So it appears Manchester United are doing all they can to make the Premier League title race interesting this year.
Last week’s 4-1 humiliation at home to Liverpool and yesterday’s 2-0 defeat at Fulham has given Liverpool the chance to close the gap at the top to just one point.
But, United would still have a game in hand, and would still be required to lose perhaps two games to lose the league title now.
However, just a few weeks ago, it seemed Sir Alex Ferguson was not far away from the greatest managerial achievement of all time – an unprecedented quintuple.
Bookies up and down the country have been sweating for weeks about the eventuality of this achievement, as they are set for a massive pay-out if United pull it off. But they will be breathing a little sigh of relief after United’s last two games.
Leg two of five was completed with the penalty shoot-out victory over Spurs in the Carling Cup final, and leg three (the league) was all but in the bag then, but things have changed. United have lost their bottle. Vidic, Scholes and Rooney have all seen red in a mad six days which could be seen as the turning point if this United team fail to create a legacy.
Liverpool are traditionally strong finishers to the league season, but they have all too often been long out of the race by now. This year is different. However, it would not be a surprise to see them slip up at Villa today, and fail to take advantage of both United and Chelsea’s defeats yesterday.
There’s a reason the Premier League is by far the best league in the world, and that is because virtually every team in the league still has something to play for. From the twist and turns of the title race to the battle for fourth place and then of course the relegation scrap at the bottom. Yesterday saw Middlesbrough and Newcastle’s fate take a turn for the worst, as defeats left them in the bottom three.
It’s going to take a minor miracle for West Brom to stay up now – boss Tony Mowbray needs to scrap the nice football mentality and just do what they have to do to stay up. They missed a massive chance at West Ham last Monday when the match was there for the taking. They need to take more risks if they are to pull off a similar great escape to that orchestrated by Bryan Robson not so many years ago at The Hawthorns.
But it is perhaps the quality of player within the ranks at Boro and Newcastle that makes their relegation woes even more interesting. Huth, Downing, Tuncay, Owen, Martins and Nolan are just six players who could do a job for the majority of Premier League sides, and who would all surely leave if their respective clubs were relegated.
Liverpool would surely be silly to ignore their forgotten son, Owen, if he was allowed to leave. The former Real Madrid striker could be the ideal partner for Fernando Torres and may help take the Liverpool team to the next level. Injuries have plagued the little front man’s career, but a world class partnership with Torres may well put him back on the map, and back on Fabio Capello’s radar.
The future of Stewart Downing would too be a talking point. He is another man that would suit Liverpool, but Spurs have always been his most likely destination.
But whatever happens, the fate of the bottom few clubs this season could well have an impact on a few of the top clubs next season.
PS. Special mention to Grimsby Town who yesterday moved out of the League Two relegation zone with an impressive 3-0 win over promotion chasing Gillingham. My Mariners-mad flat mate informs me it was the best he’s seen them play for a very long time.
