English Premier League Notes Through Jan 1st

December saw Manchester United continue to set the pace while Chelsea dealt with John Terry's back injury and dropped points. It looks to be a two team race between Man U and Chelsea as none of the next group of Liverpool, Arsenal or Bolton look capable of bridging the gap and making a challenge.

Manchester United opened a 6 point gap over 2nd place Chelsea thanks in part to a stellar month of December from young superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The young winger's massive performanecs lifted the squad through the busy schedule late in December. Bad news at the end of the month as Saha went down with an injury but Henrik Larsson arrives on loan to lend a boost for the title run.

Chelsea dropped some very important points lately with 3 straight draws. No question the team misses its captain John Terry who underwent minor back surgery but is already back training and coild play soon. The defense has defeinitely suffered as Chelsea allowed 2 goals in 4 successive matches. Terry's return will lend a boost hopefully to allow Chelsea to track down Manchester United in the spring.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Bolton head up the next group sitting on 40, 39 & 39 resepectively. It's pretty unlikely that any of these squads can get in the title chase as they trail Man U by 5 games in the standings, but there is plenty to play for as these 3 try to earn a Champions League spot for next year. Henry has returned from injury for Arsenal and they look the likeliest to claim the 3rd spot.

Portsmouth sits on 36 and have been a pleasant surprise all season. A staunch defense and timely goals from Kanu have Portsmouth in contention for a Champions League berth. Everton are on 31 with quality goaltending from American Tim Howard and playmaking midfielder Arteta. Another pleasant surprise this season has been Reading who are on 30 points. Reading's feisty play has earned respect throughout the league as they have earned points off Chelsea and Man U this season.

The next group looks to be safe from relegation but has little to play for the remainder of the year. A solid run could propel any of this group into a top 8 finish but none have looked particularly consistent this season. Manchester City (29), Blackburn (28), Fulham (27), Aston Villa (26) and Newcastle (26) will look to put a run of results together in the spring to differentiate them from the middle of the pack. Fulham seems to be the sharpest of late earning 4 wins and 4 draws in their last 8 matches to climb from the lower part of the table.

Middlesbrough, Wigan and Sheffield United sit just above the relegation zone and must make haste to avoid dropping. It has been a terribly dissapointing year for Middlesbrough but they have gone on a run lately winning 4 of their last 5 games. Wigan has been poor of late and look a candidate to drop into the relegation zone lest they turn it around. They have lost 4 of 5. Sheffield United have played better ball of late winning 3 of 4 and have climbed out of the bottom 3. The question is can they continue consistent play to avoid the drop at the end of the year.

In the relegation zone are West Ham, Charlton and Watford. West Ham has fallen 4 points into the zone and must make ground or drop. They had a great win over Manchester United but have since followed it with poor results including last weekend's 0-6 thumping to Reading. Charlton is next 6 points inside the relegation zone. A leaky defense makes it doubtful they can climb out of danger. Finally Watford are bringing up the rear and look to have little chance of survival. They are 10 points from safety and have only been able to claim 12 points from 20 matches. An inept offense that has only scored 12 goals all season can be looked to blame.

In the Championship Birmingham and Derby sit one and two followed by Preston and Southampton looking for promotion to the Premier League next year.