And The Favorite To Win the Premier League Is..........

Luis Suarez riding high this season
with 19 goals

Well, Christmas is here and in the English Premier League it traditionally means that at this point we sort of know who the favorites are to win it all. Seventeen games have been played and six points are the difference between the league leaders and the 7th place team and Manchester United are in 8th place. Who would have picked Liverpool and Arsenal being tied for 1st place in December? Surely the big spending team like Manchester City as well as defending champions Manchester United were heavily favored along with the return of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea. Well, the surprising teams thus far have been Arsenal, Liverpool (with the resurrection of Luis Suarez's career-breaking form) and their rivals Everton who are led by former Wigan manager Roberto Martinez as well as the emergence of young Gascoigne look-alike Ross Barkley.

Everton sensation Ross Barkley
having a great season thus far.

Manchester United are also a surprising team, but for all the wrong reasons. Typically Manchester United have always had slow starts, but this season has been a bit different. With the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of last season, David Moyes was the hand picked successor in the summer. "The Chosen One" has had a rough start beginning in the summer transfer market where he had to fend off Jose Mourinho's Chelsea attempt at luring Wayne Rooney away and not being able to effectively upgrade his current roster due to Rooney's uncertainty. His only signing was former Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini and thus far it hasn't really panned out as he hoped it would. With crucial losses at Old Trafford to West Bromich Albion, Newcastle and his former team Everton, they currently sit in 8th place.

Arsenal had a rough season opening game with a loss at home to Aston Villa that sent shock waves to all their fans which forced Arsene Wenger to pull the transfer trigger. This resulted in their only summer purchase of German international sensation Mezut Ozil for a reasonable price of 42,500,000 pounds. In retrospect it was the most significant signing of the Premier League as Arsenal never lost another game until a 1-0 loss on November 10 to Manchester United at Old Trafford. That was quite a remarkable run and it continued until a 6-3 drubbing at Etihad Stadium to Manchester City and their 100 million scoring machines. After a goalless draw against Chelsea at the Emirates, they sit tied at the top with Liverpool with 36 points. They also have a very difficult draw against Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of Champions League.

Manuel Pellegrini has City fired up at
the right time

Manchester City have by far the most potent offensive players in the Premier League. With over 100 million spent in the transfer market in the summer, their ambitions are nothing short of multiple titles this season. As a result they are already in the semi finals in the League Cup and look set for a showdown their Red Devil rivals. They are also in the round 16 in the Champions League for the first time in their club's history with a much anticipated draw with four-time champion FC Barcelona.

Tim Sherwood taking over for just
sacked Andre Villas-Boas

Tottenham Hotspurs made a blockbuster sale of the century by selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record fee of 85 million pounds. However this wasn't able to save Andre Villas-Boas from being sacked due to massive losses against Manchester City and Liverpool with a combined score of 11-0. Many critics viewed the sacking as harsh because of the lack of time at the helm. But others also believed that AVB's inability to manage star players was his ultimate downfall. His replacement former player Tim Sherwood hopes to save the Hotspurs' season by trying to finish in the top four.

Eto'o, Torres and Ba have only accounted
for four premier league goals this season.

The January transfer are upon us and it will be a crucial time for the title chasers. Clubs will be looking for difference makers to open the gap in the table. This season more than any other seasons, all eyes will be glued to teams in need of that special player to take them to glory at the end of the season. Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton and Totteham will be shopping for much needed goal scorers. Manchester City and Liverpool will be looking to shore up their defense. Manchester United are in need of creativity in the midfield. While these teams are looking to upgrade their roster, they must also be aware of the possibility that they might lose players to the transfer market due to certain players fighting for places in World Cup teams. How will this affect the roster depth of these clubs? My guess is we'll wait and see, but nevertheless it will certainly be an exciting season.

What's the Mata with Chelsea and Mourinho?

Chelsea fans making their opinions known

You've heard all the pundits and commentators talking about this issue countless of times. Juan Mata, Chelsea's Player of the Year two years in a row can't seem to find any room in the starting eleven. Is Jose Mourinho crazy? Well, not exactly. Roman Abramovich brought Mourinho back with one goal in mind and that is to re-capture the magic that led Chelsea to back to back Premier League titles and more. But on one condition: play a beautiful style of football. The roster inherited by Mourinho now is completely different than the one he enjoyed from 2004-2007. It features play-making stars like Hazard, Oscar, Mata, Schurrle and Willian. Gone are the days of 4-3-3 featuring a defense with 72 clean sheets and offensive players like Damien Duff, Sean Wright-Philips, Arjen Robben, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Solomon Kalou a younger Frank Lampard and the legendary Didier Drogba terrorizing opponents defenses. This new Chelsea is built on speed and creative plays. So what's the problem? Well, the style that Abramovich craves so much is one similar to Barcelona. It's a style built on possession play and defensive pressure.

Juan Mata waving goodbye perhaps?

Juan Mata has many qualities. He's an intelligent player with great vision that can create opportunities in tight areas that few other players can. He also can score at will with his instinctive style and nose around the goal. He has a deadly left foot that can pick out the top corner of the goal or the head of John Terry and Ivanovic in set plays. In three season with Chelsea Mata has compiled 33 goals and 68 assists which has led him to be Chelsea's Player of The Year the last two years. A player of Mata's caliber is a dream for any manager. So what's the problem? Well, all players have certain weaknesses. Mata's weakness is not being able to track back on defense as well as being in love with the center half part of the pitch. In the style Mourinho has been instructed to play, Mata is required to put pressure on the opponents to regain possession. Why does Barcelona always have a possession advantage over their opponents? Because it all starts with Messi upfront tracking back to gain possession. Then it's up to Iniesta, Pedro, Fabregas and now Neymar to do their part to track the ball back. Unfortunately for Mata, Oscar has had a great start of the season netting six goals in total. The main reason why Mourinho prefers Oscar at his number 10 is mainly because of Oscar's ability to track back opponents.

Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink was a popular
player shown the exit door by Mourinho in 2004

When a new manager comes in he must re-evaluate his roster by watching tapes from previous seasons. He must also shape the roster to his philosophy of play. Naturally new players will come and some players who do not fit the profile must be let go. This is also true for Mourinho. When he arrived at Chelsea in 2004 he let fan favorite players like Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink Juan Veron and Marcel Desailly go because they didn't fit his profile. It's possible that Mourinho might do the same as Chelsea transitions into a new style of play. Popular players like Mata, David Luiz and Ashley Cole may see the exit door as soon as January mainly because they don't the Mourinho recipe for success.

Fan favorites Cole, Luiz and Mata may be
looking for new residence in January.

So far this season has been a frustrating one for Chelsea and Mourinho. However, despite having lost six matches in all competition, they sit only three points behind the league leaders. The inability of Chelsea attacking players to score more goals to "kill opponents" as Mourinho like to say combined with the defense giving up late goals, it's just a matter of time before Mourinho pulls the trigger to buy players that best respond to his and most important Roman Abramovich's new philosophy.