The Manchester Title Race

Man City
12 December - Chelsea away (1 point)
18 December - Arsenal home (1 point)
21 December - Stoke home (1 point)
26 December - West Brom away (3 points)
1 January - Sunderland away (1 point)

Games Played 19 Points 45

Man Utd
10 December - Wolves home (3 points)
18 December - QPR away (3 points)
21 December - Fulham away (1 point)
26 December - Wigan home (3 points)
31 December - Blackburn home (3 points)

Games Played 19 46




Bias? lolwut?

So far so good! :D
 
1 point to Stoke at home is bit of a overkill though.
 
Time for us to put in some good away performances. Win the next two and we can make it 4 on the bounce given our home record. That should test their mettle good and proper.
 
One advantage for City: they've already played us, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham away from home. We still have to play City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham away...
 
One advantage for City: they've already played us, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham away from home. We still have to play City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham away...
:(
 
City'll lose against Arsenal, Mancini will crack up, Balotelli will probably get in the firing line for driving around, offering kids candy, and Yaya Touré will be more interested in his brothers diet pills than football. You heard it here first.

Seriously, one loss against Arsenal, and I think Mancini will come a bit under the kosh, considering his record in the CL.
 
QPR has the potential to be tough but City opening the door last night should be what gets our players going.

No excuses now, we're in the position that suits us best and the fixture list is favourable for the time being. Commence Operation Squeaky Bum Time!
 
With Chelsea 9 points behind City, it's tempting to write them off in the title race, considering what good form City have been in. If were we 9 back now, I'd be very concerned. With Chelsea's problems, I don't see it.
 
Would have been nice for Arsenal to do us a favour today but the fact we're back to some kind of form ourselves things are looking a lot more positive now even though since the OP we've lost Vida and Fletcher for the season and been dumped out of the UCL
 
Nah, we'll win it on our terms, don't need any other teams to help us.

Win every game between now and end of the season and title no 20 is ours. simples.
 
Except the chances of doing that are about 1000000/1
 
Two-point gap and the fact that we closed up on their goal difference by 5 goals in the last two matches pleases me.
 
As far as results are concerned, United is actually doing great this season. Since the 93-94 season there was only one season (06-07) where we had more points after 16 games than we have now. In any other season, the titlerace would seem like a walk in the park so far.
 
As far as results are concerned, United is actually doing great this season. Since the 93-94 season there was only one season (06-07) where we had more points after 16 games than we have now. In any other season, the titlerace would seem like a walk in the park so far.

Also makes it pretty mad that the team just 5 points behind us with a game in hand is... Spurs!
 
With Chelsea 9 points behind City, it's tempting to write them off in the title race, considering what good form City have been in. If were we 9 back now, I'd be very concerned. With Chelsea's problems, I don't see it.

Hansen completely wrote off Chelsea on MOTD last night when Linkear asked him if it was, he went "OH its over" as if to say done and dusted but they all said that last season only for Chelsea to slide in there last minute and give us a late scare. No way am I writing Chelsea off before Christmas.

Also makes it pretty mad that the team just 5 points behind us with a game in hand is... Spurs!

Spurs seem to be doing allright but can't see them challenging for the title come May 2012 IMO. Possible but doubt it.
 
Oh, that's certainly fair enough, I wouldn't want to write them off, but I'm sure there are very few teams that have come back from such a deficit after 16 games.

I don't watch much Chelsea anyway, but I think they've lost something since they won the title last. Anything's possible, but I think it would be a good bet that they won't win.
 
We've actually been really good.

On current form we are set to get about 90-95 points.

Its just that City have been that bit better.
 
We've actually been really good.

On current form we are set to get about 90-95 points.

Its just that City have been that bit better.

90-95 points? Dunno about that. We only just got 81 last season and I don't think we've improved by that much of a margin.
 
90-95 points? Dunno about that. We only just got 81 last season and I don't think we've improved by that much of a margin.

We're on course for for 92 points.

Requires we get as many points per game for the rest of the season as we have gained so far, obviously.
 
Chelsea's big problem is that there are relying on two of us (three if you count Spurs) to drop quite a few points.

There's a fairly good chance that one of us will drop enough points for Chelsea to overtake us, but both of us? I just don't see it.
 
Stating the obvious but we need them to start dropping points in the tougher lesser games. We all know that we'll drop points between now and the end of the season against teams we should be beating up till now though City have been meticulous in those games. Hopefully trips to Stoke & Everton and the like will prove to be bigger tests for them than the away games they've had so far.

Seems every season we have this situation though and there's always plenty of twists and turns
 
A small update following the last 3 fixtures City are now 12 points up from last seasons corresponding fixtures

We're now 4 points up from last season
 
:)

What a great day.

We've got 11 points more than Chelsea, 12 than Arsenal and 14 than Liverpool.

Let's kill those bastards that wrote us off after 1-6 at OT.
 
fecking brilliant day for us!

From a 5 point gap after they beat us at OT, we've wiped that lead right off.
 
So the worst Manchester United in last twenty years is equal with the 3rd best team in the world(according to media)
 
Not putting down their football this season, but City haven't had much games where their character has been tested have they? Whenever I check their scores or watch their matches they're usually beating the crap out of their opposition and just walking it. But to be champions in this league, you have to come through the moments where the football isn't quite coming off as it used to and you need to have that character to carry you through. So in some ways, they're still an untested unit for me.
 
Who was basically writing us off in the league again?

They're on a different level to us, you know. We might be joint on points but that's because they're just coasting and we're scraping by, or something. Just look at all the big names.
 
Yeah, it's proper squeaky bum time now. I'd crack up if I were them. All that money, all that shouting, not to mention that terrific form (to be fair to them), and they're level on points with us. Gotta be soul destroying.

Today for them was two points dropped away from home on Boxing Day. It happens, but now the hard times start and we'll see whether they can go from pretenders to contenders.
 
I switched over to WBA and City in the 85th minute. City didn't seem desperate to get a goal. If United are 0-0 against a lower side, I'm used to seeing wave after wave of attack (think Newcastle at Old Trafford). I noticed a scramble in the box for Balotelli and Dzeko skied a shot into the stands. Otherwise, West Brom had it handled. I'm probably biased with this observation, though.
 
Not getting carried away, I think we have the more difficult fixtures in the second half of the season (our 'big games' are away whereas theirs are at home) However today is a reminder to them and everyone that anything can happen in the premiership and easy away games are few and far between. I think it'll concern them that they've been THAT good and a game off the half way point there's nothing between the sides. I think it'll maybe freak them out a bit. The whole GD aspect will also get to them a bit I think...they know if they slip up we'll be there and this kind of pressure can do funny things to a team.

It's very nice to be level on points though. When you're 5 points behind there's a nervousness that a bad result could maybe even put you out of the race. Level points...I'll take that for now and be very grateful of it.
 
Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal, City, Spurs all away in the 2nd half of the season, I wouldn't be too happy just yet until we are really top of the league.