WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Manchester City are, as we write, twelve points clear at the top of the Premier League. They have just reached the final of the Carabao Cup and are about to play Cardiff away in the FA Cup, a game they should win.

They will face Basel in the knockout stage of the Champion’s League and should expect to progress further in that competition. Is there anything they cannot win? No, there isn’t.

Only an unlucky draw in a cup competition or a bad performance will prevent them winning the four trophies.

Alexis Sánchez – Brought in to improve United

How about United? Having just signed Alexis Sánchez, they will feel that they have moved closer to competing with City on the field and, in José Mourinho, they have a manager who has already competed with, and beaten, Pep Guardiola whilst the two were in Spain. He just has to do it all over again in England.

The secret to United beating City to the Premier League title next season, (they won’t do it this time round), is not really much of a secret. They have to be more consistent. Other than for pride, or a really tight title race, whether United beat City in the two games they have to play against them each season is largely irrelevant. It is the other games which are important.

United cannot afford to lose games they are expected to win. It is something which happens very rarely with City. Also, United need to win the games City win. By that we mean if City beat, for example Chelsea and Liverpool, then United need to do the same. If not they will find themselves in the same predicament as this season.

They are a long way behind because, again for example, they lost to Chelsea and Huddersfield and drew at home to Burnley, all games which City won quite comfortably, so there is an immediate difference of seven points! This cannot happen if United want to win the title again.

The money is there, the manager is there. We are quite sure that the desire is there. All that we now need is for the performances to be there.

Chelsea’s Antonio Conte recently admitted that the club couldn’t afford to meet Alexis Sânchez’s wage demands and that is why they didn’t try to sign him. We prefer to believe that Sanchez never really expressed any interest in going to Stamford Bridge.

After all, with only a small transfer fee to pay anything saved could be used to finance wages so, if he was bought for £35 million and is worth £60 million, then the budget for Sánchez still has £25 million available for wages and that would pay him for around two years at £300,000 per week.

Consequently Chelsea didn’t want to admit that they didn’t think they could sign him so they pleaded poverty!

If, however, what Conte said is true then it means that, financially anyway, no club in England can compete with City or United. Again, if true, that is going to make the Premier League title race very boring for anyone not a supporter of a Manchester club.

Two players Chelsea fans would not have expected their club to be linked with

Chelsea were always reckoned to be the closest challengers to Manchester anyway. Having won the title last season, they were expected to put up a stronger defence this season. The reason they haven’t appears to be down to differences of opinion between the manager and the board, particularly on who should be signed.

According to the press, some at Chelsea wanted Alexis Sánchez whilst others wanted Peter Crouch or Andy Carroll. If this situation is allowed to continue Chelsea won’t be winning very much in the near future. They will, however, attempt to solve their problem by using the tried and tested method of replacing their manager in summer. Let’s see if this makes a difference.

Arsenal just need to replace their manager and accept, (which it appears they have), that they will never be able to compete financially at the very top.

Liverpool need to carry on the good work, (and buy a new goalkeeper), and Klopp will get them as high as is possible given their resources and ability to attract players. They won’t win the title but can certainly give Chelsea a run for third place.

Finally Tottenham Hotspur have to start putting the players and the fans before making money. Daniel Levy needs to realise that he will not get 61,000 at the new White Hart Lane when Spurs are playing West Brom or Huddersfield, unless he invests in the team. It is the attraction of the team which will make money, not building a big new stadium.

As things are, Kane will go to Real Madrid, Dele Alli will move to another English club and none of the top players will want to play for Spurs.

In conclusion, Manchester City are out there alone at present. Manchester United appear to be doing all they can to try and reel them in and the rest seem to be living in the forlorn hope that Guardiola will get it wrong one day.