For avid football fans, the Barclays Premier League has been gripping this year. It has seen a fairly newly promoted climb to the top, and the current champions plummet to just above the relegation zone — a table that no one could have predicted, but that’s the best part.

Our top four are currently: Leicester, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Man City, respectively. The top four teams are all within 6 points of each other, and it is so close that it really is anyone’s game. With 12 matches left to play and a possible 36 points still up for grabs for the teams, it may come down to the last game of the season and who can keep their key players fit. Here is a run down of each team that could be crowed champion.

Arsenal

Key Players:

Alexis Sánchez

Olivier Giroud

Mesut Özil

Petr Čech

Arsenal currently sit in third, with 51 points, two behind leaders Leicester. However, Arsenal do not have an easy string of fixtures to finish the final third of the season. Games including Man United, Tottenham, West Ham and Man City away are all possible places to drop points for Arsène Wenger's team. On top of these hard away game fixtures, Arsenal still has FA cup games to play and an undoubtable hard game against the world's best attacking force of Barcelona. When faced with playing against Messi, Suarez and Neymar and Nou Camp, coming away with a point is an exceptional result. Could the sheer weight of fixtures that Arsenal have prevent them for playing their best football in the Premier League?

In order for Arsenal to stand a chance of winning the Premier League — which they have not won since 2004 (The Invincible Years) — it will be key to keep their key players fit and performing well. Something that they have struggled with in the past, and watching Sanchez playing this Saturday in the FA cup game, if Wenger cannot get him to perform then Arsenal can kiss goodbye to the title. Arsenal were top of the premier league around December but — no surprise — they choked when playing Southampton and lost 4-0 whilst also not picking up any points against a struggling Chelsea side this season.

Personally, I do not think Arsenal will win the Barclays Premier League this year. I think that the dependency they have on their key players may hurt them with such a heavy fixture list. They have some pressure on them to beat two sides that have never won the league (Leicester and Tottenham) and historically, Arsenal tend to do better with no pressure. As much as I would love to see Arsenal win it (as I am an Arsenal supporter!) I honestly do not believe that this year is our year…

Leicester City

Key Players:

Jamie Vardy

Riyad Mahrez

Shinji Okazaki

Robert Huth

Our underdogs! Everyone loves an underdog — it's like David vs. Goliath, and who doesn't love the story of David winning against all odds? But there lies the issue: can Leicester City really go and win possibly the best league in the world? Leicester City were only promoted to the Premier League last season. The leading goalscorer in the league, which happens to be their striker Vardy, was playing in the Northern Conference only five years ago. The real question is, will the total lack of experience of world class football hold them back?

One aspect that is on Leicester’s side is their upcoming fixtures. Leicester do not have to play one of the other top four teams, and their potentially hardest game could be against Manchester United, with the majority of their last 12 games against the bottom half of the table. This is a real strength of their title campaign. They also do not have any other competitions to focus on, so all their efforts would be focused on shocking the world of football. The players are running on adrenaline at the top of the table, they are hungry every game they play…they want to win.

But can Leicester really win the Premier League? I think not. I am sure Leicester City will see this as an unbelievably successful season now that they have (or most likely will) qualified for Champions League football. But I think they will slip up like most teams have done in the past, and how sustainable is their energy and mindset? I would love to see Leicester win it — as their die hard fans are saying, it gives hope to all the small teams in the country and has reminded the world that sometimes, it’s not all about the money!

Manchester City

Key Players:

Sergio Agüero

Vincent Kompany

Joe Hart

David Silva

After Chelsea flopped this season, everyone's favorite scenario would have been seeing Manchester’s Blues take the title. But this season, we have seen a somewhat lethargic and laid back Man City, and this attitude cost them easy points against teams such Aston Villa, where they only managed to draw with a side that will certainly be relegated. They also suffered two bad 4-1 losses against Tottenham and Liverpool.

The real worry for Man City could be the plethora of injuries suffered by the heartbeat of the side and the captain, Vincent Kompany. It took Man City 18 attempts to not concede when their captain was absent, but have they managed to settle without him? In order for Man City to win the Premier League, they would really need to go on and win most of their games left, and in order to do this, Aguero, who seems to have plateaued in recent weeks, will need to start finding the back of the net and climb back to his form of earlier this season.

Looking at Man City’s upcoming fixtures, they too could suffer with a fixture heavy calendar similar to Arsenal’s which could cause them to fatigue towards the end of the season where it may be vital to be picking up points. Man City remain in the Capital One Cup and the UEFA Champions League, both of which it is looking like they could continue to progress. With all of these competitions to focus on, I think it is likely that performance will suffer — something that the current fourth place team cannot afford. Although they do hold a easier fixture run than Arsenal, which is definitely on their side; their toughest match may be against Manchester United or Liverpool. However they do not have a string of bottom half of the table teams to face like Leicester does.

The biggest advantage they have over the other top four clubs is experience. Manchester City have won the title twice in the last four years and has been runner-up the other two times. With experienced international players and a manager in his last few months of the job, a swan song of winning the Premier League would be perfect. But can the now dominant force in Manchester become champions once more? I don’t think so. I do not see the same hunger to win in Man City like I do in Leicester and Tottenham. They are the team that now has the pressure on them; statistically, they should have been the clear frontrunners of the league this season, yet we have seen a rather average Manchester side and if nothing changes, the young players of Leicester and Tottenham may run away with the top two spots.

Tottenham

Key Players:

Christian Eriksen

Harry Kane

Heung-Min Son

Hugo Lloris

It’s been over 55 years now since Tottenham last won the League — so long ago, in fact, that it did not even have the title of Barclays Premier League in that day. But could the youngest squad in the league, with an average age of 25.6 years, actually go on and do it? For the doubters that say that inexperience will be the failing of their title hopes, in Manchester United’s glory years under Sir Alex Ferguson, their main players were only boys. Yes, Man United did have the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, David Beckham and the rest, but Tottenham’s key players do have the potential to go on to be great legends like those of Man United.

Tottenham are also not facing the injuries that the other clubs are; they have managed to stay virtually injury-free, which has meant they have been fairly consistent throughout the season, losing only three games — the same as league leaders Leicester. They also have no pressure on them; they really can just go out and play because no one is expecting them to win. Historically, they should not be beating teams like Arsenal and Man City to the title. This can be both a positive and negative, but with no pressure and the freedom to just see what happens, I view it as a positive.

Tottenham’s upcoming fixtures are tougher than that of Leicester's; they still have to face Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and West Ham — all games where points can be dropped. They are also still in the UEFA Europa League, which will cause them to have more fixtures, again causing a potential loss of focus on the League.

Could we see a repeat of the young boys beating the experienced power teams to the title? Yes, I think so! I believe this year is Tottenham’s year — the young and very determined players have nothing to lose. They hold no scars of coming so close and it all going wrong (like Man City and Arsenal), yet the players they have in their side are overall better than those in Leicester's squad. As much as it pains me to say it as an Arsenal supporter, I think this year Tottenham could be crowned Barclays Premier League Champions!