After today's Premier League games between the big four, I have come to the conclusion that Liverpool and Chelsea will not win the league. Both sides lost their respective games against Arsenal and Man United 1-0 and that along with many other things effectively ends their title ambitions.Chelsea played well today against Arsenal, without ever really excelling whilst Liverpool never really looked like snatching a point from United. Chelsea were once again without Didier Drogba for today's game and are likely to be without him for some time due to the African Nations and injury.
Chelsea are simply not the same team without Drogba. Simple as. They have Andriy Shevchenko, who has never shown anything like the form that he did whilst at AC Milan. They also have Claudio Pizzaro, who has also failed to show much since joining from Bayern this summer.
Finally they have Salomon Kalou, who in my view doesn't have the ability to play for a top Premier League side. His is also going to be missing for most of January and February due to the African Nations.
Chelsea ly in third at the moment in the table and I feel they will remain their for most of the season. Although they have won many games this season, I just don't think their the same threat now Grant is in charge at the Bridge.
With Liverpool, I feel they need at least another season to try and gel and get used to each others games. They spent a huge amount of money in the summer but unfortunately for them it hasn't had an immediate effect. It's kind of like Chelsea when they were taken over by Abramovich.
It took them a season to gel and then they won two in a row, but worryingly for Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, Abramovich sacked his manager and got success, so will Hicks and Gillett do the same?
So although it may sound daft of me to rule out Chelsea and Liverpool at this moderately early stage, I just feel they don't quite have what it takes to take this season's title from either Arsenal or Man United.
