RVP can make the difference in Manchester title race

Just as the football world thought that Man United were left floundering in the wake of the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City, they may well have re-established themselves as favourites for the Championship with the spectacular signing of Robin Van Persie.

We have been spoiled this summer with football news and the importance of a signing like this can’t be understated. It was becoming apparent that Man United were continually losing out on the best players this summer and in doing so were clearly slipping down the pecking order. The way Ferguson challenged Man City last season was perhaps an overachievement considering the players at his disposal. Giggs and Scholes were ageing well but nevertheless struggling to find the form of yesteryear, and their lack of strength in the middle park was therefore magnificently overcome. Carrick and Anderson are good players but to call them ‘World Class’ would be questionable.

Now the combination of Rooney, Scholes and Van Persie is truly mouth-watering; three of the most intelligent players in the English game working in tandem and thus raising one another’s abilities to a new level. Without Van Persie, Scholes may have looked long in the tooth and Rooney a tad jaded from a disappointing summer. Now both players should be fully rejuvenated.

Throw the emerging Tom Cleverly into that equation and Man United begin to look like a real prospect for the Champions League as well. Some bookies and sites at odds as distant as 14/1; with Rooney and Van Persie firing on all cylinders who couldn’t they beat?

You can’t help but feel that Man United were one link short of being the country’s top side and Van Persie is undoubtedly that man. United now have last season’s two top Premier League hotshots (57 goals between them) in tandem in a partnership that has the ring of a great duo: Bergkamp and Henry; Beardsley and Shearer; Rooney and Van Persie.

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