Liverpool become genuine title contenders for EPL

With eight wins and two draws in their last 10 Premier League matches, the good ship Liverpool has a favourable wind filling her sails as she sets course for the end of the season.

The latest success, a routine 3-0 defeat of Manchester United at Old Trafford – is it cheeky or presumptuous to write those words? – moves them to within four points of the summit where Chelsea’s lead is given added vulnerability considering Liverpool hold a game in hand over the Blues.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have returned to favouritism after beating Hull away on the same day Chelsea lost at Aston Villa. City are six points behind with three games in hand. Arsenal are rated 16-1 fourth favourites with the bookmakers after winning the north London derby this weekend. They have an identical record to Liverpool at the movement, but would probably need to win at Stamford Bridge next weekend to be considered more than a plucky outside chance at this late stage.

It’s the success of Liverpool that has had the cognoscenti purring of late. Defensively, there have been some hair-raising moments for the Anfield club and its supporters. They conceded three goals to both Stoke and Swansea and two to Fulham in recent weeks, but on all three occasions the unrivalled firepower they possess up front was able to force victory.

Importantly, in their last two league games they have kept clean sheets, with Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel the preferred centre-back pairing each time, while Glen Johnson and Jon Flanagan operate on the flanks. Brendan Rodgers must surely stick with that arrangement for the rest of the season, barring injury, because when others have plugged the gaps too many basic errors have ensued – and yes, we’re probably looking at you, Kolo Toure.

Everyone knows how outstanding Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez have been, but against an impotent United they could afford to be ever so slightly off colour. Liverpool’s best player against United was Steven Gerrard, showing remarkable high-octane energy for a 33-year-old with interceptions, tackles, ever reliable passing and two penalties. He could even afford to miss a third spot-kick late in the game. Jordan Henderson has improved immeasurably this season and had another strong game, while Liverpool could afford to leave out Philippe Coutinho from the starting line-up and still have all the creative impact they could wish for.

The less said about United the better, though if you want to single individuals out for criticism, then Nemanja Vidic, Marouane Fellaini and Robin van Persie appeared to be taking part in some secret competition over who could be the least effective.

Tottenham Hotspur have had a rocky season and currently appear to be in a particularly bad way. The fans are unhappy with Tim Sherwood’s managerial capabilities and the last thing this faltering side needed was to concede an early goal to a wonder strike from Tomas Rosicky – the ball dropping into the Czech’s path with an element of good fortune before he rifled his shot across Higo Lloris and inside the far post. Spurs played quite well at times, dominating possession and getting more shots in than their opponents, but too many attacks were based on gentle high crosses into the box that were easily dealt with by Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.

Manchester City travelled to Hull at the end of a week which had seen them dumped out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League. They seemed to be in significant trouble when Vincent Kompany was sent off on 10 minutes but David Silva, who had an excellent game, neatly curled in a shot from distance soon afterwards for the 10 men of City. Javi Garcia looked like he’d really rather be a centre back than a midfielder any day when forced to drop back after Kompany’s dismissal, and this was an important three points for City.

Chelsea’s defeat, their first in the League since early December, was unfortunate in some respects. The game’s only goal came after Willian had been sent off after a second yellow card that did not look like it deserved a booking. Villa scored when Fabian Delph demonstrated a clever bit of skill to steer a shot beyond the grasp of Petr Cech even though the ball was essentially behind the English midfielder when it arrived.

Chelsea were very unimaginative at times - it didn’t help that Eden Hazard was kept closely shackled – and Fernando Torres fired all five of his shots off target. Moments before the final whistle, there was a really bad red-card challenge by Ramires on Karim El Ahmadi that may warrant more than a mandatory three-match ban for the Brazilian.