SHEARER
Alan Shearer believes there is a very good reason why Chelsea and Arsenal are
currently occupying first and second place in the Premier League and why
Liverpool and Manchester City are struggling to keep up: their spines.
Chelsea are threatening to break all sorts of records after
beating West Brom on Sunday to seal their ninth consecutive league victory.
Meanwhile, the Gunners, who are unbeaten in 14 league games themselves, are
sitting just three points behind.
Match of the Day pundit and all-time Premier League top
scorer Shearer thinks that both teams have found themselves where they are
because of the strong central core that runs through their respective starting
XIs.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2, Shearer said: 'What I would
say is that any team that wins the title has to have a strong spine.
'Leicester had that last season and it’s no coincidence that
the two teams with the best spine are sitting at the top of the league, Chelsea
and Arsenal.
‘You look at
Manchester City, they've brought in players to try and play a different way,
with their goalkeeper, it’s not necessarily working.
‘Liverpool are certainly not settled at all, but the two
settled sides and the two big spines are Chelsea and Arsenal and that is why
they're sat at the top of the league at this moment in time.’
Antonio Conte has most certainly found what he believes to
be his strongest core with Diego Costa playing up front, N'Golo Kante and Nemanja
Matic in midfield and David Luiz and Gary Cahill at the back.
Arsenal too have found inspiration in Alexis Sanchez and
Mesut Ozil while Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi have formed a
formidable partnership in defence.
Unsurprisingly, they both have reliable goalkeepers in
Thibaut Courtois and Petr Cech to call upon.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp remain unsure of
their best XIs and have been forced to rotate regularly as a result while
goalkeepers Claudio Bravo and Loris Karius have proved less than effective in
their debut Premier League campaigns.
For Phil Neville, who sat alongside Shearer in the BBC
studio, rotating the core of the team is something one of his former managers,
Sir Alex Ferguson, never did unless forced to.
Insinuating it was crucial to his success as Manchester
United manager, Neville said: 'I think Sir Alex Ferguson was known for rotating
but he never rotated his spine.'
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