In just four days time the Premier League Champions will be crowned and without putting my foot in my mouth again and predicting it has already been won. Manchester City must feel very confident, needing just four points from their two remaining home games against the claret and blue combination of Aston Villa and West Ham. Despite my assumption that Liverpool had won the title after their victory over City at Anfield, Steven Gerrard & co did indeed 'let it slip'. Defeat at home to Chelsea and a final 15 minute capitulation away at Crystal Palace to resemble a Newcastle-esque '96 title collapse. Perhaps not as extreme as Kevin Keegans 'Toon Army' meltdown in 1996, but given the weight of expectation to reclaim the title thats been missing since 1990, the disappointment must feel very similar. These results have let Manchester City surely take what is a 2nd title in three years, despite what seems like a dissatisfying campaign the blue half of Manchester could be about to win the two trophies in a season.
What must make Liverpool's inevitable title frustration even more unbearable is the lack of competition this season from the red half of Manchester and their biggest rivals on and off the pitch. It turns out that the Manchester United board were just trying to keep critics at bay under David Moyes and were preparing for next season without him. It looks like Louis Van Gaal will be given the job after he concludes the Netherlands campaign at the World Cup. However summer preparations must already be underway after last summers sub par showing in the transfer market- and what must be seen as one of the main reasons for Moyes' failure at United. Van Gaal will be given the funds to get United back to the summit of the league and not just top 4 qualification. Add to that the constant improvement of Chelsea and Manchester City, Liverpool could well be battling for fourth place with Arsenal as well as having to contend with a European campaign with a current squad of limited numbers.
Lets not take anything away from Liverpool's achievement this season, as no club has ever bounced back from finishing 7th the previous season to win the league the following year. Whilst it looks like Liverpool won't be about to change that, they gave it an extremely good effort and have won many admirers with their attacking play. With this came the reason as to why they didn't win the league as their defensive frailties were shown up at Selhurst Park.
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