Big Two Falter As Villa Make Their Move

What an unpredictable day it was in the Premier League yesterday. Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham all slipped up in apparent 'home bankers'. Spurs were toppled by my team Wolves, while United lost to Aston Villa and Chelsea were held to a 3-3 draw by Everton at Stamford Bridge.

So while it seems nobody wants to take the title race by the scruff of the neck it looks as if Spurs are determined to stuff up their chances of Champions League football - they have not won since that 9-1 drubbing of Wigan. We also saw more of Manchester City's leaky defence and ruthless attack in another goal glut at Bolton, another 3-3 thriller.

So it seems it all worked out perfectly for Aston Villa. Not only did they notch up their first win at Old Trafford since 1983, with their main rivals slipping up they found themselves sitting in the top four. While it has been Tottenham and Manchester City thumping their chests and talking up their chances of breaking into the top four, it's Aston Villa quietly going about their business on the pitch.

Incredibly Villa have now won at Anfield and Old Trafford this season while beating Chelsea on their own patch - that's championship winning form! In fact, the only thing keeping them out of the title race are the defeats against the likes of Wigan, West Ham and Blackburn.

But it's a carbon copy of last season. A blistering start to the season including a win at The Emirates saw Martin O'Neill's men firmly placed in the top four, they were the only side who were going to do it. However, they faded dramatically after Christmas as Arsenal clawed them back to comfortably finish above them in the end as Villa finished sixth.

So O'Neill will be hoping that Villa have come into form at just the right time to have a real go at securing Champions League football. With no Europa League football this time around, Villa can focus firmly on the League, depending whether O'Neill fancies a crack at the FA Cup, but this wouldn't be too demanding.

Looking over their shoulders, you would expect the firmest challenge to come from Liverpool, who will surely return to top form at some stage, especially with the return to fitness of Fernando Torres. Though O'Neill may take comfort from the fact that the Reds will have to travel across Europe some Thursdays before returning to League action on the Sunday.

One thing's for sure, an interesting battle lies ahead for fourth spot just as for first. For now though, I'm sure Villa supporters are revelling in their fabulous victory and trying not to look too far ahead.

Spurs Miss Big Opportunity

Can anybody break the big four? The long established quartet that have dominated English football over the past few years. No one has achieved this feat since 2004/05 when Everton beat city rivals Liverpool into the last Champions League place.

And with Liverpool's current form, many have begun to wonder whether this will be the season when the 'big four' will be broken apart.

So who's in pole position? Currently it's Tottenham who sit in third for now, after yesterday's draw at Villa Park. Aston Villa themselves and then big spenders Manchester City will also think that they are in with a shout.

But I would say that Spurs are the only team who look likely to do it if anyone does. While on the face of it the point they picked up in the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa may seem a good result, it was a game that Spurs dominated for large parts. A fantastic performance, especially as the away side, something that the 'big four' consistently do.

Something else they consistently do, however, is win when they're on top and Spurs didn't do this yesterday. Full marks to them for their performance, they were very impressive, more so than the home side. At present they certainly look more likely than Villa and Manchester City, who seem to be in the 'best of the rest' section of the Premier League.

You do feel though that if Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal had been playing so well in that game that they would have persevered at prevailed with three points. It was also a massive opportunity for Tottenham to put some distance between themselves and Liverpool, who will surely return to form and push hard for fourth spot.

It's quite unbelievable to be lamenting Spurs for wasteful finishing after they put nine past Wigan only a week ago. All the ingredients are there for Spurs to get into that big four. They must be ruthless though, and they must win games when they're on top. A point here and there off the big four wouldn't hurt either.

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What a long journey home it must have been for those Barnsley fans travelling home from Plymouth. After being euphoric with a 4-1 first half lead, those celebrations were cut short and the three points that were surely coming their way taken away.

This was because after 58 minutes the game was abandoned after the Home Park pitch was deemed unplayable and dangerous by referee Gavin Ward.

As a football fan, this has got to be the worst feeling in the world, worse than seeing your team get hammered, because you've not had that joy - especially on a long away trip - snatched away. Of course, if the referee felt that there was a danger to the players, then this had to be the right thing to do.

In the aftermath though comes the argument whether the points should be given to Barnsley. It's a difficult one. While it seems unlikely, with half an hour left Plymouth had more than enough time to go and get three goals. Barnsley boss Mark Robins was understandably outraged and said he didn't think the referee would have given the same decision had Plymouth being winning 4-1. This was probably just heat of the moment stuff though, if the pitch is unplayable, the decision has to be made regardless of the result. But what of the travelling fans? I'm assuming the return game will be free.

It all seems very unjust, for Plymouth to get another crack, for Barnsley's players to have to forget they ever had a 4-1 lead and go out and do it again. It's probably the only solution though as there was too much time left on the clock to give a final result.