This weekend's 2-0 victory over fellow top-four contenders Manchester City was a sign that the Blues are now less concerned by the prospect of being pipped to fourth place by London rivals Spurs, than they are looking up the table at both Arsenal and Manchester United. The three points were of course essential to their daring to retain such ambitions after a stuttering season, but the manner of the victory – absolute and comprehensive – was a real indicator that they truly mean business between now and May.
Arsenal have their own problems of course. With confidence absolutely shot amongst the back five – a situation which has seen the retired Jens Lehmann being brought back into the fold. They are also looking absolutely leaderless in the absence of Cesc Fabregas, Wenger has his own headaches to remedy before he starts to look at the prospect of chasing down league leaders Manchester United and their four point advantage with any genuine intent and those looking at lay betting should remember this.
Over at Old Trafford, they too have a series of problems. Still with the obvious strain of competing in both the FA Cup and the Champions League, they have also had their mercurial manager sentenced to the stands for the next four domestic fixtures – an inconvenience regardless of how experienced their playing and remaining backroom staff are. Add to this issue, the fact that Ferguson has virtually no available defenders following injury to Rio Ferdinand and the fresh problem of stand-in Jonny Evans being given a straight red card for his horrendous tackle which has seen Bolton's Stuart Holden sidelined for six months. Anyone wondering how to use Betfair should take this into account.
Carlo Ancelotti will be licking his lips in anticipation of seeing Michael Carrick attempt to do a job at centre-half for a large portion of what remains of this season – his biggest problem is finding a way to help Torres hit the back of the net for the first time since his £50m move. Not that this is really an issue when you're winning of course, and winning they are. Three victories from their last three Premier League outings suggest that their stock is very much on the rise – it's squeaky bum time indeed.
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