#title chasers

So, it's still early days in the Premier League, but after 4 games, Liverpool lead the table for the third week running, albeit by a solitary point. Favourites Chelsea and Manchester City have both slipped to early season defeats, while champions Manchester United have fared the same with all three teams currently sitting on 7 points with 2 wins, a draw and a loss to be 3 points behind the league leaders.

Meanwhile, after an opening day defeat, Arsenal have shot out of the blocks to take second place on goal difference, ahead of the dangerous looking Tottenham who have also recorded 3 wins and a loss to be level on points with Arsenal on 9. Interestingly enough, this now has the three premiership favourites trailing the three Champion's league hopefuls on the league table. Not that I'm complaining.

But how long will this last? With just 3 points seperating 1st from 8th (as expected this early in the season), next week could see all of this reversed, and Manchester United's slow start could leave them top of the table next week, and conversely Liverpool could find themselves down in 8th. Although theoretically, United could also drop into the bottom half of the table. Personally, I wouldn't mind that scenario.

It's a bit early to predict where all the teams will end up in January, let alone at seasons end, so I've decided to take it one step at a time. Let's have a look at the teams that could be our new league leaders come next week then shall we:

The Europa hopefuls

Along with the title favourites, Stoke and Newcastle have managed to amass 7 points with two victories and a draw apiece. Of course, Newcastle has had victory over Fulham at home, and a more impressive away victory against Aston Villa who can't seem to get a break this season, suffering 3 narrow losses to Chelsea, Liverpool and now Newcastle after their shocking opening day victory at Arsenal. Stoke meanwhile have had an opening day narrow loss to Liverpool, a home win against newcomers Crystal Palace followed by an impressive win at West Ham and a well earned point at home to title favourites Manchester City. Nothing special of course, although with Newcastle facing Hull City at home this week, they could very well stay amongst the title hopefuls for another week. Stoke has a tough encounter, visiting Arsenal who they have lost to in all of their last 5 attempts at the Emirates Stadium. And here I was thinking that Arsenal was Stoke's bunny. Prediction: Newcastle: 10pts Stoke: 7pts

The title chasers

Things don't get easier for Manchester United as they play their second most anticipated game of the season (by the players admission, not a Liverpool fan's ego's opinion), in the Manchester derby, at Manchester City. Both teams will be itching for a win to get their season back on track, although having both suffered recent defeats, they'll both be keen not to lose as well. Meanwhile, Chelsea host Fulham, which the bookies predict will be a comfortable win for the Blues. Not to mention they'll be eager to put their loss to Everton last week to bed, although their midweek loss in the Champion's league will certainly not instil confidence into the side, which seems to be lacking options up front. On top of that, the added incentive of a local derby means Fulham tend to up their game against the Europa champions, and will likely give Chelsea a hard time, having drawn 5 of their last 10 matches with them in the league. However, even with those factors, Chelsea are overwhelming favourites and even though they may do it the hard way, I expect them to come away with the 3 points come the final whistle.

Prediction: Manchester City: 10pts Manchester United: 7pts Chelsea: 10pts

Champion's League hopefuls (title prospects?)

League leaders Liverpool have gotten through a relatively tough opening fixture with 1-0 wins over solid Stoke, at dangerous Villa, and home to reigning premiers Manchester United. This week they followed up with an exciting 2-2 draw at Swansea which has been a notoriously difficult place to travel in the past two seasons and now they sit a solitary point clear on the top of the table. Now with a very winnable set of fixtures over the next 5 weeks, they have every chance of holding onto that lead for a few more weeks, not to mention with Luis Suarez set to return in two weeks, one can only imagine that Liverpool may be sitting on top for a little bit longer. Although that said, despite being optimistic, I'm well aware of the fact it probably won't last forever.

Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, Arsenal play Stoke and despite having conceded in all but one of their games thus far (all 3-1 scorelines barring thier 1-0 win over Tottenham), they have also scored a hatful of goals (while conceding half a hatful) and have looked lethal in front of goals both locally and across the continent. Tottenham meanwhile face a tough trip away to Cardiff, who have managed to hold off Everton there and beat Manchester City. It will be a tough place to go, although Tottenham have looked quite solid this season and have conceded only once (in that game against Arsenal) and scored in the rest of their games. However, I'm tipping that Cardiff will be resilient, and Tottenham's squad hasn't had much time to gel yet this season being newly bought so I expect them to cause them a bit of grief, maybe even pull off another upset.

Prediction: Liverpool: 13pts Arsenal: 12pts Tottenham: 10pts

Conclusions

Final standings:

Liverpool: 13pts Arsenal: 12pts Manchester City: 10pts Chelsea: 10pts Tottenham: 10pts Newcastle: 10pts Manchester United: 7pts Stoke: 7pts

So it looks like at this early stage of the season, it could very well split the genuine contenders from the pretenders, with a potential 6 point gap opening up already this early in the season between the leaders and the title hopefuls. This by no means ruling them out, but certainly setting them back at such an early stage of the season, it will make it more difficult to claw their way back. Although if anybody is going to claw their way back, it's going to be Manchester United, so this will set up for a very interesting 2013-14 EPL season. Will my predictions hold true? I guess we'll see on the weekend!

Go the Reds!