And then there were two. Admittedly it might have been three if only ‘Lil Defoe’s legs had been that incy wincey bit longer and he’s slid the ball into the net as opposed to not quite reaching it à la Gascoigne against Germany in the semi final of Euro ’96 and sliding himself into the post instead. It might still have almost been three if Man City hadn’t immediately taken advantage of Defoe’s misfortune to romp up the pitch, get a penalty and put Spurs’ title hopes to bed for another season.

So It’s The Manchesters Then?

With the difficult Christmas season behind us we enter what is referred to as the ‘business’ end of the season. Games are coming thick and fast and, you know what, they’re all important. If only because teams don’t have the safety net of another 30+ games to play and the cup competitions are all getting serious. It’s around this time you have those weeks that go, Champions League quarter final, then FA Cup semi (or big team clash), then Champions League quarter final, all in 8 days. Go into a protracted poor period and, like Arsenal last season, your four potential trophies can evaporate in less than a fortnight.

And with four of the top five playing each other and the rest of the top seven failing to win, it was always going to be a defining weekend for the Prem. And once again it was the Manchesters who came out on top. City are now three points clear of United, who are another five ahead of Spurs. Every time you looked at the table Defoe’s legs got a little bit shorter.

A Good Time To Lose If You Are The Arsenal?

Actually that should have read, A Good Time To Play Man U If You Are The Arsenal, but it amounts to much the same thing. Three losses on the trot is not a great way to start the new year, but it’s par for the course for Arsenal, whose form in 2011 was little better than relegation quality and that was before they lost Fabregas and Nasri. And if you are going to lose to Man U, then it was best to do it in a week where all the teams around you lost or drew. That fourth place is now looking a bit dicey, but they remain the best of the challengers for it.

The Fatalistic Predictions Of M. Wenger

So far this season has been Wenger’s nightmare, with his most pessimistic predictions coming back to haunt him in spectacular fashion.

• First there was the classic, “Imagine the worst situation, we lose Fabregas and Nasri. You cannot convince people you are ambitious after that.” Hardly the best thing to say when you’ve pretty much agreed to both leaving.
• “We first have to win our next game and we have a chance again when we play Manchester United on Saturday.” Hardly the best thing to say given you’re putting out a defence with four centre backs, one of whom is Djourou.
• “More than anything else, it is important to finish in the top four.” Will this come back to haunt him too?

That Robbie Keane Eh?

Last year, when joining West Ham, he was a byword for ineffectiveness, skying balls all over the place, missing the sitter of the season and never finding the net as he helped ensure the Hammers played another season of Championship football. Today, a year older and having played another year in the MLS retirement home, he comes back to Villa and promptly boffs in two fabulous outside the box strikes against Wolves. The second was a great on the turn volley into the top corner that would have pleased any striker. Whodathunkit eh?

Newcastle And Liverpool Hit Brick Wall

You could argue, that with the three teams below them all losing, Chelsea’s draw with Norwich was a good point gained away from home. But you can’t argue that both Newcastle and Liverpool were caught out this week. Newcastle have hit that point where they have somehow overachieved, but are no longer serious top four contenders. Their 5-2 beating at Fulham showing their lack of strength in depth. While Liverpool still don’t appear to have recovered from the slump in form that coincided with the end of the Benitez regime. All that money spent and they are still suffering. And while Newcastle look more likely to keep Demba Ba having just bought his fellow countryman Papiss Demba Cisse, Liverpool’s grip on their star striker seems far less assured. If they don’t get that fourth place spot, I don’t think they’ll be keeping hold of Dirty Suarez. If I were Real Madrid or even Barcelona, I’d be looking at him very seriously.

Dead Cat Bounce?

QPR beat Wigan, but is that really the start of the Mark Hughes effect or just the realisation that there is at least one team in the league less talented than they are? Wigan are so bad they have a worse negative goal difference than they have points. And that’s never a good position.

All through there’s been a subtle helping hand from Nike+. I love its stats and record keeping and it’s got a fairly adequate set of training programmes. And obviously the Nike+ GPS app for the iPhone doesn’t hurt. Admittedly, I’d love it if I could set training times into it, so it let me know when my sets were over, but maybe that’s something they’re developing.

But best of course is the music. So here’s my current iPod playlist for running.

• Seventeen (Soulwax Remix) – Ladytron
• Downpipe (Radio Edit) – Mark Knight & Underworld
• We Are Your Friends (Lee Cabrera’s Lower East Side Remix) – Justice vs Simian
• Kansas City Shuffle – J. Ralph
• Mountain Song – Jane’s Addiction
• Spaceface (Tomcraft Remix) – Simple Minds (yeah, bizarre I know)
• Toxic – Mark Ronson
• Barrel Of A Gun (Underworld Remix) – Depressed Toad
• Sexy Boy – Air
• Let Me Go – Heaven 17
• Wrote For Luck (Vince Clarke Mix) – Happy Mondays

That glaring yellow 'winter' ball

It might be Man City’s to lose (almost), but Man U and Spurs look to be genuine challengers while Chelski, Arsenal, Liverpool and, amazingly, Newcastle are fighting it out for the remaining Big Cup place. If the last frantic few weeks of football have told us anything it’s that there really isn’t one dominant team out there. Man City have lost out to Sunderland, Man U to Blackburn, Chelski to Villa, Arsenal to Fulham, only Spurs have really maintained their form over the Christmas and New Year period.

New Year Predictions?

Man City – have the strongest squad so should win the Prem, could win the FA Cup and the League Cup and the Europa League (if they take it remotely seriously). At their best, as against Spurs, they are unstoppable, but prevent Silva and/or Yaya Toure playing and you’ve got a chance of beating them.

Man U – the conventional wisdom suggests you can’t write them off, but I don’t think they can genuinely contend without a midfield. My prediction, third.

Spurs – unless they suffer injury to Bale, Van De Vaart,  Modric and/or Brad Friedel they are real contenders. ‘Appy ‘Arry goes to court in January, which might throw a spanner in the works. Runners up.

Chelski – the great rebuilding continues, albeit at a ruinously slow pace (much like their defensive backline). Do Chelski have the desire to fight their way to fourth? I don’t think so. Could potentially go as low as seventh as the clean out continues, but fifth is more likely.

Arsenal – You don’t win anything with no defenders and only one decent striker even if you are Arsenal. Sadly the words ‘Managed Decline’ spring to mind. Can they still eek out a top four place? They certainly have the track record, but they need to recruit more than just old boy Thierry Henry in January. À la recherche du temps perdu on its own won’t cut it Arsène. Gervinio and Chamakh’s trips to the Africa Cup of Nations won’t be as much of a miss as Wilshire, Sagna, Santos and Vermaelen already have been. Could just scrape into fourth, if Wilshire’s return is as miraculous as everyone anticipates.

Liverpool – the loss of their talisman Dirty Suarez will effect them. Suarez and Adam aside, none of their new boys have really hit the ground running. Indeed, Carroll, Henderson and Downing have been ploddingly poor at best. Their best chance for the year is to win their League Cup semi against Man City.

Newcastle – having beaten Man U, you can’t write them off. However, despite a formidable defense, their real strength is striker Demba Ba, but he’s off to the Africa Cup of Nations. This might slow them down. I think the best they can achieve is fifth.

Best Of The Rest

Sunderland – have found new life with O’Neill (what was it about Useless Bruce that dragged them down for so long?).  Still massively handicapped by the presence of the ego driven goal drought that is Nicklas Bendtner. Safely top ten, with no irritating European football to worry about next season.

Swansea – despite Norwich being above them, they’re the best of the promoted clubs. They have a genuine star is keeper Vorm, who one imagines will soon be snaffled by one of the bigger clubs.

Norwich – the East Coast Stoke. Mid-table mediocrity is a notable achievement for a promoted side.

Stoke – still the least entertaining, most unpleasant defence, but it’s good to see a team taking the Europe League seriously. Should be interesting to see how they do now it’s getting serious. If Fulham can get to the final, then why can’t Stoke? Might at least keep the Manchesters honest in the competition.

Not A Good Year For

QPR - Manager Colin W is weaving his magic, turning a team that looked like a real surprise into a plumeting nosediving monster. Needs to invest pretty heavily in January.

Wolves, Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan – along with QPR, the bottom five are currently 5 points adrift and averaging less than a point a game with double digit negative goal differences. It’s hard to see the relegation candidates coming from outside this group, although there’s always the hope that Scottish reptile McLeish will do the double and take another Birmingham team down.

Here is a new Lairds track. It was primarily recorded using Maschine, then beaten into shape with various production baseball bats in Logic.