The title race is as good as over but the rest looks good.

This season looks like its going to end up one of the most exciting Premier League Seasons to date - from 2nd place onwards...

Sunday evening saw Chelsea sweep a truely disappointing Arsenal aside as the blues looked like they will almost certainly be collecting their 3rd Premiership crown in 6 years and Carlo Ancelotti's first on his maiden voyage in the Prem. Drogba maintained his impressive record against the Gunners by scoring his 9th and 10th goals against them in 9 games. An unfortunate Thomas Vermaelen own goal split the Ivory Coast strikers efforts just on the stroke of half time. Arsenal had their chances but without Robin Van Persie in attack, the Gunners never looked weak and unlikely to trouble Petr Cech.

As for the rest of the league this weekend, lots of penalties and goals showed how despite the title being almost a foregone conclusion, the rest of us have something to be excited about! West Ham and Burnley entertained in an 8 goal thriller. England fans will be pleased to see Wayne Rooney netting a hat trick against Pompey in Avram Grant's first game in charge (2 of which penalties.. in preparation for the traditional Quarter Final shootout vs Portugal...) and Liverpool may have kick started their season as they condemned Everton to a 2-0 defeat.

The best action witnessed this weekend had to be the genius of Jimmy Bullard. He scored from the spot at Eastlands to give Hull a well earned point and sent Man City to their 7th draw in a row. His celebration was nothing short of spectacular. This fixture last season saw Phil Brown shock us all by conducting his half time team talk on the pitch with his players sat around him in a circle. As Bullard celebrated his penalty success yesterday afternoon, the Hull players all sat around him as he mimicked his boss and pointed his finger at his team mates. Nice one Jimmy!

Draws in Spurs v Villa and Blackburn v Stoke. Wigan were surprise victors against Sunderland but will be more than happy they beat Brucie and expelled the memories of 'that day' at the Lane last week.

So can anyone stop Chelsea??

The FA Cup didn't give us too many surprises apart from Staines earned themselves a replay at the new Den, the victors playing Derby in the next round and Kettering will have a trip to Elland Road for a replay with a day out at Old Trafford the prize should they defeat Leeds.
Swindon Town beat Dean Saunders' Wrexham that included Chelsea legend Frank Sinclair at centre back to draw Fulham at Craven Cottage in Round 4. The best draw that the Robins have had in a long time.

Barca beat Real in el classico tonight a single goal to nil, Ibrahimovich from the bench on the score sheet (wiping that cheeky smirk off of Ronaldo's £80million face.)

The Carling Cup returns this week.

Dawson to the rescue as Spurs dominate Villa.

In recent seasons Villa Park has not been a good hunting ground for Spurs and this game was billed as the two pretenders trying to claim that 4th spot in the league. Villa started the brighter team by winning a number of corners and Carew firing a shot over. Kranjcar had a long-range effort tipped over the bar by Friedel. Then in the tenth minute Villa scored through a corner, with Agbonlahor managing to bundle one home, in what was a very messy goal.

So could Spurs fight back? Too right they could and they did with efforts again from Kranjcar , Crouch and Dawson having one cleared off the line. Defoe also had a great effort that just went over the bar. Villa who are a very good counter-attacking team just could not get hold of the ball as Spurs started to dominate.

The 2nd half was again very much one way traffic with Spurs going close and Friedel making more saves. Was it going to be one of those days again for Spurs like the Stoke game? Defoe had a goal ruled out rightly so for handball. But finally an equaliser did arrive from Michael Dawson with a great strike from inside the penalty area that flew into the net. Spurs were level and continued to press Villa. On the rare occasion Villa did get forward. They nearly nicked another goal with Heskey just heading over. Defoe had a great effort in the 92nd minute that just flew round the post. So the game finshed 1-1 and it's been a long time since I've seen an away team dominate Villa like that, which is very encouraging for Spurs who move up to 3rd in the league. Villa will be happy with a point, as this was a game that Spurs should have easily won.

Clint is the King of the Cottage

A game of two halves entirely last night at Craven Cottage.

Blackburn turned up looking to build on their victory over Bolton at the weekend with another on the road. Previous visits to London this season have seen them fall 6-2 at the hands of Arsenal and 5-0 at Chelsea. Despite that record, their loyal travelling fans were in good voice, more so than the home crowd but then again there wasn’t much to sing about from a Fulham point of view for much of the half. Rovers had a few chances to take lead, most notably when Franco di Santo, the youngster on loan at Blackburn from Fulham's local rivals, went clear through on goal. He didn’t look comfortable at all and a poor shot saved by the legs of Schwarzer killed off any danger. A midfield battle then on until a flash of brilliance from Damien Duff with a cheeky through ball to Nevland who then blasted the ball past Paul Robinson at the near post.

Hodgson must have given his team the hairdryer treatment during the break as there was great improvement when the players returned. The second half became the Clint Dempsey show. The American seeming to involve himself in every attack, especially after the departure of the injured Zamora. Gera his replacement moved to the left allowing Dempsey to have a central role alongside Nevland. Dempsey's first was conjured up by Duff, a cross from the right flashed across goal allowing Dempsey to nip in front of Robinson to direct it into the net. His second was a collection of the ball inside the Blackburn half and then a race on goal where he calmly finished. Nevland had a one on one himself earlier in the second half that looked easier than the one he finished but he pulled the shot wide of Robinsons right hand post.

Roy Hodgson has done well at Fulham, evident by their performances against Roma in the Europa League. A top 7 finish will be harder to come by this season but if they can maintain their home form its likely they will be strong contenders.

Everton players showing a lack of fight?

So David Moyes has openly said what he thought of his team’s performance last night in their 3-2 defeat to Hull City. "Shocking" was the word he used and he has questioned the players lack of fight. Everton are sitting 14th in the league and things need to improve quickly. Well with the Merseyside Derby this weekend his players could step up to the challenge and redeem themselves. Everton have only won one game in ten in all competitions.
If Everton can kick-start their season with a victory over their arch rivals then they would be just two points behind Liverpool. What do you see the outcome of the Merseyside derby?

We all know that injuries play a huge part on how well a team does over the course of the season and it must be said that Everton's injury list is huge. Unfortunately a number of players are not due back anytime soon and this is a huge worry for Moyes. Will Everton have any funds to buy in the January transfer window?

Also Everton have had their new stadium plan rejected by the UK government. This is now the 3rd time Everton has failed to move away from Goodison Park during the time of the Premier League. Will Everton appeal against this decision?

Moyes and Rafa are desperate for three points this weekend to try and left the gloom on Merseyside. My Prediction is 1-1.

Arsenal's injury list grows after sub-Standard performance

Arsenal may well be home and dry into the knockout phase of the Champions League but they certainly need to practice both shooting accuracy and defending if they are to topple any of the big guns of the competition.

All reports in the press are correct in that Arsenal flew out of the traps in search of an early breakthrough after the poor performance at Sunderland. With an assault on the Liege goal early on with no reward it was looking like it might be one of those nights. Standard themselves had their chances hitting the woodwork twice and exposing the Arsenal defense a handful of times over the 90 minutes but on the whole were poor, a stronger team would more than likely have taken those opportunities.

It was an obvious body blow to the visitors when a defensive error allowed Samir Nasri to skip in and slot home on the volley just after half hour. Then in the dying embers of the half, Denilson's effort from 35 yards swerved left then right bamboozling the goalkeeper who could only manage a flap at it before it hit the roof of the net. Those expecting a masterclass in the second half and to be treated with more goals were left disappointed when the only real highlights were the return of Denilson and Walcott along with a solid performance by Rosicky.

Arsenal's performance was efficient and effective considering the opposition however it did look like a few players struggled to get out of 2nd gear. Perhaps this was precautionary ahead of Chelsea at the weekend or maybe just because it was job done by half time. Either way it would have been better in my opinion to go for a big win, send out a message of intent and then relax from Wednesday to Saturday night instead of during the second half.

As for the injuries, it was very disappointing to see Gibbs limp off at the end of the second half with what was later confirmed as a broken metatarsal. This now leaves the ageing Silvestre or the fairly inexperienced Traore to deal with Chelsea at the weekend. The absense of RvP showed, despite his efforts, Carlos Vela looked a little lost on his own and the nod will almost definitely be given to Eduardo on Sunday. Arshavin and Gallas picked up some bumps and bruises but nothing an ice pack and some staples wont fix.

Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday.

Liverpool crash out of the Champions League.

After Liverpool nervously sealed a victory over Debrecen the whipping boys of the group the focus then switched over to Fiorentina's game against Lyon in Italy. The score was 1-0 to Fiorentina but with 5 mins to go Lyon started pushing for an equaliser which would have meant Liverpool would still be in with a slim chance of qualifying. So the Sky cameras did the old split screen! MOTD style. Top left hand corner the closing stages of the game in Italy and in the bottom right hand corner you could see Gerrard and co all cramped round a tiny telly praying for a Lyon goal. It was quite hard to watch to be honest but they should never have got themselves in this situation. From what I can see Liverpool look short on confidence and this is evident in their play, they look nervous at times and this is a problem that needs sorting. Torres is out for a while and to be honest I find it very strange that he is the only recognised striker at the club? What are your thoughts on this?

So it's the Europa league for the Pool now. Gerrard described the competition as the "Ugly Sister" of European football but he has now said it's something they must try and win. Reina and Carragher also believe Liverpool can win the trophy. However Liverpool need to finish in the top four and the Europa league will bring extra games… is this something they could do without?

Lots of fans calling for Rafa's head are another topic that is being discussed? I think it's a bit harsh on the man after a wonderful campaign last term. I know Liverpool fans are not used to this but it happens in football and maybe they should back their Manager?