Last weekend, a couple of Premier League matches in England were marred with controversial decisions made by referees.
The biggest turmoil, perhaps, emerged from Stamford Bridge where Chelsea lost to Manchester United 3-2.
Chelsea were reduced to nine men following the dismissals of Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres before Javier Hernandez scored United’s winner from an offside position 15 minutes from time.
On top of that, referee Mark Clattenburg has this week been accused by Chelsea of using a ‘racial slur’ against one of their players.
In last Sunday’s Everton-Liverpool derby more controversy cropped up as the visitors were denied what looked to be a regular goal late on with the score standing at 2-2.
At the death, Luis Suarez hit the ball home but the goal was ruled out despite the Liverpool striker being onside.
Some contend that the English game is slowly sinking in the mire of other nations in the continent where games are spoiled by such refereeing blunders.
Chelsea now lead the standings by a mere point. Today, they travel to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea, looking to relaunch their championship bid after forfeiting their undefeated record at home and in Europe.
Swansea played their hearts out at Manchester City in their last league outing but in the end Carlos Tevez dashed their hopes.
In midweek, Swansea won at Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup and now play Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, United take on Arsenal at Old Trafford in today’s early kick-off.
Alex Ferguson was a delighted man last weekend to have ended a ten-year wait for a win at Chelsea. United won all their five matches in October bar Wed-nesday’s League Cup clash at Chelsea which the latter sealed in extra-time.
Robin van Persie is contributing heavily to United’s cause but today he faces his former team as the Gunners returned to winning ways after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and in the Champions League.
Van Persie scored 96 Premier League goals for Arsenal during eight years at the London club.
The Netherlands striker, 29, has scored seven times in his first nine league outings since completing a £24 million move from Arsenal to Manchester three months ago.
Van Persie’s presence in the United line-up will provide Arsene Wenger with a painful reminder of the Gunners’ failure to hold on to their biggest stars in recent years.
The Gunners, seven points behind Chelsea, had Jack Wilshire back on the field after a lengthy lay-off in their 1-0 win over QPR.
On Tuesday, Arsenal beat Reading in a high-scoring League Cup clash which saw the Gunners hitting back from four goals down to win 7-5.
Manchester City are struggling to win matches this season as happened their last time out against Swansea. The Citizens captain Vincent Kompany, who leads his side out at West Ham this evening, described reports of a dressing-room rift as ‘pure sensationalism, nothing more’.
West Ham have lost twice in their last four league matches and are still waiting for striker Andy Carroll to break his duck.
After the tense derby against Liverpool, Everton travel to London to play Fulham.
David Moyes, who had a go at skipper Phil Neville for the dive that cost him a booking, was glad to watch his side come back from 0-2 down against the Reds.
Liverpool cross swords with Newcastle at Anfield tomorrow.
Magpies manager Alan Pardew has high hopes that Papiss Cisse’s fluke goal, his first of the season, would give him the boost needed for more to come.
At White Hart Lane, Tottenham host Wigan in a bid to preserve their streak of only two upsets in 13 league and cup matches.
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas was pleased by his team’s character in a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Southampton as Gareth Bale’s return proved fruitful against his first love.
Fixtures and forecast
Premier League
Fulham-Everton X
Man. United-Arsenal (13:45) X
Norwich City-Stoke City X
Sunderland-Aston Villa 1
Swansea-Chelsea 2
Tottenham-Wigan 1
West Ham-Man. City (18:30) 2
Tomorrow:
Liverpool-Newcastle (17:00) 1
QPR-Reading (14:30) X
Monday:
WBA-Southampton (21:00)1
Standings: Chelsea 22; Man. United, Man. City 21; Tottenham 17; Everton 16; Arsenal 15; Fulham, West Brom, West Ham 14; Newcastle 13; Swan-sea 11; Liverpool 10; Stoke, Sunder-land 9; Wigan 8; Norwich 7; Aston Villa 6; Reading, S’ampton 4; QPR 3.
The Championship
Birmingham-Ipswich 1
Bolton-Cardiff (18:20) X
Burnley-Wolves X
Charlton-M’boro X
C. Palace-Blackburn X
Derby-Blackpool X
Huddersfield-Bristol City 1
Hull City-Barnsley 1
Nottm Forest-Millwall 1
Sheff. Wed.-Peterborough 1
Watford-Leicester 2
Fa Cup First Round
AFC Fylde-Accrington 2
Aldershot-Hendon 1
Barnet-Oxford UnitedX
Bishop’s Stortford-Hastings 1
Boreham Wood-Brentford 2
Bournemouth-Dagenham 1
Bristol Rovers-Sheff. Utd 2
Bury-Exeter City 1
Carlisle-Ebbsfleet 1
Chelmsford-Colchester 2
Cheltenham-Yate 1
Chesterfield-Hartlepool X
Coventry-Arlesey 1
Crewe-Wycombe 1
Doncaster-Bradford Park 1
Fleetwood-Bromley 1
Forest Green-Port Vale X
Gillingham-Scunthorpe 1
Guiseley-Barrow X
Hereford-Shrewsbury 2
Kidderminster-Oldham 2
Lincoln-Walsall 2
Luton-Nuneaton 1
Mansfield-Slough 1
Metro Police-Crawley 2
Morecambe-Rochdale X
Northampton-Bradford City X
Portsmouth-Notts County X
Preston-Yeovil 1
Rotherham-Stevenage X
Southend-Stockport 1
Swindon-Macclesfield 1
Wrexham-Alfreton 1
York-AFC Wimbledon 1
Tomorrow:
Braintree-Tranmere (13:30) 2
Burton-Altrincham (16:00) 1
Dorchester-Plymouth (17:30) X
Gloucester-L. Orient (16:00) 2
Hot Four: Sunderland, Tottenham, Huddersfield, Sheff. Wed.