They may be competing for the consolation prize of a place in the Champions League rather than the title, but Sunday's match at Anfield surely settled one of this season’s enduring arguments. Manchester United are better than Liverpool.
The league table does not lie and neither do results. Both clubs spent heavily last summer, both teams were rebuilt, but it is Manchester United who have emerged as the stronger of the two.
Not only has Louis van Gaal won his first two games against Liverpool as United manager, the Red Devils are now five points clear of their bitter rivals in the table. Brendan Rodgers’ side are not as good as they were with Luis Suarez in the team, United have got better since Van Gaal replaced David Moyes. It feels like the end of the argument for this season at least. Luke Edwards
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Costa remains a magnet for trouble
Diego Costa’s dodgy left hamstring may have saved the Chelsea forward from another unwanted disciplinary meltdown at Hull.
The £32m forward, who took his season goal haul to twenty with his first-half strike at the KC Stadium, will rightly be credited as being one of the cornerstones of Chelsea’s likely title success this season.
Alex Bruce (left) was on the receiving end of Diego Costa's temper on Sunday
But he is also in danger of becoming a liability for Jose Mourinho’s team unless he learns how to blank out the attempts of opponents to rile him and force him to boil over.
Great players should leave their superior quality to do the talking when faced with physical intimidation.
When they allow themselves to react and retaliate to over-zealous challenges, the opponent has won and done his job.
Costa lashed out twice against Hull, with Alex Bruce and Jake Livermore on the receiving end of the Spaniard’s temper.
With Bruce, Costa reacted angrily to a heavy challenge from behind and unloaded a verbal volley to the assistant referee, while Livermore received an upper-arm to the chin after shoving the Chelsea forward in the penalty area.
Liverpool riled Costa in the Capital One Cup semi-final and David Luiz did the same during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory against Chelsea recently.
Every time Costa reacts, he loses his focus and justifies the opposition’s efforts to wind him up.
But the danger for Chelsea is that it will not only continue, but that opponents will step up their attempts to get Costa booked or sent off.
Had he stayed on for a further fifteen minutes at Hull, rather than succumb to injury, Costa may have lashed out again and paid a heavy price.
But unless he learns to keep his temper in check, Costa will be a magnet for trouble again and again. Mark Ogden
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Allardyce in strong position as results speak volumes
If West Ham decide to dispense with the services of Sam Allardyce, they will deeply regret it. Allardyce is yet to sign a new contract to replace the one that expires at the end of the season, and while there has been no contact between him and Sunderland, there is nothing to stop someone coming in and pinching the manager who has led West Ham to their longest run of success in 15 years.
Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, has worked wonders this season
Not since the last century have West Ham spent three consecutive seasons outside the Premier League's bottom six, as looks almost certain to happen again this season. The hard-fought 1-0 win over Sunderland was a rejoinder to those who feel West Ham switched off after the New Year with safety already secured. And while Allardyce teams are occasionally susceptible to sudden and inexplicable cold spells, it would be short-term thinking of the most egregious order to allow him to leave this summer.
“At the end of the season we will look at the squad and say it is capable of this but not able to sustain that and if we get more players in which we have to do to build the club and grow and make sure we sustain the growth we are achieving at this point in time,” Allardyce said after the 1-0 win over Sunderland. Don't bother trying to make sense of it - it's complete gibberish. But while Allardyce may not be the most eloquent of speakers, he could scarcely have done a better job on the pitch this season. With a move to the Olympic Stadium imminent, Allardyce deserves a chance to take West Ham to the next level.
Doubtless Allardyce, his bargaining position much improved since this time last year, will demand significant transfer funds to turn West Ham into a regular top-eight club. And there remain mumblings over the style of football (actually: not that bad) and his failure to nurture the academy. But surely it is no coincidence that every single club to have sacked Allardyce in the last two decades has ended up getting relegated within a handful of seasons. West Ham should look before they leap. Jonathan Liew
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Look at what you could have won... maybe
Newcastle United were 10 points clear of Crystal Palace when Alan Pardew quit to become the manager at Selhurst Park at the start of the year. The Magpies’ record in all competitions since, with the team under the control of his former assistant John Carver, is two wins, three draws and seven defeats. That’s nine points from a possible 33 in the league and Palace now sit above them in the standings.
There are those who will counter that stat with the view Newcastle’s season would have drifted just as badly had Pardew remained. After all, it did last season, and the season before that and the Magpies lost five of Pardew’s final eight games as manager.
Alan Pardew has enjoyed a decent run of results since his move to Crystal Palace
However, no matter how he is perceived on Tyneside after four years as manager, Pardew has done a tremendous job at Palace.
Pardew has won eight of his 13 games, with one draw and four defeats. Palace have collected 22 points in the league, not only banishing relegation fears, but also moving above Newcastle in the table. Vindication, retribution or just satisfaction? Pardew probably feels a little of all three
He should be pleased with himself. The 53-year-old was never as bad a manager as he was painted at Newcastle, but he presided over some miserable periods during his time at St James’ Park. In the end, the bad runs were longer than the good ones, particularly in his final two years.
In fact, Newcastle were quite capable of going on the sort of run Palace are enjoying at the moment. They won six games on the trot earlier this season, yet had to wait until October to register their first win.
It should never be forgotten that Newcastle finished fifth in Pardew’s first full season. It should also be remembered they finished fifth from bottom the following year. The highs were always followed by a low and exhausted his goodwill reserves.
Palace are delighted with the transformation Pardew has masterminded. He has done exactly what they wanted and, with the right financial backing in the summer, they could be a force to be reckoned with in all three domestic competitions next season.
Without Pardew, Palace may well have gone down. Without him, Newcastle are still stuck in the same rut. Luke Edwards
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Fernandes needs to get the balance right
The one thing Queens Park Rangers have going for them is that they have committed owners with seemingly deep pockets. With another relegation looming on top of a Football League fine that could potentially total more than £50 million, their very survival would be in doubt if that were not the case. What it does not mask, however, is the spectacular failure to translate investment into football results.
QPR are often likened to Portsmouth of a few years ago but that is a false comparison on many levels, not least because of the willingness of QPR’s owners to pay off huge loans. Yet it is also a little unfair on Portsmouth. For when they overspent their natural income by vast amounts in order to support the wage-bill, they at least had something to show for it on the pitch. They won the FA Cup and twice finished in the top half of the Premier League table. It was only when the investment stopped that they began their slide down the table and into administration.
Tony Fernandes, the owner of Championship-bound QPR, says club are 'on the right track'
QPR by contrast are on course for a second relegation in three seasons despite accounts over the lost two years that reveal what we might call ‘real’ losses (discounting owner equity) of more than £130 million above their natural turnover. It points to extraordinary poor decision-making in the investment of players. It was, then, both heartening and worrying to read the programme notes of Tony Fernandes before Sunday’s match against Everton. He explained why the owners “firmly believe we are on the right track” in terms of their long-term plans and spoke out against short-termism in football.
Leaving aside the fact that it is hard to think of a better example over the past few years of “short-termism” going wrong than QPR, the worry now is that there could be an over-emphasis on the long-term. On one level that is admirable but, after Harry Redknapp resigned, maybe this was the moment for some short-termism in the appointment of a manager with the best chance of averting relegation. Instead Chris Ramsey has come into his first job in management and delivered a predictably underwhelming set of results, if not performances. The best clubs have a structure that is both short and long term.
The two are not mutually incompatible if everybody understands their own roles. A club can be long-term in the strategies, planning, youth development and approach to the transfer market but utterly short-term in the day-to-day ethos of the first team. Striking that balance is QPR’s challenge now. The commitment and wealth of the owners will at least mean they have further opportunity to finally get it right. Jeremy Wilson
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Leicester pay penalty for poor defending
Rather than direct his anger at referee Mike Dean, Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson would do well to speak to David Nugent about his defending.
Dean's decision to award Tottenham Hotspur a penalty may have been dubious, but it was certainly no worse than Nugent's inability to clear the danger inside his own area before clashing with Danny Rose.
David Nugent takes down Danny Rose in the Leicester area
Had Nugent done his job properly, then Dean would not have had a decision to make. Pearson may well feel the official cost his side at least a valuable point, but in reality his own player was the man most at fault.
Quite why Pearson felt it necessary to launch a personal attack on Dean is a mystery, particularly as he then got angry when quizzed about it.
Leicester have displayed many admirable qualities in the Premier League this season, while Pearson is clearly a capable manager and coach.
But his bizarre behaviour often deflects from his team's performances and the real issues that have resulted in Leicester being rooted to the bottom of the table.
Nugent must learn from Saturday's penalty incident and Pearson needs to address his team's problems instead of picking petty battles. Matt Law
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Reality bites for Sherwood after Swansea defeat
The soundtrack of the season returned at Villa Park on Saturday, leaving Tim Sherwood under no illusions that he remains in deep trouble.
After the euphoria of reaching an FA Cup semi-final and thrashing Sunderland it was a return to the bad old days against Swansea and the boos at the end of each half told Sherwood everything he needed to know.
Tim Sherwood, the Aston Villa manager, had to endure boos from the home crowd
While he spoke of the lift in morale, and the "depression mode" which he inherited from Paul Lambert, this was remarkably similar to the dour home performances which ultimately cost his predecessor.
Villa now have eight games to save their Premier League skins with all their opponents, barring possibly West Ham United, needing positive results to boost their own objectives.
Manchester United, QPR, Tottenham and Manchester City will face them in April, along with the semi-final at Wembley, and Sherwood is now facing make-or-break time.
This is where we will truly discover whether he is the real deal or not. For all the talk of win ratios at Spurs, it is the next two months that will leave the biggest impact on his CV. John Percy
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Off the ball, by Alan Tyers
The Greatest League In The World TM – but what is it made up of?
Salesman of the week
Pele will stop at nothing in his quest to bring foot-longs to the world, and was earning every penny of his retainer from sandwich chain Subway during an Anfield appearance.
The great man was wearing a green and yellow tie in the company’s brand colours, and showed his legendary commitment to making a buck by wearing not one but two lapel pins. Would Maradona be so accommodating? No chance.
Spot the missing word round
Here’s Steven Gerrard’s apology in full. “I need to accept it, the decision was right. I've let down my team-mates and the supporters. I take full responsibility. I've been in the game long enough when you do something like that. I take full responsibility. I don't know what caused it. I don't know. Probably just a reaction to the initial tackle. I shouldn't say more about it really, I've just come out here to apologise to the dressing room and supporters.” Yes, the missing word is: Herrera.
Quote of the weekend
Gary Neville on being unable to control the emotions of playing in a major derby as a local player “Too much love will kill you sometimes.”
Made-up number of the week
38 – minutes it took everyone to stop laughing at poor Steven Gerrard.
Heatmap of the weekend
Twitter football account @GeniusFootball, and others, supplied the Gerrard heatmap.
Jose Mourinho hater of the week
Always one of our most hotly contested categories, but a special award to actor Viggo Mortensen, best known as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films. “There’s a real character whom I loathe but find entertaining — Jose Mourinho, the coach of Chelsea. I like Real Madrid, and when Mourinho coached them, he basically destroyed the team psychologically. The damage he did to the fan base and the whole structure of the club will last for a while.” Get in, line Viggo. Other people hated him first.
Oddest sense of satisfaction of the weekend
“This was probably the most satisfying win since I arrived at Everton” – for some reason, beating relegation-headed QPR by a single goal was Roberto Martinez’s highlight as the Toffees’ boss.
Tweet of the weekend
– Gary Lineker had caught Six Nations fever on Saturday as one of his successors in the Spurs front line ran riot again.
Picture of the week
From Milan, where AC supporters are unhappy about the way their once-great club is being run. A large number decided to boycott Saturday’s game against Cagliari, displaying instead this banner. And nice that it was helpfully in English.
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