It’s all been a little too easy for the champions in recent weeks. While they have won every league match since Boxing Day, their meteoric rise into Premier League top spot has been aided by the ineptitude of their main rivals. After all, Manchester United have lost two and drawn five matches this season, illustrating that there has been an opportunity for another team to stretch their legs at the summit.
However, Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Sunday leaves their title hopes dangling by a thread, especially as the Blues can’t keep a clean sheet for toffee during 2009. Likewise, Liverpool would surely need to have a few points advantage over the Red Devils if they were realistically going to wrest the crown from Sir Alex Ferguson’s team this term. The Times reports that Dimitar Berbatov is in a confident mood at the moment, something that’s surely not shared by Chelsea, Pool or Arsenal players.
“When you’re in the tunnel at Old Trafford and you hear on the speakers, ‘Please welcome the champions of England, the champions of Europe and the champions of the world’, you just believe that you are going to crush anybody in your way,” the striker, who joined from Tottenham Hotspur for £30.75 million in September, said.
“I get goose bumps every time I walk out at Old Trafford. It’s great. Teams come here and stand off in the first ten minutes. I know what that’s like {because we did it] when I came here with Tottenham — you’re aware of the history, the stadium, the fans. We need to keep taking advantage of that. For us, it’s only about winning.”
Manchester United have a tough-looking assignment at West Ham on Sunday, although with an unbelievable string of clean sheets to their name, the smart money is on yet another victory that will help them close in on another title. Do any Liverpool or Chelsea fans feel deep down that they can stop the champions, or is it simply a case of focusing on the Champions League and FA Cup this term?