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During the summer, amid the uncertainty over the futures of Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and Wayne Rooney, and wholesale management changes at all of the Premier League’s top three clubs, many a-pundit insisted that the English top flight would be a six horse race this year, with Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal joining the title hunt.

And if you looked at the Premier League table today, you’d assume the collective hypothesis is on the verge of becoming a reality as Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool fill up the top three positions in respective order, all with nine points and separated on goal difference alone. The Reds even have the chance of claiming pole position tonight if they can clinch a single point or more when they take on Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

The hysteria regarding the six-horse race at the summit of the English top flight has also begun to reach epic proportions in the media. Andre Villas-Boas was quizzed over whether he thought the Lilywhites could claim the Premier League title last week, Arsenal’s Theo Walcott tipped the Gunners as prevailing dark horses in the title race  earlier in the summer, and from the moment Brendan Rodgers took the Anfield helm, he’s insisted that re-asserting Liverpool’s position from the 1980s as English champions is the ultimate aim of his tenure.

But let’s not get carried away here – the Premier League title racket is a three club affair, and come the end of the season, none of the Premier League’s current top three will be involved in it.

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Everyone’s very excited about the potential blow-back from Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United changing managers in significant ways – Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini and David Moyes can hardly be considered stop-gap solutions by any means – whilst Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs have all been incredibly proactive in the transfer market; the former splashing out £42million on Mesut Ozil, and the latter importing a new cast of exotic, young talents to compensate for Gareth Bale’s record-breaking departure to Real Madrid. Liverpool too have made astute additions over the summer, whilst perhaps most importantly they’ve somehow kept a hold of the wantaway Luis Suarez.

Indeed, we are in a very different world from last season, but not one so strange that anything ranging from Howard Webb becoming Southampton’s new goalkeeper to West Ham qualifying for the Champions League has become a possibility. It takes more than a single summer to bring down bona fide Premier League institutions like United and Chelsea, and a £100million summer investment on new players is hardly going to hinder Manchester City to the extent that the title is out of their grasp, despite a lukewarm start to their campaign that’s been riddled with minor teething pains.

To win the Premier League title you need to be the whole package – world class players, experience, a talented manager and great strength in depth – which is exactly what the Gunners, Tottenham and Liverpool are not.

Tottenham sold their single world-class entity in Gareth Bale in the summer, and although they have certainly re-built well by acquiring some of Europe’s (and one of South America’s) hottest properties in Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado, they’ll have a hard enough time compensating for the Welshman’s former influence at White Hart Lane, let alone overcoming the 17 point and 20 goal gap between Spurs and Manchester United at the end of last season.

Similarly, Andre Villas-Boas silenced many of his Chelsea critics last term by getting the Lilywhites to claim significant wins off Chelsea, United and City, but to suggest he’s now ready to lead Spurs to their first Premier League title, which would also be his first piece of silverware at White Hart Lane, is a tad absurd.

And if record-breaking signing Soldado suffers a serious injury bout, the entirety of Tottenham’s hopes up front will depend on Jermain Defoe and youngster Harry Kane – it’s a strong deviation from the squads at Chelsea or the two Manchester clubs, all of whom possess three or more strikers capable of starting on a regular basis.

Liverpool are in a similar situation. Unlike the Lilywhites, they managed to stop Real Madrid poaching their only world-class talent in Luis Suarez over the summer, and the Uruguayan certainly possesses the calibre of quality to be part of a title-winning team. Steven Gerrard too can claim to belong to such an elite category, and Daniel Sturridge could also in the near future, but that is where the list of top level stars ends for the Reds.

At the same time, Brendan Rodgers is yet to lift any silverware in his  management career from spells at Reading and Swansea, and although David Moyes can be accused of the same problem when challenging his title credentials, the Scot is at a club where the roster, the backroom and every mechanism in between have been geared towards claiming the Premier League title for the last twenty years. The likes of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick have all won the English top flight five times or more, whereas none of Liverpool’s current cast excluding veteran signing Kolo Toure can argue to have played a significant hand in securing the domestic accolade before.

Arsenal on the other hand have Arsene Wenger’s rare experience in their favour, being the one of two Premier League managers currently serving today that have won the Premier League title before along with Jose Mourinho, whilst he’s also the division’s longest serving gaffer. The acquisition of Mesut Ozil has also put them in a stronger position than last term, but even so, they are still a long way shy in terms of squad depth in comparison to last season’s top three.

Currently, the Gunners have only three natural central defenders in Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, one defensive midfielder in Mathieu Flamini – unless you include the injury-stricken Abou Diaby – and one senior striker in Olivier Giroud. If the Frenchman is sidelined at any point in the season, Wenger will have to experiment between giving Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski a striking role, or offer a first start for over two years to Danish bad-boy Nicklas Bendtner.

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It’s by no means the end of the world; all four, as well as free signing Yaya Sanogo, are capable of scoring goals. But does Arsenal’s strike force, or for that matter Tottenham or Arsenal’s, rival Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck at Manchester United, or Stevan Jovetic, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo at Manchester City, or Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba at Chelsea?

Yes, the Premier League is an exciting place all of a sudden now that Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, Arsene Wenger has finally spent some money and Daniel Sturridge has begun leading the scoring charts. This season promises to be the most unpredictable yet for many reasons, and the top of the Premier League table will most likely finish up with less points separating the top six clubs than ever before. But is it so exciting and unpredictable that the title race is now a six club affair?

I’m afraid not. But despite all the talk of the Premier League title race, it could be Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool in their pursuit of Champions League football that goes on to steal the show this season.

Will Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool win the title?

Join the debate below!

Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez has claimed that his fall-out with boss Roberto Mancini last season has been good for him.

The Argentina international was guilty of refusing to come off the bench for the Citizens in their Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich, and after a bust-up with the Italian coach went AWOL back in his homeland.

However, the pair have mended their shaky relationship and Tevez returned to the Etihad Stadium to play a part in City’s dramatic last-day clinching of the Premier League title in 2011-12.

The South American has been a first-choice for Mancini this season and Tevez feels that he is focussed on playing football once more.

“For better or worse, the fight with Mancini was good for me. I am enjoying football again, which is what I wanted, to feel this hunger for glory and to be happy,” The Daily Mail report Tevez as saying.

Tevez scored City’s third goal in their most-recent 3-1 win over QPR on Saturday.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Tottenham fans are desperate to see more of Lucas Moura, and they’re wondering why they even signed the Brazilian if he’s not going to play.

Lucas Moura left PSG in January after not making a single league start for the French giants this season, but he hasn’t exactly got his wish of more playing time at Tottenham.

When the speedy Brazilian signed, fans were delighted to know they finally had a depth of attacking options, with several players competing for those three spots behind Harry Kane.

The 25 year-old Brazilian has started just once in the league for Spurs though, and showed his class in his brief cameo on Saturday.

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Mauricio Pochettino’s side lost 1-0 to West Brom, and no player received more stick for his performance than Erik Lamela, who Lucas replaced in the closing stages.

With many fans feeling Lamela is simply not good enough and concerns growing about Heung-min Son losing his electric form from earlier this year, it does seem strange that Lucas has not played more.

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Some fans are wondering if Pochettino even wanted the Brazilian in the first place, while others are bashing the manager for not giving him more chances.

Either way, some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

If it was a Mauricio Pochettino gift to Pep Guardiola, it was the gift that kept on giving.

When Serge Aurier started Tottenham’s game against Brighton just days before their trip to the Etihad Stadium to on Saturday afternoon, Mauricio Pochettino’s habit of rotating his full-backs seemed to suggest that the Ivorian wasn’t going to play any part in the bigger game at the weekend. And that turned out to be true.

It also, potentially, turned out to be something of a mistake.

It’s easy, after the fact, to point to one decision and characterise it as the reason a team won or didn’t. Too easy, usually. In this case, as in many others, it may have made no difference at all. City are the best team in the Premier League and maybe even the best team in the world at the moment. There’s even a debate as to whether we should be calling them the best team ever to grace the Premier League.

Whether or not that’s simply too far doesn’t really matter when that’s the question: just the fact we’re seriously talking about it is enough to make you think Spurs were up against it no matter what the team selection was.

And yet, before the game started, Aurier looked like he might well have been crucial to Spurs’ success.

It’s no secret that if City have a weakness, it’s the defence. That doesn’t really get borne out in the stats: they’ve conceded 12 goals this season and no one has let in fewer. And yet, without Vincent Kompany, John Stones and their one and only recognised left-back Benjamin Mendy, City are quite clearly weakened in that area. And pitting Fabian Delph, who is a makeshift full-back and relatively unused to the position, up against an athletic and direct player like Aurier might well have been a difficult test for him.

Instead, Pochettino decided that the former Paris Saint-Germain man’s defensive deficiencies were enough to make sure that he chose former City defender Kieran Trippier instead. It was a decision probably made on a combination of loyalty and safety, but nonetheless, it set the tone: Spurs were more worried about City’s attacking prowess than they were about exploiting any defensive they might have been able to find.

That’s fair enough in some ways. It’s natural to fear a team like City, and given the fact that Pep Guardiola’s league leaders are now so far ahead of the chasing pack, it won’t be the away game against the Blues that shapes Tottenham’s season: it’ll be games against the other sides from second to sixth that will decide whether or not Champions League football will be coming to the new White Hart Lane’s inaugural season next Autumn.

But it was also a decision that seemed to epitomise the way Spurs handed the initiative to City rather than attacking them fearlessly. They aren’t the only team to do so this season, which suggests it’s not that simple. But how else are you supposed to get at a team whose only weakness lies in their defence?

But playing Tripper didn’t just provide City with the gift of attacking initiative. In the end, he provided them with fertile ground for attacking, too.

The former City youngster’s three successful tackles saw Trippier make more than any other Spurs player all game. And yet, his success rate was only 33%: he was dribbled past an entire six times, whilst his direct marker, Leroy Sane completed six dribbles and provided two assists.

Trippier saw more touches than all but two Spurs players, and played two key passes, suggesting that he was able to find some success up against Delph and Sane down Spurs’ right wing, but you then wonder what the more attacking Serge Aurier would have been able to do.

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The modern full-back isn’t solely a defender – as Delph is showing. He’s also a player who has to take full part in his team’s attacking systems, too. And yet, athleticism – that pace and power that a player like Aurier possesses – is so important.

Maybe it would have made no difference to the final score. Or perhaps it would have even made things worse if Tottenham had gone with Serge Aurier at right-back, who may have had an even worse time against Sane and co. But it’s worth wondering what would have happened if Spurs had taken a more proactive stance on getting at City’s makeshift left-back Fabian Delph.

But giving Pep Guardiola’s side Kieran Trippier at right-back let him off the hook defensively. And going the other way, City seemed to target him anyway. And to great effect.

Arsenal are clearly looking to make the most of their trip to Vietnam through a positive PR campaign. After allowing a fan to step on board their team bus (albeit after he chased after them for a good few miles) they have become the people’s choice of team from the Premier League. The bus incident just couldn’t be topped as a way of winning Vietnamese hearts and minds – that is until one Gunners defender decided to go one better (or worse depending on your view.)

Step forward Per Mertesacker – probably not a favourite among Arsenal fans in the UK after more than a few calamitous performances from the big German at the heart of Arsenal’s defence. But apparently the things Per will do to win back the support of the fans knows no end – Per, we salute you.

While Mertesacker may have found the last two years tough in his day job, he seems to have found a talent that will keep him well within the spotlight of the entertainment business for years to come. Or has he? You be the judge. The effort was there Per, just don’t put us through that agony and embarrassment again, please…

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The Premier League is up and running, and already we have our first controversial moment, courtesy of Newcastle boss Alan Pardew.

This summer’s sport has provided a genuine feel good-factor, and with the country still basking in Olympic glory the pressure was on the returning Premier League to continue in this vein of fair play and decency. But Pardew’s shove on assistant referee Stuart Burt seemed to bring everyone back down to earth with a bump.

The FA have charged the Newcastle boss with misconduct, and the press and several fans forums seem to have been deeply offended by the incident.  Having watched it back several times, I can’t help but feel that is a bit over the top.

The 51-year-old described the incident as ‘comical’ in his groveling apology. I personally would have described it as hilarious. Not  so much the incident itself, but the reaction that followed from Pardew was priceless.

He realised instantly what a cock-up he had made as soon as Stuart Burt turned to confront him. He turned away unable to look the linesman in the eye, and continued to shout his complaints at nobody in particular.

When approached by Martin Atkinson he just stood there like a schoolboy in his short sleeved white shirt and tie, looking sheepish as he received his telling off. He had no answers, no explanation. It was simply a moment of madness.

His attempts to get hold of a headset from his assistant John Carver under the nose of fourth official Lee Mason was also hilarious. As he tried to sneak back into the dugout to grab it and relay some last minute instructions, Mason turned and snapped at him to get up to the stands pronto. It was similar to the actions of somebody refused entry to a nightclub, but pleading with security to let them in quickly to ‘talk to their mates.’

The whole incident was simply ridiculous, and Pardew clearly spent his time in the directors box – otherwise known as ‘the naughty corner’ – coming up with a way to minimize the damage.

He settled for the ‘comical’ approach, play the incident down and just keep smiling. Nobody can stay angry somebody with a smile on their face surely?

“I was saying to the players about the great Olympics and to set an example. And they all did that … except for me.” he told his post match press conference, with comedic timing Jimmy Carr would have been proud of.

Well he won me over. I don’t think the push was overly aggressive, and you can tell by his reaction Pardew regretted it as soon as it happened. Like a child getting caught swearing, he knew what he had done but it was too late to change it.

It seemed like he had meticulously thought and rehearsed his post match interview with Match of the Day several times, and I think if your willing to go to that much effort to make light of a moment of madness, I’ve come around to the feeling we should give the guy a break.

I agree what he did was wrong and sets a poor example, but I personally am a big fan of the passion Pardew brings to the game. Incidents like this where he gets caught up in the moment have happened before, some have landed him in hot water and others haven’t.

His instinctive victory jig when West Ham scored a play-off semi final goal against Ipswich was an example of someone getting totally lost in the moment. His ill-fated appearance on Match of the Day was an example of his passion causing problems, as he ended up using the worst vocabulary possible to describe a brilliant tackle. Similarly to the shove, this was not out of nastiness or spite, just passion and fuzzy thinking.

He claimed he would have ‘kicked his granny’ to be in the position Newcastle found themselves in with two games remaining last season. Not a great term to use, but you can see where he’s coming from .. sort of.

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And who could forget his famous touchline bust up with Arsene Wenger in 2006, when the Frenchman took exception to his over-the-top celebrations, Pardew responded by squaring up to the Arsenal boss and engaging in a shoving match. ‘Why shouldn’t I celebrate my team scoring?’ was his reasoning, and rightly so.

Pardew has come out and apologised and that should be the end of it. I hope the FA show some common sense and don’t go out to try and make an example of the Newcastle boss. We need Alan Pardew on the touchline to provide us with more comedy gold.

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Manchester United were defeated in the English Premier League on Friday night, losing 1-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion.

While it was a game that has little meaning for the Red Devils, who are likely to finish second in the table, it was a still a frustrating evening for supporters, who are hoping to see continual progress under Jose Mourinho.

The United manager chose to start with an attack that included Marcus Rashford, his first since a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth last month.

The 20-year-old failed to impress throughout, prompting a debate about his future in the first team at Old Trafford.

Some supporters feel he is being mismanaged by Mourinho while other believe a spell out on loan could do him the world of good next season.

With no goals in his last 11 appearances, it’s certainly a situation that needs addressing regardless of the solution.

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Fans took to Twitter to discuss his role at United during and after Friday’s match…

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Since March, Manchester United have, once again, been linked with Benfica winger Nico Gaitan.

Fans are already sick of hearing his name but there have been some developments. According to the Portuguese television, Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira and agent Jorge Mendes are in England to discuss his contract and Portuguese newspapers reported that the 27-year-old has now played his last game before joining Manchester United in a deal worth around £25million.

Unfortunately the same newspaper also reported on the same day that the same player is moving to French side Paris Saint-Germain. Now, unless he has a twin brother, that is hardly going to be possible.

Gaitan has been linked with a move to Old Trafford for years and in 2012 the Telegraph reported that a deal had been agreed for the Argentine. Since then fans have stopped getting excited that a deal could really be made.

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The press is busy reporting that a deal is “definite” this time but it would seem to be a bit of an odd signing for the Red Devils. Manager Louis van Gaal has already made it quite clear that during this transfer he needs to sign a defensive midfielder – something Gaitan is not. Van Gaal is after someone who can perform similar duties to Michael Carrick, but the 27-year-old is a lot more attack minded.

To add to the confusion, Chelsea are supposedly close to signing Gaitan, too. According to the Express, Benfica’s president has been spotted in London and the attacking midfielder has been on Manager of the Year Jose Mourinho’s radar for some time. It’s clear that no one really knows where he is going! The Blues were hoping to seal the deal by offering a part-exchange with their Brazilian defender Wallace.

Despite the Red Devils needing a defensive midfielder it seems like Angel di Maria has been desperate to convince van Gaal that Gaitan would make a great signing for the club.

The 27-year-old has a great speed and would really help their attacking options. Ironically Gaitan was bought by Benfica to replace Di Maria when he went to Real Madrid but the pair play together in international games and Di Maria believes that together they could bring an awful lot to Old Trafford.

Di Maria had a great start to the season for United, but he tailed off after getting injured. Bringing in Gaitan could be van Gaal’s way of spurring him on to get back to his best next season. The Dutch boss is nothing but unpredictable and Red Devils fans are not going to believe that he has signed until an official conference and a photograph appears with Gaitan holding a Manchester United shirt.

Despite reports there is still a slightly slimmer chance that the Argentine star could go to PSG, Chelsea or even Liverpool, but is seems more unlikely by the day. If Gaitan finally makes it through the doors of Old Trafford it must be one of the longest conquests in history.

Will Wesley Sneijder be joining him next? We haven’t heard his name mentioned for a while.

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Mikel Arteta is a ‘major doubt’ for Sunday’s final game of the season at Newcastle, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed.

The Gunners are firmly in the driving seat as they look to qualify for the Champions League after they beat Wigan 4-1 last night, but the victory came at a cost.

Arteta picked up a calf injury late on in the game at the Emirates Stadium and Wenger admitted afterwards he is unlikely to make the crucial showdown at St James’ Park.

“Arteta is not right,” said Wenger. “Arteta pulled his calf, so that could be a problem for Sunday. We don’t know, we have to wait 24 hours. He will be a massive doubt for Sunday.”

Arsenal go into the game with their destiny in their own hands as they bid to secure a place in the top four but it looks as though they will have to do it without Arteta.

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Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind. These are just some of the big names that have joined the Louis van Gaal bandwagon at Manchester United after a miserable 2013/2014 under the guidance of former Everton gaffer David Moyes. Looking at the players that the Dutchman has recruited, as well as the players already at the club, it’s safe to say that scoring goals won’t be a problem for the Old Trafford side.

However, on the basis of the start of the 2014/2015 campaign, a panic stricken backline has been the fundamental reason why the Red Devils have dropped vital points. After losing valuable experience in the shape of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to QPR, Inter Milan and Juventus respectively, the likes of Jonny Evans, Rafael and youngster Tyler Blackett have been exposed at the back on several occasions.

Although the club are in a transitional period, winning one game in six in all competitions, conceding 12 goals in the process is not the ‘Manchester United way’. With a mega spend on the frontline, splashing the cash on a world class defender should be the priority in order for the 20 times Premier League champions to at least bring Champions League football back to the red side of Manchester.

One notable centre half that would fit perfectly into the heart of the defence is Mats Hummels. The Borussia Dortmund centre back is your all round, complete defender. As well as revelling in the tackle and reading the game, the Germany international has the capability to compose players around him and play from the back. Strong in the air, and a decent target man from set pieces, the strong defender can also provide the occasional goal. In the 2012/2013 season, the Dortmund centre back made more tackles than any of his teammates and committed the second fewest fouls in the side. With reported interest already rife for Hummels, van Gaal should make the German signing on the dotted line at Old Trafford his main priority in January.

An alternative to Hummels, one of the best defenders in the world, is Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian defender Miranda. Probably a surprise to many not to be selected for Luis Felipe Scolari’s World Cup squad, the centre half had a magnificent 2013/2014 campaign, that included aiding Atletico Madrid win the La Liga title and reaching the Champions League final. Also being courted by Premier League rivals, the 30-year-old can bring vital experience to a youthful United defence that includes 18-year-old £27m left back Luke Shaw and youth prodigy Tyler Blackett. Despite not being the tallest centre half at 6”0, Miranda has an incredible leap, as well as good awareness and a quiet aggression.

United’s leaky backline is something that teams will look to exploit. However, despite the lack of experience, the potential is there for the likes of Shaw, Blackett and Rojo to establish themselves as players that can be relied upon. Nevertheless, with the undoubted quality of the forward line causing havoc in the Premier League, a world class and experienced centre half is desperately needed.

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