“MUFC v LFC U18s – 107” (CC BY 2.0) by kane-brooker
Manchester City ran away with the Premier League title last season, and many fancied them to come back and win it again this season. While Liverpool, their main challengers, didn’t really spend much in the summer, elsewhere, Chelsea and Manchester United certainly did.
While United have failed to back that spending up with performances so far, Chelsea certainly have. Manchester City began the season as favorites to win the title again, and they are odds on favorites to win it as of October 28, with the latest football betting on Space Casino having them at -111 to win it again. However, the teams behind them have closed the gap according to the bookmakers, all but ruling out the rest and giving us a three horse racing to enjoy over the next few weeks and months.
Which of the Contenders is the Best Team?
Working out who is the best between these three is not easy, as all three have strong points that the others cannot match, so it comes down to how much you rate each element of the team.
Manchester City have without a doubt the strongest squad from them, with great depth and if all three teams encountered serious injury problems to key players, City would definitely be able to cope with it the best. They strengthened further in the summer with the addition of Jack Grealish to their squad, and have an abundance of attacking options to play, depending on how they want to match up.
We’ll never get tired of watching @JackGrealish‘s first #UCL goal
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2021
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? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klUGiM pic.twitter.com/Ekt5VEW8xU
Liverpool have a starting eleven that can match what Manchester City put on the field, but don’t have the squad depth. It is with this eleven that Liverpool holds their chance to win. They cannot afford injuries like City and Chelsea, as they don’t have enough quality to replace what they lose. A prime example of this came last season, when Virgil Van Dijk picked up a bad injury, amongst other players. Liverpool simply didn’t have an answer, resorting to playing certain players out of position in a bid to try and pick up points.
The final team to look at is Chelsea. Not as strong in the starting eleven as Liverpool are perhaps, and certainly not as deep as Manchester City, but they do have one weapon of their own. This is head coach Thomas Tuchel, who joined the club in January 2021 and took them to a Champions League trophy just a few months after that.
Tuchel is a great tactical manager, and able to get the very best from his players, while also spotting how to beat the opposition. Over the course of a season this has a small effect but in big games he can be huge, as we saw in the Champions League final when he set up his team to beat Manchester City. If this title race comes down to big, important games at the end of the season, then of the three teams involved, Chelsea have got a man at the helm who can set them up to be tactically perfect.
