And so just when it looked like the destination of the Premier League Title had all but been decided for another year, the season took another of its unexpected twists.

United's draw with Blackburn last weekend, coming hot on the heels of their reverse at home to Chelsea, seemed to all but hand the title to Chelsea. After this weekend's results the race is back on.

United went into the derby knowing anything other than a win would effectively signal an end to their title defence. Chelsea surely fancied City to do them a favour. After all, for City this was more than just a derby. It was a chance to put a marker down in terms of their intentions over the coming years and more importantly to continue their assault on the much coveted fourth place. What followed was a limp performance from City, so out of character with the verve and goal scoring prowess of recent weeks. While United hardly had it all their own way and again struggled to create the chances that one has come to expect from them, they managed to steal the points at the death, with Paul Scholes rolling back the years and reminding us of his stealth like ability to ghost into the opposition box unmarked. United edged the contest and therefore probably just about deserved the victory. From City's point of view there will be much disappointment both in terms of the display and the result. Paul Scholes dominated the match and was at his imperious best. However, this a sad indictment of Manchester City - allowing a player who is likely one year away from retirement to dominate a derby in your stadium is a sad reflection of your performance.

As for Chelsea - well it wasn't long ago that their fans referred to White Hart Lane as 'Three Point Lane' such was their dominace at that venue. Not so anymore. They were out of sorts on Saturday evening, and in truth faced a Tottenham team clearly still invigorated following a fabulous midweek result against Arsenal. John Terry had the kind of game defenders dread, and finally gave away a penalty that has been coming for a couple of matches. The red card he eventually received came as no great surprise. While Lampard gave them hope late on, the reality is Tottenham would have been more than two clear at that stage but for some woeful finishing.

Arsenal were involved in the most dramatic game of the weekend - a game which served to highlight their Jekyll and Hyde character. One moment they can pass teams off the park, the next concede goals where there appears little danger. They combined both against Wigan. First strolling to a two goal lead before capitulating in the final ten minutes in the manner of a team attempting to stave off relegation rather than hunting the title. That title hunt can now be called off. They have been written off on numerous occasions this season and each time regrouped and rebounded with a revived assault on the title. After two defeats in a matter of days, the championship is surely off the agenda for another year. In fairness to Arsenal, one wonders where they would be if their relentless injury list was to ease up, even momentarily (though it is hard to escape the possibility that Arsene Wenger, with his infamous desire to curb spending a much as possible, buys good players at low prices who simply tend to be more injury prone than new signings should be). Oh well, so much for Arsenal having the easiest run in of the contenders.

It is hard to call this title race, and indeed is almost foolhardy to attempt to do so given the way the season has gone. However, with United still to travel to Sunderland and next week having to face an in form Spurs, and with Chelsea still to play Liverpool, there is a good chance more points will be dropped before a winner is crowned.