World Football's Monday Morning Hangover: A Gentleman's Agreement

Welcome to world football's Monday Morning Hangover, an homage to the NFL section's own Monday Morning Hangover, in which we round up the key stories and important points from the last weekend in world football.

With an inevitable focus on the Premier League, let's get started.

Mourinho Has Everyone Dancing to His Tune (Again)

In the end, after a 1-1 draw that both teams seemed reasonably happy to settle for in the closing moments, Frank Lampard best surmised what exactly Manchester City's game against Chelsea meant in the context of the Premier League title race.

Speaking to Sky Sports not an hour after the final whistle, Lampard was astute in his observations. He said:

"

The result probably suits them in the long run, because it keeps them five points ahead. There were good performances all round. [It was] a good game, without that little bit of electricity that sometimes big games need.

I think Chelsea were happy at the end to accept the point, as they do so well—as I know because we did that many times when I was here! There's a long way to go on all fronts.

It keeps the league bubbling. Chelsea are obviously the favourites...but I think we saw two good teams going at it. It doesn't change anything—that's what draws do. Probably Chelsea will be happier with that...but there's too far to go and there are still points to be played for.

"

It is hard to disagree with those conclusions. City, five points behind in the table, came into the game knowing the one thing they could not afford to do was lose, while Chelsea similarly knew that anything but a defeat would suit them just fine.

The game followed that delicate dynamic closely; Chelsea, with Ramires added to the midfield in place of the injured Cesc Fabregas, focused on keeping things tight defensively, while Manchester City showed the greater attacking ambition without taking the all-out risks they perhaps needed to in order to get a decisive goal to change the game and, perhaps, the title race.

Manuel Pellegrini kept his full-backs pegged back in their own half despite the need for victory, a pragmatic move straight out of the Jose Mourinho handbook that nevertheless played into the Portuguese's hands. Shorn of both Fabregas and the banned Diego Costa, Mourinho's overriding aim was clearly to avoid defeat—which it probably would have been even if he had all his players available.

With Mourinho boycotting the media, unhappy about Costa's treatment, Pellegrini was able to talk about the game unchallenged, which perhaps freed him to tell a few white lies about how it went.

"Our team tried to win from the first minute to the end," said Pellegrini, as reported by BBC Sport. "I think both teams have a clear style of play. Jose Mourinho has a style for Chelsea, and I have a style for my team."

He added:

"

You may say it is a good point at Stamford Bridge but for me it is not because we were better than Chelsea. I thought that we deserved more than a point because we had clear chances.

We wanted to close the gap. We tried to but we couldn't but we still have 45 points to play for.

It was a very important game but it was not a final. We have time to recover these five points and if we play in the way we played today it will be easier.

"

Clive Mason/Getty Images

That is all perfectly logical, of course, but the fact is City are five points behind Chelsea at this stage of the season exactly because they have been unable to consistently replicate such levels of performance.

The Blues have been the more repeatable outfit all season, with the game on Saturday perhaps illustrating the way Mourinho's side can change their approach based on circumstances to engineer the results they need at any given point.

It is a quality City perhaps do not have in the same measure, and a quality that means the Blues are now firmly in the driving seat. With 53 points from 23 games, the Blues have dropped 16 points so far this season—an average of just under 0.7 points per game. If they continue at that ratio, then they will drop 11 points at most over the remainder of the campaign (i.e. three defeats and a draw).

If Chelsea do that, City would need to drop just six points over the last 15 games to win the title (i.e. lose two games or go unbeaten to the end of the season drawing three of them).

That is a difficult ask, especially for a team that has collapsed more than once against opponents it shouldn't have this season.

Saturday's game was a microcosm of why you do not want to be chasing Mourinho in a title race. He whips up his players into an "us against the world" mindset and then delivers them a game plan that achieves their ambitions in the most risk-averse way possible.

The Blues manager will use that five-point cushion to his advantage now, setting out simply to draw difficult away games with a pragmatism that Pellegrini will not receive. The Chilean cannot peg back his full-backs anymore; they will have to risk everything to make up the deficit.

Stranger things have happened, of course, but few would bet on them occurring in this instance. Pellegrini came away from the contest crowing, but no one should be in any doubt Chelsea played exactly the game they wanted and got exactly the result they needed. 

Sturridge Not Wasting Any More Time

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Making his first appearance for the club since August following a long, frustrating injury lay-off, Daniel Sturridge capped off Liverpool's significant 2-0 win over West Ham United.

The England international sealed the victory with the game's second goal, expertly controlling Philippe Coutinho's astute pass before lashing home inside Adrian's near post.

The relief and joy of the moment was evident, even as Sturridge busted out his familiar celebration. 

"It was a great feeling to help my team-mates get three points," Sturridge said, via Carl Markham of The Independent. He continued:

"

That's the most important thing—to just be out there and helping the team win games.

It was great play by Coutinho. We have a great relationship in terms of he knows my runs and I know the types of passes he likes to play as well. He makes my job easier.

Once I saw him cut inside I knew the ball would come and it was just a case of getting it under control and hitting the target.

"

For Liverpool, it was another significant win—with the weekend capped off by Southampton losing to Swansea City 24 hours later. Just four points off fourth, the Reds have played their way back into the European frame over the past few weeks without the benefit of Sturridge. Now that they have him available again, it will be interesting to see whether they can step it up yet another level.

If they do, they could yet be prodigious opposition for their nearest rivals. 

Goal of the Weekend

This is just peak Ricardo Quaresma, as social-media types might say. A prodigiously talented, unashamedly one-footed player. 

Goal of the Weekend: Runner-Up Edition

Not a bad selection of goals to feast on this weekend, from a number of different competitions.

Random Asides

• Southampton's defeat to Swansea on Sunday means Manchester United move back into third in the table and back in control of their own destiny. Louis van Gaal's side have a few tough games coming up, but they were efficient and clinical against Leicester City—and both Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao got on the scoresheet. The Dutchman will need those two to be even more prolific if United are to close the five-point gap to City, however.

• A record 26 television crews were at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, broadcasting the game to 175 countries around the world. Considering that, perhaps it is no wonder that Mourinho refrained from talking to the media after the match—although the Premier League will surely be extremely embarrassed by the Portuguese's no-show. Will they be able to deter him from doing the same in the future?

• One aspect perhaps overlooked from that Chelsea performance: the club's attacking reliance on Fabregas. The Spaniard has been lauded for his spectacular number of assists this season, but on the flip side, when he is out, the Blues lose much of their creativity (something they struggled with noticeably last season). With Chelsea needing to unlock lesser teams on their way to the title, Man City's biggest hope might be that Fabregas has to miss a sustained stretch of games.

• As Sturridge capped his return to action with a goal, many perhaps overlooked that it was Winston Reid who left the striker open to ghost into the box unchallenged. Liverpool were immediately linked with the New Zealand defender (whose contract expires at the end of the season) in the Sunday papers (including this report from Steve Stammers of the Mirror), but why would they suddenly want him after seeing him commit such an obvious error? Another occasion when the speculation does not match the reality.

• Lauded last season for their inventive, expansive attacking play, Everton have this campaign provoked the ire of their own fans for their inability to break down sides wise to their methods. Manager Roberto Martinez needed three points desperately to stave off the anger of his supporters, which duly came against Crystal Palace—as a dogged, resilient defensive performance preserved Romelu Lukaku's second-minute opener. Not that Martinez will be complaining...

• Southampton's defeat intensified the race for the Champions League spots, but West Ham's defeat was arguably more decisive. Now down to eighth, and with Manchester United, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur to play in three of their next four games, the Hammers might be approaching a point when they will simply have to settle for a top-half finish—which would still be some achievement from Sam Allardyce and his side—after all.

• Saturday saw double cause for celebration for Sunderland and their manager, Gus Poyet, as the Black Cats beat fellow relegation-battlers Burnley thanks in part to Jermain Defoe's first goal since joining the club. It is perhaps only a slight exaggeration to say that Poyet and the club have gambled on Defoe to keep them in the division, and this was a first key dividend. "We have some big games coming up and there's still a long way to go," Defoe said, per The Telegraph. "But it is important we're winning games. As a forward you're waiting to get that first goal."

• That game saw Burnley's own main striker, Danny Ings, substituted early on, as manager Sean Dyche later acknowledged, via BBC Sport, that his head was not in the right place due to speculation surrounding his future. Ings looks unlikely to stay at the club beyond the summer, but it seems almost impossible the Clarets can stay up without him. If he does not move on Monday, however, will he be able to refocus and contribute the goals his team clearly need from him?

• The clubs that, based on the weekend's games, need to do some business on Monday's deadline day: Southampton, Burnley, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Queens Park Rangers, Hull City and West Bromwich Albion. We will soon see how successful, or indeed how desperate, they all are.

Good Week, Bad Week

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Good Week

Roberto Martinez: A much-needed three points, just in time for the Merseyside derby.

Jonathan Walters: Always nice to grab a hat-trick in the Premier League

Daniel Sturridge: A sweet, sweet return after a long, frustrating absence.

Kurt Zouma: A big show of confidence from Mourinho, and he gave a big performance to back it up.

Remy Cabella: Continues to express himself more confidently under John Carver.

Bad Week

Harry Redknapp: The longer the away drought goes on, the more perilous things appear for QPR.

Marouane Chamakh: His broken nose, suffered against Everton on Saturday, leaves Palace hoping he will not be out for long.

Ronald Koeman: The loss to Swansea felt like a significant blow to Southampton's ambitions.

Paul Lambert: Villa have far and away the worst attack in English football, and the Scot seems stumped for ideas.

Burnley: A poor display in another key game. Deadline day could be crucial—both in terms of the players they lose and those they can get in.

Other Points of Note

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Arsenal's Array of Options Tantalise Again

It is rare that a team goes to the Emirates and is as accommodating and, OK, downright awful as Aston Villa were on Sunday. Nevertheless, Arsenal's 4-0 victory offered another encouraging glimpse of the options available to Arsene Wenger.

Mesut Ozil's sublime assist for Olivier Giroud's opener followed by Theo Walcott's rapier-like finish reminded the Gunners about a couple of players who have been missing for large parts of the season.

With Santi Cazorla in such a rich vein of form and Alexis Sanchez simply exquisite all season long, the Gunners suddenly appear to have attacking options to rival anyone in the league (and that's without even mentioning Danny Welbeck).

Getting them all fit at the same time has long been the problem for Wenger, although you start to wonder if the various ailments have actually solved a few issues for him. Nevertheless, with the Champions League preparing to start up again, the likes of Ozil and Walcott seem to be getting back to 100 per cent at an ideal time.

United Will Improve with Blind Leading the Blind

Moved into a holding role in the absence of Michael Carrick, Daley Blind produced an eye-catchingly measured performance (is that a contradiction?) as he pulled the strings for Manchester United against Leicester.

For much of the season, as they have tried to adjust to an unfamiliar three-man defence (and occasionally swap out of it as performances ebb and flow), United have struggled to find that stabilising presence in the middle of the park—even Carrick, so good for so long, seems to have been overtaken by the same uncertainty that has affected the team.

With Blind in the middle, however, United made important strides in that regard, looking more stable and composed defensively and moving the ball around with a bit more precision and purpose at the other end.

Blind's move into the middle allows Shaw into the team on the left, another important aspect for the balance and threat of the side. Such elements could be every bit as important to the team going forward as the goals of van Persie and Falcao.