Fergie’s Bday squandered, Chelsea show lack of class, and City’s last second woe. Title Still in the hunt for all.

Manchester City threw away their chance to extend their lead in the Barclay’s Premier League. Their noisy neighbors Manchester United also failed to grab success at home and remains tied in 1st place but 2nd in goal difference. Chelsea lost their place in the top four with their unimpressive loss to Aston Villa at home.

Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson turned 70 years of age on Saturday and was hoping for a wonder present; to go into 2012 on top of the Premier League table but Blackburn had other intentions. Christopher Samba has been a tremendous signing for the Black Cats and showed instant dividends as he was pulled down in the penalty box by Dimitar Berbatov early on in the match, and a well taken penalty by Yakubu gave Blackburn a crucial lead. United have proven throughout the years to be deadly in the second half ,especially at home, but in the 51st minute a mistake in the back was costly as Yakubu was set free and scored his second of the match. Berbatov however redeemed himself for his prior penalty screw up a minute later by cutting Blackburn’s lead in half with an unexpected header. United looked set to make the comeback ten minutes later as Dimitar Berbatov was on the mark again scoring his second of the match. However a goalkeeping error by United keeper David De Gea allowed youngster Grant Hanley to net the winning strike. This is United’s second loss in the Premier League and Sir Alex Ferguson hopes to bounce back from this New Years Eve catastrophe. It is also said from Sir Ferg that he will not be active in the January Transfer, we will see how this effects Manchester United in the second half of the season.

Struggling Chelsea had high hopes to improve themselves to start 2012 against resurging Aston Villa. Didier Drogba gave Chelsea the lead by netting his 150^th goal for the club with his 23^rd minute penalty. Not long after Steven Ireland scored his first goal in Aston Villa colors to level the scoreline at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea gave a hard fought effort to go on and win; Fernando Torres had one solid strike of the night, hammering one of the crossbar from distance. Aston Villa’s resilience however allowed Stilian Petrov to break through Chelsea’s defense and double Villa’s lead. Darren Bent made his return for Villa from a recent thigh injury and showed how valuable he is. Frank Lampard gave the ball to Villa’s Steven Ireland with a flimsy pass and Irelands selflessness allowed Bent to put the nail in the Blue’s coffin. Chelsea hasn’t won since their shock win against Manchester City three weeks ago. Blue’s manager Andre Villas-Boas is certain he doesn’t need to change his structure and has full backing from their billionaire Russian owner. Chelsea is set to play Wolverhampton on Monday, 2 days after the loss against Villa.

With all the New Year’s Eve craziness, one would think Manchester City would cruise to expand their lead at the top to 3 points away to Sunderland. New Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill had a serious test against the league leaders. There were chances few and far between for both clubs. The real game started in the last ten minutes, both teams gave 120% of what energy they had left to net home the winning goal. Micah Richards close range header was denied by the crossbar deep into the final stages of the match, however Sunderland’s spirit gave them the upper edge and a counter saw South Korean international and substitute Ji Dong Wong score the winning goal with literally no time for Manchester City to respond, let alone start play. The whistle blew and Manchester City experienced their second loss of the season within a span of a month. City manager Roberto Mancini keeps everyone informed that Manchester City will stay strong and conquer through tough times and be resilient enough to win the Premier title. Maybe its City’s clash against Liverpool on Tuesday that had Mancini rest his powerhouse and in form Mario Balotelli but we will see on Tuesday if that plan worked out.

With the January transfer starting up, and the second half of the Barclay’s Premier League season, its exciting to think what drama, controversy and glory will come from the 20 best teams in England.