The knives are already out for Chelsea’s young manager Andre Villas-Boas after just four months in the west London hot seat after yesterdays’ result.  Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League matches.  But AVB confidently deflected post-match questions that he is now under extreme pressure and insisted he was still in favour with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich & that together they were still working on long-term plans.  Though away from the media I would be surprised if Andre Villas-Boas isn’t looking over his shoulder, especially following the news last week that Guus Hiddink is now interested in a move back to Chelsea where his short reign as caretaker manager was heralded by all as a great success, culminating in Chelsea winning the FA Cup for some time now.

I see Hiddink being offered a ‘Director of Football’ type role, where he would effectively be on standby, ready to take over the reins if AVB becomes the latest manager to come and go as Roman Abramovich continues to crave instant success.

Liverpool are now joint fourth place, level on points with Chelsea ahead of Tottenham’s game tonight at home to Aston Villa.  The game will see the welcome return of Harry Redknapp after minor heart surgery.  If Chelsea end the year in such a position that Champions League qualification is not looking likely, I believe AVB will be sacked.

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!

Roberto Mancini’s Man City must have thought they had done enough when they put five past Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the early afternoon kick-off, which had Harry Redknapp blaming Chelsea for their poor start to the season.  Sami Nasri made his debut and alongside David Silva helped the blue side of Manchester completely outplay Spurs.

Upfront Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko were chosen ahead of Carlos Tevez & Mario Balotelli as it happened this was to be the game that all doubters of Edin Dzeko’s ability were to eat their words, as the Bosnian striker scored four goals with a truly sublime performance; and for the first time I witnessed why Manchester City paid £27m last January.

Manchester City’s demolition of Spurs followed a 3-2 away win at Bolton and a convincing 4-0 home win against newly promoted Swansea>  But it was the thrashing of Spurs who finished fifth last season suggests City have stepped up another gear as they look likely to be the only serious Premier League contenders to Man Utd.

Whatever Man City can do, Manchester United can do better!

After whipping Spurs 3-0 at Old Trafford last week it was the turn of north London rivals Arsenal to enter the Theatre Of Dreams; and with a new look Man Utd brimming with Barcelona-style confidence it was a bad time for a depleted Arsenal side without a handful of first-team regulars and the loss of Sami Nasri & Cesc Fabregas, I don’t think anyone apart from the most blinkered of Arsenal fans expected anything but a comfortable home win.  But no one was expecting 8-2!

8-2 and it could have so easily been more.  Wayne Rooney hit the post and Wojciech Szczesny was one of the only Arsenal players who could seriously hold his head up after what was such a humiliating defeat that Arsenal FC have apologised and offered all fans that made the trip a free away game ticket.

I am confident that Arsenal’s troubles are not going to disappear that quickly, and along with Tottenham were left at the weekend scratching their heads wondering if someone has put something in the Manchester water supply.

Of the other so-called ‘big six’ teams, Chelsea looked laboured, slow and obvious in their play until new signings Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku were introduced in the second-half as they eventually beat off Norwich at Stamford Bridge 3-1, while Liverpool continue to forge ahead under the leadership of King Kenny Dalglish as they beat Bolton 3-1 at Anfield.

It’s been a great start to the Premier League, and one thing is for sure, the Premier League champions will be from Manchester.

Champions League qualification officially states that Manchester City have a seat on European football’s head table; and whereas before Kaka turned down a move in favour of Real Madrid, we should now expect even more serious money attracting some of the very best players in the world.  Strange then, that Carlos Tevez should now want to make public his desire to move to Italy in the summer. A great player yes, but in my opinion, not world class.

So Roberto Mancini has achieved the goal of Abu Dhabi club owners who expected nothing less than a top four finish.  But even though Manchester City may also win the FA Cup this Saturday, I believe if Jose Mourinho showed any interest in a move to the sky blue side of Manchester, Mancini would be sacked.

Following Real Madrid’s public disapproval of Mourinho’s behaviour in recent matches with Barcelona, it has made it more likely that Jose Mourinho may return to the Premier League sooner rather than later.  He has already stated his next job will be in England.  Such a statement would sound bold coming from anyone else, but with Jose Mourinho’s reputation and past record there will always be interest for those willing to pay his price.

Manchester City’s victory last night means FA Cup finalists Stoke City will automatically play in the Europa League next season.  While Spurs may miss out on European football altogether as they drop to sixth position, two points behind Liverpool who they play on Sunday at Anfield.

Harry Redknapp has already said he will be selling a few on before buying better quality players this summer and said that might not be enough to finish in the top four next season.  I agree that Spurs are going to need to strengthen their squad if they are going to mount a serious challenge next season.  And if Kenny Dalglish continues to make Liverpool tick and is given money to spend in the summer, who’s to count them out actually winning the Premiership next season.

Liverpool have made a dramatic recovery since King Kenny took over from Roy Hodgson; and on Monday night thrashed an in-form Fulham team 5-2 at Craven Cottage to move above Spurs for the first time this season.

With two games remaining, the Premier League title race may be all but over, but Liverpool v Tottenham on Sunday promises to be another cracking match in what is by far the most exciting Premier League season I can remember.

Arriving at Anfield following their controversial defeat at Chelsea on Tuesday, United will be anxious to put their title run in back on track, but will have to do so without the sound defending of Nemanja Vidic, possibly the most outstanding central defender this season, who will miss the game following his red card offence at Stamford Bridge.

With Liverpool likely to include fit again January transfer signing Andy Carroll as a strike partner for Luis Suarez, the omens are not good for United keeping a clean sheet.

In his 202 minutes of Premier League football so far, Suarez has proved what an astute buy Liverpool have made. He has managed a shot on goal with every 17 minutes of play according to Castrol Performance data, the highest ratio in the Premier league.

Although he has had twelve shots so far in his short Liverpool career, he has scored only once and made one other. He has none the less shown what a handful he is to mark, he has quick feet and is strong in the tackle, winning well over half the balls that he has contested.

Suerez’s partnership with Carroll could become one of the best strike partnerships in football, the imposing physical presence of the latter has led to five headed goals so far this season, and his headed flick on’s will provide Suarez with plenty of chances to score himself.

Man United will feel that they too have plenty of firepower in front of goal, Wayne Rooney appears close to his best again and Berbatov and Nani are in a particularly rich vien of goal scoring form.

Should Ryan Giggs be involved in the game he will overtake Sir Bobby Charlton as the player to make most appearances for the club, having equalled the former players 606 games at Chelsea this week.

It was twenty years ago this week when the young Welsh wizard was introduced to the United team, coming on for Dennis Irwin against Everton in March 1991.

Giggs has currently played 566 Premier League games and is only six appearances behind record holder David James who has made 572, another record the United player will surely eclipse by the end of this season.

The loss at Stamford Bridge has injected some new interest in the Premiership title challenge, not exactly reviving Chelsea hopes of holding onto their title, but certainly raising a glimmer of hope for Arsenal and Manchester City.

A loss at Liverpool would be unthinkable for United but would make things a whole lot more interesting during the final games of the season.

Liverpool meanwhile were skittled by strugglers West Ham this week and will be anxious to return to the winning ways they have rediscovered since Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson.

My Verdict: Liverpool 2 Man Utd 1

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.

However the Torres of today is not in the free scoring form that he showed in previous seasons at Liverpool or former club Atletico Madrid. Are Chelsea gambling on a player that has past his best or can they expect Torres to revitalise his career at Stamford Bridge.

Castrol Performance data shows what we already know, that Torres is currently having his worst season since arriving in the Premier League four years ago with an average ratio of 0.39 goals per game, his worst in fact since signing for Liverpool.

His proneness to injury has always been a problem since he emerged as an exciting youngster in Madrid and he has not played more than 24 games a season since 2008/9. He is likely to improve on that this season having already featured in 23 games so far.

Chelsea will be buoyed by the fact that Torres has however scored more frequently than any other player in the history of the Premier League with one goal every 121 minutes, he is also the most prolific scorer in the top flight since 2007/8, with 65 goals, ahead of Carlos Tevez (57) and Dimitar Berbatov (55).

Top 5 -  Minutes per goal – Premier League

With Chelsea currently ten points behind Premiership leaders Manchester United it is fair to assume that the Londoners focus from here on in will be on the Champions League and FA cup and it is in the knock out stages of the former where Torres is likely to shine.

From the last 16 onwards, Torres has scored five goals in 10 games, that’s a rate of one goal every two games, an impressive return given the pedigree of sides is higher than in the group stages. With Chelsea facing relative minnows FC Copenhagen in the last 16, Torres will be expected to make a quick impression.

Life after Fernando Torres

Liverpool fans meanwhile can be reassured that there is life after Fernando Torres, his departure from Atletico Madrid may have left the fans crying in their Sangria in 2007, but ronically the signing of Luis Suarez’s Uraguy International partner Diego Forlan soon made ‘El Nino’ a distant memory.

Diego Forlan scored a staggering 32 goals in 33 games during his first season at Atletico.

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.

The Luiz Suarez deal has been going on for some time now whereas Liverpool made their initial bid for Andy Carroll either late last night or early this morning; and though Liverpool are in desperate need to strengthen their squad in all areas, I believe they will let Torres go to Chelsea if the price is right.

Allegedly Chelsea had a £35 million bid for Fernando Torres turned down on Friday, stating he is not for sale.  But then reports over the weekend suggest their asking price is £50 million.  Another report suggests Chelsea have offered a bid of £43 million + Nicolas Anelka; a deal that I believe would be beneficial for both teams.  That is a big price tag for an out-of-form striker who has had his fair share of injuries over the past 18 months. However, if Chelsea were to get the same player Liverpool signed, arguably the best striker in the world, then it would be worth every penny.

Whatever happens today it looks as though someone at Stamford Bridge has finally managed to explain to Roman Abramovich that Chelsea need to spend some serious money to boost their squad and replace the likes of Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Deco.

Chelsea play Liverpool in the Premier League this Sunday.

The arrival of Suarez and an offer from Chelsea have however unsettled the player considered to be Liverpool’s prize asset, Fernando Torres and he has submitted a written transfer request which has been categorically turned down by Liverpool.

With the January transfer window now only hours from closing it will be interesting to see how the situation develops over this weekend and whether rivals Chelsea can get their man in an eleventh hour bid.

Even if the London team can pull off the impossible and prise Torres from the Reds, where does that leave Chelsea and their current strike force of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

Neither Drogba or Anelka have been in their best form this season, but then again neither has Torres, although the Liverpool player has still to reach his peak, while arguably the Chelsea strikers have perhaps already reached theirs.

If I was a Chelsea fan I would on the one hand be ecstatic that the team have set their sights on one of the best natural strikers in the world, but equally I would be more than a little concerned that it would have a negative effect on players like Drogba and Anelka who have a history of unsettling team mates.

It is possible of course, and one would certainly hope, that Chelsea have already thought this through and already have plans to capitalise on the transfer of one or other of their current strikers.