"Arsenal are looking good" says John Terry

The England and Chelsea captain John Terry thinks that the title now rests between Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd, but he insists that you can’t take any games as a guaranteed three points anymore, and points to some difficult games in January when Drogba, Essien, Kalou and Mikel are at the African Nations Cup.

“I think we lost it against the big four last season as well as having too many draws at home.

“It’s a good psychological boost for us. I’m delighted we’ve played Liverpool and Manchester United and got the victories.

“Our home form is looking really good again. There will be times this season when we need to grind out a result and we did that against Man United.

“It’s a massive win for us. We stressed before the game how important it could be for us at the end of the season. It’s not the be all and end all of the season but just before Christmas it’s a good cushion to have a five-point lead over them.

“Being honest, I think it’s between the three of us. I think Liverpool have slipped away a bit and it’s going to be difficult for them now.

“I’m still not ruling them out but the way the three of us are playing I think it will be between us.

“Arsenal are looking good. Free-flowing and scoring goals like they always do. It’s just when they pick up injuries they tend to miss a few key players. It’s interesting for everybody. But it’s not been just us and Man United.”

“We come home from England and then we go to Wolves and then it’s Arsenal. Tough games and it’s important to keep that five point lead and try to increase it.

“It’s encouraging to know that the two times we won the League we did it from the front. We got ahead and we led all the way.

“We have that confidence in the back of our minds. That could be key for us and fingers crossed we can do the same this time. We don’t just want to maintain the five point gap, we want to increase that lead.

“Man United have got tough games coming up as well. With the way we’re playing it’s important that we build up a good cushion before we lose the African lads in the New Year.

“If you look at the fixtures in January, nothing is certain any more. We play Birmingham, we play this and that team. You can’t say you’re automatically going to win any game now.

“That’s great for football, great for the Premier League and great for the fans. Two or three years ago we could go into certain games and say we were probably going to pick up three points. We can’t do that any more.

“But we know that United will kick on. They certainly won’t give up. we were in this position last year and the year before. There was no way were giving up at this stage of the year and United won’t either.

“They’ve had a few injury problems and missed a few key players. Once everyone is fit again they will push us and Arsenal right to the very end.”

With Arsenal rated as big challengers to Chelsea, Terry will realise how important the match against them is at the end of this month.

Chelsea really need to win to make the Hatrick against the other “Top Four” teams, but in the second half of the season, they will have to play all three of them away from home. That will be when the real test comes along.