Ballack: Forget Arsenal, Liverpool and City - it's Chelsea or United for the title

Michael Ballack admits the Barclays Premier League is already shaping up to be a two-horse race between Chelsea and reigning champions Manchester United. Arsenal and Liverpool have started the season with a stutter, while ambitious Manchester City dropped their first points of the season with defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday. The Manchester derby result came as no surprise to Ballack and leaves the table with a familiar top two. Chelsea maintained their 100 per cent start to the season with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and lead the Premier League with 18 points, three ahead of United. 'It looks a little bit like a two-horse race but we don’t underestimate anybody,' the Germany captain told the London Evening Standard. 'Man City did well until now. Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool are all teams that can have a run in any time of the season. 'But United have a lot of good years behind them with the Champions League win and three title wins in the Premier League, which will give them a lot of confidence. 'That helps them in the tight games like you saw against Man City and they always come back, they always believe they can score in the last minute.' Nevertheless, Ballack says Carlo Ancelotti's arrival at Stamford Bridge has given Chelsea their own self-belief. The defeat of Spurs was Chelsea's 11th consecutive in the League and admits he is surprised by how quickly the players have adapted to their new boss's methods. 'Under him we changed the system, which gives us more possession and makes the game feel a little bit more comfortable even if we don’t create one chance after another because we know the situation will come,' said the 32-year-old. 'That’s what he always tells us: you have to wait for your chance and you can see it now when they come, we are deadly. He gives the team a lot of confidence. 'Normally it is not easy to play in a new system but you can see how easily it fits together with the coach and the team. 'It has been very quick. Even in pre-season we have done very well and won a lot of games against big teams. He saw this potential in the team because we played for a few years 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 but it works well. 'We’ve won every game and we want to keep going like this. The team is confident and settled.' =

Source: Daily_Mail