Red or Blue — place your bets

FOR ALL the excited talk of a four-or-five-team title race, Sunday January 22 has proved — as we all secretly knew from the very start — that it will just be down to two when the ribbons are attached to the Premier League trophy in May.

The English top division has always been that way; whether it was Liverpool and Forest, United and Leeds, United and Arsenal or United and Chelsea; there have always been two teams who emerge as the biggest challengers and that’s the way supporters understand it best.

It’s the same in British politics; the country often wants change but when a third party emerges to challenge the reds and the blues, voters feel uncomfortable. It’s why you’ll never see proportional representation at Westminster and why being a liberal is such a thankless task. Well, there is no need for the football voters to feel uncomfortable this morning; they can be safe in the knowledge that it’s red versus blues for the remainder of the season and also enjoy the added frissance that the blues are represented not by Chelsea but by Manchester City.