is simple, we are playing well, we are in the driving seat and our run in is favourable. Confidence is high and we don't have the congestion that the teams currently in Europe are cursed with. The reality is, the only reason we don't have more fans in this category, is because it's an unfamiliar situation to us. We've spent long enough outside of the top 4 that actually being in a position to get Champion's League football is foreign to us, to the point that even though we're the outright favourites for the first time since we last actually made the top 4, it still seems like a long shot. Sure we haven't officially got it yet, and if the players had this mentality then they'd most likely let it slip out of their hands. Pressure of the favourite is tough to deal with.

But Brendan Rodgers has been very smart playing down our chances, and it's allowed the players the freedom to play without fear. In contrast, if you look to Manchester United, they've been crippled by expectation, and although they've actually done quite well on the road, their appalling home form has now deprived them of even the remotest chance of grabbing a Champion's league spot, and may even cost them a chance in the Europa league.

Then again, Europa has definitely not been missed by Liverpool fans this season.

But back on topic, Liverpool have been able to play without the hindrance of expectation and it's got them into a very favourable position for Champion's League qualification.

So where to from here?

Well going on the basis that we're in the driving seat for a Champion's League spot, our minimum expectation should be simple: Close out that 4th spot finish. However, if that's our only ambition, then there's really no point watching the rest of the season, we need something to aim for. So, seeing as we have 3 very good teams to leapfrog, each with squads much deeper than our own, being realistic, but still ambitious, beating one or two of the three teams would be a great achievement from this point in the season. In other words, a 2nd or 3rd finish, guaranteeing Champion's league next season. Whereas it's likely that one or two of them will drop off at some stage (seeing as they play each other before the end of the season), all three of them dropping off will need something special from a higher power, so our title hopes are unlikely (unless that higher power is a Liverpool fan).

So at this stage let's set the radar for anything between 2nd and 4th, with 3rd as par, I think that's a fair aim. Anything less at this stage is a disaster, anything more, something just short of a divine intervention.

Here's once again hoping for that divine intervention!

I haven't posted for a while, mainly due to the fact that I had a couple posts that were lost thanks to my browser freezing up just before I posted (deleting the post). I've since decided to type into a WordPad document before copying it all across here.

Another life lesson learnt.

Meanwhile, the Premier League has heated up, the title race is as intense as it's ever been at this stage of the season, and the hunt for that last top 4 spot is slowly inching away from the grasps of Champion's League hopefuls Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United. But today we're going to talk about the title race, so let's have a look at the contestants.

The contenders

As currently stands, the top 3 is as follows:

- Chelsea 56 pts

- Arsenal 55 pts

- Man City 54 pts

The word on the street is it's a two horse race for the title now, with Arsenal reaching the part of the season they traditionally collapse and Manchester City will begin it's gladiator clash with leaders Chelsea. It makes sense, Chelsea and City have two of the biggest squads in the league, and unlike Tottenham and Manchester United, also armed with a phenomenal first XI. Arsenal despite having held top spot for the majority of the season seems to be wearing thin and approaching the crunch period, having struggled against their rivals every time they've played them, although managing a win over Tottenham and Liverpool at home, 1-0 and 2-0 respectively. Meanwhile Manchester City clearly have the muscle to blow teams away at the Etihad, and recently took that devastating form to the away trail, leaving Spurs with a 5-1 demolition at White Heart Lane. And Chelsea, well they're top of the table, and they have Mourinho, the Special One. If anybody can pull a win out of the hat and take down the seemingly invincible City (which funnily enough he did last week), he's your man. And well those 3 are well ahead of the chasing pack, but how far off is that team in 4th place..?

- Liverpool 50 pts

4 points of City and 6 off the top, Liverpool are not far off the pace either with another 13 games still to go. But surely too little too late right? Liverpool will surely drop more points and City and Chelsea will power through the rest of their fixtures on their form and ability and it'll be too much ground to make up. We've already mentioned how Arsenal are pretty much gone, so there we have it, two-horse race til the end.

Or is it?

The run-in

People seem to forget City's fallibility on the road this season, allow me to jog your memory.

City on the road:

19th Cardiff 3 - 2 City 13th Stoke 0 - 0 City 12th A Villa 3 - 2 City 15th West Ham 1 - 3 City (First away win)  1st Chelsea 2 - 1 City 17th Sunderland 1 - 0 City 18th West Brom 2 - 3 City 9th Southampton 1 - 1 City 20th Fulham 2 - 4 City 10th Swansea 2 - 3 City 8th Newcastle 0 - 2 City 6th Spurs 1 - 5 City 16th Norwich 0 - 0 City

Having played only 2 of the top 7 teams away from home, City's away record sits at a measely 6 - 3 - 4, the same return as Chelsea (21 pts) despite playing a game more and facing far less top 7 opponents than Chelsea on the road (City is yet to play Liverpool, United, Everton and Arsenal away from home, with Chelsea only set to face Liverpool). Chelsea have done very well to sit top of the table at this stage of the season. Meanwhile, Arsenal are yet to play Tottenham, Chelsea and Everton on the road, also a difficult run in, with an away game to resilient Stoke in the mix as well, they have a very tough run in all the way through to the end as well. However they are currently ahead of City by a point, and despite having a large amount of difficult games, look set to drop as many or less points than City in their run-in (provided they don't have a traditional Arsenal collapse). And then we look at Liverpool's run-in and together with their recent scintilating form, suddenly they become a part of the picture. Away games include Fulham (20th), Southampton (9th), United (7th), Cardiff (19th), West Ham (15th), Norwich (16th) and finally Crystal Palace (14th). Having played all the top teams away from home in the first half of the season, Liverpool now have the easiest run-in of any team in the top 4 and title contenders, and have a great opportunity to rack up a very large amount of points from here to season's end. But is it enough? I did a rough estimate of the points each team will pick up from here to the end of the season based on their performances throughout the season against teams of that calibre and this is what I got. Some may be pleasantly surprised.

4th Man City 82pts (3 losses and 1 draw - 11 points dropped)

In 4th we find Manchester City, who looked sure-fire favourites to take the title after finally hitting the top of the Premier League table last week. However they look set to drop 3 points playing at local rivals United, Arsenal and Liverpool, having showed awful travelling form and yet to play some of the strongest teams in the league on the road. Everton to take 2 more points off them later in the season, continuing their tradition of frustrating the big teams at home, the way things are going, Manchester City slump to 4th place in the table.

3rd Arsenal 83 pts (1 loss and 4 draws - 11 points dropped)

After leading most of the season, Arsenal will continue to struggle to break down solid opposition, failing to beat Stoke, Everton and Tottenham on their travels and slumping to defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United to hold them at the Emirates with them expected to have a strong finish to the season. However this is enough to keep them above City to take the 3rd automatic qualifying spot for Champion's league and an extra breather in the upcoming pre-season.

2nd Liverpool 84 pts (1 loss and 1 draw - 5 points dropped)

With Liverpool hitting a purple patch on home turf, it seems like they'll be able to get all 3 points in their remaining home games, despite the calibre of opposition that is set to travel to Anfield in the closing stretch of the season (Chelsea, City and Tottenham yet to visit). They seem to have stepped up in the big games and the home crowd has made them just about invincible once they switch on, they will be very tough to steal points off at Anfield. However, a resurgent United team may just avenge their defeat at Anfield earlier in the season, with Southampton taking 2 further points off them when they visit them in a few weeks time.

1st Chelsea 88pts (2 draws and 1 loss - 7 points dropped)

Chelsea with the second easiest run in will manage to get through the rest of the season relatively unscathed, dropping two points only when visiting Swansea and West Brom on their travels. Liverpool will take the 3 points at Anfield presumably but it won't be enough to reel in the Blues, crowned champions before their trip to Cardiff for the final game of the season.

However...

...there's still a very long way to go. Each team has strengths and weaknesses that could propel them up the ladder or potentially even knock them out of the top 4 altogether. City, Arsenal and Chelsea all have European football to deal with, and with City playing the Carling Cup final, it will only congest their fixture list even more and make recovery for their weary squad more and more difficult, making the possibility of dropping more silly points very possible. Likewise, all 4 teams are in the FA Cup facing off against one another (Arsenal v Liverpool, Chelsea v Man City) and whoever goes through could potentially hurt their end of season performances. Let's not forget that we're all expecting Arsenal to collapse and completely derail their season from here, albeit on harsh presumptions.

That said, cup runs can also instil confidence, and getting knocked out could likewise inspire determination to close out the season well, meaning less points dropped, and higher finishes for any of Chelsea, Arsenal or City. Liverpool will need to be on the money in all of their home games if they are to stand a chance of collecting that high number of points, despite a relatively favourable fixture, anything can happen in football and the margin for error is very fine for them. City could likewise finally awaken with injuries returning and take some unexpected points off rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, increasing their tally and getting right up in Chelsea's face. It goes without saying, there's still plenty to play for this season, but my money would be on Chelsea, they are definitely the team to beat.

However here's to hoping the cups and Europe completely throw the top 3 off their game for the rest of the season, and the unsuspecting Liverpool snatch the title from under their noses for the most famous and unlikely of Premiership of the Premier League era.

Go the Reds!