*** PLEASE FOLKS – IF PATIENT, READ !!! ****

I have been of the opinion that, quite simply – Jose Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge and coupled with Abra’s £££’s and Ranieri’s stars, he simply steered them to the top, like a steam engine that simply woudn’t be stopped – trampling Manchester United and former champions Arsenal along the way.

It was almost as if a new ‘bad a55′ was in town, and in a somewhat arrogant and cruel fashion, toppled Wenger’s Arsenal off their Gold Throne – and sat on it for themselves making it perfectly clear, it was now THEM to be feared, it was THEM you had to beat and aspire to be like.

That was the impression I got, i’d never seen something like this before in English football either to be honest with you.

Throughout 2003/04, all the rage was ‘Arsenal still have not lost a game – they are unbeatable, they are ‘invincibile’….Henry was at the pinnacle of his footballing career, Viera too. Reyes, Bergkamp and a then world class Freddy Ljundburg with support from equally impressionable stars on the bench.

They say United knocked us off our perch, maybe so.

Is it far fetched to then say, Chelsea did exactly the same thing to Arsenal – in that, up until the fall of 2004, they were quite simply the 2nd best London club to Arsenal, or the ‘nearly men’ of the EPL. Over night almost, it felt as if – an Old King (Wenger) and his army had been toppled by a Mourinho and his army, I feel as though Chelsea HAVE taken the title as the #1 London club in the EPL, and are no longer equals or inferiors to Arsenal.

Arsenal living in Chelsea’s shadows since 2004 ? Fair observation and assessment ?

who would have thought Chelsea, who under Ranieri – came 2nd in the 2003/04 season – would go on to win the English League Title the following year, in the most dominating fashion like not seen since 88 by Liverpool ?

It is my belief, that Arsenal will not win the league title in this decade and that they had their mini-era of success, the infamous two-horse races with United for the title, are long gone. United will now perhaps be wary of a new ‘big bad a55′ in town, sheikh Mansours ‘Manchester city’ , who lets face it – have more financial power than Abra’s Chelsea and are the more likely candidates to stamp their name on the EPL trophy in this decade.

Therefore for the next 2 seasons, the two GENUINE title contenders will remain Chelsea and Manchester United, with Manchester City ascending and slowly becoming a serious threat.

Expect Manchester City to join the list of ‘Genuine Title Contenders’ by 2013/14, and we now have 3 clubs in England from which, you’d be hard pressed to choose from – in terms of winning the EPL. These three will be the 3 Heavyweights of the EPL. Season in Season out, the title will be fought contested by these three.

Expect Arsenal and Liverpool to be EQUALLY as good, and neither side superior than the other, and both will be ‘dark horses’ , with an oppertunity to win the title, but only being able to contend to a certain point in the league until – their title aspirations blow up in smoke before their very eyes. (If u think thats silly, how often has this happened in the past 5 years to Arsenal ???)

Teir 1 – Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City

Tier 2 – Arsenal, Liverpool

Tier 3 – Spurs, Villa, ‘possibly’ Blackburn, Everton’ too.

the gap between Teir 2 and Teir 3 clubs will be miniscule and expect seasonal shocks where any of the tier 3 clubs start knocking either Arsenal or Liverpool of their positions in the table.

We can’t be ruled out, we need to just win one – in w/e fashion that may be, if we can get a run going of 20+ games unbeaten that starts POST xmas, from January till may in future and clinch a title on the last few days or so, thats good enough. We can build on that and use that as our springboard to start a new chapter in our clubs history.

Arsenal i feel, won’t win the league because psychologicaly they are now firmly under Chelsea’s control and perhaps now, in their shadow.

thoughts and opinions on this folks.

7 Comments so far

1. ---

   I’m sorry, I was not able to be Patient. To long.

2. ---

   When they lost to Manchester United which eneded their unbeaten run dramatically I think mentally that damaged them severly.

   Strange cos they won the FA CUP and finished 2nd in the league – I believe when Veira left I think a part of the REAL Arsenal died too and when Henry left yes they won like their first 5 games or so of the new season in the 2006/07 playing great football but the lost of Theirry Henry really showed.

   I believe Arsenal are going through a VERY long transformation Arsene is trying to replace certain Arsenal greats (Bergkamp = van Persie most obvious)

   I think this current team will have to age maybe 3-4 years more before they become a fear force in football once again because I can tell you as a Manchester United fan when we play Arsenal I am not scared what so ever

3. ---

   Im going to have to disagree.

   Chelsea dominance began when Abramovic came in, gave Mourinho all of the money to shell out millions for top quality players, and therefore win them the 2 following league titles.

   You cant compare Arsenal to liverpool. Arsenal havent fell out of the top 4 this decade, where Liverpool have twice. Tier 1 is United, Chelsea and Arsenal. Tier 2 is City, Liverpool etc.

   Arsenal WILL win the league again. Wenger knows how to. Money now dominates football, we dont have much since we are paying off debts, but history shows we will win the league again (yes in the next 10 years).

4. ---

   As a United fan, i gotto say that if United don’t sort out their impending financial difficulties with the added factor of SAFs retirement… tier one is gonna be Chelsea and City.

   Money may not buy you titles…. but its better to be with it than without it.

5. ---

   You are forgetting one thing… Do you know Chelsea City and United will have to follow financial fair play rule if they are gonna qualify in playing Europe.
   Chelsea and City wont enter the competition.
   And the new homegrown rule is being implemented next season which makes it more favourable to Arsenal and United rather than city and Chelsea.

   Arsenal under Wenger will always be in Tier 1 and a period of dominance will come starting from next season

6. ---

   In my opinion, the clubs which boast the strongest youth academies and have the best business minds at work looking after the financial side of the clubs wellbeing, are going to stand a chance to win trophies year in year out, and compete for honours regular basis.

   Manchester United established themselves as permanent heavyweights of England since 1993, because they reaped the awards the most for winning the inaugural premier league and kept winning them regularly and qualifying in a then more rigid champions league.

   back then the champions league was just that, the champions league.

   Only the clubs that won the leagues of their land, would enter this tournament and compete against one another – to claim the prize which was, the Kings of Europe – the European champions Cup.

   The problem was that by not allowing more teams to enter this competition, you were in danger of making club football in Europe – biased, and imbalanced in terms of financial power distribution amongst clubs.

   For the first few seasons after 1993, Manchester United cashed in on their early success and Sir Alex probably knew eventually they’d start to let in teams who finish as ‘best runners up’ in their leagues, and eventually allow 3rd and 4th place spots in the subsequent future.

   So he saw to it that he’d win as much silverware with the club before that happened.

   The deviation in terms of wealth between all clubs in England began to increase year by year, until as you put it – we began to have ‘tier based’ clubs, based solely on how rich they were.

   United got a headstart over everybody, until Jack Walker pumped in his £££’s into Blackburn to help Kenny Dalglish challenge and then win the 1994/95 Premier League, thanks to us of course on the penultimate day of that season.

   United during that period also produced one of the finest if not the best youth academies in England, if not Europe and possibly the world.

   they churn out the best youth products from their system, and are rivalled only by Real Madrid, Ac Milan, Barcelona, Roma and Juventus.

   SAF may retire – but hes already sewn the seeds for a 3rd generation Manchester United, which will continue the proud tradition of keeping the Scousers in their shadows.

   Unless Rafa gets it right and wins the league for Liverpool, I fear it will be this way for this decade too.

   I gave you a detailed answer because you put the effort into your question with well written award winning novel…

7. ---

   Well said Mr Anfield.

   Totally 100% agree with you.