EPL wrap: Chelsea unhinged, Liverpool march on

Like hungry dogs in a barren desert, those Premier League teams fighting against relegation at this stage of the season can make for fearsome opponents. That’s what happened when Crystal Palace hosted Chelsea on Saturday. The home team scrapped hard for every morsel tossed their way – and got a great juicy bone when John Terry provided an own goal - while Chelsea were casual, profligate and weak. Towards the end, when a point would have made a big difference, Fernando Torres hit a lob yards over the cross bar with the goal at his mercy. This was bad Chelsea. [caption id=“attachment_1458473” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Liverpool’s manager Brendan Rodgers, second right, hugs Luis Suarez as he celebrates with his players after their 4-0 win against Tottenham. AP[/caption] Even Eden Hazard, the best Blues player of the season and usually someone who can be relied on to torment the weaker sides, spent long periods of the game as a peripheral influence. When a couple of chances came his way, they were well saved by Julian Speroni in the Villa goal. Chelsea’s midfield diamond, with Frank Lampard operating in front of David Luiz and Nemanja Matic, didn’t work either. Lampard looked slow, Luiz was surprised to see Palace midfielders running at him and lost composure, while Matic, such a strong link since joining the side, for once was a little off colour. The absence of Ramires through suspension was deeply felt. If this is as bad as Chelsea can sink between now and the end of the season, then maybe they are not out of the title race yet. And yet, the signs are not entirely positive. Unlike Manchester City and Liverpool, their only rivals for the main prize, Chelsea have to think about balancing resources for a second competition, the Champions League. Also, the question-mark with them since the very start of the campaign has been that absence of a heavy-scoring centre-forward who demands selection in every game. Jose Mourinho did very well to manage that weakness for such a long time but the problem hasn’t gone away. Manchester City had their chance to go top, for at least 24 hours, when visiting an Arsenal side who have looked particularly fragile in the last few weeks. However City had to settle for a draw, only their fourth of the season, when David Silva’s instinctive first-half strike was cancelled out by Mathieu Flamini’s accurate drive from a Lukas Podolski cross. Arsenal produced a much more spirited effort than might have been the case, and yet the failure to win this game effectively ends their lingering title challenge. They are not even certain to finish fourth as Everton have gone on a run of wins and will keep snapping away behind them. As much as there were strong individual displays from Arsenal – Tomas Rosicky the stand-out – there were also some weak ones, with Olivier Giroud neither able to retain possession up front nor able to carve out a chance. As for City, Edin Dzeko, following some strong performances during the injury-enforced absence of Sergio Aguero, was not as sharp as he can be. If City are to reclaim the title they lost to United last season, they might need Aguero back sooner rather than later. Among Manuel Pellegrini’s most important decisions in the next week or so is assessing just when his fellow South American is ready to roll again. The failures of either Chelsea or City to win their games played neatly into Liverpool’s hands – and at Anfield on Sunday Brendan Rodgers’ men were at their irresistible best. You could freely dish out superlatives to describe their 4-0 win over Tottenham; the pace, movement, self-belief and work rate were of a very high level indeed. Luis Suarez scored his 29th league goal of the season with a left-footed drive across Hugo Lloris following one of a catalogue of Tottenham errors. Suarez needs just three more goals to set a Premier League record in campaigns featuring 38 games in all. Not bad considering he was banned for the first six games. In truth, an out-of-form, disjointed Tottenham were probably going to be one of Liverpool’s easier opponents in the final part of the season. However any Chelsea or City play watching the skilful finesse of Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling – those two had particularly strong games – may have felt slightly uncomfortable ahead of their respective trips to Anfield. Liverpool are on top for the first time since Christmas Day. Rodgers has already guaranteed Champions League football and has assembled a terrific squad. But why wait until next season? Unexpectedly, this famous club is scenting a first Championship since 1990 and if the players’ level doesn’t drop through a fear of failure, that title could surely come their way.