"I love it when a plan comes together"

Picture the scene - Sir Alex Ferguson is sitting in his armchair ahead of last night's fixtures. He dozes off and after a 90 minute snooze, turns on Sky to see how his title rivals have fared.

Only in his wildest dreams could he have believed what panned out.

Their two main challengers had cancelled eachother out in a goalless draw and thrown up more questions about their credentials. Last year's champions had imploded once again and have now surely left themselves a fight just to finish in the top 4. Finally, the new kids on the block, who had been impressively brushing aside all-comers came a cropper at Goodison Park.

To complete a fantasy night for the Govan master, he would have chuckled into his whiskey tumbler at the news that his oldest rivals had not just been "knocked off their f**king perch" but well and truly reached rock bottom after a miserable night at Ewood Park.

This comes on top of United being top of the league and unbeaten, yet having not hit top gear in terms of performances and still finding themselves 2 points clear with games in hand.

Via Telegraph

Realistically, Sir Alex will feel that only Arsenal and the "noisy neighbours" City can stop his side from claiming their 19th league title. Chelsea are surely too far back and showing no signs of being capable of putting together an unbeaten run through until May. Spurs, for all their improvement this year, will surely start to falter once the Champions League kicks off as thoughts turn towards overcoming Milan. They will always score goals but seem incapable of stringing together the run of clean sheets that are the bedrock of any title challenge.

It will be interesting to see who else joins the City revolution by the end of January as this could tilt the odds in their favour. Edin Dzeko looks an impressive if slightly overpriced addition up front and if they add a world class playmaker to compliment the likes of De Jong in midfield then they could be the ones to push United all the way.

Arsenal continue to flatter to deceive. One week they look world beaters as they steamroller over their bogey side from Stamford Bridge and the likes of hard working Birmingham but they always have the tendency to drop points against the likes of Wigan, West Brom and Newcastle as they have done at various times over the season so far.

What are your views on the Barclays Premier League title race? Who do you feel will be United's closest challengers?