Man City took the lead after only two minutes when Mario Balotelli went round Petr Cech to score after a great through-ball from Sergio Aguero.  At that point it looked like it was going to be a long night for Chelsea and their young, under-fire manager Andre Villas-Boas.  In fact, for the first 30 minutes Chelsea did their best to hang on as Manchester City bossed the game with a master class of sublime football.

But Chelsea managed to claw their way back into the game and in the 34th minute former Man City striker Daniel Sturridge got to the byline and found Raul Meireles who scored with a great volley.

Against the odds it was 1-1 at half-time.  Chelsea had battled hard and showed some team spirit while Roberto Mancini would be berating his team as they should have finished the game off before Chelsea had a chance to get a foothold.

The second half started with a yellow card for Gael Clichy.  A red card followed in the 58th minute and that was enough to turn the game.  Chelsea played well to make the extra man count and were less overrun in the midfield.  Tempers frayed with Raul Meireles and Yaya Toure among those getting stuck in.

In the 73rd minute Frank Lampard come off the bench to replace Raul Meireles; and in the 82nd minute scored a vital penalty even though Juan Mata has allegedly been given penalty-taking duties.

Chelsea’s win end Manchester City’s 14 game unbeaten league run and inadvertently helps rivals Man United who are now only two points before City in the Premier League.

I don’t think anyone could have expected Liverpool to be so poor.  They never got off the bus, as one cliché goes; and Spurs took full advantage by playing fast, fluid football, the best I’ve seen them play since last season’s Champions League matches against Inter Milan.

Liverpool finished the match with nine players after two yellow cards were shown to Charlie Adam and Lucas respectively.  But the way they were playing, Liverpool wouldn’t have won if they had finished with their whole squad on the pitch!

In between the first and last matches of the day, Manchester City threw away a two goal lead at Fulham, and even more surprising was Sunderland thrashing Stoke 4-0 at the Stadium Of Light.

So confident were the bookmakers Paddy Power of a Manchester United victory, they were offering money back on all losing bets, if Chelsea won.

So many times matches like this one are hyped to ridiculous levels and fall short on entertainment value but this was a corker.  Chelsea performed well with an attacking formation.  Andre Villas-Boas continued with the young strike force of Fernando Torres, Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge.

The weakest link was Frank Lampard who looked off the pace and lacking confidence. Lampard was substituted at half term as Man Utd were amazing leading 3-0 even though the end-to-end game was anything but one sided, with Chelsea having their fare share of possession and more shots on goal.

Minutes into the second half and Fernando Torres was put through one on one against former Athletico Madrid team-mate David de Gea.

Torres showed his growing confidence with a deft chip.  He was put through again and once more showed great skill to beat de Gea, only to shoot wide in front of an open goal.  It was this which courted the headlines, rather than Torres playing well and Wayne Rooney missing a penalty as he slid and landed on his bottom, reminiscent of John Terry’s penalty miss in the Champions League Final against Manchester United in Moscow.

As for Arsenal, they through away a lead to lose 4-3 to Blackburn Rovers.  Pressure continues to grow on Arsene Wenger as the main question appears to be not whether he should keep his position but who Arsenal could possibly replace him with.

Manchester Utd were awesome and deserved the win though Andre Villas-Boas tactic to attack United rather than sit back almost paid off.

They are now two points clear at the top of the Premier League and the only team in the division with maximum points.  In past seasons they have been slow out of the blocks and finish strongly.  This season it could be all over by Christmas!

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Schalke 04 all but booked their places after first leg goal fests against Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham and Inter Milan respectively but Chelsea only trailed Manchester United by one goal when they visited Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Chelsea were abysmal, and the 1-0 result on the night leaves plenty of questions but as yet, no answers.  Carlo Ancelotti surprised everyone, possibly including his players, by playing a 4-3-2-1 formation, once referred to as ‘the Christmas Tree formation’ by then England manager Terry Venables.  Frank Lampard played a more advanced role tucked in alongside Nicolas Anelka behind the lone striker, Fernando Torres while Didier Drogba started the match on the subs bench!

Not surprisingly Frank Lampard had a poor game and no effect on the match whatsoever. Drogba replaced Torres at half-time but the whole team were poor.  If only they hadn’t of sacked Ray Wilkins earlier in the season Ancelotti could have brought him on to replace any one of the midfield players.

Whether or not Ancelotti is being told to play Torres, I don’t expect he will be making the decision next season.  Rumours suggest Carlo Ancelotti is going to Roma in the summer and once again Roman Abramovich and Chelsea will no doubt be looking for a high profile manager to supply a quick fix rather than a long term strategy.

Spurs on the other hand put on a great performance that left their supporters cheering them on until the final whistle even when Heurelho Gomes fumbled a Christiano Ronaldo shot for Real Madrid to win 1-0 on the night and 5-0 over two legs. Tottenham now need to secure fourth place in the Premier League to qualify for next season’s Champions League, if they are going to continue their progress under Harry Redknapp.

Manchester United have come unstuck in Champions League semi-finals against German opposition in the past including Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, so will be weary of Schalke 04.  But the other semi-final is a mouth-watering prospect as Real Madrid play Barcelona.

Pepe Guardiola still has Barcelona playing at the peak of their game and for that reason they have remained favourites to win the Champions League all season.  However, if there’s one manager that can work out how to stop and beat Barcelona, it’s Jose Mourinho.  He managed to stifle Barca last season with an Inter Milan side that I believe were inferior to Real Madrid. And just to rub salt in Chelsea’s wounds, who would bet against Jose Mourinho being the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs?

I am going to stick my neck out and say I think Real Madrid will beat Manchester United in the Champions League Final at Wembley on 28th May.

Sports betting fans knew that the game had little meaning overall in the grand scheme of things but as friendlies go, the game was played at high tempo and though neither team were committed to 50-50 challenges, the game was a good test for both England and Denmark before their next European Championship qualifying matches against local opposition in Wales and Norway, respectively.

18-year-old Christian Eriksen used the game as a shop window for all Premier League teams to sit up and take notice of this teenager midfield general currently playing his football with Ajax; and after a magnificent performance I would be surprised if he doesn’t follow his former team-mate Luis Suarez with a move to England in the summer.

There were several Premier League players in the Denmark team including Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson and Liverpool’s Christian Poulsen and Daniel Agger.  Agger opened the scoring with a great headed cross though it was helped by poor defending by Michael Dawson.

After falling behind 1-0 in the seventh minute, England quickly responded just three minutes later. Wayne Rooney crossed a great pass from left to right, finding Theo Walcott on the edge of the Denmark goal area.  Walcott’s determination to get a cross in left him with a cut eye from a flailing arm. The ball was drilled across the six yard line and met by Darren Bent in the 10th minute.

As with all international friendlies, Fabio Capello had agreed to use six substitutes and only play 45 minutes to certain key players. It was apparent that Capello was doing his best to keep on good terms with the teams in the Champions League as the substitutes were made.  Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney were all substituted.

Two more Aston Villa forwards joined Darren Bent in the second half, Ashley Young and  Stewart Downing; and they combined with Glen Johnson for Ashley Young to score his first international goal and the winner for England in a good second half performance.

Jack Wilshere had an impressive 45 minutes before being substituted at half time, even though he was played as a holding midfielder.  Whether this was Capello’s plan to see if a young Wilshere who loves to go forward was disciplined enough to play simple passes and keep his position or just a way of fitting him in alongside more seasoned midfielders Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott and James Milner, it marked Jack Wilshere’s arrival as an England player.

Lampard almost plays a free role when Chelsea play 4-3-3, making late runs into the penalty box as well as dropping back to start attacks with sweeping passes, sometimes from his own half,  whereas the diamond formation effectively pushes him further forward in a more confined role supporting the two strikers.

When Chelsea bought Nicolas Anelka in the 2008 January Transfer Window from Bolton I was sure it was a replacement for Didier Drogba who had hinted at a move to Italy.  And though Anelka and Drogba have successfully played together over the past few seasons, I still hold the belief they do not compliment each other’s play.  Anelka plays second fiddle whenever Drogba plays the central striker; and though their interplay can be very effective, Chelsea would only play either if they had another world class forward to choose from.

The arrival of Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50 million, a British record transfer fee, is going to force Chelsea to reconsider playing 4-4-2 as playing Fernando Torres out of position would not strengthen Chelsea; and leaving Didier Drogba out of the team would be a loss.  If Chelsea can switch to a 4-4-2 and Drogba & Torres can become as much an effective partnership as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsson when they scored 50 goals in one season, then Chelsea could still be on for the treble this season.

Carlo Ancelotti wanted Torres last summer and apparently the deal could have been made if it wasn’t for Roman Abramovich’s reluctance to spend more of his money on buying world class footballers than booking pop stars for his New Years Eve Party!  But with his signing on the last day of the January Transfer Window, Fernando Torres is now set to make his Chelsea debut at Stamford Bridge against Liverpool; and you can get 22/1 for Fernando Torres to score the first goal and Chelsea to win 2-0.

Abramovich still appears to want the Champions League over a domestic trophy which is apparently why he over ruled the board of directors in appointing  Carlo Ancellotti over Mark Hughes.  Ancelotti has won the Champions League four times, twice as a player and twice as manager, with AC Milan.  And with Torres being legible to play in the forthcoming Champions League games, there was probably no other striker of his quality available, which underlines why Roman Abramovich was willing to hang over a barrel from his short and curlies to meet Liverpool’s £50 million price tag.

Oh, and if we are looking to spice up the game on Sunday as much as possible, let’s not forget it was Liverpool that humiliated Ancelotti’s AC Milan in that amazing Champions League final in Istanbul when they came back from 3-0 down and half-time to win 4-3.

Other betting has Chelsea third favourite to win the Premier League at 13/2 behind Manchester United (8/13) and Arsenal (11/4); or 150/1 to win the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League.  If Chelsea beat Liverpool on Sunday with signs that Torres and Drogba are as powerful a partnership on the field as they are on paper then expect those prices to begin to fall.

The January Transfer Window was opened early doors when Manchester City paid something in the region of £27 million to Wolfsburg for Bosnian international striker, Edin Dzeko. But unless I’ve forgotten something, nothing much more of note happened until last week when Liverpool announced their bid to buy Uruguay International striker Luis Suarez from Ajax for around £23 million.

Suarez had a great World Cup following a season as top scorer in the Dutch league.  I enjoyed watching Suarez in the World Cup and was surprised he wasn’t tempted to the Premier League last August. However, being a top scorer in the Holland doesn’t automatically equate to success in the Premier League.  Serbian international Mateja Kežman was the top goal scorer for PSV Eindhoven when he was brought to Chelsea by Jose Mourinho but never made the grade.  He is currently playing his football in the Hong Kong League; and Dirk Kuyt was top scorer for Feyenoord when Liverpool bought him in 2006 (though to be fair to Kuyt Liverpool have rarely used him as a centre forward!)

After the debacle of the Liverpool Tom Hicks & George Gillette ownership, the signing of Luis Suarez by new owner John W. Henry must have had Liverpool fans believing the club was at last back on track and the beginning of a new era of prosperity with King Kenny Dalglish back as manager.  But no sooner had a partnership between Suarez and Fernando Torres been discussed, Chelsea threw a giant and somewhat surprising spanner in the works by offering an official bid to buy Torres with only four days of the January Transfer Window to go.

Liverpool rejected the initial bid out of hand but what possibly happened behind-the-scenes was they told Chelsea the door of negotiation was open, but only at a price. To speed things along and change the goalposts slightly, Fernando Torres showed his hand by stating he was interested; a move that later became an official transfer request.  At this stage the scene had been set.  If Chelsea were prepared to pay the asking price, Liverpool were prepared to sell their star striker.

This created a chain reaction.  Liverpool had a player who hadn’t performed consistently well for over a year and now had the chance to cash-in on Chelsea’s offer but with a squad that was just about to lose one third of their World Class talent, they needed to bring in a replacement, quickly.

Andy Carroll has all the potential to become a World Class striker but is currently only a ‘potential’ talent when given a £35 million + price tag.  Because Newcastle were not keen on losing their new local hero, it was only going to happen this January with an inflated price.  And it did!

With a late flurry of big money moves, there was a record spend of well over £200 million in this January Transfer Window.

Winners and losers?
Chelsea needed to strengthen their squad last summer when they failed to replace first team players such as Michael Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole and Ricardo Carvalho.  In the past couple of seasons they have relied too heavily on Cech, Terry, Lampard and Didier Drogba.  The acquisition of Fernando Torres and the excellent last minute signing of Brazil international defender David Luiz from Benfica prove Roman Abramovich is once again prepared to spend big money.  Stamford Bridge will be all smiles and no sacking of the manager as long as they qualify for next season’s Champions League, preferably as this season’s winners.

I believe Liverpool have done well by this month’s merry-go-round.  Effectively they have swapped one out-of-form striker for two strikers hungry to prove themselves.  Like Chelsea, it also proves a turning point in Liverpool’s recent history, as a club prepared to spend big money to buy success.

With Blackpool managing to hang on to their captain and talisman Charlie Adam by their fingernails, if only until the summer, the main losers are Newcastle United who lost their star asset too late in the January Transfer Window to complete a deal to replace him.

For reasons of money, investment and past glories, it is easy to think of the aforementioned clubs as the five teams that still have a realistic chance of winning this season’s Premier League. But Spurs are only above Bolton Wanderers (who have a better goal difference) because Bolton could only manage a home draw with Blackpool on Saturday.  Both Bolton and Blackpool are playing really exciting football under the guidance of Owen Coyle and Ian Holloway respectively, and have been involved in some surprise results already this season.

So, as we head into December it is good to see there are only six points between the top 5 clubs, and the top half of the Premiership includes some surprises.  Liverpool can only scrape into the top half of the table on goal difference, ahead of two of last season’s promoted teams, Blackpool and West Brom. While ahead of them are Bolton (6th), Sunderland (7th), Stoke City (8th) and Newcastle United (9th).

Manchester United are top of the league for the first time this season after a 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford on Saturday.  It marked the return of Wayne Rooney to the starting line-up and also the best performance I have witnessed from Dimitar Berbatov since his move from Spurs.  Not only did the Bulgarian striker score five goals, his movement and link up play with Rooney was as sharp as I have seen.

Blackburn were awful but that takes nothing away from an excellent team performance by Man Utd who remain unbeaten this season but moreover have started to play better football and look like possible champions. Lest we forget, Manchester Utd have regularly started the season off slowly in recent years, only to make a charge for the Premiership title come the New Year.

Furthermore, United’s thrashing of Blackburn has meant they now have the same goal difference as Chelsea who started the season so well.

Defending champions Chelsea find themselves two points behind Manchester United after only being able to manage a draw against Newcastle at St James Park.  This follows defeats to Sunderland & Birmingham, and more importantly, the surprise sacking of assistant manager, Ray Wilkins, which has now been followed by the news that Frank Arneson has resigned and will leave his post as head talent scout at the end of the season.

It is clear that there is something wrong behind the scenes as well as on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, and though the return of John Terry, Michael Essein and Frank Lampard to the Chelsea team will help alleviate some of the problems Carlo Ancelotti is faces on the pitch with a team that were playing exciting football and looked invincible just a month or so ago, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Chelsea continue to implode over the coming weeks and months.

For the first time since July, I can muster a grin at the fact that I had a pre-season bet that Manchester United would win the Premier League this season.

Chelsea are going to struggle in the Premiership without John Terry and Alex for the next couple of months but they will both be fit when the Champions League knockout stages begin in March and with two games to go Chelsea have already booked their place in the second round.  And with Frank Lampard returning from injury too, I still believe Chelsea have the best chance of lifting the Champions League trophy in May, of all four English clubs.

So with two games to go in the first round of this season’s Champions League, which two teams from each group look likely to go through to the knockout stages next year?

FC Twente have two games left against Inter Milan (away) and at home to Spurs.  To finish ahead of either Inter or Tottenham they are going to have to win one of those games and hope that Tottenham & Inter drop points in their other games; possible, but unlikely.

Three teams can still progress from Group B.  Lyon currently lead the group with nine points followed by Schalke 04 on seven and Benfica with six. Lyon and Benfica should both pick up three points when they play Hapoel Te-Aviv, while Schalke 04 have the most difficult games as they face both Lyon & Benfica.

Manchester United are unbeaten this season in both domestic and European competition and lead Group C with ten points.  Rangers will need to beat Man Utd at Ibrox on Wednesday if they are going to have any chance securing second place ahead of Valencia.

In Group D Barcelona & FC Copenhagen are both in a very strong position and do not play each other in their two remaining fixtures.

Bayern Munich are one of only two teams to have won all four games and so have already qualified for the next round.  Roma look the most likely to join them ahead of CFR 1907 Cluj-Nopoca (great name) and Basle.

Chelsea are the other team with four wins out of four but it’s not clear whether Spartak Moscow or Marseille will finish second. I’m erring towards Spartak Moscow as they play Marseille at home tomorrow night, and then should easily beat MSK Zilinia in the last round of games on Wednesday 8th December, while Marseille entertain Chelsea in their last fixture.

It is not clear who will join Real Madrid in the next round from Group G.  AC Milan are currently one point ahead of Ajax and the final game on Wednesday 8th December between the two former Champions League winners will decide.  AC Milan will have home advantage, and if they beat Auxerre tomorrow, a draw will be enough against Ajax.  Ajax host Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid tomorrow evening in Amsterdam where they will be trying to keep the pressure on AC Milan with a win.

Finally, in Group H Shakhtar Donetsk look favourites to join Arsenal in the next round following their surprise 2-1 win at The Emirates where former Arsenal striker Eduardo scored the winning goal.  Both Arsenal & Shakhtar Donetsk could qualify if they win their games tomorrow evening.  Arsenal are away to Braga and Shakhtar Donetsk are away to pointless Partizan Belgrade.

Qualifying from the group stage if teams are level on points will be determined by the results of games between the teams in the tie (if tied, by goal difference and then by away goals counting double).

My Champions League tips for which two teams are going to go through from each group are as follows:

Group A: Inter Milan & Tottenham
Group B: Lyon & Benfica
Group C: Manchester United & Valencia
Group D:  Barcelona & FC Copenhagen
Group E: Bayern Munich & Roma
Group F: Chelsea & Spartak Moscow
Group G: Real Madrid & AC Milan
Group H: Arsenal & Shakhtar Donetsk

The final Champions League first round fixtures will take place on Tuesday 23rd & Wednesday 24th November and Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th December.

Castrol say that the former Middlesbrough starlet has also been in impressive form for Manchester City in the league this season, netting once and creating a chance every 54 minutes on average. Of the widemen named in Fabio Capello’s squad, only late call-up Stewart Downing has netted more often than Johnson in the league while Johnson’s minutes per shot and minutes per dribble rates are significantly superior to any of the other wingers.

It is with England in the  Euro 2012 qualifiers where Johnson has really excelled in recent months, creating two goal-scoring chances and completing 80% of his dribbles along with a two-goal haul. With Theo Walcott and James Milner both out of action with injuries, along with Aaron Lennon, Johnson now has the chance to cement his place in Capello’s first 11.

Performance of Wingers in Current England Squad in Euro 2010 Qualifiers

The case for Frank Lampard

According to Castrol Performance analysis, despite enjoying an impressive start to their Euro 2012 campaign without the injured Frank Lampard, England have still performed better in their competitive games when the attacking midfielder has played, winning 65% of those games compared to 63% when he hasn’t appeared.

Lampard, who is currently sidelined after undergoing surgery for a hernia, also compares favourably to fellow schemer Steven Gerrard in terms of England performances as well as the now-retired Paul Scholes. Indeed, since 2000 (when Gerrard made his competitive debut), the Chelsea star has scored more goals on average, mustered mores shots per game and won a higher percentage of his tackles than either Gerrard or Scholes. While the Three Lions may be coasting through their Euro 2012 campaign so far, the importance and influence of Lampard should not be dismissed.

Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes for England in Competitive Games since Euro 2000

The Castrol verdict for tonights Euro 2012 Qualifier:

England win 80%

Montenegro win 6%

Draw 14%

England started well with a fluent 4-3-3 system that gave Steven Gerrard a free roaming role, often dropping deep but always looking to push up to support of the loan striker, Wayne Rooney. But by half-time the initial enthusiasm and head of steam had run out, and England left the pitch to a chorus of boos.

Four changes were made by Fabio Capello at half-time.  Michael Dawson, Kieran Gibbs, Ashley Young and Bobby Zamora for Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Theo Walcott; and second-half substitutes saw Wayne Rooney replaced by James Milner and Steven Gerrard, after scoring England’s two goals for the 18 year old debutant, Jack Wilshere.

Wayne Rooney was substituted midway in the second-half while England was 1-0 down to the biggest boo of the night.  Rooney had become frustrated as England’s midfield increasingly left him isolated.

Phil Jagielka looked comfortable in central defence and of the debuts and young players on show for England, in what has been dubbed ‘the beginning of a new dawn’, Kieran Gibbs made a great impression in both defending and rushing forward when he replaced Ashley Cole.  And though he made a nuisance of himself with darting runs and a couple of decent crosses from the right-hand side, I still believe Theo Walcott shows naivety and immaturity by continually running into defenders or cul-de-sacs when he should have his head up, looking to pass the ball.

But like Fabio Capello, who didn’t once get out of his seat, let alone stand in the technical area, throughout the whole match, let’s not get over excited to see England looking to its passionate youth.  After all, this is only a meaningless friendly match.

Next month England will begin their Euro 2012 Qualifying campaign, and it is only then that we will see if Fabio Capello is ready to back younger players like Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere. Though it looks likely he is going to make Joe Hart his first choice goalkeeper, as long as Manchester City is prepared to show similar faith. Hart had a good game and looked ready to pull on the vacant England gloves.