Half-time scorecard for EPL

• Only Chelsea in 2005-06 have gained more points at half-way in a Premiership season as the two sides of Manchester have

It’s half-time in the Premiership season, with teams having now having played as many games as they still have to come. There’s a long way to go, but at this stage of the campaign a pattern to the season, while not defined, is emerging.

Who are the winners and losers so far?

The biggest winner is Manchester. It’s rare for one part of the country to so dominate as the North of England city has done in 2011.

United are the current Premiership champions, while City won the FA Cup, their first major trophy in a generation, in May. Not since Liverpool and Everton held sway in the mid 1980s have two clubs from outside London ruled the club game in England.

And both sides of Manchester are doing so in style. Only Chelsea in 2005-06 have gained more points at half way in a Premiership season.

And it is not just that each side is winning, they are doing so by handsome margins with large scores. The positive goal differences of both Sir Alex Ferguson’s and Roberto Mancini’s men are testaments to the superiority of their play in the Premiership.

Two teams equally matched

Which of these two will win the title is anyone’s guess. In the months from August to December, leadership of the Premiership swung first one way then the other. United’s early season form was abruptly halted by the remarkable 6-1 win that City achieved at Old Trafford.

Since then, United have has a great run of results, notwithstanding the shocking week which saw them eliminated from the Carling Cup and Champions League. Recently, they have been crushing even mid-table sides as they have reduced City’s goal difference advantage.

City have had the harder Christmas fixtures. First came an away game at the ever hardworking West Bromwich Albion. They came up against a typically impressive Roy Hodgson team display as Albion kept their shape when not in possession of the ball, much to City’s frustration.

Then there was the trip to Sunderland, newly rejuvenated under Martin O’Neil, before tomorrow’s visit of Liverpool. By contrast, Manchester United have played host to two strugglers, Wigan and Blackburn, and they now have a break before the trip to the fast declining Newcastle.

The two Manchester teams seem equally matched. City have got enough strength in depth to overcome any injury worries, while United are more concerned by the lack of cover in key areas. Against this, United have far greater experience of being in this sort of situation, and they have proved many times to be stronger in the second half of the season than in the first.

While it is becoming ever more likely that the title will go to one of the two Manchester clubs, they are not the only winners right now.

London has also had a good first half of the season. Of course, Chelsea and Arsenal have for a long time been title challengers and it might have been expected that the same would happen this season.

What has been a surprise is the emergence of Tottenham as a genuine force who even have an outside chance of winning the Premiership.

Tottenham have shown themselves to be a potent attacking force, with Gareth Bale prominent in much of their good work. But Bale is not the only one. Adebayor has been an excellent loan signing, and Modric and Van der Vaart (when fit) have also played a part.

Through the early months there was always a nagging question: how long could Tottenham’s good form last? It looks more and more as if this could go on until the crucial games of March and April.

What Tottenham don’t have to worry about, and what is only a minor concern for Manchester United and Manchester City, is Europe.

This is now likely to be the major focus of the other two London clubs. After the failure of Manchester, Arsenal and Chelsea are left as the only representatives of the Premiership in Europe’s leading competition, the Champions League.

Straight wins to be champions

This will be some compensation as the Premiership now seems well beyond either sides’ reach. There have been occasions when a side has closed a gap at the top; in 1995-96, Manchester United were 10 points behind the leaders at Christmas, and the following season they were seven points behind.

But to make up the sort of difference Chelsea and Arsenal face is equivalent to that only Arsenal themselves, in 1997-98, have managed. That year, the Gunners were an incredible 13 points behind the leaders at Christmas. It took 10 straight wins for them to emerge as champions.

If Manchester and London are the main winners, there is no doubt about the losers: Lancashire, excluding Manchester. Included in this, if you know your geography, are Liverpool. Kenny Dalglish’s re-appointment as manager has not resulted in a return to the top table that many hoped.

Added to a succession of surprising home dropped points has been the Luis Suarez affair. It’s not just the player whose actions have damaged Liverpool; it’s the reaction of the whole club and their seeming failure to admit wrongdoing that has created such a bad impression.

At least Liverpool are near the right end of the table. Three Lancashire teams, Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn are in serious danger of relegation. Indeed for Blackburn, the situation is really grim. Only West Brom have ever escaped the drop from the Premiership having been bottom at Christmas.

But if Blackburn are in peril, the real losers are their supporters. For game after game they have carried on a campaign against their beleaguered manager Steve Kean. This has gone beyond acceptable abuse into real offence by thousands of fans baying for blood.

If anyone deserves to leave the Premiership, it is Blackburn; then football will be the winner. That is, if they don’t keep repeating their stunning feat last week – when they beat Manchester United 3-2 on Saturday.

When not thinking about football, Guy Maughfling (Facebook Group: “Premiership Chat”) is a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Advisory business in East Africa. The views expressed here are his own.