Another commanding performance by Manchester United saw them beat Watford in a top vs bottom clash on Wednesday night. The league-leaders took on the hapless Watford side and were in fact stunned with an assured play that the minnows. A Christiano Ronaldo penalty was all that separated the two sides as they went in for half-time but two second half goals and one own goal from Lloyd Doyley summed up a night of frustration for Watford.

The game also saw Swedish International and former Celtic player Henrik Larsson break his premiership duck as he tapped in to find the back of the net for the fist time in the league. Wayne Rooney also had a good outing and scored the winner in a 71st min when he lifted the ball over the visitors’ goalkeepers head. The Hornets looked to be struggling since the opening moments but did well to just concede one goal when Ole Gunnar Solksjear was bought down in the box.

Meanwhile, injury-ridden Chelsea suffered a further blow when Ashley Cole picked up an injury that could sideline him for the rest of the season. Nevertheless Chelsea did enough to ensure three points for the night and to that kept them in the hunt with Manchester United. Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Solomon Kalou all finding the back of the net.

Apart from the league the Wednesday also saw the gunners in action against the Spurs at the Emirates Stadium and won in dramatic fashion with the game well into the extra time. The teams were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation time as goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Mido took the game into extra time. But goals from Jeremie Aliadiere and Pascal Chimbonda led the Gunners charge as they set up a title clash with Chelsea on February 25th. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has promised to give his younger lads a look in for the final as they played a vital part in Arsenal’s charge in added time.

Liverpool produced yet another assured display as they moved within shouting distance of Premiership holders and second placed Chelsea. Liverpool beat a West Ham 2-1 away at Upton Park and in stark contrast to the Reds rise at the top the loss drives the Hammers further deep into the relegation mire. The win for the Blades at home against Fulham only adding to Manager Alan Curbishley’s woes.

The lead now is down to two points between Chelsea and Liverpool but Chelsea have a game in hand but any slip up against Chalton at the weekend could seriously put their Premiership runner-up spot in jeopardy. The Merseysiders seem to have hit a purple patch in the aftermath of two humiliating home defeats against Arsenal in the FA cup and Carling Cup ties at the beginning of the month.

A stunning strike from 25 yards by Dirk Kyut and then a impressive move from the Red’s own half that ended with an equally impressive finish by striker Peter Crouch sealed the game although Kepa Blanco reduced the margin to as he scored in the 77 minute. Else where Reading came from behind to win 3-2 in an entertaining night of football over Wigan. While Middlesbrough and Portsmouth played out a 0-0 draw at Fratton Park.

The latest to join the public speakers is the prolific striker Didier Drogba. Though he hasn’t spoken out exactly in favor or against Jose Muorinho but his comments with regard to struggling striker Andriy Shevchenko might not really go down well with the club. Drogba says that he expects a lot more from his striking counterpart. And suggested that Andriy must be more of a team player if he wants to be successful at the club.

Though he quickly clarified what he exactly meant by ‘being more of a team player’ these comments are sure to cause some rift in the already divided Chelsea camp. Drogba says that because of the tremendous pressure on the ex-Milan striker to live up to his transfer bill, he is more keen on scoring rather than what he calls ‘forging a partnership in attack”

Drogba said “On Shevchenko’s side, I don’t really sense the desire to collaborate, I think that as a big signing, he believes he is obliged to justify his transfer fee with goals at any cost. I love to share but when I give, I appreciate it when I get something back.

Now I am not sure how those comments would go down Andriy’s throat cos for sure the Ukranian has been making some effort to get adjusted to the English game and with such ill-timed comments things could really go wrong for the Blues. They are struggling at the back with John Terry still on the injured list and could struggle right upfront too if there is simmering rift between the two strikers.

Meanwhile, latest reports say irrespective of the outcome of the season Jose Mourinho is surely going out and that Inter Milan Coach Roberto Mancini has been lined up to replace him. Earlier cross town rival and AC Milan boss Calro Ancelotti was supposed to be a front runner given his proximity to the in-question striker.

The crux of the matter is sadly a totally personal issue which has been blown out of proposition and now it’s become a full blown saga of ego that could only end in one result – axing of Jose Mourinho. Pre-season signing of Michael Ballack and former AC Milan sharp-shooter Andriy Schevchenko were supposed to take Chelsea beyond the reach of any of their title contenders but sadly like so many times in soccer things don’t really go according to plans and the move severely back fired on the Blues. The multi-million stars haven’t just played below par they have also become liabilities in the sense that almost after six months into the season they seem to be shadows of the players they’ve known to be. Add to it the fact that other clubs have caught up with the champions has also taken off the invincibility sheen of the Londoners… a fact that has surely hurt their ego more than anything else.

Ballack has still been an easy and level headed contender for Mourinho but its Scheva who’s been the thorn in his flesh since day one. His rather indifferent form was first excused as he was still getting adjusted to English style. But as days turned weeks and weeks to months it looked like the one-time-best-feet in Europe had simply forgotten the art of slotting in home from six yards in the box. The straight thinking Mourinho was neither afraid of dropping his stars nor was he scared of criticizing them when they woefully under performed. Jose has never known to have any personally grudge against any player and never has he had any personal favorites… the man just knows one thing – Soccer… he picked players on performance on the pitch and hard work in training. From him the only thing mattered was winning and winning as a team… though a defeat never bothered him what did was his players playing below themselves.

Scheva once a darling at San Siro was now a outsider at the Bridge a fact that along with his own growing frustration became his own undoing. Further his proximity to Chelsea owner would have made him a tricky candidate for anyone else but not for the ones like Mourinho he continued to bench the Ukrainian and the rift continued to get wider and wider and so did Jose’s distance from Abramovich. So much so that once the great general of the Chelsea army is now no more in talking terms with Abramovich. Jose would have been the first guy to put in his papers had Chelsea genuinely lost (which they still haven’t with the season a long way from over) but the way he and his footballing genius has been disgraced is sure to make him walk off feeling more bitter than ever in his life.

The storm is far from over but it would now be interesting to see if Mourinho picks the out-of-form striker for the weekend’s fixture against Liverpool… again any other manager than Mourinho would have done that but having seen the Portuguese man thus far I am sure he’d pick the eleven on form and not under any pressure from anyone. Some of the players have already pledged their support to Jose including skipper John Terry and leading scorer Didier Drogba. Keep it right here guys…. Cos this isn’t surely the end of it…

The match began to chants of Mourinho by the Chelsea faithhfuls and the match began on bright note with Frank Lampard slotting in a dead ball. Arjen Robben looked in super touch as he frequently troubled the Wigan defenses but one goal was all that Chelsea managed in the first half. Second also was all about Chelsea as they went about in a clinical fashion to find the back of the net thrice, an own goal from the Wigan golie included.

Manchester United were playing simultaneously with the Londoners and the league leaders also looked in supreme form winning 3-1 against Martin O’ Neil’s Aston Villa. Swedish striker Henrik Larsson was handed his first premiership start as he started alongside Wayne Rooney in the attack. All of United’s goals came in the first half courtesy of Park Ji-Sung, Michael Carrick and red hot Chirstinao Ronaldo. Villa managed to strike after the break but it wasn’t going to be their night as United sat back pretty with what they had done in the first half.

Elsewhere Liverpool also managed to bury some of the ghosts of two straight losses at home to Arsenal in the domestic cup competitions as they won 3-0 against the Hornets. Craig Bellamy opened the scoring at 34 minutes and the lanky Peter Crouch added a goal each on either side of the break to seal the match for Liverpool. Fulham and West Ham played out an ragged 3-3 draw a match that saw as many as 10 booking and West Ham’s Zamora sent off with a quarter of an hour left in the second half. Portsmouth played out an uninspiring 1-1 draw against the Blades as Arsenal, Manchester City and Middlesbrough all won their encounters

If the deficit is one thing that bothers the former Porto boss then he’s has also had to manage with some of the most wonderful footballers of our times produce some very very ordinary play. What is worse is the fact that some ‘purchases’ were actually forced on Mourinho is what seems to be the bone of contention for the Chelsea boss. He simply hasn’t been impressed with the biggest signing this summer Andriy Shevchenko. The Ukrainian has been the biggest dud of the season, and Jose has made it clear that he doesn’t like duds. But the alleged proximity is with Chelsea owner Roman Abromovich is what makes the former Milan striker such a tricky lad for Mourinho to handle.

But then since when did Jose Mourinho been known for exercising caution with his tongue? He went on public with Sheva’s criticism saying that the striker wasn’t anywhere close to being his favorite players in the squad while at the same time he named Frank Lampard, John Terry and the sensational Didier Drogba as being a part of his ‘untouchables’ Sheva hit back by saying that he wouldn’t mind going back to Italy and that he hadn’t found life particularly happy at Stamford Bridge.

Not just Sheva but the overall spending of Chelsea has been simply put outrageous, buying Shawn Wright-Philips for nothing less than 22 million pounds and having him warm the bench is also something that Chelsea is now feeling the heat about. All said and done they simply seem to be rattled by the fact that the rich vein of form that they had shown for the past couple of seasons has simply vanished into thin air. As I said forget the six-point deficit in the league the more disconcerting thing now is the Chelsea’s worst run of form in two seasons.

With this form they can surely forget about the premiership this season and European glory can at best be described as a long-shot. So is Jose Mourinho just being made the scapegoat or is it really his fault that Chelsea is in a hole now. He’s got the best machines in the world that are not performing enough to bring in the silverware this season and with players injured he surely need the purse strings loosened and have some reinforcements flown in. But the fact that the oil baron is not really listening might just make matters worse for Mourinho.

Silverware might just give him the slightest chance of keeping his job. But the lack of quality on the bench might just be his undoing. Peter Kenyon and Chelsea might refute this as gossip but the world knows that Dutchman Guus Hiddink, another of soccer’s wonder brains is already been readied as an able replacement. So is this the end of Mourinho at the Bridge… wait on as this will go down to the wire…

Real Madrid has been known for a club of stars and looks like now they wanna add the brightest young star on the horizon to their squad. The player who has had a superb season so far and one who is seemingly getting better with everything game is being hunted by the Galacticos. Christiano Ronaldo has arguably been the stand out player in Europe this season and it’s no surprise that every club in the continent would love to have him in the squad, especially the big and struggling ones such as Real Madrid.

Real have reportedly offered a sum of 40 million euros for the Portuguese mid-fielder but Manchester United is in no mood whatsoever to let go off Christiano. Ronaldo has been in supreme form this season scoring almost a dozen goals apart from lighting up the pitch on numerous occasions with dazzling play. United has almost scoffed at the offer putting an unprecedented 70 million euro price tag to its most priceless player at the moment.

The offer by the Spanish giants for sure shows how the stock of this youngster has risen since the season began. But more importantly it highlights the deep mire and desperation that Real find themselves in at this moment. By offering to buy a player who can only take part in the domestic competitions and that too for a price so high Real has shown that it is clearly struggling.

Ronaldo is club tied for this seasons UEFA Champions League and can only take part in the domestic championship. But Real with all its stars hasn’t been able to show a tenth of the performance that it has been known for in the past. Clearly a lesson well learnt that money and stars alone doesn’t make a good team. A lesson that Chelsea might as well learn sooner than later. But to put the record straight Manchester United are no way selling the prodigious Portuguese. For the moment and for many seasons ahead Ronaldo looks well set at Old Trafford and if he continues this way he surely might as well fill his trophy cabinet too…

With this Chelsea has dropped points in each of their past premiership games, by far the leanest patch in the past two years. But it wasn’t all that a bad day in the office for the Blues as at last they at least kept a clean sheet. Chelsea has had problems a plenty at the back in the absence of the inspirational John Terry and it looked like getting worse when Khalid Boulahrouz limped off in the first half. Jose Murhino’s scathing criticism last week seems to have done the trick as Chelsea socked up the pressure of an inspired second half performance from Villa in the second half.

Elsewhere on Tuesday Arsenal had their talismanic captain Thierry O’ Henry back from a month long injury and his come back had an immediate effect on the fortunes of the Gunners as they overpowered Charlton Athletic 4-0. Henry scored from the spot to put the London side ahead and then combined well with Justin Hoyte , who scored the second. Henry was back in action setting up the third for Dutchman Robin van Persie who slotted in a late forth to complete his brace. So a mixed bag for the London clubs… but the happiest club right now sits further north of London somewhere in what we call the Old Trafford.

In the other big fixture of the evening Manchester United failed to press advantage over Champions Chelsea as a resurgent Newcastle side rallied back from to secure a point. Though the Magpies took a shock lead in the first half, United’s assured midfield play and Paul Scholes brace made it look like the league leaders could start the New Year with a win. But teenager David Edgar found the back of the net with quarter of an hour left in the second half to earn a well deserved point for Glen Roeder’s side. Meanwhile, Man U suffered another blow with striker Louis Saha limping off with what looked like a groin injury.

Elsewhere Reading gunned down six past struggling West Ham putting them further deep in to the relegation mire. Wadford battled hard to earn a point in their encounter with Fulham. Apart from dropping two points Fulham could have their keeper Antti Niemi out for long with a serious looking head injury. Spurs came from a goal behind to spoil Portsmoths New Year bashing as they earned a well deserved draw. Middlesbrough and Blackburn also won their fixtures against Sheffield United and Wigan Respectively.

It hasn’t been over nothing that Sir Alex has found his hair grey as the United boss, he predicted at the beginning of this month that if he was to go in to the New Year with a sizable lead that should go a long way into deciding the Premiership. Christiano Ronaldo scored a brace to add to Ole Gunnar Solkjear’s first half goal to take United six points clear at the top after Chelsea dropped points for the second game in a row as they continue to struggle at the back, a point clearly evident by the fact that they’ve conceded six goals in the past three games. Though the sorry state of affairs is not one bit meant to take away neither the stellar performance of United nor the astute leadership of Fergi… one has to agree that Sir Alex seems to have got the better of Chelsea boss even in the battle of sound bites.

In days where Premiership clubs change managers thrice in a season having being at the top for two decades is in itself a legendary achievement. The Hallmark of what can easily described as one of the best spells for the club Sir Alex has been able to raise the club, the game and the passion above individuals… he’s played the game the way it should be and has played to win. There have never been any free berths in his squad, no favorites, he’s played the game with a vision and the vision was of a team… he’s made ordinary players into world class performers and yet he doesn’t tolerate anyone getting too big to become bigger than the game… Sir Alex Ferguson is not legend because he has a great mind… he’s one as at the heart of it he is a very simple soccer lover and he plays soccer to win. Happy Birthday Sir Alex Ferguson.