SORRY, City, I do feel you're going to finish the season empty-handed.

I greatly admire the City boss Mark Hughes - he's working extremely hard and he's rebuilding - but it looks as if the City fans must wait at least another year before they're celebrating seeing their team win some silverware.

City have to be admired, they're a fine club and they are heading in the right direction, but I just feel they still don't have the quality to be genuine title contenders.

I saw City play Birmingham last weekend and they could have easily been beaten.

It will be interesting to see how City fare in the cup knockout competitions.

They have a lot of talent at their disposal but it's extremely difficult when you rebuild and then expect major success in the first season.

As for the Premiership title, it appears to be turning into a three-horse race between United, Arsenal and Chelsea. They are the top three in my view. Liverpool are going to struggle and they've dropped points. Having been decimated by injury has not helped. It's a shame, but that's football for you.

United certainly appear to be coming good again and are looking strong. They have the quality. I've said before it's so pleasing to see Antonio Valencia doing well at Old Trafford. He's playing well.

He's a fine footballer and he will come into his own even more in time. Wilson Palacios, another former Wigan player, is also making his mark at Tottenham. He too is another top-quality player.

Having developed players like Valencia and Palacios, Wigan's status has certainly been enhanced. We've plenty of quality in our ranks.

It is, however, a major blow to have lost our talented left-back, Maynor Figueroa.

What a quality player this lad is. Top left-sided players are still something of a rarity and I feel Figueroa is up there with the best. He just keeps improving every week.

We certainly missed him at Portsmouth last week. The 4-0 defeat was disappointing, but it's been a tough start for us and we're heading in the right direction.