I wanted to look at our and maybe other teams schedules to get a feel for how the second half of the EPL season might play out. When I look at our schedule, a five match stretch immediately stands out: 2/28: AT Fulham (beat us at OT) 3/13: AT Man City (derby) 3/20: HOME to Spurs (should win) 3/27: AT Arsenal (toughest match of season) 3/3: HOME to Charlton (playing at a surprising 4th place in the table Charlton) If we can get through that stretch with 12 points, I think we can take the EPL title. 10 or more would be good too. What about other teams like Chelsea and Arsenal...any tough stretches for them?
Nothing stands out in particular for Arsenal. The only potentially difficult three-game stretch I see for them is: 2/10 Soton at home 2/21 Chelsea at SB 2/28 Charlton at home Also they get Liverpool and Newcastle on 4/10 and 4/12, a close span. The only other thing that could hold them back is if they do well in the CL, and have a lot of matches in a short amount of time, which they are not as used to. We had a great game at Highbury last season, and that moral victory was really a turning point. Seemed like Arsenal never really recovered, and we kept it going. Hopefully we're in a position where we can go for the kill at that match.
The thing we need to remember, is that with the closeness among the bottom half of the table, a match that looks easy to us in January, could look like a difficult one come March. A couple of losses, and a team can go from challenging for a UEFA Cup spot, to fighting off relegation, or vice versa. Seemingly while no one was looking, Liverpool have climbed to fifth with a match still in hand. No idea who could be where in the table when we get them later in the season. It'll be all about who's hot at the time, and who has the confidence to challenge us.
It's a really strange league all around this year. Anybody can beat anybody now. It's just not the Big 2 or 3 anymore - despite the distance between the current Top 3 and the rest of the Table. It's at this stage of the season where you start to see the advantages of Fergie's squad selection. We've got a rested Scholes for the run-in with Ole coming on soon, Ronaldo will be back soon from basking in the sun, some of the younger lads have gotten some experience that will help Fergie plan for next year as well, and you could argue that we are currently rebuilding, but are still Top of the League in January. Brilliant.
I think once we beat Arsenal we will be in good shape... that puts us 3 points up on them, and for Chelsea to get back into the picture they have to win alot and we would have to play poorly in which case Arsenal would overtake us... so basically going six points up (assuming we maintain our gap until we go to Highbury) should seal the deal for us...
I think people are underplaying Chelsea far too much right now. Their strength is still depth. If Arsenal lose Henry or Vieira to a long injury... or Man Utd lose Scholes or Van Nistelrooy... I could see Chelsea overtaking that club.
If they lose Lampard or Duff they are in the same boat buddy... Lampard is huge for them... easily their most important player...
Losing Vieira is a biggie, but not fatal. After playing ManU he was out for quite a bit and AFC didn't do too badly. Losing Henry is altogether a different matter. I'd say the equivalent for us of your losing both RVN and Scholes simultaneously mainly because he's not just a scorer but our main table setter as well. Good thing he's not very injury prone. For some reason I don't feel Chelsea finishing higher than third.