Why Title Credentials of Manchester United are Stronger than Liverpool and Arsenal

On paper Manchester United’s attack is explosive

I'm not trolling you! I know every man and his dog have placed their bets on Chelsea and Manchester City to fight it out for the Premier League title this season. Until now, both those teams seem to be backing up popular belief by putting in some entertaining and dominating displays. They have already pulled away from the rest of the pack and are placed first and second respectively.

Season thus far:

All the three teams have had mixed starts to the season so far. Liverpool's win against Queens Park Rangers at the weekend means that they have moved to 5th in the table with Manchester United and Arsenal behind them at 6th and 7th places respectively. All the three teams haven't looked convincing so far. Manchester United and Liverpool well and truly look like a work in progress, while Arsenal have problems of their own as they do each season.

Manchester United's season kicked off only after the transfer window ended. Before that they looked like a team devoid of cohesion, ideas and inspiration. The experiment with the 3-4-1-2 formation was not working out and the players looked bewildered about how to play with the formation. They looked short of ideas in attack, while the defence looked confused and unaware of their roles and responsibilities. A surprise defeat to Swansea was followed by two very tame draws in the next two games.

But the verve and swagger seems to have returned with the signings of Di Maria, Falcao and Blind and a change of formation to a 4-1-2-1-2. Keeping in mind the very kind schedule to start the season, one gets the feeling that van Gaal will not be totally happy with his team's position in the table at this point of time, but the squad has enough talent to succeed and they are all showing signs of gelling together.

Liverpool have had a mixed bag until now. Their position in the table is a little flattering given how they have suffered defeats against Aston Villa and West Ham and have generally looked below par even in the other games. It is a similar story in the case of Arsenal too as they have generally been underwhelming, scraping to draws against Everton and Hull with their well talked about defensive problems on show quite often.

But the season is still in its infancy and football has taught us that It is not over until the final whistle of the final game week is blown. It will be unwise to discount these heavyweights- Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. All three clubs are bound to hit good form sooner rather than later.

But the rest of this article will take a look at Manchester United's title challenge and why they stand a better chance of challenging for the title than Liverpool and Arsenal.

Louis van Gaal and Ryan Giggs during the 2-2 draw against West Brom

Better Squad:

Just who has the better squad? This point is bound to come under the scanner and will be viewed from different points of view. All the 3 teams have deficiencies of their own and none is as perfect as a Chelsea or Manchester City. But after an in-depth analysis , I feel that Manchester United's squad is better than Liverpool and Arsenal's.

Louis van Gaal has clearly bought well this past transfer window. All the signings have come in and have made an immediate impact. The likes of Di Maria, Herrera, Blind, Falcao and Rojo are accomplished players, the type that come in and get going straight away. While Shaw is the in-house teenage sensation who, if everything goes right will become one of the best full backs in the world in a few years.

The midfield finally has some dynamism, creativity and goals after more than half a decade of listless displays. Di Maria, Herrera, Blind and Mata, have already contributed 6 goals between them and are sure to add many more. The strike force of Rooney, van Persie and Falcao is one of the deadliest in world football and is sure to light up the league with many goals, injuries permitting.

Liverpool have made as many as 9 signings this past transfer window, but none of them except Lallana to a certain extent have impressed until now. Defensive issues persist, while a Suarez less attack has looked toothless so far. They are over- reliant on the teenage prodigy Sterling and the Sturridge's dodgy injury record. The squad is not a bad one by any means, on the contrary Liverpool do have talent but it will probably take them an year to get all these signings to gel and fire collectively.

Arsenal's problems meanwhile have been well documented and have been talked about for a long time now. Too many players of the same ilk, little technical players, lack of any grit and physicality and lack of defensive depth. Their singings in the window were not exactly improvements, they were just replacements for departed players.

Manager:

All three are top class managers- Brendan Rodgers, Louis van Gaal and Arsene Wenger. But van Gaal edges it out for me. His Netherland's team's heroics at the World Cup showed that he can successfully blend aesthetics with pragmatism and achieve desired results, something which Arsene Wenger has failed to do for a long time.

Louis van Gaal edges out Wenger in tactical flexibility as well. For far too long, Wenger's teams have lacked a plan B. But van Gaal has already shown in his time at the club that he has tactical flexibility and an ability to get the best out of his players.

While the same 'tactically rigid' complaint does not gold true in the case of Brendan Rodgers, van Gaal edges him out in experience. Rodgers is still yet to reach the peak of his powers

To sum up, all three are great managers, but van Gaal is the one who I believe will make a bigger difference to his team as a manager.

X- Factor:

This is one category that I believe categorically goes in favour of Manchester United. Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United have lacked players with X- Factor, players who can produce moments of individual brilliance. It took them some time to find a replacement, but boy have they found it back with players like Di Maria and Falcao.

These two have brought back the X-Factor for Manchester United

Unfortunately, Liverpool have sold their X- factor to Barcelona. While Arsenal do have players who can win games on their own with moments of magic, Wenger has failed to produce a system that gets the best out of them.

No other Distractions:

This( and Suarez) were the biggest contributors to Liverpool almost winning the title last season against all odds. The champions league is THE best club competition in the world and every top club wants to win it. But playing in the competition comes with its side effects. The midweek exertions make teams quite weary and this directly contributes to poor results in corresponding league fixtures. Playing in multiple competitions is a big test of squad depth as well.

Both Arsenal and Liverpool have to contend with the aforementioned problems this season. Liverpool and Rodgers will probably find it tougher than Arsenal who are quite used to playing in the competition.

But Manchester United have no such problems. They have only the Premier league to contend with until January, after which the FA Cup will occasionally demand their attentions, which should not prove too problematic. This clear run of games in the premier league without any distractions from other competitions will be a big boon to Manchester United and will help them focus their 100% attention to the Premier League.

Conclusion:

All the three clubs have quite a bit of catching up to do before they can claim to be equals to Chelsea and City, but for reasons I have mentioned throughout this article, I believe that Manchester United will come close to rivalling Chelsea and Manchester City for the title. We may probably see the best of Liverpool again only next season when these new signings gel together and debunking the curious case of Arsenal's problems is beyond me!