But midway through the 2011/12 season and it isn’t too clear who will be the eventual winners.  Although Tottenham are having a great season, and by winning their game in-hand will only be four points off the lead, I can’t see the title going anywhere else than Manchester.  The problem is whether to choose Manchester United who have a habit of being stronger in the second half of the season, or Manchester City who remained unstoppable and unbeaten until they a late penalty against Chelsea earlier this month.

The Championship is almost as tight with Southampton three points clear of West Ham & a rejuvenated Middlesbrough.

League One has been dominated by Charlton who are currently seven points clear of the chasing pack after almost completely changing their squad last summer.  Sheffield United & Sheffield Wednesday are both showing good form with MK Dons & Huddersfield Town a further two points adrift.

Finally, Crawley Town are leading the way in League Two in their first season and look likely to continue their ascension from non-League football, though they are only three points clear of Cheltenham and four ahead of Southend, who have a game in hand.

So last weekend, unsure of the outcome of all four leagues I decided on Manchester City, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday & Crawley only to see Man City held by West Brom to a 0-0 draw while Man Utd thumped five passed Wigan, and Crawley Town lose at home to Gillingham.

My initial choice, and one I would have stuck to if it wasn’t offering such a poor return was Manchester United, West Ham, Charlton & Crawley.  Here’s hoping my bet is still alive come next May.

Villa have been pursuing Downing since Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier league at the end of last season, the news is that the player has signed a four year deal with the midlands club after passing a medical today.

It is manager Martin O’Neill’s first signing during the summer break and is sure to bolster a Villa squad that last season was considered to be amongst the smallest in the premier league.

No fee has been disclosed, but it is understood to have been settled by tribunal.

Sturridge made 26 appearances for City last season scoring four goals. He will join goalkeeper Russ Turnbull as the new boys at Stamford Bridge, the 24 year old keeper having signed on a free transfer from Middlesbrough yesterday, on another four year contract.

Meanwhile City have been told in no uncertain terms by Chelsea, that club captain John Terry is not for sale at any price. A statement on the Chelsea website says that the club have ‘completely rejected’ a bid for Terry, adding that they ‘would not entertain any conversation on the subject.’

Manchester United face a tough proposition way at Fulham, in a rematch of the FA Cup game a few weeks back. It will certainly take a lot of character for the Red Devils and Sir Alex Ferguson to bounce back from their 4-1 trouncing at home last weekend if they are to be victorious at Craven Cottage.

The other fixture which stands out his week is that of Stoke Vs Middlesbrough. With both teams struggling in the relegation zone this is very much a six-pointer for both clubs, which could well prove vital come May. Stoke will be relying on their strong home form to see them take all three points.

However, the pick of the bunch must surely be Liverpool Vs. Aston Villa on Sunday. This fixture presents us with two clubs striving for a huge end-of-season push. Liverpool will be buzzing on the back of two fantastic results against Man U and Real Madrid in the past 10 days, whereas Martin O’Neill will be looking to turn around the Villans fortunes and snatch the fourth champions’ league spot back from Arsenal with a good result at Anfield.

Here is a full list of the weekend’s clashes:

Saturday 21 March

Blackburn v West Ham, 15:00
Fulham v Man Utd, 15:00
Newcastle v Arsenal, 17:30
Portsmouth v Everton, 12:45
Stoke v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Tottenham v Chelsea, 15:00
West Brom v Bolton, 15:00

Sunday 22 March

Liverpool v Aston Villa, 16:00
Man City v Sunderland, 15:00
Wigan v Hull, 13:30

Big spending Harry Redknapp continues to wheel and deal by bringing Chimbonda back to Spurs for an undisclosed fee and finally signing Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea to bolster his teams defences. The Daily Mail had claimed in an exclusive last week that Cudicini had already joined Spurs for a £1m fee. It appears that Chelsea have let the player leave on a free transfer in honour of his long support of the club.

Tony Adams is following in his mentor’s footsteps, with a double swoop of his own for Portsmouth, bringing in some much needed reinforcement to his squad. Hayden Mullins has joined from West Ham for an undisclosed fee, the 29 year old midfielder has spent the last five years at Upton Park and has the experience in the premier league that Portsmouth are looking for to bolster the team.

Mullins is joined by the 21 year old Porto midfielder, Pele, who has signed on loan until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent move. Both players are available for tomorrows premier league game against Aston Villa.

Pele is a Portugal Under 21 international attacking midfielder, who only joined Porto in the summer, after playing for Inter Milan and scoring in the Italian cup final. An excellent prospect for Pompey.

And yet another double, as Steve Bruce replaces the Wigan players that he has lost in the January transfer window, finally completing the transfer of Hugo Rodallega, from Mexican club Necaxa for a fee of £4.5m. The 23year old Colombian striker is hoping to be available for Wednesdays game against Liverpool.

Bruce has also spent a further £2m to secure the services of Ben Watson from Crystal Palace, sneaking the 23 year old midfield player from under the noses of premier league strugglers Middlesbrough. Watson returns to the premier league after an absence of almost four year.

Great news for Hull City boss Phil Brown, who has also confirmed that on loan player Kamil Zayatte has signed a three year deal with the club, while left back Andy Dawson has also signed a new contract.

Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign England football veteran Emile Heskey from Wigan for a fee of around £3.5million. If the deal goes through Heskey will be reunited with Martin O’Neill who nurtured the striker as a teenager while they were at Leicester City in the late nineties.

O’Neill said of the striker: “It would be very difficult not to support someone who was brilliant for you. He was a young kid at Leicester and was fantastic. We were desperately disappointed when he moved but he said he wanted to go and play with Michael Owen at Liverpool, but he did his part for Leicester.”

Wigan have also lost striker Marlon King who has agreed a loan deal to join Middlesbrough, in a move that seems likely to see Egyptian player Mido going in the opposite direction  on a similar  six month deal. Steve Bruce had intimated earlier in the week that Wilson Palacios would be the only player leaving the Latics during the January transfer window,  but  he has  now lost two more  forwards in as many days.

Mido has enjoyed an up and down career since first coming to the Premier League  but has yet to show any real consistency  to accompany his obvious skills, maybe Steve Bruce can get more out of him than previous managers have been able to.

Didier Drogba is rumoured to have been offered double his current salary to join Manchester City, but for now the moody striker will remain at Chelsea, who along with Liverpool are apparently being lined up for takeover by  two very different groups of billionaires, both carrying huge suitcases stuffed with cash.

And finally the former England football manager best known for his catch phrase ‘Do I not like that?’, Graham Taylor has been welcomed back to former club Watford as a non executive director, where he will link up once again with Elton John.

The rest of the team are no slouches either although it has to be said that Hibernian were miles out of their depth, once again proving the gulf between the Scottish Premier League and La Liga.

Barcelona were four goals up inside 26 minutes and could have been further ahead if they did not insist trying to create the perfect goal. Eidur Gudjohnsen looked in great form scoring two goals with Messi and Pedro adding one each in the first half.

While the Hibernian defence must have breathed a sigh of relief when Messi was taken off at half time, the introduction of Bojan caused them just has many problems. The teenager inevitably scoring the fifth and Yaya Toure polishing off the game.

Alexander Hleb made his debut for Barcelona in the second half following his move from Arsenal.

In the other friendlies Darren Bent scored for Spurs in a 1-1 draw against second division Spanish side Hercules.The game which saw Berbatov play the full game but no place for Robbie Keane even on the subs bench.

Middlesbrough lost out to Portugese team Vitoria Guimaraes in the Algarve Challenge cup, Vitoria securing the game one nil with a last minute free kick.

Relegated Reading beat Swedish side Trollhatten comfortably 4-1 with Leroy Lita scoring four for the Royals.

The 35 year old Australian international has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich as well as attracting interest from Italy in recent weeks. He is currently on international duty with the Australian team in Sydney ahead of Fridays friendly with Ghana.

Fulham have agreed a two year deal with the veteran keeper, where he will join fellow Aussie Adrian Leijer.

Middlesbrough never really got into the game despite having the advantage of playing at home. And like Chelsea yesterday they got everything they deserved.

Cardiff scored within ten minutes of kick off, although there was an unseen, by the ref, handball during the build up, but Peter Whittingham curled a cracking shot into the top of the net. After 23 minutes, Whittingham provided the free kick for Roger Johnson to head home the second.

Middlesbrough had nothing to offer and Cardiff march into the FA Cup semi finals.

Boro boss Keith Lamb had suggested that there was one rule for the ‘top four’ , and one for the rest. While Lampard’s sending off was even softer than Aliadiere’s, the outcome for Middlesbrough must be a bitter pill to swallow.

The Chelsea midfielders card was rescinded today after game officials admitted that they had made a mistake. It seems that the debating point is how high a player raises his arm. Lampard clearly pushed  West Hams Boa Morte in the chest and not the face.

Referees have been instructed that, while endangering an opponent warrants a red card, contact on or above the neck is deemed violent conduct under UEFA guidelines.

Hope that sorts it out for Keith Lamb then, who must be fuming.