CHELSEA'S manager Jose Mourinho has said that if Manchester United or Arsenal do not soon start to make up ground then the title will go to the Blues. Well Mourinho is a confident man ? and rightly so ? but it is not over yet although I would love to be in the position that Chelsea are in right now ? 10 points ahead of second place Arsenal. But Chelsea still have to face both Arsenal and United in the league and that is six points right there. With a draw here or there you never know what will happen. Look how United overtook Newcastle and Arsenal some years ago. But having been watching Chelsea all season they do not look like they will slip up. Their defence is superb ? hardly anything gets by them. Also the second half of the season is sometimes dictated a bit by injuries. Chelsea have been very lucky in that department as they have stayed healthy this year. Having said all of that my money is on Chelsea to win the title.

Chelsea looked good playing away at Spurs last weekend although Spurs put up a great fight ? they just couldn't get by that steel defence Chelsea have. I also thought that Chelsea looked far more dangerous when they counter attacked whereas Spurs had to rely on putting long balls forward.

Arsenal let it slip when they went 1-0 down to Bolton. And again it was from a set play. For some reason Arsenal have a hard time defending against set plays. This weekend they host Newcastle and I look for the Gunners to come out on top of that encounter.

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The past week has not been kind to Liverpool. First they lost to United at home 1-0 last weekend in the league and then were bundled out of the FA Cup with an own goal against Burnley. The goal they gave up to United was the bad mistake by goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek ? something he has done before against United. However I did think that United were the better team. It was a hard and tough game and I think that some of the Continental players Liverpool have don't know how to get stuck in. Sometimes you have to do that and this was one of those games. Not every game can be pretty. United showed more grit, especially when they went down to 10 men when Wes Brown was sent off for two yellows.

Liverpool yesterday bought the 19-year-old keeper Scott Carson from Leeds and it will be interesting to see if Dudek will be on his way. He is a good keeper and will have no problem finding a club. In fact he may be better off playing in Europe.

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The tightest race seems to be in Italy where Juventus and AC Milan are battling it out at the top. The other teams are quite far behind those two and there are only a couple of points between leaders Juv and Milan. Juv could only come away with a 1-1 draw against Cagliari last week with the great little Zola scoring for Cagliari. Milan meanwhile were worthy 3-1 victors over Udinese at home although the visitors scored first.

It is going to be very interesting to see how the race between these two great clubs pans out this second half of the season.

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Well Manchester United finally slipped through to the next round of the FA Cup after beating non-league Exeter 2-0 on Wednesday in a replay at Exeter's tiny ground. Exeter's performance over both games just goes to show what the FA Cup is all about. I was very happy for them ? especially the money the two games gave them as they now can sort out their debts and get back to a sound foundation.

Some smaller teams are still in the FA Cup's fourth round ? sides like Yeovil, Bournemouth, Peterborough United, Brentford and Colchester United. Good luck to them!

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The second leg of the semi-finals of the League Cup will be played next week with Liverpool taking on Watford and I definitely look for Liverpool to go through to the final. The other semi-final is more tricky ? Chelsea have to travel to Manchester United. I expect both managers to put out good teams for this match and it will be a preview of their upcoming Premiership match.