The race is on :EPL

V/s

As Saturday came to an end we are about to see a scrappy,dappy race till the end of the Barclays English Premier league. With Manu going down to Liverpool in a crucial tie at Fulham, chances of Liverpool catching on the league champions this time around looks very much obvious. With Liverpool captain Steve Gerrad in the form of his life Sir Alex has to do more than just strategize to get this done and dusted. The down slide started from the home game against Liverpool. The Nemanja Vidic error gave Liverpool the much needed space to get the goal and then dominate the entire game with utmost arrogance. They thrashed the world champions like they were some 3^rd division clubs. This is where Liverpool has improved in the past .Earlier after securing the lead they used to sit back and defend the game out. Actually Manu were a wee bit surprised with the new found attacking vigor that Rafa has instilled in their players. That was seen when they defeated the Spanish side Real Madrid in their champions league tie. They absolutely routed the Spanish runner up team. The combination between Torres and Gerrad has been working very well for the reds. The team it seems has started to amalgamate and they are true like true champions. Their defense led by English defender Carrragher has been very well organized and their wing attacks have also started to find precision. This time around however they are not relying on pumping long balls into the box and more importantly are not relying solely on Gerrard to find them those crucial goals.

However there are certain flaws that might just stop them from getting their hands on that coveted trophy that they have so long desired. First of all is Chelsea threat .Under Guus Hinddik they have found the organization threat they so lacked during the Scolari era. Their attacks are now more purposeful with less unforced errors Chelsea are a team to watch out for during the title race. This will be more clarified during their champion’s league clash. However Rafa is known to be an expert at winning tournaments, but this time around can Gerrard really stop the Chelsea juggernaut, let’s see.

The second threat is Manu itself. Although they are wounded for now but they still stand a very good chance as they have their flaws not that late in the season. With the return of Vidic they will find their feet back .With Ferguson he knows how to win in these crucial situations because he is really a veteran and nobody knows it better to win this league than the old guy himself.

The third threat for them is the flaws within. Firstly they rely too much on the crankshaft mechanism of Steve Gerard and Torres very much. Teams might just play and dirty and might just make them drop two points which in Liverpool’s case would be disastrous. Secondly except for Torres nobody in the Liverpool ranks are innovative in their attacks which might just make the opponents think less. The opposing teams simply have just one mantra against Liverpool, stop Torres and block Gerrard things would be smooth later on. Although this is easier said than done this would require a lot from teams to stop these two world class players.