They Think It's All Over...EPL GameDay 20: Pool, James, Given and Stoke Slappers

EPL week 20 provided a great many talking points, even though none of the matches were of a high standard.

Liverpool let everyone know that they're in it fo the long haul as they trounced Shay Given at St. James'.

Man City came back from the dead and the relegation zone by scoring twice in the last few minutes and provided a small stay of execution for Mark Hughes.

Stoke were dragged back into the relegation zone literally kicking and screaming, and Chelsea continue to stumble under Scolari.

All good talking points so lets move on...

With both Manchester United and Aston Villa not playing until after the weekend, the onus was on the other teams in the top five to gain results and put pressure on their rivals.

Arsenal and Liverpool duly responded but their performances were in direct contrast to each other. While a jittery Arsenal overcame a resolute Portsmouth who surprisingly left Jermain Defoe on the bench, Liverpool destroyed Newcastle at St. James' with a devastating performance of the highest quality.

William Gallas scored late on for Arsenal as they overcame Portsmouth at the Emirates. On the day that he was named in Sky's team of the year, David James rolled back the clock to remind us of how he acquired the "Calamity James" nickname as he had the proverbial nightmare game.

Flopping at crosses all afternoon, and despite Arsenal's best efforts to leave with a share of the spoils, James missed Denilson's late cross and then went wandering as William Gallas forced the ball home.

Wenger was obviously happy with this "huge result for Arsenal", but the real story here was centered on Tony Adams. As an ex-Arsenal captain he had to look on bemused as ex-Arsenal captain Gallas scored the winner, which leaves Adams with the unenviable record of only three wins from 14 games.

Portsmouth will be a centre of attention come January. They have already sold Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid, and now both Jermain Defoe and Sylvan Distin are expected to follow him out of Fratton Park as Portsmouth look to trim their wage bill.

Liverpool, by contrast to Arsenal, were in imperious form as they hammered Newcastle. Only Shay Given and Geremi came out of the game with any credit for Newastle. The Newcastle stopper has been one of the Pemiership's most consistant performers over his 11-year stay with the Magpies.

Despite a devastating attacking performance the game wasn't all one way traffic, Newcastle went close on numerous occasions with the score at 3-1, and only for some fortuitous defending and cool goalkeeping by Reina they could have found the game a little tighter.

But for Shay Given, who was the outstanding performer on the day, Newcastle could have found themselves five or six down at halftime. Given was described as "worldclass" by Stephen Gerrard after the match, and it comes as no surprise that he is now being linked with a move away from Tyneside as teams line up for his signature. Arsenal, Tottenham and Man City are all potential suitors, but the wise money would plump for Mark Hughes' team.

Indeed Man City left it as late as possible to give their under pressure manager a stay of execution, for the time being anyway. With Tottenham losing to West Brom, City knew that any result other than a win would leave them in the relegation mire.

Blackburn took a two goal lead into the last few minutes but the introduction of teenage prodigy Daniel Sturridge swung the impetus to City.

City hadn't managed a shot on target until Sturridge's introduction with 20 minutes to go, and it was fitting that he was at the centre of their comeback even though it was barely deserved.

With three minutes to go he smashed a left footed volley past a hapless Paul Robinson, and as the game reached injury time he turned creator as he found Robinho in acres of space unmarked in the Blackburn box.

The little Brazilian must have ice in his veins, his first touch was perfection and he calmly passed the ball past a diving Robinson to secure an undeserved point for Mark Hughes' team.

The manner of the performance will have sent alarm bells ringing in the boardroom at the Eastlands. This time last year City were in the Champion's League places as Sven-Goran Eriksson worked his magic. Roll forward a year and the only difference is that City are now the richest club in the world and have the league's most expensive player in Robinho.

Time is ticking on Hughes' time at Man City, and one wouldn't be too surprised to see him get the sack before the end of the transfer window.

The other famous Brazillian in the league has found life equally tough of late. Luis Felipe Scolari started life in the Premiership on the crest of a wave as Chelsea played "the beauti-phil game".

In recent times they have struggled to hit the heights that are expected at Chelsea. Granted John Terry was missing yesterday and Ricardo Carvalho has been missing since September but such excuses are irrelevant to any time who would call themselves title challengers.

Against a resurgent and well organised Fulham team, Chelsea struggled to unlock their defence. Frank Lampard was simply incredible, and although Stephen Gerrard will garner more media attention after his double at Newcastle (and his night-time altercation at a club), Lampard's performance was the best display by an outfield player all weekend.

He was at the centre of everything—he started moves, defended magnificently, offered support at all times, and came up with a brace of well taken goals himself and was only denied a hat-trick by a fortuitous block in the last minute.

If for nothing else, Scolari's time at Chelsea will be remembered for Frank Lampard moving up a level or two as a player.

Scolari's decision to leave his top scorer on the bench was curious to say the least, and it was only when Anelka took to the pitch that Chelsea really seemed to get going. Chelsea need him and Drogba to gel as partners sooner rather than later, and their title chances rest on this partnership.

Another team with striking problems is Tottenham, but whereas Chelsea's problems stem from a new partnership, Spurs' come from a lack of goals.

They now haven't won in five, and have failed to score in three. Bent has continued to struggle in a Spurs jersey and looks as if he needs a move to kick start his flagging career. Roman Pavyluchenko is not prolific in front of goal and badly needs someone to take the strain off being the focal point of all of Spurs attacks.

Against West Brom yesterday, Spurs put in their poorest performance all season. And with the referee having an off day, the Baggies took full advantage of both to register an important win. This was a huge result for Tony Mowbray's team, and was greatly deserved.

Their play and endeavour never really let Spurs into the game and Harry Redknapp kept his team locked in the dressing room for over two hours as he brought a few home truths back to his players.

Some players at Spurs seem to think they have "made it" by signing for the sleeping giant, and Redknapp will have a lot of dead wood to trim before he can call the side his own. He'll start with a new centre forward and depressingly they have been linked with both Jermain Defoe and Craig Bellamy.

Neither player are of the required standard to challenge for the top four, but could be useful to Spurs as they strive to climb the Premiership ladder they have so obviously slipped down.

Mikel Arteta continues to be the only real source of creativity at Goodison Park. Yesterday he scored twice as Everton beat Sunderland 3-0. Ricky Sbragia returned to the scene of his first game as a coach in his second term at Sunderland—this time last year Everton beat Sunderland 7-1, so I guess you could call it an improvement of sorts.

Everton have tried to buck the formation trends recently, and have found themselves playing without a forward for the last month. So David Moyes has played six midfielders and four defenders. This 4-6-0 formation has proved hard to break down and Everton have risen up the table.

Wigan pulled off a fantastic result by beating Bolton 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium. Steve Bruce's team now find themselves in seventh place in the table and are looking forward to next Friday's FA Cup match against Spurs with some anticipation.

Steve Bruce has done a great job since taking over from Chris Hutchinson, and has expertly perused the South American players market to bring in three players of real quality. Wilson Palacios provides real guile in midfield, Maynor Figueroa has been a revelation at left fullback, while Valencia on the right side of midfield is being hailed as the best right sided player in the league this year, so much so that he is now linked with a move to either Manchester United or Real Madrid.

The real talking point of the day came at Boynham Road as West Ham beat Stoke 2-1. A little over three weeks ago the vultures were circling Upton Park as Gianfranco Zola's team started sliding towards the relegation zone.

Three wins later and West Ham are sitting comfortably in mid table again. Against Stoke they had to come from behind after the Potters had taken an early lead. But a moment of complete and utter madness from Ricardo Fuller following Carlton Cole's equaliser saw the Stoke man get sent off after he slapped one of his own players.

Nathan Collison moved past Fuller into the Stoke half and found Behrami with his pass, he then crossed to Cole who tried to take the ball down. His first and second touches were poor as the ball bounced up and Andy Griffin's feeble attempts to tackle the ball were held off as Cole turned to finish for the equaliser.

As Stoke gathered themselves to tip off, both Fuller and Griffin began to exchange words. Eventually they made their way towards each other, Glenn Whelan tried to separate them but Fuller reached around a slapped Griffin on the face.

Mark Jones was left with little option and sent Fuller off, Griffin goading him as he made his way off the pitch. Griffin was then substituted by Tony Pulis as Stoke tried to save a point.

But Diego Tristan scored in the 88th minute to score his first goal for the Hammers and to give Zola his first home win.

One thing to note as we move into the second half of the season is that no team has ever won the league when their manager had gall stones removed during the season.

Guess the title could be going to Arsenal then....