As we move into the final stretch of the 2011/2012 EPL season Manchester City are sitting at the top of the league table with Manchester United in second, Spurs still maintaining 3rd place followed by a Chelsea side that are showing signs of a return to form.

Manchester City have a few key players away at the African Cup Of Nations which was highlighted in their rather slim victory against Wigan Athletic recently and you do get the feeling that the league table position could change radically over the next few weeks.

Roberto Mancini was without doubt a great player despite his final appearances for Leicester City, but I am not convinced that he has enough management experience to keep the ever growing playing squad happy and to bring the EPL trophy to the success hungry City fans and demanding oil rich owners.

Manchester United are looking a bit threadbare in squad quality depth these days with Sir Alex Ferguson’s hand tied by an ever mounting debt that the owners have to service and some early signs of unrest within their star player ranks. Experience is something that the aging squad have in abundance, but when you ask pensioners such as Giggs and Scholes to continue playing, it is a clear papering of cracks is underway.

Spurs have been playing a very attractive brand of football and are worth the ticket price to watch, but the squad is a little thin and a few injury's and lack of new additions to stimulate progress will certainly have an effect for the final run in to the season.

Chelsea have suffered from a very bad run of form but are still in touch around 8 points behind the league leaders at this stage and showing signs of improvement under the new management team. Without doubt there is a rebuilding job required as a lot of the players are now on the wrong side of 30 but Drogba, Lampard, Terry and Ashley Cole are still head and shoulders above the new recruits. Daniel Sturridge shows some brief flashes of quality, but is quite a way off the finished article and you start to think that Chelsea need to invest heavily over the next few years to rebuild into a side with enough quality to challenge.

Arsenal have just recruited Tiery Henry for a 6 week loan spell from the New York Red Bulls, but again, it is a stop gap signing and should Robin Van Persie get injured or suffer any loss of form, they will be struggling to qualify for European Champions League football next season and that could spell a few years out in the cold and a probably change of management.

Our prediction for the final league table is:

1st - Manchester United
2nd - Manchester City
3rd - Chelsea
4th - Tottenham Hotspurs
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5th - Arsenal
6th - Liverpool
7th - Newcastle

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