It was a North London derby without the real sting expected, the Arsenal found Terry to be the master of the box, and it was his head that enabled Didier Drogba to open the Chelsea account in the 8th minute from close range.

Petr Cech was in brilliant form as he made a number of point-blank saves including a Fabregas free kick which had left him unsighted.

Another blinder from Drogba in the 23rd minute basically wrapped it up for the Blues. Arsenal threw everything they had at Chelsea in the last 10 minutes but the defence held firm, even though John Terry was a near passenger with a dead leg.

The Stamford Bridge fans showed what they thought of their captain being stripped of the England captaincy for the World Cup with an amazing show of support. The stands were covered with messages of support, even T shirts with “Team Terry” printed on them.

I personally think hat England have shot themselves in the foot by dropping Terry and appointing Ferdinand who is not even his own club captain and hardly first choice for Centre Back!

Arsene Wenger moaned like an old goat about any and everything but the truth of the matter is that his team has lost to the top two in successive weeks and now face Liverpool, so another defeat could see him out of the title race and fighting the Reds and a few others for a place in Europe next season.

The other big derby was on Merseyside and it produced more red cards than goals as both Kyrgiakos and Pienaar received their marching orders. The only goal of the match coming from Dutchman Dirk Kuyt in the 2nd half to give Rafa a much needed 3 points. The Kyrgiakos red card left a bad taste which threatened to boil over as Referee Martin Atkinson overlooked the stamp by Fellaini on the Greek’s shin which sparked the incident, reducing the Reds to 10 men for the last 35 minutes. Atkinson didn’t look the part as he allowed some pretty harsh challenges to go unchecked and had he shown more authority the foul play would have been stamped out after Jamie Carragher left Pienaar prone in the first minute. Fallaini was in good form, kicking Dirk Kuyt in the face without any censure.

Atkinson’s control went from bad to worse booking Steven Gerrard after Pienaar had kicked him…………..all very weird indeed.
3 much needed points for Liverpool taking them to within 5 points of the Arsenal. Manchester City however have two games in hand and could move into 4th spot. David Moyes is understandably very pissed off.

The big surprise for me was Pompey’s Hat-trick at Old Trafford. I had expected The Red Devils to win by a tennis score, what I didn’t expect was 5 -0 with 3 own goals by Portsmouth. Sir Alex will take the points gratefully regardless of how they were acquired, it meant that he held top spot again even if for only 24 hours.

Sparky must have been choking on his pint of half and half as he watched Man City go down to Hull and wondered to himself, “so how great is Mancini” In Typical Manchester City style they had another of their off days against the spirited Tigers, who were fresh from holding Chelsea to a draw in midweek. 4 points have lifted them out of the danger zone for now, question is can they keep it up?

Harry must be kicking himself having dropped 2 points at home in a goalless draw with Aston Villa and with Liverpool on a charge it will make his Champions League aspirations all that more difficult.

Burnley picked up 3 vital points at home to West Ham which has lifted them clear of the drop zone, while the Hammers slipped into the dreaded bottom three.

Same thing for Wolves who were beaten 2 – 1 by Birmingham City as Kevin Phillips scored a brace which saw Alex McLeish’s lads back on track.

The Potters upset Rovers 3 – 0 in a result that was not unexpected but Big Sam must be livid just as with Steve Bruce who saw his Black Cats draw 1 – 1 with his former club Wigan Athletic at the Stadium of Light.

In the other match of the weekend Bolton and Fulham could only manage a goalless draw.

On Tuesday night Manchester City host Bolton, while the other three matches all involve clubs near or in the danger. Portsmouth at home to Sunderland, Wigan take on Stoke City and Fulham face Burnley.

On Wednesday night Arsenal are at home to arch rivals Liverpool, Aston Villa host Man United, West Ham take on Birmingham City, Wolves face Spurs, Blackburn take on giant killers Hull City and Everton face Chelsea at Goodison Park.

I’ll have match previews and reports during the week.