It’s a curious thing that with less than a third of the season now left, Manchester City are still only in third place, yet still almost unanimously regarded as the side whose name is on the title.
Of course the likelihood is that if their match at home to Sunderland on Wednesday night had gone ahead, they would have won it and gone top, but even then it would only have been on goal difference.
City have been incredible for most of the last few months, but their failure to score in either of their last two matches has offered a reminder that they remain fallible, and given hope to the rest as we head for the run-in.
So it was Chelsea who emerged from the double header of recent days on top of the table. Eden Hazard’s hat trick display against Newcastle furthered his claims as the only realistic challenger to Luis Suarez for Player of the Year, but the draw at West Brom is exactly the sort of result which could haunt them come the end of the season.
It was obviously a bad few days for Arsenal, and what must be particularly disappointing for Arsene Wenger is that the last two matches have only endorsed the familiar popular criticisms of his side, in particular that they’re too predictable to impose themselves against the best teams, and that they’re in real need of a quality striker.
Neither of these is entirely true, but neither is without validity either, and the latter certainly gained some ground through Olivier Giroud’s failure to convert some really good chances against Manchester United.
So Liverpool were clearly the big winners over the last few days in a title race which they are now unquestionably part of. Their attacking threat is now at least comparable to Manchester City’s, but it’s still hard to escape the feeling that their defence will see them found out in the end.
Much has been made in recent days of the advantage which could come from being the only one of the title contenders not involved in the Champions League, and rightly so. And while Brendan Rodgers would never admit it, he might not see it as the worst thing if they go out of the FA Cup this weekend, leaving them with the simplicity of 12 league matches in 12 weeks and nothing else.
If Liverpool do win the title they will surely be by far the most surprising champions of the Premier League era, but for all that Rodgers is writing off their chances, his denials are no more convincing than those of Jose Mourinho.
