ken bates

A three point deduction won't make much of a difference to Chelsea. I don't even think an 8 or 9 point deduction would either. I still think Chelsea are quite a way ahead of any other team in the Premiership at the moment, they are full of clbutt in every area, but most importantly they have a great team spirit and belief. I think it is a certainty that they will win the title for the third time this season regardless of any 3 point deduction.

Last season the trouble with Liverpool was they had an excellent defence, an excellent goalkeeper an excellent midfield (probably the best midfield in the country) a good manager, but absolutely no strikeforce to score the goals.

Man Us trouble was they had an excellent strikeforce (the best in the country without a doubt!), a pretty good defence, a good keeper, but they had a manager who has lost the plot quite a bit, and they had absolutely no midfield. Probably one of the weakest midfield in the top half of the table last season.

Arsenal had a bit of a mare early on last season but managed to recover to 4th largely thanks to Henry. Their main problem apart from not having a squad quite as big as other top teams at least as far as quality and experience are concerned, was the new youth coming through. It is still too early for them to fill the boots of departed players like Vieira, although there was a lot of promise shown with the likes of Fabregas having a good bash at it.

I think the season after this one (2007-08) is when teams like Man U, Liverpool and Arsenal will come back very strong and will have pbutted through a transitional period, rebuilt and settled down a new bedrock of players to challenge for titles and trophies.

2007-08 is also the season Super Leeds UNITED will be back in the top flight challenging Chelsea for the title. IMHO of course :)

Sniffer-Dog