There was no dropping to the knees in jubilation this time, there was no place in an elite cup final as a reward, nor was there an epic fight-back attempt from the opposition, but on Saturday Avram Grant once again inflicted defeat upon Rafael Benitez.

The Portsmouth boss was at the helm of the Chelsea side which battled to an aggregate 4-3 win over Liverpool in the Champions League semi finals in April 2008 and Grant was the brains behind the Reds’ latest setback in a wretched season as Pompey strolled to a 2-0 win at Fratton Park at the weekend.

Despite not showing the same emotion as he did on that successful night at Stamford Bridge, the win will mean every bit as much as he sets about his task of saving the club from the drop after taking over from Paul Hart late last month.

It was a battle of the Premier League’s two biggest crisis clubs as financial worries and on-field performances have marred both Liverpool’s and Portsmouth’s seasons, with the latter deservedly coming out on top on this occasion.

But it is the former who continue to raise eyebrows throughout the country as there seems no end to Liverpool’s dreadful form, which has seen them lose 7 of their 18 games Premier League games.

Catastrophic, I think, is the best word to describe the job Benitez has done this season and, bearing in mind the club suffered an early Champions League exit this time around, any other manager would have been sacked for their sequence of results by now.

The Spaniard’s lucrative and lengthy contract has so far saved him the embarrassment of getting the chop, that’s if he isn’t embarrassed enough by sinking to the new low of losing to the league’s basement club.

However, Benitez is not the only figure for which to point the finger at after their latest defeat – Javier Mascherano’s first-half red card may have been harsh, but it is the little Argentine’s poor form this season which has gone widely unnoticed.

The Argentina captain’s head was turned in the summer when European Champions Barcelona made their interest known, with reports of a £30million bid in January resurfacing on the back pages as the January transfer window approaches.

Mashcherano’s heart just does not seem in it anymore in a red shirt and he has done little this season to suggest he is worth that price tag, and I for one would bite Pep Guardiola’s hand off if he came in with an offer in that region.

Perhaps his four-match ban (it was his second red card of the season) coupled with a spell on the treatment table as the clumsy challenge, which earned him his marching orders and ligament damage, will prove a blessing in disguise for Benitez, who will now surely give Alberto Aquilani the run in the side he deserves. Time will tell how important Mascherano’s absence really is to Liverpool over the busy Christmas schedule.

Regarding Benitez, if there is one thing we have learned about his managerial credentials this term, it’s that he does not possess the ability to win the Premier League, and even fans as patient as Liverpool ones would now be glad to see the back of his Spanish contingent should he quit amid his failings.

The Spanish Armada set sail with the intention of conquering England in 1588 and Benitez had similar ambitions in English football when he took over at Anfield in the summer of 2004.

Like the Armada, the Liverpool boss and his backroom staff of many compatriots have failed to triumph in the country by landing an elusive Premier League crown, and I for one would now encourage him to mirror that historical event further by accepting defeat, giving up and going home.

As for Grant’s Pompey side, they should not get too carried away by the win over an increasingly bland Liverpool side. After that creditable semi final win over Liverpool while at Chelsea, Grant went on to lose the final and ended up empty handed for the season, and I fear his Pompey side face similar disappointment come the end of the season.

After all, losing to one of the eventual relegation victims is a tradition of the Reds. Middlesborough last season, Reading the season before that – the list goes on and on, as does their tally of defeats this term.

Match details
Saturday 12 December 2009, 3:00PM

Reebok Stadium Att: 22735
Barclays Premier League

Referee:
Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)
Teams
Bolton Wanderers:

Jaaskelainen, K.Davies, Taylor, Knight, Robinson, Chung-Yong, Steinsson, Cahill, Muamba (Davies 82), Cohen, Klasnic (Elmander 74)

Unused subs:
Al Habsi, O,Brien, Elmander, M. Davies, Samuel, Basham, Ricketts

Bookings:
Klasnic 45mins, Davies 54, Cohen 59,
Manchester City:

Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Sylvinho, Wright-Phillips (Ireland 22), Barry, Kompany (Robinho 74), Bellamy, Tevez, Adebayor (Santa Cruz 83)

Unused subs:
Taylor, Onuoha, Zabaleta, Ireland, Petrov, Robinho, Santa Cruz

Bookings:
Sylvinho (61mins), Bellamy (53 and 68)

Mark Hughes men must feel that the world and his dog is against them in their attempt to break the status quo this season.

Every time an opportunity presents itself for them to make it into the top four fate rears its cruel head. As the Blues finished this game with ten men and Bolton held on for a three all draw.

With Tottenham losing and United playing Aston Villa his was another chance to push into those Champions League places but alas a linesman and referee were the protagonists in this festive pantomime.

In a North West derby that had six goals, an off side goal and a ridiculous red card every neutral got their fill, but Gary Megson will feel his fighters just dragged themselves over the finish line in what could prove to be a pivotal point for the Trotters.

The game started off well after some early Wimbledonesque pressure by Bolton the Trotters received a welcome piece of look.

A ball was fired into the six yard box from the City left to find Ivan Klasnic in a world record offside position to simply tap the balll into the net past a helpless Shay Given.

If the Bolton striker had been that far ahead of his opponents in a hundred metre race by the firing pistol had been fired he would have already been across the finish line.

Of course Bolton are not to blame, as they’d take anything to get them out of their rut at the moment, but serious questions have to be asked to why the linesman decided to keep his flag down by his side.

Bolton did what they do best in battering and bruising the Blues into losing their composure as much as they could. Fullback Robinson carried out his bosses orders of taking out Shaun Wright Phillips as soon as possible. Robinson not known for being subtle kindly obliged with a tackle that was as malicious as it was hard.

Within minutes SWP had hobbled off and was replaced by Steven Ireland, which changed the dynamics of the game. City know were more calculated in their approach and Ireland and Tevez began to pull the strings.

It was Carlos Tevez who put the Blues level by wriggling free on the edge of the box and hitting a shot that deflected off a diving Bolton defender past the helpless Bolton keeper.

Then against the run of play the pantomime continue as centreback Cahill tripped over the ball to send Ireland and Barry the wrong way before turning and firing in a vicious curler into the top righthand side of Shay Given.

It was a glorious piece of opportunism by the young England hopeful to put City behind for the second time in the match.

The Blues are a different kettle of fish this season though as they have shown on many occasions that they hae the resilience to come back into matches and in a fantastic sweeping move involving six City players Richards fired the ball past the Bolton number one.

The second half continued to throw up surprises as the Blues looked to build on their victories over Arsenal and Chelsea last week. After some early City pressure it was Bolton who went ahead for the third time in sublime fashion.

After a decent ball into the box the ball was expertly flicked on by Davies to the waiting Klasnic who smashed his volley into the net for is second of the game.

What happened next was bizarre as Bellamy was one on one with the already carded Robinson and went down after it appeared he’d been clipped outside the box.

Strangely Bellamy was yellow carded by pantomime villain Mark Clatternburg who subsequently showed the shocked Welshman a red card.

Unknown to many Bellamy had been booked for complaining after the Klasnic goal but this red was more than suspect as Hughes contemplated how to win the game with ten men.

What was more suspect was the fact that both Cohen and Klasnic could have been sent off for repeated offences yet the referee deemed them untouchable in this contest.

Down for the the third time and down to ten men the City of old would have almost certainly capitulated, but Hughes’ City have mettle.

It was Tevez again who brought them back into the contest after running at the Bolton defence to fire a fantastic low shot past Jaskelaanen into the bottom right corner.

As the game came to an end it was Bolton who looked the most nervous with City going for the jugular and coming close through Lescott and a Robinho shot.

But it wasn’t to be for City as Bolton held on for a point and the Blues failed to take the three points that they needed to go up the league.

MAN OF THE MATCH: CARLOS TEVEZ – The pocket dynamo dragged histeam through this miefield of a contest to almost snatch a victory. Two quality goals from the Argentinian forward.

MAN CITY 2 CHELSEA 1

Adebayor og 8

Adebayor 37, Tevez 56

Man City: Given, Richards (Onuoha 69), Toure, Lescott, Bridge (Kompany 74), De Jong, Barry, W-Ph’lips, Tevez, Robinho (Zabaleta 90), Adebayor.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Carvalho (Belletti 64), Terry (Malouda 88), A Cole, Essien, Ballack (Mikel 64), Lampard, Deco, Drogba, Anelka.

Ref: H Webb

Attendance 47,348

In the past City have been too fragile psychologically or guilty of not having players up for the physical battle against the Londoners brute strength.

In Drogba and Anelka up front backed up by Lampard, Essien and Ballack, you have a midfield powerhouse that is the most dominating midfield in the world.

In midweek City showed signs that they had that physical brute force to compete for the first time by crunching the life out of Arsenals talented young gunners.

Yet the scintillating performance today proved to millions watching that this City side now has the power to go with the skill and fancy footwork to trouble any defence in the world.

With the players such as Lescott, De Jong, Richards, Barry and Kompany City are no longer the bullied, but the bullies of the playground.

City began the game showing the same intensity as against Arsenal and looked the better side with more shots on target and corners, but fell behind to an own goal form Emmanuel Adebayor.

No one would think that the best team in Europe at the moment would have then gone on to take control of the game, but nothing could be further from the truth as City showed another part of their new character.

The new resilience that has seen City only beaten once all season was again evident as the Sky Blues immediately pressured the Chelsea midfield, playing some exhilarating stuff stretching the Chelsea fullbacks and interchanging passes at will.

City finally broke the deadlock after a centre was floated into the Chelsea area and after the ball had found its way to Adebayor the big front man lashed it into the net.

Key a predictable mass protest from Chelsea, but it was to be in vain as the goal would stand and Webb waved the players back to the centre circle.

You know you have Chelsea on the back foot, when Ashley Cole is acting like a petulant school boy as if the opposition should not have the right to be on top.

The second half continued began with the same intensity as the first with both sides looking to impose their dominance on the game.

It was City spurred on by their magnificent support that began to look like the superior team again.

After a period of intense pressure, City finally found the breakthrough when a free kick was fired in by the electric Carlos Tevez past a Peter Cech that Paul Merson had previously lorded as the best in the business last week- Nice one Toady!

You need a nut-cracker to break a hard nut as Arsenal found out to their cost last weekend and City certainly were cracking bones with Lescott and Bridge giving Drogba a hard time and De Jong showing Essien there is more than one master of destruction in this league.

City, after recent collapses, understandably had a period of uncertainty when Chelsea created a few chances.

Drogba went close on a couple of occasions and Chelsea looked like they would get an undeserved goal.

Both Wayne Bridge and Micah Richards had become casualties in this all out war and had to be replaced by Nedum Onuoha and Vincent Kompany respectively.

Gareth Barry was shifted to left back and although already exhausted and on a yellow, proved his value to the team with a composed display.

Onouha on the other hand, made the mistake of letting Drogba get goal side and a rash challenge brought the Ivory Coast star for a definite penalty.

What happened next transformed this game into a Premier League classic with all forty-eight thousand fans in the stadium, millions worldwide watching and all of the Premier League teams held their breath as Frank Lampard faced off with Shay Given.

The resulting penalty save was met with shock and exultation from no doubt everybody not wearing Chelsea Blue as Given denied Lampard’s nervous penalty making every England fan sit nervously on their chair at a similar prospect next summer in South Africa.

It seemed as though every Chelsea player had been booked, including the subs by the time John Terry was forced to leave the field but there were to be no defensive lapses this week however, as City closed out the game after six minutes of stoppage time.

Tevez and Richards were fantastic, but none of it would have been possible without winning the infantry battle against Lampard, Ballack and Essien, and Nigel De Jong’s destructive presence in midfield puts him up there with the very best defensive midfielders in the world.

Manchester City’s Billionaires proved too much for the young guns of Arsenal as they blew them away in a three goal second half display.

Goals from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright Phillips and Vladimir Weiss scored to set up a mouthwatering Semi Final against local neighbours and Champions United.

The first leg will be played at the City of Manchester stadium on the fourth of January and it looks sure to be a grudge match for the Blue half of Manchester.

After one of the most exciting derbies in history, City will undoubtedly want payback for the 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford after Ferguson’s team scored in the seventh minute of a criminally long extra stoppage time period.

United themselves booked their place in the semis with a victory over

Elsewhere, Portsmouth new boss Avram Grant watched his side lose yet again, this time at the hands of Aston Villa.

Although Pompey went ahead, through a Stilian Petrov own goal, goals form Emile Heskey, James Milner and Stewart Downing silenced the Fratton Park faithful. Veteran Nigerian striker Kanu added a faint hope on 87 minutes

before Ashley Young settled the Villa fans nerves and sent the Midlands club through to the next round.

They will face the winners of the tie of the round in Blackburn, who pulled off a shock penalty shoot out victory out of the hat. New signing Kakuta missed the vital penalty as Chelsea were stunned by the Lancashire side.

The score had been tied at 3-3 before a dramatic penalty shoot out was settled when

THE DRAW

MANCHESTER CITY v MANCHESTER UNITED

BLACKBURN ROVERS v ASTON VILLA

1st Leg matches due to be played week commencing 4th January 2010.

2nd Leg matches due to be played week commencing 18th January 2010.

BOOKIES’ FAVOURITES

The bookmakers have made Manchester United odds on favourites, but if City do manage to beat them then look for a City-Villa final and another possible penalty shoot out between two evenly matched sides.

Dutch international defender Gregory van der Wiel is the latest young star to be linked with City in press around the world.

The 21-year-old 5 foot 6 right full-back became a regular in the Ajax side last term under coach Marco van Basten and also made his debut for the Dutch national side to boot.

He looks set to star at the next World Cup in South Africa and City have been following his progress for some time now.

With their defence still looking decidedly shaky, even after their multimillion dollar face lift, the Citizens of Manchester are scouring the transfer market to plug the wide open gaps in their defence.

Whether Mark Hughes will be the man to actually sign the Dutch youngster up is another matter though as a quarter final cup exit against Arsenal and a defeat against Chelsea on Sunday could see the Welsh supremo receive his marching orders.

According to his agent, Van der Weil is not fazed by the constant rumours linking him with Europe’s top clubs.

And although Hakim Slimani maintains Van Der Wiel has been watched closely by the Blues, he does state that matters stop there for now.

Slimani said: “There is no official contact between Ajax and Manchester City.

“But I cannot deny that his performance has been closely followed by Manchester City.”

Slimani insists Van Der Wiel is one hundred percent focused on seeing out his contract at Ajax Amsterdam which has three years left still to run.

“That’s why Greg is not concerned with a transfer to another club,” continued Slimani.

“He’s just broken through last season.

“This season he has set himself the target of being a major player for Ajax.”

Watching Paul Merson’s latest attack on Manchester City sent me back almost a decade in time to the days of Harry Enfield and his grotesque character ‘Loads a Money’.

How this ultra biased Gunner is still employed by Sky Sports is just a mystery to millions of watching fans across the globe.

It certainly isn’t for his eloquence of speech as the washed up Ex- England star stumbles through yet another incomprehensible utterance as though he’s just come back from lunch at the local pub.

The only conclusion I can think for the Toad of Powder Hall still being in a prime time television job is that he amuses host Jeff Spelling and the other pundits so much that they just can’t bear to be without him.

In fact, the Ex-England star looks so much like the Toad of Toad Hall in a monkey suit that maybe thousands of Children worldwide are to blame for a rise in viewing figures as they believe his segment to be a continuation of children’s programming.

In Toad’s latest instalment he analyses Man City’s performance against Hull City. In a game that City dominated but couldn’t kill off, Hull were awarded a penalty to level the score and steal a point.

When asked about the Sky Blues, Merson labelled the Blues as a coach of Hollywood superstars who had failed at top four clubs and were now cracking under the pressure of failing to deliver!

Now I don’t know about you Paul, but wasn’t Carlos Tevez a big hit and winner at Man United? Wasn’t Kolo Toure the last remaining member of ‘The Invincibles’ arguably the best Arsenal team of the last 30 years?

The next pearl of wisdom that made it’s way out of this sorry excuse for a man’s mouth was the bitterest attack on the Blues to date.

“I look at Man City’s team and not one of them could get into a top four side…”

So astounded were Matt Le Tissier and the other pundits at what was coming out of the Buffoon’s mouth, they were rendered speechless.

The silence was eventually broken by the tactful Stelling, sounding like a father to his teenage son, suggesting that Merson was exaggerating again and that of course Shay Given was good enough.

Merson’s response was typical of a man who has long since made brain-to-tongue communication redundant in his world.

“He wouldn’t get in ahead of Cech at Chelsea, but I’d ‘av ‘im at Arsenal…”

Are Arsenal not a top four side then Paul? The analytical genius obviously has a problem with City and one wonders if it is over more than just the Adebayor issue.

With a full three and a half minutes to talk, there is no shortage of material to illustrate how biased this man is and you just have to see it to believe it for yourself.

Portsmouth have finally plucked up the courage to sack hapless manager Paul Hart after a series of defeats.

After a run of seven consecutive defeats the Pompey heirachy and Hart have parted company.

In March 2007 Hart was appointed director of youth operations at Portsmouth and quickly built a reputation for himself.

When the bumbling Tony Adams was given his marching orders tw years later he was rewarded for his endeavour by being appointed as caretaker manager at Fratton Park.

At the end of the 2009/10 Premier League season, having secured Premier League status the gentle spoken Lancastrian was handed a two-year contract as the club’s first team manager.

But that was as good as things were to get for likeable Englishman as it took nearly three months for Pompey to finally secure their first Premier League victory.

By then however, the damage had already been done after opening the new season with seven consecutive defeats.Today after nine months in charge, Hart was sacked by Portsmouth.

Portsmouth player Danny Webber commented,

“The news came as a massive shock,”

“The first I heard of it was when I saw it on Sky Sports News.

“Paul was at training today and everything was as normal as usual. I don’t think any of the players saw this coming at all.

“I am sad to hear Paul has gone as I myself and all the lads have been impressed with the work he was doing and how he conducted himself.

“I don’t think anyone would have any bad words to say about him.”

Former Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has been installed as the early favourite for the vacancy, with ex-Charlton and West Ham boss Alan Curbishley also a contender.

Now forgive me for being a little miffed at the moment, after all we have just drawn a sixth consecutive Premier League match.

Yet the reason for my sudden bout of dizziness lies not like most Blues sat staring into their Sunday night pint wondering when this rut will come to an end but elsewhere.

Nor is it because ‘that lot’ in Stretford won again against the Blue half of Merseyside either. No, It is because this Blue has just returned home to see the Spurs – Wigan score.

Now don’t get me wrong beating Wigan at home is not something that should or ever will give me cause for losing the plot. What does rile me more than anything else is the score by which they won this Premier League game.

For NINE goals to one in what is supposed to be the best league in Europe and possibly the world is quite frankly embarrassing. Jermaine Defoe scored FIVE and again let me make it clear that I have no agenda against the hugely talented Spurs pocket dynamo.

The problem I have is with the opposing team. I mean what were Wigan playing at, because it certainly wasn’t football! What happened to the team that almost took three points off Manchester City last month?

Losing four nil is embarrassing enough and five or six might would be classed as being taken to school, but NINE is just beyond comprehension in today’s so-called top league.

Anyone would think that Tottenham were the genuine title competition for Chelsea this year, but you only have to look at their latest attempt at playing a Top Four side to realise they are nowhere near.

Manchester United completely out-classed them in their recent contest and the Red Devils are hardly flying on all cylinders at the moment.

Wigan Athletic should sack their manager immediately for failing to inspire his players. For as nice a man as Martinez is, NINE goals against in the Premiership is just out and out incompetence.

All of the travelling Wigan supporters should have the cost of their tickets and accommodation refunded by the spineless overpaid players that call themselves entertainers.

In fact a memorial monument should be built outside the JD Stadium itself listing the names of all the poor souls that were victims of this disaster lest they never be forgotten.

The real loser is the Premier League however as the self-proclaimed best league in the world has to sit down and take the next day’s barrage of abuse from foreign hacks squarely on the chin.

Shame on you Wigan FC … shame on you.

Everton manager, David Moyes, is under pressure ahead of the Europa Football League encounter with Benfica later today. Moyes has a long injury list in front of him that is making his task of picking a good standard eleven a difficult one in a match the club need to win.

Moyes is one of the more experienced managers in the league but this is no substitute when physical circumstances leave you with a lot of problems on your plate. Everton have been struggling with inconsistency in recent times and need to work out any way to win a match.

Moyes said: “We don’t have any extra players at the moment and I don’t have any extra options — we are optioned-out. The players we have will have to cope with the situation. It will be a case of putting them out and letting them cope.”

“It is going to take it out of them. It is going to be tough but we have always tried to put out the best team we can. If we had all of our squad fit we could perhaps rotate one or two players in our squad, but at the moment all we are doing is adding to our injury list. It is disappointing for us.”

“We take all competitions seriously and we certainly will this one. We are fortunate that we have two good results under our belt, which puts us into a good position.”

“There are parts of the game where we will need to stifle Benfica because their attacking prowess is excellent. But we will also have opportunities to have a go at them — so it will be a case of striking a balance between trying to stifle and trying to score. They are a really good attacking side and they will be a big threat to us.”

The club will need to raise their game hugely from some mediocre displays that have been appearing in the Premier League. Sides such as Benfica are very good and will be taking the competiton as a vital importance, if Everton give them any room for opportunity then they will not think twice about taking advantage of it.

They need to get their main players fit again very quickly and make sure that they stay fit. This game may have come just a little too quickly for them and it will be a test of their calibre to see if they can make it through. The only aim of the game seems to be damage limitation.

Chelsea appears to be back to their lethal best after they demolished Athletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League last night. Two goals from Solomon Kalou, one from Frank Lampard and one own goal all led to another three points as Chelsea strive to win the competition that has eluded them since Roman Abramovich’s arrival.

Chelsea never looked threatened against a very talented attacking side. There are a number of players in the Madrid team that could have created big problems but John Terry seemed to be in perfect form and snuffed out all signs of danger instantly.

Manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said: “We did better at the set plays. It was very important to keep our concentration at the set plays — and we scored twice from them as well.”

“Maybe the first half was more difficult than the second, but after our first goal we had a good match. We had good attacking, a good transition. Nine points is good. I think we are in control of the group now, but our aim is still to go for first place.”

“I am happy for him [Lampard]. He is important because he works 90 minutes on the pitch for the team. He is a very generous, unselfish player. And if he scores a goal, it is better.”

The problem that seems to have plagued Chelsea in the last one or two seasons is their inconsistency. This had provided gaps and windows of opportunity for rivals to pounce on and is the reason they have fell short of Manchester United in the last two campaigns.

Chelsea are a big club that need to be winning trophies on a regular basis. If they carry on playing in this efficient manner then they should be in with a good shout on all fronts by the end of the season.

The problem is that better teams are going to exploit their weaknesses in a way that Madrid could not. Set plays are just a single part of the game but at times last night they gave too much space and time that will be used a lot better by teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Ancelotti will be grateful for the points but he knows better than anyone that there is always work to do and he will not be happy until his team has won 4-0 in every game they have played over the course of a month.