NINE months to go, 38 matches to be played, yet we still know for certain who will win the Premiership this season.
Conclusions are rarely as foregone as this, but Chelsea are so far ahead of the pack it ir surely just a case of waiting for the day John Terry picks up the league trophy again and we hold our winnings aloft in the bookies.

You will struggle to find anyone who doesn’t believe Chelsea will retain the title this season. And why should you?
They cantered to glory last season and in Jose Mourinho they have a manager who has twice tasted European glory with an unfashionable Portuguese club. There is surely no ceiling on what he can achieve now he is bankrolled by a Russian billionaire.

In Sunday’s Community Shield, they had £90million of talent sitting on the bench. They were worth more than the players Arsenal had on the pitch.
On top of that they will surely sign Michael Essien for £30m-plus within the next couple of weeks.

Sort of makes you nostalgic for the days when Manchester United and Arsenal used to have it between them. At least then we had a two-horse race.
Now it’s down to one. A walkover. While it’s impossible to see anything other than more success heading towards Stamford Bridge, the 8-11 about them retaining their
title will hardly keep us warm in the months ahead. So where do you stand on Liverpool?

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Flat-track bullies who got lucky in Europe? Or a side who showed exactly they could achieve on the greatest club stage of all?
I remain to be convinced about the Scousers, chiefly because many of their imports are too lightweight to cope with the demands of the Premiership and they look only half the side without the magnificent Steven Gerrard.

But any side good enough to conquer Europe should have what it takes to make at least a reasonable assault on their domestic competition.
They won’t win it. Oh no. Won’t even come close. But at 5-2 they are roaring good value to beat Manchester United in the battle to be top club in the North West.
You would hardly describe United’s decline as terminal, but there is enough to suggest they are a hugely fading force.

Roy Keane’s influence is diminishing by the season, the production line from the youth academy has dried up and injuries look to have caught up with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs. And the low-key captures of Edwin van der Sar and Korean workhouse Park Ji-Sung will have done little to convince punters that the tide is turning. The time is right to take them on.

So make the most of the next paragraph because you won’t see it repeated too often in this column.
Liverpool. Lump on.