This is a guest post by Tom Mallows from Betfair
One
of the things I noticed whilst watching 'Match Of The Day' on Saturday,
still both smug and relieved following the afternoon’s win, was the
hard work the Premier League title contenders made of their respective fixtures.
I
include United in that because, although we looked comfortable in
parts, the game ended with us hanging on and we were only a goalmouth
scramble away from another two dropped home points. Rewind two weeks
and a 'shock' defeat was only avoided by a last ditch own-goal against
Sunderland – not the form of Champions.
But looking elsewhere,
Liverpool were toppled by Sunderland and their now infamous beach ball,
Chelsea lost to Villa in the early game, while only a late goal at the
Emirates made Arsenal’s win over Birmingham safe.
Now I know
games after the international break often throw up strange results as
most of the big sides have their players scattered across the world
playing for their countries the previous week. But shaky results in the
previous weeks for the top sides points to, in my opinion, a weakening
of the so-called ‘big four’ and a strengthening of the clubs just below
them.
Make no mistake, Sunderland deserved to upset the
football odds and
win at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, beach ball or not, while Villa
could have made the 2-1 score-line more flattering towards the end of
their clash with Chelsea.After that latest
loss Liverpool, I have great joy in reporting, are now languishing in
eighth place after their fourth defeat in nine games this season - more
than the combined total the 'Big Four' sides had suffered at the same
stage in the past two years.
So rather than be disappointed at
our recent two games I see it as a sign of our side’s resilience in the
face of improving opposition. I’m not going to get cocky, far from it.
I had concerns this season following the departure and non-replacement
of Ronaldo that the side was considerably inferior to those of previous
years.
But looking around at our rivals I don’t see any
improvement either. Be it lack of transfer funds, the credit crunch or
something else, I have a feeling the league will be far more open this
year than previous seasons. Therefore every point and every win has to
be earned and not taken for granted.
So with that in mind, when
Gary showed us the Premier League table on Saturday night, the sight of
United back on top of the tree, as well as Alan Hansen’s moody
expression, was extra satisfying.
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