Chelsea,Liverpool and Manchester United of late have been experiencing rough patches of late as the critics' picks for yet another "Big Four finish" looks a little wayward.The Blues' struggle in recent times to pick up points against smaller teams is starting to frustrate Italian mastermind Carlo Ancelotti and it showed when Lampard & Co. were held to a 1-1 draw at Upton Park to London rivals West Ham United,with fellow Italian Gianfranco Zola being amongst the happier of people as well as his team grateful for the point,despite in a battle to fight of the fears of being relegated back to the Championship.Manchester United once again failed to pick up the win and,although the Red Devils happily cruised to a 3-0 win over Mick McCarthy's "reserve team" at the Theatre of Dreams,much to the confusement and anger of the fellow fans,United weren't able to beat off a hot-in-form Fulham at Craven Cottage to finish the year level on points with their title rivals.

Outside the ever-present top two,a game that was overshadowed by Chelsea and Manchester United's games against two London clubs in the league,the Gunners' 3-0 victory against Phil Brown's Hull City closes the margin between them and Manchester United.Wenger's "boys" didn't have much trouble putting the goals away against the Tigers as Denilson,Eduardo and Abou Diaby were the scorers.Meanwhile,Aston Villa are still posing a threat on Liverpool's chances on qualifying for Europe,with the Villains coming away with yet another close shave - this time against Stoke City.A header from Norwegian hitman John Carew after the hour mark gave Martin O'Neill's men the points needed to turn up the heat on Arsenal.

As well as that,Tottenham are also fighting for coveted Champions League spot for the 2010/2011 season,and they were able to still make it into the top four with their 2-0 win at Ewood Park against Lancashire club Blackburn Rovers.Paul Robinson once again came up against his former club but was unable to comprehend with goals from his former international team-mate,Peter Crouch,with the towering ex-Liverpool and Portsmouth forward scoring in each of the halves.They now sit in 5th,and if they are able to stay there for the rest of the season,they can qualify for a spot in the newly-made Europa League competition.

Despite their win,Manchester City,the big-spenders,beat off fellow notherners Sunderland in a seven-goal thriller at the Eastlands to just come away with the win.Five goals from the first half,three being from Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz,Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy and two from John Mensah and Jordan Henderson ended the half with five goals to look back over and the second half had an indifferent look to it,with tall target men Kenywne Jones and Paraguayan forward Santa Cruz netting for the second time in the match and pick up the valuable three points.However,the good news were to become a sour taste in the mouth of Mark Hughes,as former Wales and Manchester United forward was sacked by the Arabian Board and replaced by experienced Italian chief,Roberto Mancini.

Elsewhere,Birmingham City's form in the league has rewarded them with a spot just outside of the top six,as last year's crop of promoted teams to the top-flight traveled to Everton's Goodison Park and were able to hold for a 1-1 draw against the Toffees.An early goal from Russian left winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in the fifth minute was to be equalled by former Arsenal youngster Sebastian Larsson in the 22nd.Moyes' Everton and their inability to win games like usual has made them suffer and has now got them wallowing in the bottom half of the table,now scrapping for points in order to see off relegation,a shocking thing to happen if they continue like this.The recent push from Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung and the chance to spend £40million in January gives "Big Eck" a massive opportunity to bolster his squad and become a genuine Premier League club once again in top flight.

And Liverpool's appalling run of late worsened with their trip down south to Portsmouth's Fratton Park ending in a 2-0 defeat for the Reds.Rafa Benitez's L'pool are now sandwiched between Birmingham City and Fulham and should they drop points in their next match,they could find themselves struggling to get out of the bottom half by March time next year in 2010.

All in all,it looks like this season is extremely tight - in both halves of the table.The "We told you so" attitude shown by Arsenal in their 3-0 win over Hull proves they are still good enough to challenge for the title and Manchester City's dreams of Champions League football still look visible,with their new appointment of Roberto Mancini at the helm of the ship,we can expect a surprising end to the season come May.

Merry Christmas everyone and a happy New Year.
Hope to see you guys again soon,
Nick