What with Chelsea continuing to stutter under the ‘leadership’ of Andre Villas-Boas as he attempts to stake a strong air of Mourinho-like authority and dampen any dissenting voices from the old guard, going into the Christmas period it seemed that Manchester United & Manchester City were going to sprint away from the chasing pack.  That was until last weekend when both clubs lost.

Unfortunately for the chasing pack didn’t take full advantage.

After scoring no less than 10 goals against Fulham & Wigan, Manchester United lost at home to bottom of the table Blackburn Rovers 3-2. Take nothing away from Blackburn whose mix of young and experienced players appeared to be playing out of their skins for under-fire manager Steve Kean, Manchester United were shocking; and Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to leave Wayne Rooney out of the squad for some petty disciplinary decision backfired.  Why when it comes to Ferguson making blatant mistakes do football pundits & journalists alike not tell it as it is? Yes he’s the most successful manager English football has ever seen.  But when he gets it wrong, say so!

Chelsea & Tottenham failed to capitalise on Man Utd losing points (Chelsea lost at home to Aston Villa 3-1 & Spurs drew with Swansea 1-1), leaving Arsenal as the only top 6 team to win last Saturday.

To cap a weekend of surprising results in the Premier League, Manchester City failed to take advantage of Ferguson & United’s blunder on Monday, knowing that winning at Sunderland would have opened a three point gap at the top.  But they failed to beat a rejuvenated Sunderland on Monday as Martin O’Neil continued to steer the Black Cats away from the threat of relegation & into the top half of the Premier League.

As the busy Christmas & New Year fixtures reached a final round of matches this week there were wins for Manchester City (Liverpool 3-0), Spurs (West Brom 1-0) & Sunderland away to Wigan 4-1 on Tuesday; and yesterday was a chance for Bolton to start the New Year with a win and for Man Utd to make amends for ending 2011 with their tail firmly between their legs.

Bolton was captained by Gary Cahill at Goodison Park as they took on an Everton side that included American Landon Donovan in his second loan spell from LA Galaxy. Cahill was probably playing his last match for the North-east side before moving to London.  Though it was interesting to see Harry Redknapp & his chief scout at Goodison, as personal talks between Cahill & Chelsea appear to have stalled.  I expect Redknapp to do everything in his power to sign Gary Cahill. The decision I believe is going to be down to Cahill.

The match produced the most bizarre goal of the season as Tim Howard hoofed a big clearance downfield only for the ball to get caught up in the gusty wind & end up in the Bolton net.  Howard becomes only the fourth goalkeeper to score in the Premier League after Brad Friedel, Peter Schmeichel & Paul Robinson.

The other Premier League game saw Manchester Utd travel to St. James Park (yes, I kmow its been renamed!). Newcastle were in the midst of a bad run with only one win in their last three games, so I was thoroughly expecting Manchester Utd to hit them for four.  Wayne Rooney started along with Dimitar Berbatov.  But United played worse than they did last Saturday.  While Newcastle played with confidence and bossed the midfield.  Alan Pardew’s Newcastle went on to win 3-0.  Another shock result. United have leaked 6 goals in two games.  But more than anything else I believe they are missing a midfield general.  I wonder what Paul Scholes thought of Man Utd’s performance.

At the weekend Manchester United play Manchester City in the FA Cup.  I can’t wait!

Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring with another headed goal from a Jermaine Pennant cross. Ryan Shawcross tapped in a second from inside six yards, and Jermaine Pennant made it 3-0 with a deflected shot from about eight yards.

Wolves were very poor while Stoke continue to impress, playing to their strengths under the excellent management of Tony Pulis.

Wolves (34 points) stay in the bottom three, along with Wigan (33 points) and West Ham (32 points) but there is still time for all three to avoid relegation with four games still to play.
Blackpool climb out of the relegation places on goal difference after a 1-1 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.  Blackburn are currently 16th (35 points) and Birmingham (38 points) are far from safe following a run of bad results.  Fulham are in 14th position with 39 points and a game in-hand on the six teams below them, which I believe will be enough to see them play Premier League football next season.

I personally think the relegation battle will go to the final day and is now between the bottom six: Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Wigan, Wolves and West Ham.

At the top of the Premiership Arsenal and Tottenham both dropped more points at the weekend.  Spurs were held to a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane by West Brom, while Arsenal lost away to Bolton. Tottenham appear to have blown a chance of a top four finish and Champions League football next season with two from a possible six points last week; while Manchester City overcame Blackburn on Monday with Edin Dzecko’s first Premier League goal.

Man City are now 5 points clear of Spurs with five games to play; and with Arsenal winning only one point from their last two games, Arsene Wenger will be looking over his shoulder at Roberto Mancini’s sky blues who are now just 5 points behind them with a game in hand.

Chelsea continued their recent good run as the most inform team in the Premier League with a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham on Sunday, including a first goal for Fernando Torres, and Manchester United continued to grind out results beating Everton at Old Trafford 1-0 on Saturday.

Both Chelsea (67 points) & Manchester United (73 points) have four games left.  This weekend Chelsea are at home to Spurs while Man Utd are away to Arsenal; two massive games for all four clubs.  But the Premier League title could be decided when Chelsea play Manchester Utd at Old Trafford on Sunday 8th May.

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.

Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Roy Hodgson’s days are surely numbered after Blackburn Rovers thrashed Liverpool 3-1, West Ham was humiliated by Newcastle United 5-0 and Chelsea were embarrassed at Wolves whose 1-0 victory lifts them out of the relegation zone.

I think Roy Hodgson’s time was already up before the kick-off but this latest defeat may have the Liverpool owners turning to Kenny Dalglish as a caretaker manager until they can get a big name to take up the reins at Anfield.

Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea’s poor run continued last night at Molineux.  It’s still amazing what has happened at Stamford Bridge since the sacking of Ray Wilkins. They started the season scoring for fun only to stumble and fall at the first serious challenge against Manchester City, and since then have never looked that confident.  If ever an English Premiership team could be compared to David Haye at the beginning of the season, only to fall from grace and turn into Audley Harrison midway through the season, Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea are that team!

Of the three managers things were looking brightest for Avram Grant this time yesterday afternoon.  I assume owners David Sullivan and David Gold may have been content with a draw against Newcastle at St. James Park until it was confirmed their first and second choice strikers, Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi, were both injured.  They must have expected West Ham to grab all three points, not get absolutely hammered 5-0 with some of the poorest defending I had seen on Match of the Day since the Liverpool game, thirty minutes earlier!

Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool to sack their managers in January, what are the odds on that?

Newcastle United

Forty nine year old Alan Pardew is set to be unveiled as the new manager at Newcastle United today, following the sacking of Chris Hughton earlier this week.

The club suggested that they were looking for someone with more experience than Hughton and Pardew can certainly claim that, though interestingly he has only experienced 74 games in the Premier League.

Pardew’s most recent appointment was with League One’s Southampton who he joined in July 2009. He spent £3million rebuilding the team and was took the team to Wembley in March 2010 where they beat Carlisle 4-1to win the Football League trophy, Southampton’s first trophy since the heady days of the FA Cup final in 1976.

In August 2010 Pardew was sacked from Southampton and he has been out of work since.

Interestingly, of the four candidates whose names were allegedly in the hat for the Newcastle job, Martin Jol, Martin O’Neill, Allan Curbishley and Alan Pardew, the latter is the only one to have experienced relegation from the Premier League, when he managed Charlton in 2006/7.

Pardew will have an immediate struggle on his hands, to win over both the Newcastle fans and more importantly the players who appear to have been shocked at the exit of Hughton.

However if he can assert his authority on the team and get some wins under his belt the fans will soon follow and back him all the way, just as the Newcastle board look set to do today.

Recent wins of 5-1 against Sunderland and 1-0 against Arsenal counted for nothing it appears following defeat to promoted rivals West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

Newcastle United have suggested that they are now looking for a manager with more experience and have put reserve team coach Peter Beardsley in temporary charge of first team affairs.

A statement from Newcastle United said: “The board would like to place on record their thanks to Chris for his considerable efforts during the club’s transition from Championship to Premier League club.Chris has shown exceptional character and commitment since being appointed manager in October 2009. The club wishes him well in the future.The task of appointing a new manager now begins.”

Hughton had taken control of the club on a temporary basis several times during 2008 and was eventually offered the role on a permanent basis following the failure of club hero Alan Shearer and Iain Dowie in keeping the club in the Premiership.

Hughton becomes the first Premier League managerial casualty of the season.

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.

West Bromwich Albion’s famous 3-2 victory at Arsenal only serves to show that the new teams in the league are not simply there to make up the numbers.

This is borne out by Castrol Performance data, which suggests that despite predictions of a season of struggle for the three newly promoted sides in the Premier League, Blackpool, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion, all three look on course to avoid relegation.

The three teams have picked up a combined total of 24 points after six games, the joint-highest total recorded in any of the last 10 Premier League seasons, level with 2002-03.

Over the last decade, whenever the three new arrivals have collected a combined total of at least 20 points from their opening six matches then at least two of the clubs have avoided the drop, with all three (Blackburn, Bolton & Fulham) surviving in 2001-02, the only time this has happened in Premier League history. With this season’s trio sharing the points fairly equally, all three sides can face the remainder of the season with confidence.

Promoted teams combined points total after 6 games – Premier League

But it is their clinical finishing that has been the hallmark of this seasons promoted teams, especially when compared to the three teams that went down last year, afer the same amount of games.

Blackpool have scored with almost one in every five and a half shots, while Newcastle’s conversion rate of almost 15% is only one percentage point lower than that recorded by 2009-10 Premier League champions Chelsea.

Performance of 2010-11 promoted/2009-10 relegated clubs after 6 matches

Furthermore, West Brom’s finest performance of the campaign, their 3-2 win at Arsenal, saw the Baggies convert 43% of their shots to record a famous victory and further emphasise the clinical nature of this season’s promoted teams.

castrol performance research

Although there are so far no official disclosures from United, it is reported around the media that Owen will receive a basic salary around a fifth of his salary at Newcastle, with performance related bonuses that should take his wages close to what he is used to – if he stays injury free.

Owen is a great signing for United, he is a proven goalscorer at the top level of the game, he is still under thirty. I think he still has something to give and also something to prove. I doubt that he will have a better chance.