It is now a long time since the first piece of English club silverware was decided by Birmingham winning the Carling Cup at Wembley.  The time that now arrives in English football is what Sir Alex Ferguson so eloquently entitled ‘squeaky bum time’. 

The fight for the Barclays Premier League title, with every week that passes, looks more and more like a coronation for Manchester United and less and less like a competitive race.  Sir Alex’s men have been solid rather than spectacular this season and still find themselves with a six point advantage over their closest rivals Chelsea.

That the Red Devils are still leading the domestic table despite being in a period of rebuilding, is a testament to Ferguson’s indomitable will to win and his skill at getting the best out of his players.

While United’s form can be dicey at the start of a campaign they are a team capable of turning it on when ‘squeaky bum time’ arrives.  Apparently, such a belief is not far from the truth, as Ferguson’s men continue their march towards a potential league and cup double.

United’s success is built on a watertight defence which, as ever, has been marshalled brilliantly by Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand this season.  However, perhaps most excitingly for Sir Alex, he seems to have uncovered another gem of a strike partnership in Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez.  The Mexican has shown himself to be the perfect foil for Rooney as he allows Rooney to drop deep and play his preferred game, while he employs his skills as a predator in the box.

Every sign points towards Manchester United winning their record nineteenth Premier League title and with the team finally starting to click as an entire unit few would bet against Fergie’s men being crowned champions in May.

While United have managed to keep winning through their slumps in form and injury crises their main challengers seemed to lack that ability to ‘win ugly’.  Chelsea, suffered a monumental collapse midway through the season and this has left them too much ground to make up barring a similar collapse for United in their last four games.

While Manchester United have lacked creativity at points this season Chelsea are a team dealing with a more chronic problem, age.  With inspirational figures of seasons gone by like Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka now well into their thirties, Roman Abramovic now has the second big rebuilding job of his tenure to fund.

Signings like David Luiz and Fernando Torres were a signal of intent from the Chelsea owner but it sums up Chelsea’s season that Luiz, a centre back, has scored more goals than Torres since he has arrived.  Chelsea will look to push Manchester United all the way for the title this year but they will have one eye on next season and hopefully return a reinvigorated outfit.

Their London counterparts Arsenal have been, perhaps, the most predictable and yet the most saddening story of the season.  Arsene Wenger’s young gunners have once again fallen short in all competitions and look set to finish a sixth straight season without any silverware.

Doubts have been aired about Wenger’s ‘philosophy’ and how this is hampering Arsenal.  The reality is that there is nothing wrong with Wenger’s footballing philosophy but rather with his inability to pick a dependable defender and/or goalkeeper.  Laurent Koscielny has been desperate all year while Johan Djourou, despite his size, can be all too pedestrian when going for an aerial ball.

In young goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, Arsenal have genuinely unearthed a good man between the sticks but his mistake against Birmingham in the Carling Cup aired fresh doubts about his dependability.  Szczesny is one for the future but Wenger has to learn from Sir Alex in this instance.  Edwin Van der Sar, like a fine wine, gets better the older he grows (now 40 years young) and it is time that Arsenal invested in a proven goalkeeper.  Wenger has to be ruthless in rebuilding his defence or next season will be exactly the same.

Manchester City’s title race fell away this season but with fresh injections of cash every transfer window they will be a force to be reckoned with next season.  Also, in eliminating Manchester United from the FA Cup they have a chance for silverware in a season that represents significant progress for them.

The only worry with City is the extreme conservatism of Roberto Mancini.  Hopefully by defeating United he will be more willing to allow his team to express themselves in matches and if this happens City can realistically be challenging for the title next season.