Top again after a one nill hammering

A busy weekend at the top of the table and not one for the faint of heart.

Saturday seemed to be going almost perfectly as Chelsea stumbled to a 0-0 draw with Hull at Stamford Bridge after another average performance. The late kick off saw Liverpool field a strange starting XI, including six defenders and leaving Alonso and Torres on the bench. Ultimately, the weakened team prevailed (after Alonso and Torres had entered proceedings) but not before Liverpool had twice gone behind to a battling Portsmouth side. Sadly the way Liverpool got back into the game was by way of the weekly capitulation by the Fratton Park side, which has now cost Adams his job. An inexplicable Crouch pass back essentially forced James into handling and Niko Kranjcar made a woeful attempt at a block of the subsequent free kick on the near post. The second Liverpool goal saw the once solid Distin fluff his lines and allow the industrious Kuyt to hammer in a near post shot that James should have done better with. The winner saw Torres ghost into the box unmarked to guide a sublime header past James, although again James should have done more.

By the time our game came into focus on Sunday evening, the North London Derby had already finished 0-0, with Arsenal now looking a forgotten figure in any title race.

Our squad was without Rooney and Evra who had both been tipped to at least make the bench but a solid looking midfield of Scholes, Giggs and Carrick looked like being the difference in a game between two of the form teams in the Premier League at present. West Ham are now playing some excellent passing football and Carlton Cole in current form has earned his place in the England squad (which also included Michael Carrick, finally) and they played some of the best football I've seen against us this season. They could have gone ahead had Cole chosen to put his laces through it instead of trying a cute dink over Van Der Sar from an unlikely angle. Neither keeper had an awful lot to do during the game, in honesty, and it was a game fought out primarily to stalemate in the middle of the park. Kudos must go to Behrami who confused and infuriated Ronaldo in equal measure. The turning point was a piece of individual excellence from an old hand, as Ryan Giggs (looking suspiciously offside but level on a replay) feigned twice to hit with his favoured left peg as he jinked into the box before sliding a right footed shot through the crowded box leaving Green with just too much to do. The goal means that the Welshman has now scored in all 17 Premier League seasons, and the travelling Manchester contingent soon piped up with a rendition of “He's won it ten times”, in homage to his unmatched number of top flight victories as a player. A late penalty shout aside from the away team and that was that, with our 85th 1-0 of the season wrapped up.

The coming fortnight starting on Sunday is vital, with an FA Cup tie, two league games and the return of the Champions League all to play in little over a week. With Rooney and Evra set to return, we should be bolstered going into these fixtures with more depth to pick from and we'll need that at this vital stage in the season.