It’s coming up to December: that means Christmas, partying, oh and the race for the Premier League!
But this season is different from the rest.

This season the Big Four became the Big Six at the start of the season – including Man City and Spurs but as time has shown, it has become the Big Three – depending on the Arsenal Chelsea result. But as we’ve learnt from the past, international breaks play a big part in deciding the championship.

Already Arsenal are suffering from ‘Van Persiness’ because of a useless friendly game and only time can tell the impact of his absence. However, the most influential break is the Africa Nations Cup and from the look of things, it could be the single biggest factor that determines the destination of the championship. Let’s look at the real contenders separated from the pretenders each club and what could go right or wrong;
 
Manchester United: This season has been incredible for the red devils as they have shown that they could still play “Beautiful Football” without key players Ronaldo and Tevez. What’s changed?           
This season Wayne Rooney has been sensational and scaring off every defense in the league. Keeping Wayne match fit for every game is vital to United winning the league, BUT what would happen if he would get injured?

Don’t forget Ferdinand is sidelined until the new year or later...  and then there is player exhaustion, some of United’s most valuable players are over thirty, e.g. Van Der Sar, Giggs, Scholes and Neville and if they get tired and unfit half way through the season, then that could be a major blow for the red devils.

But in my opinion it all comes down to if Wayne Rooney gets injured, United would have no chance of winning the league and would probably struggle to even finish in the top four.
 
Chelsea: Chelsea are the number one contenders to win the Barclays Premier League this season, they have the perfect squad, perfect manager and perfect owner, but they still have a hell of a long way to go to before even thinking about Premiership glory, first they have Didier Drogba, who’s still recovering from injury, then there’s Frank Lampard who is injured, now on top of all that Chelsea manager Ancelotti will lose Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel  and Salomon Kalou for three weeks during the Nations Cup, and if Chelsea can maintain their winning streak, they still have an incredible chance of winning the Barclays Premier League, but if they shed points in the absence of their players there might be no coming back.
 
Arsenal: Have the young guns come of age? That been the same question for the last five years but finally here’s the answer. Arsenal are in the perfect position to win the league this season, but with Van Persie injured, they have to keep all their players fit, and can’t afford to lose to small clubs like Sunderland. They have to keep winning games and really focus this season.

The only minor set backs would be Emmanuel Eboue and Alexandr Song going off to the Nations Cup, but that should not be a problem with players like Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby and Denilson fit and ready to play.

If Arsenal can keep their players fit and out of injury they have a brilliant chance. In all, Sir Alex Ferguson’s insistence on not buying Africans could once again prove a masterstroke as it has done for the past three seasons.
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