Dimitar Berbatov ended his scoring drought in spectacular fashion — maybe even more spectacular than the game in which he last scored: a hat trick against bitter rivals Liverpool almost 2 months ago — scoring 5 goals and powering Manchester United to a 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers.

This win pushes them to the summit of the Barclay’s Premier League for the first time this season, giving erstwhile leaders Chelsea some pressure at last. Chelsea, as of writing, is still scheduled to play a tricky tie against Newcastle, where the odds (Chelsea vs Newcastle) are clearly in their favor.

Berbatov scores his first of 5 goals with the game just 1 minute, 30 seconds old

This 5 goal, 5-star performance ushers Berbatov into an elite few — strikers who have scored 5 in a game in the English Premier League come few and far between. He joins fellow Manchester United striker Andy Cole, Newcastle and England great Alan Shearer, and his strike partner at Tottenham Jermain Defoe.

A week ago, Berbatov wasn’t even a substitute  at  Wigan. Sir Alex Ferguson, as he is wont to do, declined to come up with a plausible reason for omitting the Bulgarian.

In midweek, however, Ferguson admitted that he might be to blame for Berbatov’s performance dip, saying that he was changing his team formation too much. Berbatov was one of the main reasons why United is still in the running, carrying the team through the difficult days during Wayne Rooney’s malaise.

In a sense, Rooney is not the only one to be glad he is back. Berbatov — with him one is not quite sure really if this is just be another blip, or a start of a major comeback — clearly showcased his magical skill in this game, without a doubt.

Another player gathering momentum, Park Ji Sung has been on fire early this season, and he scored one of United's 7 in this match

For Blackburn Rovers, this was humiliation in its purest sense. If Big Sam Allardyce thought he could get something from this game given United’s recent form of scraping results, he was sadly mistaken. He might have thought they’d gotten off lightly, being only 3 goals down at the half. Sadly for them, there was more in store as United dealt out an absolute hammering in the second half. Ferguson must have been delighted at the forceful manner with which United approached their task.

Berbatov scores his 5th, and having done so enters the history books

Rooney was looking sharp, buoyed by his penalty at Rangers in midweek, and he played a sublime role in United’s second. He was always active in the right areas and generally made a nuisance of himself in and around the Blackburn area, as he usually does. He still hasn’t scored in open play, but something tells us this is a “when, not if” issue.

United face West Ham midweek in the Carling Cup, and face Blackpool next weekend. All eyes on Chelsea tonight, as impetus is on them if they will be able to keep their lead at the top of the Premier League table or not.

Manchester United vs West Ham odds

United – 1.83

West Ham – 4.7

Draw – 3.85

The thing about Liverpool is, well… a lot of things can be said about them at the moment. Ups and downs and all sorts of issues surround the Merseyside team, a club whose history is fraught with titles and European glory, but have not quite replicated the days past in the current football scene.

I asked my friend and newbie football fan Ida to fill us in on the happenings at Anfield.

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To ‘Pool or not to ‘Pool?

As a newbie football fan whose only exposure to the sport was during the 2006 and 2010 World Cup, I had to carefully choose what team I wanted to support in the English Premier League at the beginning of this season. Much as I wanted to closely follow La Liga (my ongoing love affair with Spanish footballers notwithstanding) — tricky time zones, local cable channel selections and the obvious language barrier meant I had to make do with watching English football.

Fernando Torres - Liverpool's (and for that matter, Ida's) heart and soul

Liverpool vs Tottenham football odds

Liverpool – 3.7

Tottenham – 2.24

Draw – 3.45

I was already biased towards Liverpool since my beloved (ed- i will allow this, for now, and once only) Fernando Torres — Spain striker extraordinaire –  decided to stay despite obvious flirtatious courting from Chelsea and Manchester City. But still I had to do some “research” on  the club if I was to lay my full support on them. And despite my good friend’s (ed-good looking too) warnings that Liverpool just had a really bad season and is probably destined for more of the same, I fell in love with the team. This was the team that beat AC Milan in probably the greatest Champions League match ever, the team that time and time again pulled tricks out of the hat to win games when they were behind. I fell in love with Xabi Alonso, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyppia, Luis Garcia, Yossi Benayoun, John Arne Riise, Pepe Reina,  the inspirational captain Steven Gerrard and the aforementioned Nando. I decided then and there that I would support Liverpool FC, come hell or high water.

Fast forward to a few months later and I am already on the verge of ruing my decision (ed- toldja. setting herself up for heartbreak, this one). The club that was once feared all throughout Europe now sit a lowly 9^th place on the table — this is quite low for their standards. One might say this is a vast improvement considering that a few weeks ago, Liverpool were in the relegation zone — it was a long time ago when people last saw that happen. For a team that almost won the 2008-2009 title, though — never mind the years of legacy behind them — this is simply unacceptable.

Liverpool's early season has been pure agony. Will Torres stay if they fail to improve?

During the 2009-2010 season, people pointed to erstwhile manager Rafa Benitez as the problem — so they got rid of him, appointed (Uncle) Roy Hodgson to take the helm. Then people started pointing to the “stupid” American owners — so they got rid of them and got new (hopefully) smarter American owners in Red Sox owner Karl W. Henry. This season they pointed to Fernando Torres’ poor form after his injuries — so he has tried to get fit. Even as a shadow of his former self, he has contributed 5 goals to the Liverpool cause.

Problems have been seemingly solved — or at least, patched up, for now –  yet two weeks ago they drew with Wigan and then lost to Stoke City, teams whom you would think Liverpool might beat handily. So what’s the problem now?

In my opinion, I think we need quality players. The defense is shaky, the midfield non-existent most of the time and their unhealthy reliance on Torres and Gerrard will take its toll. Is it any wonder that even qualifying to the latter stages of the Europa League is at this point doubtful?

There are glimmers of hope — when Torres and Gerrard (both nursing injuries to date) are in form, Liverpool are still dangerous. When their midfield pulls together, they can provide support for their strikers. The infusion of money from new owners New England Ventures might enable them to buy in the January transfer window.

As for me, I am still holding out for a miracle — any miracle at this point — and so I will not abandon ship for now. For now.

Ask me again after 5 matches and I might have a different answer.

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Thanks for the update, Ida. Forgive me if I don’t wish you well. I can’t, on principle — Manchester United for life.

Liverpool will face an in form and resurgent Tottenham this weekend and the bookies have the game odds on Liverpool vs Tottenham slightly in the Londoners’ favor. This is largely because of Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart‘s “we got game” style of play — determined to keep Tottenham in the top 4. Exciting prospects for that game, heart attack time for Ida.

We’ve got half a football weekend’s worth of results for you in the Barclay’s Premiere League as all the big guns were in action last night.

With 3 games left for this match weekend — and betting odds on those Barclay’s Premiere League football games as well — it has been an eventful weekend already, to say the least.

Birmingham's Lee Bowyer puts the hurt on the champions as Chelsea lose again

Chelsea completed a miserable week by suffering back-to-back Premier League losses, this time capitulating 1-0 to Birmingham City in the shock of the day at St Andrew’s.

Wastefulness on the attacking third cost the champions dear as Lee Bowyer scored the winner for bottom fodder Birmingham. The goal sparked memories of Bowyer’s glory days at Leeds as he displayed excellent footballing nous to gamble on a flick-on, ghosting into a gaping hole in the Chelsea defence, which was missing Chelsea captain John Terry.

This gave Manchester United a big boost as they are now level with Chelsea at the top of the table after Sir Alex Ferguson’s under-strength side beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 at Old Trafford. United remain unbeaten this season, and are only second to Chelsea due to an inferior goal difference.

Patrice Evra scored a header for United's first against Wigan at Old Trafford.

United went into the match with most of their first choice forwards missing — Dimitar Berbatov not fit, and  Rooney only fit enough for a bench place. This meant that youngsters Gabriel Obertan and Federico Macheda led the United attack.

Patrice Evra proved an unlikely source for the first goal with a header just a little before half-time, before Wigan totally imploded in the second period. Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega were both saw red cards in the space of five minutes, leaving a lot of room for Javier Hernandez to add a second.

The early kick-off for the day featured Tottenham Hotspur showing tremendous character and willpower to battle back from two down to claim a 3-2 win over north London rivals Arsenal.

Samir Nasri drew first blood, rounding Heurelho Gomes and slotting home from a tight angle. The Gunners moved into familiar passing ease, in cruise control as Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin allowed Marouane Chamakh to slot home.

Within five minutes of the restart, Spurs had secured a foothold through Gareth Bale. Tottenham were then awarded a penalty on 67 minutes and Rafael van der Vaart kept his cool to score. And the comeback of comebacks was completed four minutes from time as Younes Kaboul headed home to hand Spurs a famous win at the Emirates.

Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul wins it for Spurs, completing an amazing comeback

In the match that was in our heads the most unpredictable, Liverpool actually churned out a predictable win over a hapless West Ham. Goals from Glen Johnson and Maxi Rodriguez, either side of a Dirk Kuyt penalty, were enough to wrap up a 3-0 victory.

A confident Newcastle suffered a 5-1 beating at the Reebok at the hands of Kevin Nolan’s old team Bolton. Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers remain in relegation trouble as a Luke Varney wonder goal inspired Blackpool to a 2-1 victory at Bloomfield Road.

In the afternoon’s last fixture, Stoke City beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0 at the Hawthorns in a game that interestingly failed to produce a single shot on target in the opening 45 minutes (read: boring). Stoke left with all the points thanks to penalties from Matthew Etherington and Jonathan Walters.

Today and Monday’s fixtures are Blackburn vs Aston Villa, Fulham vs Manchester City, and Sunderland vs Everton.

Sunderland vs Everton football odds

Sunderland – 2.66

Everton – 3

Draw – 3.35

They say young British footballers are overpriced — the fact that they are British given to inflating selling prices to unbelievable amounts. You only need to look at Manchester City‘s purchase of Joleon Lescott, still flattering to deceive on current form, as an example. Or the slumping Michael Carrick, bought by Manchester United from Tottenham for a double figure million-something sum, of whom many would say that he still has to justify why Sir Alex splurged that amount for him. There are many examples of English lads with bloated prices but fail to perform — Sunderland‘s Jordan Henderson is determined to buck that trend.

Sunderland's young midfielder Jordan Henderson

Making his debut yesterday at the England vs France friendly, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is already saying that he will be facing a battle  trying to keep the youngster in Sunderland — he has gone on record of saying he will not sell for any amount less than 25 million quid. With next weks game in mind — betting odds on Sunderland vs Everton slightly going the Northeasterners’ way due to their thrashing of champions Chelsea last weekend.

But is Jordan Henderson the real deal? Here is what Bruce says of him:

…he is a very quiet lad himself and his attitude is so refreshing. This is a lad who isn’t going to get himself into trouble.”Little wonder when you put all these qualities together he is courted by all the top clubs. Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, and it is my problem, but now he is also playing for England it is going to be so hard to keep him at Sunderland, but I will try. It will be a fight, though.

“Jordan was fantastic when he played for the Under-21s when Fabio Capello watched him in the stands, and you can see why all the clubs have asked to be kept informed.”

He can pass, defend, pass some more, and score the odd goal or two. Seems to have the right ingredients to be the real deal.

“For someone who is just 20, who has already played so much in the Premier League, and now for England, you would have to say why would you want to sell him for anything less than £25 million? He has an awful lot ahead of him, much more to come from him, so it would be good value for a top club,” he said.

“But equally he has to think about his career. He still has to work at his game and he needs to be playing regularly. He has to be mindful of Adam Johnson, moving from Middlesbrough to a top club like Manchester City and then not getting as many games as he would like, or that he needs, so it isn’t always best to take the seemingly obvious move.

“If this boy continues the way he is then I am convinced he will be as good as Gerrard, as good as Lampard.”

Big words indeed, and time will only tell if the young Henderson will live up to the hype. In the mean time, he will have his work cut out for him, as Sunderland face an imporving Everton side on Monday next week.

Sunderland vs Everton football odds

Sunderland – 2.66

Everton – 3

Draw – 3.35

In the hierarchy of historic football teams in England, Stoke City and Liverpool would be quite far apart. The latter have European cups and Premier League championships in their trophy cabinet and fans reminisce days of glory past, the former having to concentrate on staying in the Premier League.

But such has been the lot of the Reds these days, teams who are obviously lower in class are now fancying their chances of picking up points against the once mighty Liverpool.

Bet on England vs France Friendly

England – 2.2

France – 3.65

Draw – 3.4

Liverpool midfielder Lucas upends Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington

When teams play Stoke City, they mostly know what to expect. Stoke play a direct kind of game, an energetic if not robust style of play that speak a lot about the pragmatism of Tony Pulis, Stoke’s manager. He has no illusion of playing a beautiful fluid passing game — if they’re going to win, it will be through pure effort and raw robust power. And that is what they did.

With Stoke midfielder Rory Delap‘s much talked about long throw prowess, Stoke City claims to have a set piece party trick that is “better than a corner kick”, they say. Delap’s missile of a throw — launched and thrown flat into the box with venom — have claimed a number of high profile scalps in the Premier League, and this game is one of them.

Liverpool’s inability to cope with his throw cost them in the 56th minute. A scramble after said throw saw the ball break for Matthew Etherington at the far post and his cross-shot bounced back off Liverpool fullback Paul Konchesky and then on to Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller, whose first effort was then blocked but stabbed home on the second try from close range — scruffy goal, but normal for Stoke — and they don’t mind how they go in, just so long as they do.

Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones stabs home the second goal for his team, effectively killing the game for a hapless Liverpool

Liverpool, as in the first half, had two chances in quick succession with Argentine Maxi Rodriguez shooting straight at the goalkeeper from Dirk Kuyt‘s cut-back and Skrtel firing wide from Kyrgiakos’ knockdown of Gerrard’s free-kick.

David Ngog and Ryan Babel came in to replace Raul Meireles and Rodriguez but Liverpool was still unable to gain decent possession of the ball, it made little difference, even if they effectively had four strikers on the pitch.

The embarrassment was completed in the 90th minute when captain Steven Gerrard gave away possession and Kenwyne Jones was able to skip past the defense to fire home — game, set, match.

Fernando Torres, the man largely responsible for Liverpool’s revival of sorts, has sustained an ankle ligament strain but the injury is not sufficiently serious to prevent him linking up with Spain for the international games next week.

As we mention internationals next week, an interesting friendly is coming up, Fabio Capello testing some young guns for the Three Lions. Game odds on England vs France aren’t that far apart, and it will be interesting to see how far these two teams have come after their dismal World Cup performances.

If you are a Manchester United fan (like yours truly) or a Manchester City fan (why?) – heck, even if you are just a neutral fan of English football – you would know how big this derby match is, especially in today’s context.

Let’s fill you in then. This will be one of the closest derbies to date – the bookies have betting on Manchester Utd vs Manchester City at almost even odds. United have been the dominant team through the years, but for City, the past 2 years have been nothing short of amazing. From being owned by deposed Thailand nation head Thaksin Shinawatra, they were bought by Middle Eastern consortium Abu Dhabi United Group that injected seemingly limitless funds into the team. It’s like having a long-lost filthy rich uncle kick the bucket, leaving all the money with you. To date, Man City have spent close to £500 million in player transfers intending to rocket to the top of the table by way of “oil money”. It’s really not that bad a strategy at all, and ever since the takeover, this season seems to promise the best yet for the blue half of Manchester.

City boost: Former United striker turned Blue, Carlos Tevez will be back to face United again in City colors

The fires of dislike between the clubs have been stoked by both sides – City’s signing of well-likedUnited striker Carlos Tevez did not help, while Sir Alex Ferguson called them the “noisy neighbors” in an interview.

Last season, their first league derby was a colorful one, filled with incidents involving added time, Gary Neville‘s badge kissing and Craig Bellamy‘s fisticuffs with a pitch-invader, to cite a few. The return game at the Eastlands proved a much more sober affair,  save for a last-gasp Paul Scholes winner for United (hah!). This year, relations between the two clubs have been further stretched, as Wayne Rooney looked set to leave Old Trafford – raising hopes that he may sign for City – before performing a U-turn and signing a new five-year contract at United.

The United strike force: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov lead from the front as Wayne Rooney continues to heal from an ankle injury

For this derby match, Mario Balotelli is suspended, but City can still count on £100 million worth of summer transfers: David Silva, James Milner, Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng and Aleksandar Kolarov. There have been rumors of dressing-room unrest though, and three consecutive games were lost before the win against West Brom last weekend.

For Man United, a bug recently hit the camp and it seems to have left the Reds’ starting lineup decimated. Portuguese winger Nani, in brilliant form for the past games, is a major doubt because of a groin strain. Owen Hargreaves is confirmed to be out for 5 weeks again, while Ryan Giggs is also out. Long term absentees include Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia, and Michael Owen. It seems highly probable that Dimitar Berbatov will partner with Javier Hernandez up front, while young winger Gabriel Obertan and weekend hero Park Ji Sung could also feature. The back line is, fortunately for United fans, solid as Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are all healthy. There might also be a Bebe sighting tonight, if the football gods will it.

Both United and City have failed to hit any kind of consistent form as of yet. Inconsistency has been obvious in both of the teams performances. Even though United remain unbeaten, a win for either side will go a long way to showing us who will be challenging at the top of the table come May.

Of course, there is still the battle for bragging rights – important issues like that are never set aside in derby games like this.

Manchester United vs Manchester City football/game odds

Man City – 2.76
Man Utd – 2.92
Draw – 3.35

More on Manchester United and Manchester City football teams.

If you’ve said “Liverpool versus Chelsea” a few years back, people might automatically think “Champion’s League tie” or “top of the table match” — these two have provided us with titanic matches over the years, and all of them mean something.

How the times have changed. While the Blues look strong contenders to keep their Premier League title, Liverpool is languishing at the wrong end of the table. Hardcore fans (we know who you are) will claim a mixture of bad management (Benitez, take a bow), bad front office (Hicks and Gillett, step up), bad form and injuries (Torres, Gerrard), and all that jazz surrounding the buyout and the new ownership. Result = the Scousers, before this game, lay dangerously close to the bottom 3.

Liverpool vs Wigan Athletic football/game odds

Wigan: 5
Liverpool: 1.82
Draw: 3.9

Enter Sunday night’s game, and everything changes. The results show that Liverpool might have wanted it more — win this and the result will lift them out of the bottom half of the table, but for Chelsea it was a chance to solidify their lead at the top and keep Manchester United at bay. Everything changed.

Torres - Man of the moment

Fernando Torres, the striker that Chelsea coveted, has been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny these past few weeks. After a sub-par World Cup, a lot wondered how the Liverpool striker was going to fare this season. He proved a lot of doubters true when he proceeded to be majorly anonymous in Liverpool’s recent games, up to the point where people started to wonder if he has lost his appetite for the team and winning games for the Kop.

He scored the 2 1st half goals that downed Chelsea in this game. The first was a clinical finish from a sumptuous Dirk Kuyt lob over John Terry and Ashley Cole. The first goal acted like a shot of adrenaline for the man who has been “asleep” — in footballing form terms — for most of the early season. Whatever it was that changed after the first goal, this was a totally new man — running at defenses and causing them trouble to no ends, like the Torres of old. That extra burst of pace, the attacking nous and penetration was back. He was back.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be looking to bounce back from their Week 8 loss to New Orleans and hand their reeling AFC North division rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, their fifth consecutive loss when they take to the gridiron at Paul Brown Stadium for their Monday Night Football matchup that could potentially put them all alone in first place in the division.

ODDS: Steelers -6.5
Game Total: 41
Money Line: Steelers -260

Monday, November 8, 8:30 PM ET
Live from Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, OH

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The AFC North was a three-team race to the finish last season between the Bengals, Steelers and Baltimore Ravens that was expected to be one again this season – until the Bengals came out playing the same brand of lethargic football they’ve shown all season long.

Now, the Steelers are locked in a tie with the Ravens for first place in the division and know they can use a victory in this divisional showdown to help them get back the division crown they lost to Cincinnati last season.

Pittsburgh (5-2 SU, 4-3 ATS, 3-4 O/U)

Pittsburgh had its modest two-game winning streak snapped in its uninspiring 20-10 loss to New Orleans on Sunday and come into this Monday Night matchup riding a two-game ATS losing streak. Pittsburgh has also gone 2-2 against the Over/Under betting line over the last four games.

The Steelers are ranked fifth in total defense, but just 27th in offense, including a dismal 29th in passing.

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Cincinnati (2-5 SU, 2-5 ATS, 4-3 O/U)

Cincinnati has lost four consecutive games, including a dismal 22-14 loss to Miami on Sunday.

The Bengals failed to cover the NFL sports betting odds as a 1-point home underdog and come into this Monday Night Football matchup having gone 0-4 ATS over their last four games while playing Over the set O/U total for the first time after three straight Unders.

The Bengals are ranked in the bottom third in almost every meaningful defensive statistical category despite fielding the league’s sixth-best passing attack.

Veteran quarterback Carson Palmer has thrown a dozen TD passes but has mixed in seven interceptions along the way while completing just under 60 percent of his passes.

Analysis: The Bengals may have swept the Steelers in the regular season a year ago, but I like Pittsburgh in this Monday Night Football showdown.

The Steelers have won seven of the last 10 meetings against the Bengals while posting a blistering 7-1-1 ATS mark in their last nine games against the Bengals in Cincinnati.

The Steelers have gone 5-2 ATS in their last seven meetings overall while the Road team has compiled an even hotter 12-4-1 ATS mark in the last 17 meetings between these longtime NFC North division rivals.

Bet on the Steelers to cover the NFL point spread in this Monday Night Football matchup against a Cincinnati Bengals team that has far underachieved against their title-contending expectations.

Tottenham winger Gareth Bale is playing his football like a man possessed. A fortnight ago at the San Siro in Milan, he almost single-handedly fashioned out an improbable draw for Spurs, running out of time in the end and losing out narrowly to Inter Milan 4-3.

Gareth Bale is hot property right now

With his late hat-trick still in the minds of UEFA Champion’s League holders Inter Milan, the Italians were in for a rude surprise as they now visited White Hart Lane in London. The stadium was understandably full of expectation and the fans were bent on making the most of the return of European “glory nights” to their grounds, and they did not go home disappointed.

First, it was the Spurs’ new boy and co-man-of-the-moment Rafael Van der Vaart who drew first blood. In the 18th minute, a rejuvenated Luka Modric, flitting in and out of action dangerously, sold two beautiful fakes on the edge of the box to slide a pass to Van der Vaart. The on-form Dutchman timed his run perfectly to stay onside and placed his shot beyond Inter keeper Castellazzi to maintain his much-talked about record of scoring in every home game since joining Spurs. Van der Vaart is in the form of his life, and has started something strangely electric about this Tottenham team, who used to be known a something of a “not good enough” group.

Van der Vaart scores the first goal of the night

The Dutch midfield maestro was already carrying some niggling injuries from the past games, and manager Harry Redknapp was confident enough to sub out his talisman at the stroke of half time. A one goal lead is never secure in games like this, especially with Inter already displaying their firepower when both teams met before.

But Tottenham fans needn’t have feared, because of Bale’s blinding left wing runs were again at the fore, the winger providing 2 expert passes for his forwards to easily convert and put away the game. And it was not like the defense just let him through. Inter’s back line were already aware of Bale’s electric pace, and adjustments have been done — for all that was worth. Maicon, one of the world’s top right backs, was the man directly in the way of Gareth Bale (although Inter centerback Lucio attempted a crude two-footed killer of a tackle on Bale at the beginning of the second half, an action borne of genuine fear — they just had no answers for him).

The defense did not matter a single bit. On more than one occasion, Bale ripped Maicon apart with his pace. On two of this lightning runs, Bale provided Crouch and Pavlyuchenko with cutthroat passes that they converted for goal.

Bale on one of his left wing runs. Check out Maicon lagging in the background. That's how fast he was.

Bale’s turned Maicon inside out that night, so much so that the crowd started chanting “Taxi for Maicon!” To quote commentator Andy Gray, Bale gave Maicon “a good old-fashioned roasting” for the full 90 minutes.  The performance has been called many things — Rafael van der Vaart said he “killed” him, it was a “battering”, a “mauling”, a “hammering’, a “romp”, a “stuffing” and then some.

The big clubs have surely been alerted to the young winger’s exploits — it won’t be long ’til Real Madrid, Manchester United, and rich boys Manchester City come calling. As for now, Tottenham can enjoy their new brand of football — creative, explosive, and with a lot of speed involved.

Check out Tottenham versus Bolton this weekend in the Barclay’s Premier League. The bookies will surely have Spurs odds on to win that game, although Van der Vaart might not feature because of his injuries.

Manchester United are trying to get their groove back, and Nani is helping them along that path quicker, and in some kind of class, if we may add.

Nani - on form and stepping into the spotlight

This weekend against a rampant Tottenham, a late goal from Nani — a controversial one at that — and a first-half header by Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic ensured that the Tottenham Hotspurs’ 21-year victory drought at Old Trafford continued.

United's Nemanja Vidic heads the ball into the net

The Red Devils’ club captain, Serbian Nemanja Vidic opened the scoring with a deft header after 31 minutes. And very near full time, Nani reacted to a farcical refereeing non-decision to secure all three points for Manchester United.

The first half was a very exciting affair, both sides making their intentions known with efforts from United’s Park Ji-Sung and Tottenham’s man on form Rafael Van der Vaart hitting the woodwork.

Chances continued to come thick and fast at both ends – Van der Vaart lashing a shot  over for the visitors. True to form, he was constantly involved in Tottenham’s attacks and is set to continue his blistering form over the past few games. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp — while obviously unhappy with the defeat — must count himself lucky for the late acquisition of the talented Dutchman because the impact he has had on the team over the past few weeks — scoring goals and creating them for his teammates — is just nothing short of amazing. Pretty good for an 8-million pound buy, especially since Manchester United themselves acquired an untested Portuguese — Bebe — for almost the same amount. It was good that United did the job here — in truth, they were never likely to lose — else United manager Sir Alex Ferguson might have been left to rue his dealings over the last transfer window.

United, meanwhile, are set to strengthen their annual bid progress in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champion’s League on Wednesday, facing Turkish champions Bursaspor in their own backyard – the Bursa Atatürk Stadium. They have already beaten Bursaspor at home this season, and victory in Turkey on Wednesday night could go a long way to securing United’s place in the knockout stages.

Sir Alex is fielding a much weakened team from the one that won over Tottenham at the weekend — experienced defenders Rio Ferdinand, and Jonny Evans misses the trip, along with long-term absentees Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen.

Maybe this is why the bookies have given slightly better odds for Bursaspor to bring an upset at home to a Manchester United side just now finding their true form.

Still, the team will contain regulars Michael Carrick, club captain Vidic, Mexican wonder boy Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, and the aforementioned Nani — and they will still be able to give Bursaspor a run for their money.