Weekend in Review

Results

Manchester United 5-0 Birmingham
Arsenal 3-0 Wigan
Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City
Newcastle 1-1 Tottenham
Blackpool 2-1 Sunderland
Liverpool 3-0 Wolves
Blackburn 2-0 West Brom
Fulham 2-0 Stoke City
Everton 2-2 West Ham

The Title Chase

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all cruised to full points over the weekend.

But Man City didn't do their job, losing 1-0 at Villa Park, falling three points off the lead in the process.

Darren Bent's controversial transfer from Sunderland to Aston Villa was the story of the week. And he added to the intrigue by scoring the only goal of the match to help the Villians to just their second win in 11 matches.

Bent netted the winner in the 18th minute. Ashley Young made a nice run up the left side and got into scoring position, before Joe Hart parried his strike directly into the path of Bent, who finished calmly with a low strike.

In my opinion, City's second place posiition coming into the weekend was somewhat of a mirage. For starters, United had two games in hand on Mancini and company.

But mainly I look at City and I don't see a team capable of going on a nice run of form that would truly worry Man U. Considering United's two games in hand, it would take at least five wins on the trot for City to pull within striking distance. They haven't shown they are good enough to do that yet.

Obviously the ability is there to make a serious run. But there doesn't seem to be enough on-field chemistry (no surprise), while Mancini's conservative tactics make it hard for the Sky Blues to get three points every single week. We saw that against Villa, where the Bent goal turned the game plan on its head, and City seemed to have a tough time mustering a major response until the final 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, the win gives Aston Villa a much-needed spark. But they still have a lot of work to do. Bent is a fine addition, but it's not like they were firing on all cylinders going forward in this one. Clearly, The jury is still out on whether their new striker will indeed turn the season around.

Manchester United's 5-0 win has to have sent a clear message to other title challengers, and it reads something like this: "Either play great football the rest of the season, or we'll be well ahead of the pack sooner rather than later."

Look, Man U's worst form is behind them. They somehow managed to come through that early season malaise without losing an EPL match. Now they're rounding into form nicely and starting to become the dominant force that you expect from a champion.

The performance against Birmingham was world class (I know it's Birmingham, but 5-0 against EPL opposition is damn impressive). Berbatov is back to his scoring ways while Wayne Rooney still searches for his best form.

Nani has developed into one of the league's best wingers as well. Few players scare a defense the way he does when he cuts inside from the right wing. The 24-year old is an incredibly skilled player, but he can also unleash a shot from anywhere, and with either foot. It took some time, but the Red Devils have clearly found a replacement for Ronaldo.

I have to say I'm shocked that Man U are sitting atop the table right now. Their start to the season was uninspiring at least; they weren't scoring goals, they were giving up leads, and lacked a consistent goal scorer on the ground lines.

Somehow they escaped that period without a defeat, and a lot of the credit has to go to Sir Alex Ferguson. His teams have always had a knack for not playing up to their standards and still getting the result. Hell, that is basically what they did for the first two months of the season this year. Fergie's teams are always calm and confident even when they are not at their best, and that's why the Red Devils are currently favorites to win the league.

While Man U are able to get the results on their worst day, Arsenal have not. They have not been sub-par in as many matches as Ferguson's bunch, but they tend to drop full points when they do struggle. Looking back at the fixture list and seeing losses at the Emirates to Newcastle and West Brom has to hurt, and they also blew that 2-0 lead in a devastating loss to Tottenham just before Thanksgiving. Take just six points from those nine they dropped and they're sitting pretty right now.

With both fixtures already played against Chelsea and Man City, the Gunners really could be sitting pretty in pole position had they taken care of business. But the "what if" game has become an all too familiar one for Arsenal fans.

That being said, they may be the team with the best chance to catch the Red Devils. The domestic schedule is about to ease up for the Gunners. Their next four EPL fixtures are versus Everton, at Newcastle, and then home to Wolves and Stoke. That's a stretch where Arsene Wenger should expect his team to pick up maximum points in all four matches (especially with the way the team is playing right now).

The defense has also been strong in past weeks. An area where Arsenal have consistently failed to play a good 90 minutes this season. Center-half Johan Djourou may be the unsung hero of the team when all is said and done, as he returned from a major knee injury playing better football than he has over his whole career. With Sebastian Squillaci and Thomas Vermaelen both out, his presence on the back four has been a massive lift for Wenger's squad.

Arsenal have gained four clean sheets over their last seven matches, and have yielded more than one goal in a match just once since late November.

We all know that they can score goals, but if they can continue to play well at the back (this obviously requires the good health of Djourou and Koscielny as they are the only healthy center backs), they might be able to go on the type of run that will have United checking their rear view mirror often.

Don't forget about Chelsea, as the Blues may have sparked a revival at Stamford Bridge over the last fortnight. They notched their second consecutive win with an impressive 3-0 victory against Bolton at the Reebok.

Didier Drogba got back on the score sheet with a screamer from close to 30-yards. His form is essential for Chelsea, and we've seen how the goals dry up when he's not playing well(i.e. this year and throughout the Luiz Felipe Scolari disaster).

As I wrote last week, the Blues are beginning a crucial list of fixtures that includes trips to Sunderland and Everton, plus a home match with suddenly resurgent Liverpool.

Obviously Frank Lampard needs to get back to full fitness, but the Blues are finally healthy again otherwise. They've dug a deep hole for themselves, but I wouldn't count them out just yet.

Ascending, Descending

You've got to marvel at the job Steve Keen has done thus far at Blackburn. The one time interim manager has earned himself a three-year extension thanks to Rovers' fine play since his hiring.

Under Keen, Blackburn have turned it around, winning four of their last six while moving up to 7th in the table.

They've also greatly upgraded the squad during the current transfer window. The jury is still out on Roque Santa Cruz, but they've handed him a great opportunity to show he can still play. Meanwhile, I love the signing of Schalke d-mid Jermaine Jones. He's a hard-nosed guy that will do all of the dirty work behind the ball, allowing the more attacking-minded Morten Gamst Pedersen or David Dunn to move forward in the middle. It also permits the likes of El-Hadji Diouf, David Hoilett or Dunn to exercise more freedom on the flanks.

I was very impressed Blackburn in their 2-0 victory over West Brom on Sunday. It's the first time I've gotten a real good look at them during their current run of form, and they played some very attractive football and could have easily scored more than two. They look so much more positive than they did under Sam Allardyce.

But let's not get too excited about Keen just yet. Many a side have had a temporary resurgence under new direction, and fallen back to earth soon after. I think the extension was a serious overreaction from Rovers' new owners, although we've seen many managerial contracts torn up well before reaching their conclusion.

Things are going in the opposite direction at Bolton. Wanderers looked ready to contend for a surprise Europa League bid (and had an outside chance at the top four) just over a month ago.

It's all come crumbling down since. They haven't won an EPL match since Boxing Day, and they haven't been victorious in consecutive matches since mid-November.

Johan Elmander started off the season brightly, but he hasn't scored a league goal during the current slump and has just one goal in his last nine. For my money, he's shown that he is a formidable striker of great quality this season (just check out this goal against Wolves). But they need another scoring force to pick up the slack when he isn't hitting the back of the net. Unfortunately for Wanderers, Kevin Davies' goals have also dried up, as he hasn't scored a league goal since October.

For a team that started off the season firing on all cylinders offensively, the previous month has to be a bit unceasing for Bolton fans. But maybe we should have seen this one coming, BWFC's schedule was incredibly unbalanced. Just check out the fixture list, they have plenty of more challenging fixtures, which could easily result in their dreams of Europe could fading away quickly.

At the Bottom

The battle for survival is heating up, and there are a multitude of teams that haven't yet assured themselves of safety.

We've talked a lot about West Ham the past few weeks (I would like to reiterate that I DO NOT think the Hammers will go down). But really it's Wigan that has gotten my attention with their ineptitude.

The Latics' performance at Arsenal on Saturday was simply miserable. They failed to create a single chance until late against a team that's famous for making their fans nervous in the back, couldn't even posses the ball in their own half, and looked disinterested in the second half despite escaping into the break trailing just 1-0 when the home team could have easily been out of sight.

Roberto Martinez wants his team to play attractive football. But maybe it's time to go back to the basics by focusing on defense and counter-attacking.

While Wigan have looked listless, Wolves have been committed to avoiding the drop from day one. They went down convincingly to Liverpool over the weekend, but they've shown time and time again that they will be able to respond and play on.

However, it will take a hot streak scoring goals to keep them up. Wolves have had their chances this season, but they've been miserable when it comes to getting an actual goal. Kevin Doyle was one of the catalysts last year, but he's scored just twice this season and no one has picked up the slack. The result has been just 24 goals in 23 matches, tied for third worst in the EPL.

Keep an eye on West Brom, who are falling rapidly down the table.

I was impressed with Roberto Di Matteo's men early in the season. They do have a ton more quality than the last two Baggies sides that went down. W.B.A. can score some goals with the likes of Peter Odimwingie (one of the best buys of the EPL season for me) and Jerome Thomas (a talented winger who can stretch the defense).

But the defense has been straight miserable, having given up an astonishing 43 goals.

The Baggies' home form has kept them going, but if they keep defending so poorly it won't matter in May.