110% Football

Title race is not over yet - Sir Alex Ferguson

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Sir Alex Ferguson has today said the title race is still up for grabs despite Roberto Mancini saying it was over a few days ago. 

This is a really interesting battle between the two top managers in the English Premier League, there is currently a 5 point gap between them at the top of the division with the two teams still needing to play each other in the Manchester derby, therefore meaning a City win in the derby match would mean the gap would down to only 2 points.

Roberto Mancini is clearly trying to use mind games to affect the Manchester United players and to get his players to be a bit more relaxed, because surely when back in the dressing room you certainly can't imagine him saying its over, in there he will be telling the players to believe and try win every game left in the season to give them a strong chance. 

The main reason he said this I believe is to try and make the Manchester United players feel more relaxed thinking they don't need to do as much but with Sir Alex's comments today; "There are five games still to go. The twists and turns of the Premier League, it's fascinating." He is clearly trying to get his players back focused and not listen to what anyone else is saying.

In my opinion, the season is still very much up for grabs but Manchester City can not afford another slip up, surely I feel they must win every single one of their remaining games. Looking at the run-ins of the teams;

Remaining Premier League games;

Man Utd                                                       Man City

                        Aston Villa (h)                                                 Norwich (a)

                        Everton (h)                                                     Wolves (a)

                        Man City (a)                                                   Man Utd (h)

                        Swansea (h)                                                    Newcastle (a)

                        Sunderland (a)                                                 QPR (h)

They both have pretty tough run-ins, looking at Man Utd's games I can see them beating Aston Villa comfortably, Everton will be tough and that could possibly be the game they could slip-up in as they are on a good run and have some real ability in their team, the derby is massive and isn't possible to predict but for some reason I can see Man City nicking it. Swansea, I can see United winning that relatively easily as Swansea have lost their form recently and struggle to score goals. The final game of the season at the Stadium of Light has the potential to be a tough game, with Martin O'Neil at the helm anything thing is possible and Man Utd will have to be at their best to beat them. 

Looking at Man City's run-in next up is Norwich, who have impressed me a lot this season but I feel City on on a good day will have far too much quality for the Norwich defence to cope with. Wolves, I can say a pretty much guaranteed 3 points in that game. The derby game is next which I can see them nicking, they will be really up for it and they cant afford to lose it otherwise it is over. Newcastle is a very tricky game, this has massive potential to be the game that they slip-up in with Newcastle on fire at the moment. QPR in the final game of the season, on paper should be an easy win but as it is the last game of the season QPR may need the 3 points to survive it has the potential to be a cracking game. 

My overall verdict is, I can see Man Utd just nicking it down to having the experience of title run-ins and having a more settled team with no disruptions from players like Balotelli. I'd love my prediction to be wrong however! Would love to see City come back and grab the title, it would be an outstanding end to the season!