Everton 1 Arsenal 4

If I've seen a calmer finisher than Eduardo in an Arsenal shirt I can't remember him. It's almost as if he's in Matrix bullet time as he picks his spot and passes the ball into the net. His two top quality finishes were the difference between the two teams on Saturday.

Man U go top, Chelsea dig a bigger hole

Arsenal dropped 2 points at Portsmouth and rarely threatened to break the deadlock. Portsmouth brought a very defensive approach to the game, but it was hardly surprising. It was a very good point for them.

Meanwhile Man U took Sunderland apart with ease and surprised nobody in going to the top of the league. Words like inexorable spring to mind.

Chelsea dropped a point in a roller coaster classic against Villa, but lost two more defenders to suspension as well. My bet is still for Chelsea to finish 4th.

Man U win over Everton keeps the pressure up

A ridiculous last minute challenge from Pienaar cost Everton a point they'd worked hard to secure, but arguably didn't deserve anyway.

As ever United's movement up front was superb and although they weren't firing on all cylinders, they were still causing Everton problems. They are undoubtedly the team to beat again and it's hard to see how they won't win the league with the quality they have in their squad.

It will be interesting to see how Arsenal handle a very difficult Everton team on the 29th. With the tough trip to Portsmouth on Boxing Day I think we'll be delighted to take 4 points from those games.

Arsenal thought it would be easy

The Arsenal players seemed to approach yesterday's game as if the result was a foregone conclusion. Winning football games is about technique, but it's also about desire and work rate. In the first 45 mins Arsenal looked very lackadaisical, as if they thought they only had to turn up to win.

Even in the second half they only managed to raise the tempo in fits and starts. With the current pace and quality of the Premiership it's very difficult to compete if you're not mentally there to start with, it's hard to switch on mid-game.

The movement in the first half was non-existent. When a midfielder received the ball he found himself looking at 3 statues in red shirts. The situation improved in the second half, but after the opening goal the team went back to sleep again.

A very disappointing performance, but a fantastic result. If Arsenal are to maintain their title challenge they'll have to continue winning games where they are not in great form.

I was very impressed with Spurs, they worked hard, played some decent football and can consider themselves pretty unlucky.

O'Hara looked a very good prospect, making some good tackles and he appears to be technically sound. We're used to seeing 17 and 18 year old prospects, but at 21, he still has plenty of time.

All in all though Berbatov looked to be in a different class to most of the players on the pitch. Watching him from a good vantage point really allowed me to admire his fantastic movement off the ball. The guy is superb at finding space. has a sublime first touch and real vision. Ramos will do well to hold onto him, I can see a huge offer coming in for him before long. Speaking from a neutral perspective, I hope he stays in the Premiership.

Blackburn 2 Arsenal 3, Wenger has genetically engineered Arsenal FC.

With the draw for the Semi of the Carling Cup and the Champions League now known, the Blackburn game seems a bit distant now. However I really wanted to make a comment about such a fantastic win.

This really was a game from 2002 or 2004, where Arsenal showed incredible strength of will after a setback.

If the players here can continue this level of hunger they have a bright future.

Looking at the performance as a whole, it is an incredible testament to how Wenger has instilled a style and ethos across the whole club. It really is amazing to see a 'B' team play in such a similar style to the first team.

From the little I've seen of (and more I've read about) the youth teams this really permeates through the club.

Wenger's work away from the first team is delivering in fantastic style now and I never get bored with saluting this genius.

Thanks Google

Apparently a 'bot' decided that I was a spamblogger. I checked the definition and I hereby name that 'bot' Drivel as quite clearly the blog met none of the criteria. Anyway, hopefully we're back on line now.

More than 3 points apiece

The top two teams took the spoils at the weekend and although the 3 points are probably not crucial, the future suddenly looks a lot bleaker for the vanquished teams. Liverpool find themselves 10 points off the pace and still seemingly incapable of taking points off their main rivals.

Meanwhile Chelsea have medium term injuries to their captain and their leading goalscorer. Add Carvahlo's absence to this and suddenly Chelsea look like they might struggle. My personal opinion has always been that Grant couldn't bring the title to Stamford Bridge anyway, but this will make it much harder for him.

The games themselves were interesting for very different reasons. Manchester United got their tactics spot on. Liverpool played a high tempo, pressing game and Man U gave away territory but took the sting out of Liverpool's attack. Aside from a couple of self induced mix ups in the Man U defence Liverpool never really looked like scoring. The Man U approach was all about not losing this game, but a part well worked and part fortunate set piece won them it. It looked to me as if Liverpool could play on for another hour without scoring.

Personally I think the quality of Man Us defending will be the key factor if, as I expect, they retain the title.

At The Emirates a very cold evening was warmed up by a pretty hot tempered game. Eboue and Terry were the main culprits in an overly physical first half. Both players could have seen red on another day, but I think the ref got it about right in that respect. The first half didn't bring us much in the way of chances and if anything Chelsea had the better efforts. I doubt we'll see a mistake like that from Cech for some time, but at least Arsenal took full advantage of the rare act of charity.

We've all seen the second half, but I think it's worth saying that a somewhat depleted Chelsea team did a good job of taking the game to Arsenal and created enough chances to have got an equaliser. Having said that Arsenal could and should have added a second and third goal themselves as well. Such profligacy will cost them on another day.

The injuries will probably mean that Chelsea take little solice from the game, but I thought they acquited themselves very well against a near full strength Arsenal team.