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!

Joint owners David Gold & David Goldman appointed Avram Grant last summer on a four-year contract but the exciting, attractive style of football that West Ham fans have been used to was not present this season.  Instead, the Hammers rarely played as a team unit.  Scott Parker’s ‘never say die’ spirit helped paper over some cracks, something that helped him win the Player Of The Year award.  But Parker’s leadership qualities have been dogged by injuries; and when Parker was missing, the game plan often collapsed.

On Saturday 15th January, on the morning of a home game against Arsenal, it was leaked that Martin O’Neil had agreed to become the new manager at Upton Park.  Following a 3-0 defeat Avram Grant took off his claret & blue scarf and threw it into the crowd as he applauded the faithful fans.  This appeared to be Grant’s farewell, but O’Neill never came and the owners weren’t decisive in managing a damaged situation; and yesterday West Ham paid the price for poor leadership s they were once again relegated from the Premier League.

I’m pretty sure the West Ham owners will attempt to sell as many of their top players as possible to lessen their outgoings.  Inflated wage bills may prove difficult to shift the likes of Carlton Cole, Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge and some of the foreign players but there will be plenty of interest for Scott Parker and Robert Green.

Following a summer clearout I believe the owners will set about rebuilding a team with Championship players on Championship wages.  To this end, I wouldn’t bet on West Ham returning to the Premier League immediately.

Next Sunday will see the last round of the Premiership 2010/11 season games kick off simultaneously at 4pm.  The results will show which two from five teams will join West Ham to be relegated.

With three teams on 39 points Blackburn and Blackpool look favourites to go down.  Birmingham are away to Spurs, who will want to secure 5th place and Blackpool are away to the newly crowned champions Manchester United, who will want to finish the season on a high.  Of the three, Wigan have every chance to win against a deflated Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, following their FA Cup defeat to Manchester City.

Wolves and Blackburn currently have 40 points each, and will play each other at Molineux.  With neither club wanting to leave anything to chance, this should be a high scoring cracker!

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.

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.

As for Bolton Wanderers reaching the other semi-final in the same year legend Nat Lofthouse died, well it seemed almost written in the stars that it would be apt if there was a repeat of the 1958 FA Cup final when Nat Lofthouse helped Bolton beat Manchester United 2-0.
I was pretty confident both semi-finals played at Wembley last weekend would be tight but exciting matches.  On Saturday Man Utd started the brighter, and if Dimitar Berbetov had scored one of his two early chances, the game would have taken on a completely different path.  As it was, Man City weathered the initial storm and gradually began to dominant the game.  Every Manchester City player worked hard, even Mario Balotelli, but the difference was David Silva.  He managed to boss the midfield while Joe Hart showed touches of brilliance to keep United at bay.

Even after an early second half goal (Yaya Toure, 59 minutes), City continued to pressurise United and kept control of the game.  Paul Scholes didn’t help the cause by being sent off for a trademark late challenge that left a calling card on Pablo Zabaleta’s thigh.

So with one surprise already complete I sat down on Sunday to watch the second Wembley semi-final between the much fancied Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City.   What happened next was the most one-sided semi-final I have ever seen, in any competition … in any sport!
Not only were Stoke City 3-0 up within 30 minutes but they looked likely to score every time they looked at the Bolton goal, let alone had a shot.  The normally dependable Jussi Jaaskelainen could have done better with every goal but he wasn’t helped by the whole Bolton team who looked stagestruck!

Bolton were truly shocking but I couldn’t believe it when supporters began filing out after less than one third of the game considering the expense of the ticket and the hours they had spent travelling down to north London. Stoke City went on to win 5-0 though it could have been more.

The last time Tony Pulis was at Wembley was in the League One play-off match as manager of Gillingham.  With 10 minutes to go they were leading 2-0 only to let in two late goals and eventually lose on penalties.  The opponents on that day were Manchester City.  Must has changed in the lives of Tony Pulis and Manchester City since then but for Pulis, revenge would be sweet.

Even though they are one of the oldest clubs in the English Football League, Saturday 14th May will be Stoke City’s first appearance in an FA Cup final.  They will start the game as massive underdogs and know Manchester City will not be overawed by the big occasion. The size of the pitch should suit Manchester City, but that’s what pundits were said about Bolton Wanderers.

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.

Stoke were no doubt lifted by the surprise half-time appearance of Tony Pulis who had not been present for the first half due to the death of his mother; and the result was crucial.  This is Stoke City’s third consecutive season back in the top flight of English football, and it has been their home form that has kept them in the Premier League thus far.

As for Aston Villa, what were they thinking when they appointed a manager in Gerard Houllier who has still not been released from his current position with the French FA. Last night, Caretaker Manager Kevin MacDonald told reporters he was still unsure when Houllier was going to take charge of the team.  For now he had been told to pick the team to play against Stoke and again on Saturday at home to Bolton Wanderers.

To suggest Aston Villa is a club in turmoil is far from the truth.  However, the next six weeks could be very important in deciding the fortunes of this so-called ‘sleeping giant’.

Following their home game on Saturday with Bolton they will play a very difficult game against Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the Carling Cup. In all honesty, neither side may play their strongest teams.  But if Sam Allardyce decides to strike while Aston Villa’s morale is low, Blackburn could quite easily knock Villa out of the cup.

After the Carling Cup game next Wednesday (22nd September), Aston Villa will play two difficult away fixtures at Wolves and Tottenham. They do not play another home game until they host a goal-rampant, ultra-inform Chelsea on Saturday 16th October.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, their only other home game in the Premier League in October is against arch-rivals Birmingham (31st October).

With an away game at Sunderland between the two, it is clear to see that Aston Villa needs the French FA to release Gerard Houllier as soon as possible.  And if the situation carries on until the end of October, Houllier could quite possibly arrive to find Aston Villa languishing amongst the relegation places.

Furthermore, the longer this bizarre situation continues, the more vocal the fans were air their disapproval and the higher eyebrows will be raised at the owner Randy Learner’s decision to appoint a manager who is actually not available!

Lastly, once Gerard Houllier eventually arrives at Villa Park he will have big shoes to feel with both the fans and club expectations, if he is to exorcise the ghost of Martin O’Neill; and there is also the small matter of how he consoles goalkeeper Brad Friedel and defender Stephen Warnock.  Both players were told they were surplus to requirements when Houllier became manager at Liverpool.

As one alcoholic striker once said, ‘it’s a funny old game’.  But its stories like this that makes the game of football as exciting as the results themselves.

However, x-rays revealed that the joint had been dislocated rather than fractured and although in most cases this would have been cold comfort for the Denmark goalkeeper, the diagnosis means he once again has a chance of making the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

The doctor treating Thomas Sorenson was able to manipulate the joint back into place without recourse to surgery and while this might have been painful, it means his recovery time will be much shorter than if he’d had to go under the knife

Denmark fans, and of course the man himself, will no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief. He is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and it’s hard to envisage Denmark being able to find an adequate replacement. Betting site odds for the side would have no doubt lengthened had he been ruled out. Of course, no football team is built around one man, but having a top player between the sticks makes a massive difference.

In the group stages especially, one or two great saves can spell the difference between a draw and a win, something that could ultimately influence whether a side qualifies for the knockout stages.

Although Denmark are relative outsiders in the fixed betting odds, with their best players available they could still cause an upset or two.

Of course, Sorensen isn’t out of the woods yet. He has very little time to prove his fitness and with such a tight schedule facing him even a fairly minor setback would ruin his chances of making the tournament.

As good as he is, it would be crazy for Denmark to risk taking a half fit goalkeeper. It would fill up a valuable squad place and at a World Cup no team can afford to carry dead weight.

john terry

John Terry’s latest headline-hogging activity has once again raised questions of the character of the man. His gesture of pointing to the captain’s armband following the relentless abuse from the Stoke City supporters was clearly provoked but far from advisable.

This whole soap opera following the personal problems between the Chelsea skipper and ex-teammate Wayne Bridge has been publicised enough, though what he didn’t seem to realise amidst the obvious joy of his goal celebration, was that it’s only going to make him a bigger target than before.

It’s true that Terry wasn’t exactly in his best form in the weeks either side of his break and the resultant crisis talks with his wife. In reality with the spotlight so firmly on him everything was magnified and vastly exaggerated, particularly when most of the media wanted him to fail, thus perpetuating the paper talk about and against him all the more.

He’s a professional athlete who is clearly one of the most focused and determined Premiership protagonists. Of course his mentality may have been affected a little, but it should never have resulted in the sensationalist and over-accelerated glorification or damnation by the press.

The armband-gesturing goal celebration by Terry was his first real reaction in anger or frustration to this whole scandal. When responding to Craig Bellamy’s comments: “I know what JT is like, everybody in football knows what he is like,” following the Man City defeat, Terry simply responded: “People in glass houses should not throw stones;” a reserved and coy reaction to what could’ve turned into another Gary Neville-Carlos Tevez style war of words (another media mountain out of a mole-hill).

Ray Wilkins, Chelsea’s assistant manager called for an end to the Terry abuse following the Stoke game, saying: “I would like to think the abuse would stop.”

In fact it’s actually a response like Terry’s that will fuel the opposition supporters’ desire to antagonize, because they know they’ll get a reaction out of him. This time it happened to inspire a goal, but it might not go so well for Terry and his Chelsea side in the next crucial few weeks as we enter the business end of things as crucial league, FA Cup and Champions league games approach.

As much as the Chelsea fans will love him all the more for his reaction against Stoke, he needs to try to hold on to the fact he, despite his dismissal as England captain, still has a huge leadership role to play in the England team in the World Cup.

Consequently the exhibitionist, arrogant and provocative reaction to Stoke’s supporters could yet have a negative effect on his career ambitions. If he can curb his future behaviour and keep his dignity in the face of impending adversity, he might just find his future will be much brighter and surely much less turbulent.

It is a powerful start for Tottenham, in direct contrast to this time last year when everything conspired against Juande Ramos who eventually lost his job at Spurs before taking control of Real Madrid for half a season.

One thing the experts all consider when talking about league winning teams is ‘depth of squad’ and Spurs must have the biggest in the league. For three seasons/managers at Spurs have bought about three players for every one they sell so there must be some squad still there.

That doesn’t stop Harry Redknapp from being linked to every player that enters the market, the latest football news says he is after buying Arjen Robben from Madrid. While there is little substance to the story it may be different if Spurs have maintained their form into the January transfer window.

If they are still top come January, Redknapp will be determined to show his skill in the attracting the best players to the club. It will be like me playing fantasy football for Harry, spend every penny available and to hell with the defence.

I wonder what the football betting odds are on Spurs to win the league, I wouldn’t bet against it, but it really is early days and lets face it anything can happen. I do expect a closer group of teams in the top six or eight this season, from the limited action I have seen most teams have shown improvement on last season.

However and not withstanding Arsenal’s fine result on Saturday, I am predicting that we will see the top four become six, and Liverpool will lead the pack. I do expect both Spurs and Manchester City to make a big impact this season and look forward to the fight with Arsenal to secure the fourth place.

At the other end newcomers Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley all have a win under their belt’s and what an incredible result it was for Burnley to beat the champions Manchester United.

Right now they are all pretty much unknown quantities and maybe capable of the odd surprise, but how regular will that become? I expect all three to be involved in the traditional end of season relegation battle  along with Stoke, Bolton and Hull, with the latter trio going down.