By IRNA,
London: Half way through the season, the race to win the English Premier League (EPL) remains the closest for years with just five points covering the top five teams.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s reopening of the transfer window, Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger said he believed the title race is still wide open going into 2011.
Brian Kidd, assistant manger of money-spending Manchester City, currently in second place, insisted Manchester United are title favourites, saying “it’s theirs to lose.”
But Wenger, whose youthful team is third, said although United are top of the league at the moment, “what we have learned is that it is very, very open.”
“Four or five teams can win the title,’ he said. “The most consistent team will win it in the end,’ he told the BBC when asked what was need to win one of the most open championship battles in recent memory,
Manchester United’s 69-year old veteran boss Sir Alex Ferguson played down speculation Friday about the opening of January’s month-long transfer window, insisting that he would ‘definitely not’ but any new player.
The same cannot be said about his city rivals, which has spent over £200 million in the past two years to try to emulate the success of Chelsea, winning three title since 2005, including last session’s success that ended three successive title won by Ferguson.
But the west London club has been going through a crisis dropping down to fourth place in recent weeks with uncertainty about weather its Russian oil magnate owner Roman Abramovich may be turning his attention to help Moscow stage the 2018 World Cup.
The mid-season transfer window is the traditional time for teams seeking the title or trying to stave off relegation to strengthen their squads.
At the bottom end of the table, the race to stay in the league is as tight as ever iwith five points covering as many as 10 clubs, including Liverpool, where there is speculation about the survival of their new coach, Roy Hodgson, under the clubs new American owners.
Other teams punching below their weight include Everton and Aston Villa, traditionally more associated with challenging the ‘top four’ which Liverpool until last season were part of.