[caption id="attachment_68732" align="alignright" width="600" caption="Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish."]
At home tonight Manchester City are favorites to beat Stoke in the EPL. It’s the first of four fixtures for the league leaders over the next 13 days. But it’s the same for everyone else that time of year when we get a better handle on who will become real title contenders. Even though Stoke are doing well, confidence at Maine Road is at an all time high after the Blue Moon beat Arsenal 1-0 at the weekend. Next two up for the Blue Moon are West Brom and Sunderland. Six on-the-road points here for City has to be the target and they look capable. It is games like these where leagues are won or indeed thrown away. Over the past several years we have seen teams unable to put away games that they should win, while Manchester United havel been the team with the killer instinct in such fixtures. All eyes are on Man. City to grab maximum points come Jan. 3. That’s when they face dark horse Liverpool on that Tuesday night. Mark your calendar because that will truly be the beginning of sorting out the men from the boys.
What a job Kenny Dalglish is doing at Anfield. The Reds are not quite back where they belong -- not yet. And on the road to Wigan (tonight) is a tricky one after Athletic showed their worth with a 1-1 result against Chelsea at the weekend. The Reds’ two fixtures after that are at home -- the first, vs. Blackburn Rovers, should be a coast, but the second, vs. Newcastle United, will be a battle. Then finally they’ll face City, as mentioned above, on the road. It’s been a steady comeback by Liverpool back to top flight but the holiday fixtures may slow them down, just a bit.
Spurs will start off their four-game holiday fixture list against visitors Chelsea. Then it’s two of those tricky road games, against Norwich and Swansea, that will determine if Spurs are title contenders. They end at home against West Brom, a game they should win.
At the weekend, we were reminded that Arsenal have not quite instilled that mettle we all know they continue to miss. However they did continue their journey in the Champions League proving that writing the Gunners off is a mistake. Villa on the road tonight is going to be a battle. It’s a massive game for Arsenal where three points could set them off on a holiday winning streak they badly need. At home to Wolves and QPR they surely must secure six points. They must hope, too, they can start 2012 off with a win over Fulham on the road. If Arsenal have a challenge for the title in them, then it must be seen over the next four games.
Chelsea still manage to hang around at the top of table and to stay alive in the CL. They remain professional in their approach but not putting Wigan Athletic away over the weekend was a red flag. After tonight’s test at Tottenham, they have two tough back-to-back home games, against Fulham and Villa, and wrapping up against Wolves on the road won’t be easy. The Blues will need to sort out their attack if they’re going to make an impact over the holiday period.
Manchester United players are really looking more focused these days. In that form, they should easily take care of Fulham on the road. Then they are very capable of destroying Wigan and Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford. Newcastle away, on Jan. 4,. will prove their biggest test. This weekend United did taste top of the table overnight (before City’s win) and now they are hungrier than ever after their horrible exit from CL.
Everybody is now expecting them to win the ELP, even though they’re in 2nd. However this time around teams like City and Spurs may not drop silly points. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Arsenal will have to be closer to the top come the first week of 2012. They need something extra and special to be considered title bound, while also focusing on the Champions League. As always, winning the EPL is all about consistency. And so far Manchester City have not given much away and look like they’ll continue to win over the holidays and into the New Year.
