Fletcher dismisses title talk as ‘Kidd-ology’

BRIAN KIDD believes the Premier League title is now “Manchester United’s to lose” although he has confirmed Manchester City will explore every avenue in their search for an advantage.

It does appear the first road City will go down is the one to sign Edin Dzeko.

Mancini is a long-time fan of the big Bosnian, who impressed in the Champions League for Wolfsburg last season and has been viewed as one of the Italian’s prime transfer targets.

There have been plenty of reports claiming that a fee has been agreed for Dzeko and negotiations over personal terms are well on their way to reaching a positive conclusion.

The arrival of Dzeko would presumably come at the expense of Emmanuel Adebayor, who is set to end his unhappy stay at City in January.

Although it is Mancini’s preference to play one man up front, the 24-year-old would be a very useful battering ram, providing the Blues with a different option in a squad Kidd already feels is the best in the league.

“I wouldn’t swap our squad for anyone else’s,” he said.

For as long as it was plausible, Mancini dismissed his own side’s chances of glory by claiming Chelsea would finish top “easily”.

That statement is clearly bankrupt, so Kidd is pointing to his own club who have destiny at their doorstep.

“It’s obviously Manchester United’s to lose now,” he said.

“It is in their hands. You can’t get away from that fact.

“They have been round the block and know how to win league titles.

The league leaders from the red half of Manchester have dismissed Kidd’s comments as little more than ‘kidology’ and midfielder Darren Fletcher is not taking any notice of what Kidd has to say now. “It is just a bit of kidology,” said the Scotland skipper.

“It is still early stages, a lot of teams will feel they are capable of winning the league. We are one of them. We are in a good position. We are top of the league with games in hand.

“But it is easy counting the points. You have to win your matches and your games in hand.

“This is the important part of the season when you really need to kick-on.

“After January, when all the big games come on the title run-in, that is when it is important to be playing well and winning games.”

Indeed, Fletcher views City as one of the most serious threats to United’s attempt to reclaim their championship, and register a record 19th success.

It might not sit comfortable with the Old Trafford faithful but there is little doubt a decent portion of the vast amount of cash that has been invested by Sheikh Mansour has been spent wisely.

And when that happens, Fletcher concedes it is inevitable City will become contenders.

“Manchester City are realistic title challengers,” he said.

“They are there. They are top of the league with us just now. They are winning games and look solid defensively.

“When you have that much money to spend and sign that many quality players, they are going to be a threat.”

Yet even since the draw at St Andrews on Tuesday night, achieved through a controversial late equaliser, the title has opened up even more.

Liverpool’s home defeat to Wolves has placed further question marks over Roy Hodgson’s future, while Arsenal failed to capitalise on United’s misfortune when they were unable to beat Wigan last night.

“It has been a strange season,” said Fletcher. “There were signs of it last year, when there were some unexpected results and a lot more points dropped. The league is definitely getting stronger, as a result of which you are seeing a lot more dropped points.”