Something of a pivotal weekend for the Premier League this week.

Chelsea dropped points, United won three points and the big clash between Arsenal and Villa was won by Arsenal.

Suddenly, there is a bit of a gap between the top three and the rest.

Arsenal have a game in hand over United and Chelsea and if we imagine that they have played and won that game, they find themselves sandwiched between Chelsea and United by a point either side.

Fourth placed Villa would find themselves five points adrift. And therein lies the gap.

I have said from the start that this title would be contested between Chelsea and United and I am not going to change on that score. To see Arsenal up there at this stage is nothing new.

The key test for Arsenal will come around February because February/March is where the wheels have tended to fall off for them in recent years as they have gone from featuring prominently in all competitions to being virtually out of the lot at that point.

With that in mind then perhaps the cruncher for them will come on the 7th February when they take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

As for Chelsea, well, they have been stuttering like mad in recent weeks and have won just one of their last five Premier League games. We now enter January and (in my opinion) their two most influential players – Drogba and Essien – are about to be taken out of the equation for a few weeks as they enter the African Cup of Nations.

If Chelsea can cope without them for a month or so and pick up full points whilst they are away (not totally unlikely – the fixture list has been fairly kind to them) then they will be the team to beat for the remainder of the season.

As before, the clash against Arsenal at the start of February (when Drogba and Essien will be back) could be crucial.

As for us, well, we have had the most horrendous injury list to cope with and, if the truth be told, we haven’t really coped with it. Defeats to in-form Villa and Fulham may not be totally shameful but they were costly and under normal circumstances, we would have been looking for at least two points from those two games.

However, things are coming back together and with the possibility of the long-term injured coming back during the next few weeks, as well as the possibility of a signing in January, it is all starting to look a bit rosier for us Reds.

It’s going to be a cracking second half to the season but I still maintain that come the end, it will all be about Chelsea and United.

We still have to meet each other at Old Trafford and that match could well be the decider because I don’t think it will be won by more than a couple of points by either team.

Personally, I think that Manchester United are totally overpriced at 3.4 to win the Premier League and I have had a bit of that with Canbet.