The rise of Man City: Have we spoken too early?

At the beginning of the season, in giving the traditional season prediction, we stated that Chelsea looked the best placed team to win the 2014/15 Premier League title. Couple of weeks ago, in a piece titled 5 REASONS WHY CHELSEA WILL WIN THE LEAGUE, I also reaffirmed why the EPL has Blues written over it.

One of the five reasons I gave in that article was the fact that the opposition seem to have gifted Chelsea the title by their inconsistent performances. For clarity sake, let me reproduce that section in full here:

 “COMPETITION FALLING SHORT: If you saw the mediocre performance of Arsenal and Manchester United on Saturday, match it with how Manchester City laboured to a 2-1 win against Swansea at home and then compare these with the clinical way Chelsea dispatched West Brom, then you’ll know that the only team capable of stopping Chelsea is Chelsea, not the opposition. Even when they didn’t play well, like we saw couple of weeks back against a surprisingly resilient QPR, Chelsea still managed to scrape the vital three points which was all that actually mattered on the day. While others are enarmoured with playing sexy football to entertain, Chelsea continue to pursue three points week after week with a single purpose determination that can be frightening.”

Since writing that column, some interesting developments have come up. The competition seemed to have taken my kick up their butt in good faith and woken up. Man City are suddenly playing economic football (just doing enough to win games and claim three points) while United seemed to be undergoing a real transformation from their lethargic start to the season. Arsenal, say what you like about them, also appear bent on keeping everybody on their toes.

So, have we spoken too early by ‘prematurely’ awarding the title to Chelsea?  From three weeks back when Chelsea appeared to be untouchable, they now look vulnerable and look behind their shoulder as Man City relentlessly pursue them all the way.

Now, just three points separate the two but, as we saw in the 2011/12 season when this same City beat United to the title on just goals difference, three points may be like 300 and the race could once again go down to the wire.

Fortunately, the two frontrunners are both involved in the same competitions, so what affects one should ordinarily be to the advantage of the other. Take a look at their next 15 games in all competitions and then you can begin to hazard a guess as to who has the head above the other.   

v West Ham

Stuck between these tight fixtures is a double-legged CAPITAL ONE CUP semi-final clash with Liverpool which means, between now and April 18, Chelsea have at least two more games to play than City and it could even be more if they progress to the final of the COC!

Also, depending on who progresses farther in the Champions League, one team will stay longer in Europe and this could be to the advantage of the other team.

So, do you think City’s sudden resurge would see them overtake Chelsea in the race for the EPL or you think the Blues can sit tight all the way to May 24 and claim a fourth EPL title?

Though City’s threat looks very real but I vote the Blues to ride the storm and get crowned as EPL champions. How do you vote?