As things stand the Londoners have the advantage with a one point lead over the Red Devils but any slip up by either side could hand the title to the other. Chelsea will be playing host to Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge while Manchester United will be playing Stoke at Old Trafford. As the Premiership title will be decided by the outcome of these two games the results will not just be of interest to supporters of the Chelsea and Man U but to footie fans all over the country. According to the football betting sites Chelsea are 1/12 odds on favourites to win the Premier League outright while the odds on Manchester United are 7/1.

Chelsea look to have the easier task. With just one game left a win against the Latics would secure the Blues their first league title since 2006. They win the game they win the title. But you can bet that Wigan would like nothing better than to end the season on a high note with a victory. Let?s not forget that the Latics beat Chelsea earlier this season so an upset is not impossible. Whether that hope is realistic is a matter of debate – Wigan Manager Roberto Martinez admits that it is a huge challenge for any team to go to Stamford Bridge and win. The online betting websites are offering odds of 20/1 on Wigan winning and 7/1 on a draw. If Chelsea draw against Wigan and United win against Stoke then the title would go to Manchester.

Of course Sir Alex and company will be hoping for that Wigan can get a result at Stamford Bridge. United are 1/9 favourites to beat Stoke on Sunday and the odds on a draw are 7/1. If the Red Devils do win and and Chelsea draw or lose United will shatter another long-standing record by winning a fourth straight Championship title. Winning an English Championship for the nineteenth time would also be another incredible record and a remarkable achievement.

As an impartial observer, I wouldn?t mind betting that many football fans would rather see the Blues win the title this year and break the single club stranglehold that Manchester United have had in recent years. It probably would be healthier for English football and for the Premiership in particular.

1) Fernando Torres was injured and did not play, and is a question make for the next match?

2) Glen Johnson was also injured and did not play. Question marks are also being raised as to whether he will be fit for the next game?

3) Steven Gerard hobbled off injured in the first half is very much doubtful for their following league match!!!

Their next Premiership match is on Sunday against the reigning champions, Manchester United, which should by a good test of their already faltering title bid. My advice to Fantasy Premiership Managers would be to bench or sell all your Liverpool players for the forthcoming game week.

Arsenal also ended up conceding an injury time goal. They ended up drawing their Champions league match 1-1. They played the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in Holland and enjoyed the majority of possession in a very one-sided match. The home team?s lack of chances on goal will only infuriate Arsene Wenger for all his teams wasted chances in front of goal.

Player of the season so far ? Cesc Fabragas scored the only goal and continues to be my choice for must have player for all Fantasy Managers this season. Another interesting fact was that, although their first choice goalkeeper, Manuel Almunia was fit to play, but Arsene Wenger continued to play the Italian – Vito Mannone in goal. If this continues from now on, managers could have a choice of a cheap goalkeeper from a ?top four? team who has the potential to score a lot of points for them!

Sir Alex Ferguson decided to rest several key players for the weekends match against Liverpool and took a depleted squad to Moscow to play CSKA Moscow last night. They won the game 1-0 with Antonio Valencia scoring the only goal with 4 minutes remaining on the clock. The two players that stood out in this game where Nani and Fabio, but there is no guarantee that they will be playing against Liverpool on the weekend, as Rooney, Giggs, Fletcher, Park and Ferdinand are all set to return. Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney are my picks for the forthcoming weekend, as they have been the standout players for Manchester United this season

Chelsea?s home game against Athletico Madrid ended in a 4-0 home win for the Premiership team. They where without the suspended Didier Drogba, and played with Salomon Kalou upfront. This paid off as he scored a goal in each half. Frank Lampard also scored a goal, which ended his 10 game goal drought. On the upcoming game week, Liverpool play Manchester United and Arsenal are away from home at Upton Park, which are both tricky games for the rest of the top four. With a home game against Blackburn Rovers on the upcoming weekend, my choice of captain would be from the Chelsea squad. In fact it would be Didier Drogba as he was suspended for their Champions League match, which means he would have been sufficiently rested. He currently is the second ranked player in the league, with 71 points, which is 1 point behind the leader ? Cesc Fabragas. Also with Chelsea having lost last weekend at Aston Villa, they would be desperate to make up for this.

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Hardly implausible: Arsenal bombing Blackburn

The Gunners are really playing in top gear both in the Premiership and in the Champions League at the moment. In fact, it was only because of a stellar performance from Antonis Nikopolidis in the midweek clash that Olympiacos did not go down by a bigger margin than 2-0. With Arsene Wenger set to celebrate his 13th anniversary as the Gunners? manager, it would only be fitting if the players tried their utmost to defeat Blackburn this weekend in emphatic style.

A big plus here is that Arsenal did not have to travel for their Champions League encounter. Moreover, their match with Rovers is scheduled for Sunday, giving them an extra day to prepare. With Robin van Persie on a hot streak at the moment, he is a fantastic choice for the captaincy. Another solid pick for captain from this match would have to be Thomas Vermaelen.

Out on a limb: Everton spraying Stoke City

Everton have finally hit their stride this season and are playing solid football both defensively and in attack. Stoke City, on the other hand, have gone in the other direction since the beginning of the season and are primed for another losing effort. Stoke?s worst loss to date has been at the hands of Liverpool, when they went down 4-0. Everton manager David Moyes will surely be looking at that result and challenging the Toffees to outdo the Reds.

The fact of the matter is that Everton can play some terrific football on their day, especially at home, which is why they are occasionally talked about as being on the fringes of the Top Four. Look for that talk to resurface after they put in another superb performance this weekend. Also look for this superb play to start from the front, making Louis Saha an excellent choice for captain if you have him.

Hardly implausible: Arsenal dissecting Wigan

Buoyed by coming from behind to win 3-2 in their UEFA Champions League fixture midweek, Arsenal will be looking to keep the momentum going at home to Wigan. This is especially true if they wish to return to Champions League play next season. Whether or not Almunia, who had to sit out the midweek clash because of a chest infection, plays, the Gunners should be more settled in defence at home, leaving them to focus for a large part of the match on their strength ? attack.

With Wigan having let in 5 to Man U not too long ago, there should be little hesitation in bringing your attacking Arsenal players into the line-up. And with a lot of uncertainty as to who will prevail in the week?s two most important fixtures (Man U Vs Man City & Chelsea Vs Tottenham), give Arsenal playmaker Cesc Fabregas strong consideration for the role of captain if you have him.

Out on a limb: Bolton demolishing Stoke City

Stoke City travel to Bolton on the back of another cruel defeat to Chelsea, the second successive time in the premier league that they?ve lost 2-1 to the Blues after opening the scoring. However, unlike last year?s defeat, when Chelsea scored 2 goals in the final minutes, the writing was on the wall in this one as soon as Thomas Sorensen had to be substituted in the first half. Sorensen, however, hopes to be in goal for this match. If he does play, he may not be 100%. And if he doesn?t, Steve Simonsen might find himself in goal despite having missed training for part of the week because of an arm infection.

With Bolton scoring 3 last week and looking to climb the table, the timing of this match is perfect. Give players like Gary Cahill, Kevin Davies and Matthew Taylor a run. In fact, with the latter having the opportunity to score from both free kicks and penalties, you could even roll the dice with him as captain ? for this week only of course!

Cesc Fabregas proved to be player of the week, with a tally of 2 goals and 2 assists. The young captain could prove to be a player all managers ‘must have’, if he continues showing this sort of form.

Another player that stood out was their new signing Thomas Vermaelen, who capped his league debut, with a goal. He looked calm and collected at the back and could prove to be a good value buy.

With Arsenal not playing in game week 2, because of their midweek Champions league qualifier against Celtic, it may be worthwhile waiting for the next game week to pick up any Arsenal players.

Their next 3 games see them play Portsmouth, Manchester City and Manchester United which is not the easiest of games, and could be an early indication of their prospective title challenge.

Manchester United’s 1-0 win against Birmingham, was not the most convincing of starts to the season for the reigning champions. Wayne Rooneys goal proved to be enough, as they squandered a plethora of chances, with Darren Fletcher guilty for the worst miss of the game.

Also Sir Alex Ferguson has somewhat of an injury crisis on his hands in his defense right now. Rio Ferdinand will undergo a scan today to assess the extent of a thigh injury that may rule him out of England’s World Cup qualifying match against Croatia next month.

With Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic and Rafael Da Silva already injured and Jonny Evans limping off with a slight groin problem in the closing stages of yesterday’s match, Ferguson is concerned that United’s resources are being stretched and that a new signing may be necessary.

He has identified Ryan Shawcross, the Stoke City defender, as a possible solution.

Shawcross, 21, began his career with United, graduating from the club’s youth academy, before leaving Old Trafford for Stoke in an initial ?1 million deal in January 2008.

Stoke would be reluctant to sell Shawcross, whose value to them has increased with the number of goals he has scored from set-pieces, but United insisted on a buy-back clause in the deal that took him to the Britannia Stadium. He would be a cheap buy in the Fantasy League, and having already scored in game week 1 could be an ideal budget defender for your team.

Birmingham also looked well organized and could well have stole some points had Christian Benitez’s shot not been brilliantly saved by Ben Foster. With Portsmouth, Stoke and Spurs the next 3 teams to face Birmingham, a Birmingham defender could be a good value buy now. Also Benitez looked a quality player, and will no doubt trouble a lot of defenses this season. He could well pick up a descent amount of points as a budget striker on your fantasy team.

Liverpool had the worst start of the ‘top four’, when they lost to Spurs at White Hart Lane. The loss of Xabi Alonso has certainly weakened the team as they failed to pick up any points. Spurs spurned a lot of chances in front of goal, especially Robbie Keane, and where in control of the game for the majority of the ninety minutes.

Luca Modric could prove to be a good signing as he was very much the ‘creator’ player for Spurs, and earned an assist for Sebastien Bassong headed set play goal. Bassong also looked a quality player and could be an ideal low price defender with Hull, West Ham and Birmingham the next for Spurs over the next couple of weeks.

Who is Thomas Vermaelen?

Meet Thomas Vermaelen.? Arsenal’s latest signing this summer. He’s a left footed central defender who was pretty much in the scheme of things at his former club, Ajax Amsterdam. He started out at a little known Belgian club, Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen, where he was considered a bright prospect. From there, he moved to Ajax in May, 1999 (at the age of 15) when the two clubs merged. He was a part of the Ajax youth ranks for four years, till 2003. It was in February, 2004 that he donned the Ajax first team shirt for the first time.

He made his first team debut in 2004. But he wasn’t a part of the coach’s immediate plans, and was sent on loan to RKC Waalwijk for the 2004-05 season. On returning, however, he really started finding his feet at Ajax. He mostly filled in for injured wing back Maxwell, but he impressed all (including the coach) with his man marking skills, and the fact that he was excellent in the air added significantly to his credentials. He eventually made it to the first team as a regular.

He won the KNVB Cup and Johan Cruijff Shield for two years running with the Amsterdam club, in 2006 and 2007. He partnered the decorated Dutch defender, former Manchester United man Jaap Stam and the veteran saw a lot of promise in the youngster. He predicted big things for Vermaelen. However, the crowning glory of his career with Ajax came when he was appointed the first team captain for the 2008-09 season. But despite his best intentions and efforts, the club couldn’t manage to top the Dutch league, which it has not won for five years now.

Every footballer of substance dreams of playing in the English Premiership, the physically most demanding league in Europe. Vermaelen attracted the attentions of Premiership clubs Aston Villa and Arsenal. In the end he decided to sign with the North Londoners for a fee of around ?12 million. Arsenal’s defensive worries were pretty apparent last season, with the club giving up a commanding position in the league to finish fourth. Given the circumstances, Vermaelen should be a great asset to the club (and that’s exactly what Arsene Wenger seems to think).

What to expect?

Well, considering his stature in Europe, you wouldn’t expect Vermaelen to make a move to the Premiership and just sit on the bench, so I think we can expect him to be a regular member of the first team with Arsenal.

He has scored 8 goals for Ajax (in 94 appearances), and 2 while on loan. So clearly, the man can score too. In terms of Fantasy, I expect him to be a decent buy… with the added benefit of being not too pricey. So you can buy him if you wish to compile a reasonably priced defense.

We can expect good things from Thomas Vermaelen.