Two divides in two cities have widened into a chasm...
Chelsea
If Manchester United claim a fourth successive title, it will surely be one of the greatest triumphs of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign - if not the greatest triumph.
Chelsea looked to be in a league of their own on Sunday, operating in an entirely different sphere to the one occupied by their diminished opponents. Never before has the 'Big Four' moniker seemed so inappropriate as the men of Chelsea made the Arsenal boys look so small.
Didier Drogba
Arsenal have only beaten Chelsea twice in the past five years - last November's 2-1 at Stamford Bridge and the 1-0 home victory of December 2007 - and in both of those games one player was conspicuous by his absence.
Somebody in the employment of the Premier League's fixture-list department must have a mean sense of humour: the next meeting between the two clubs is scheduled for February 6 - the week after Drogba's return from African Nations Cup duty.
Manchester United
Even after all these years, the oldies are still delivering. Though Wayne Rooney took the headlines with his two-penalty hat-trick, it was the sight of three oldies - Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs - in their starting line-up at Portsmouth that carried talking-point resonance in the wake of a week in which the club's youngsters failed their audition against equally modest opposition and it was confirmed that all three are out of contract in May.
How long can they keep going? Given that Sir Alex Ferguson gave doubt to Chelsea's longevity last season, it is fair to assume that all three, along with the 39-year-old Edwin van der Sar, have extended their careers long beyond the expectation of their manager - Scholes is now 35, Giggs 36 and Neville 34.
The likelihood of the full-back being given another contract is thought to be in the balance, but new one-year deals for Scholes and Giggs seem certainties. It would, at the very least, be due recognition for their success at consistently hiding perhaps the greatest failure in the Ferguson reign: discovering their replacements.
Though the Da Silva twins offer credible long-term alternatives to Neville, Ferguson is no nearer to replacing Scholes and Giggs than he was in the summer of 2007 before he spent in excess of £35m on Anderson and Nani.
With the Cristiano Ronaldo money still in his kitty, Ferguson is expected to try again next summer at uncovering a long-term solution. Time is pressing. Though they continue to suggest otherwise, Scholes and Giggs cannot go on forever. And on a personal level, as well as management, Ferguson will be increasingly desperate to find their successors. The old boy is no spring chicken himself and must know that it would be dishonorable to leave United without leaving his own successor a solution to the problem that has dogged him all these years.
Tomasz Kuszczak
The door has been opened for him to stake his claim to be Van Der Sar's successor.
Tottenham
In rescuing a single point through a solitary goal at Villa Park, Tottenham were even more impressive than they were a week ago in the process of routing Wigan and the point the visitors eventually secured may prove as valuable as the three they collected last Sunday.
On this weekend's evidence, Spurs are genuine contenders to claim a place in next season's Champions League whereas Villa are mere pretenders and yet, but for Michael Dawson's late equaliser, the hosts would have gone level on points with Spurs courtesy of the only shot on target they produced in the entire match. Instead they remain three behind and seemed chastened afterwards by the exposure of their inferiority.
"People have been talking about top-four finishes and you saw a very fine team today in Tottenham. I think Manchester City are very good and if anyone's going to threaten [the big four], you'd say those two have a proper chance. We're battling to hang in there," commented their manager.
Compare that downbeat reaction to the optimisim emanating from the Tottenham camp.
"One of us might break into the top four and it is not impossible for us to do it. It will be hard but we have got some very good players at this club," enthused Harry Redknapp. "We have a lot of quality."
"We made loads of chances and had lots of shots," boasted Dawson. "We showed what a good team we are."
And what a good squad - both Dawson and Sebastian Bassong only played because of injuries to Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King. With Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City underperforming, finding Spurs in fifth position in May would constitute failure.
Liverpool
It will be days not weeks before people forget the part luck played in Sunday's victory. And in any case, the argument that Liverpool were unlucky is already being overdone. There is nothing lucky about having a top-class goalkeeper, just as there was nothing unlucky about Jo's second 'goal' being disallowed when he was standing in an offside position from the moment the corner was taken.
And whilst Javier Mascherano's strike did take a lucky break, the old saying that you have to buy a ticket to win the lottery was given an alternative perspective a couple of hours later when Arsenal turned 58% of possession against Chelsea into three shots on target.
For the time being, Rafa Benitez is quite entitled to believe that the derby victory could be a turning point in their season rather than fret about the overall quality of their performance.
Jimmy Bullard
That rarest of things - a genuinely funny, clever and original goal celebration - by that rarest of breed - a likeable footballer.
Birmingham
Bolder and better. The belated switch to a 4-4-2 formation has coincided with a five-match unbeaten run and a leap up the table. Birmingham should avoid relegation with comfort.
Wigan Athletic
Still the Premier League models of inconsistency.
Losers
Everton
There are two clubs in the city of Liverpool currently stuck in the past faced with an uncertain future but the comparison ends there. One still believes a recovery is just around the corner and still believes a successful season can be rescued out of recent short-term calamites. The other has no solution in sight to their long-term recession, can see no green shots of hope, and has been reduced to asking their neighbours for help. Think Liverpool have problems? Have a look across the other side of Stanley Park, listen to the sound of a stadium literally falling apart and a manager truly at the end of his tether, and think again.
The present has become so dismal at Goodison Park that even the pain of defeat in the Merseyside derby may be met with a dumb reaction. In the context of the rejection of their plans to build a new stadium, Sunday's luckless loss was indeed almost insignificant. Off the field, Everton played a bigger game in midweek and suffered a shattering blow that threatens to hem them in as the poor relations of Merseyside for the foreseeable future.
Money matters and one telling statistic revealed by club chief executive Robert Elstone last season is that Everton would have earned less than a third of what Arsenal recouped in gate receipts on Sunday from hosting their own local derby. "Over 19 games, we're almost £40 million worse off. As each year passes, we are increasingly clinging on by our fingertips to our rivals," he observed.
This year's plunge has been a long time coming. The only surprise is that it has not happened before.
"It's the word progress that worries me more than anything," mused David Moyes on Friday as he delivered perhaps the gloomiest pre-derby press conference in living memory. "I want to be involved in a football club which makes progress. I'm choking a bit at the moment, I've got a lump at the back of my throat because I'm finding it hard to look people in the eye and say we are making progress. I'm not sure that's the case this year."
It isn't and the grim reality of Everton's predicament is that their fall has probably only just began.
Manchester City and Mark Hughes
Be careful what you hope for. "We are frustrated by the run of draws," said Mark Hughes after City's latest frustration on Saturday, "but we are still in the mix at the top end of the Premiership and I believe the owners understand where we are."
Which is where exactly? Hughes' declaration that City are in the 'top-end mix' is at odds with their residence at sixth place in the league table, fourteen points off the top, and their 'run of draws' may well be regarded in less flattering perspective by the club's owners. City's last league win was in September and in the seven winless matches that have followed they have dropped 14 points. Given the amount of their money he spent in January and the summer just past, Hughes should not expect a generous or complimentary appraisal when the owners determine City's standing.
The outcome of Wednesday's Carling Cup tie against Arsenal's reserves will either alleviate the pressure or add another layer but, for City and their beleaguered manager the crunch fixture will be next Sunday's clash with Chelsea.
Were they to lose, then not even Hughes could argue that his side are in a reasonable or acceptable position. Were they to win, however, then Hughes could point at proof of competitiveness and an eight-match unbeaten run. A draw would merely prolong the uncertainty and it is the next result that City register which is not a draw that will determine the immediate future of their manager: if they can beat Chelsea then he will be secure again; if they lose next weekend, he will have no argument with which to avoid the axe.
Arsenal
It's the sense of déjà vu that was the most depressing aspect of Arsenal's ritual exposure against Chelsea and the conclusion that nothing has changed, nothing has been learnt and nothing will come of this season either.
It was a year ago today that Arsenal last won a league match against a fellow member of the Big Four. Since then, in the miserable twelve months have followed, their Premier and Champions League record against their domestic superiors reads:
Played 9, Won 0, Drawn 3, Lost 6, Scored 9, Conceded 20.
They're not even close.
Robin van Persie
Presumably to lessen the reaction and the possible effect that reaction would have on morale, Arsenal buried the bad Van Persie news for Saturday morning release but there can be no cover-up that his five-month demise is a shattering blow for the player and a potentially ruinous setback for his team.
This is not the first time in recent history that the severity of an injury suffered by an Arsenal player has been misdiagnosed, with the first bulletins provided for Tomas Rosicky and Johan Djourou proving to be corrosively optimistic, though, according to Arsene Wenger, on this occasion the blame lies squarely with the Dutch FA. His fury is understandable because, whilst it is of course the injury itself that makes the matter most severe, the misdirection has the timetabled potential to be of serious - and potentially ruinous - consequence for both player and club.
Van Persie was injured on November 14 and says "If I had known at the time what I know now, I would have been operated on immediately." Instead, he will only be operated upon next week - a delay of almost three weeks. Given that his recuperation period has been put at five months, that delay amounts to the difference between an estimated comeback in late April, by which stage the Gunners' season will have passed through another decisive period, and the possibility of returning in early April ahead of league fixtures with Tottenham and Manchester City as well as the small matter of a potential Champions League quarter-final and two semi-finals.
The price of Van Persie's demise is likely to be hefty for all concerned.
Avram Grant
His first match in charge of Chelsea was a defeat to Manchester United, his final match in charge of Chelsea was a defeat to Manchester United, his first match in charge of Portsmouth was a defeat to Manchester United...and so he should be relieved that Pompey's next league engagement with the champions occurs in February rather than in the final week of the season.
A less frivolous side-point to his appointment is its undermining of the role of Director of Football.
In a radio debate last Sunday, David Pleat launched an impassioned defence of the role, arguing the public perception's of the job as a source of discord and agitation in the manager's office was a media invention. Erm, following the second occasion in as many years that Grant has become a manager within two months of being appointed Director of Football, what was that you were saying, David?
Kevin-Prince Boateng
Had he scored last week's penalty then Paul Hart would probably still be Portsmouth manager. It is one of football's fleeting absurdities that Boateng kept his job as penalty-taker to score against the champions whilst Hart paid for the player's failure by losing his.
Ashley Young
Only growing as a player in terms of his disappointment.
Brian Jensen
Perhaps one of the top five goalkeepers in the league when judged on his performances in home matches, and probably one of the five worst in away games.
Sunderland
After Sunderland's five defeat in seven away fixtures, only Burnley, Hull and Blackburn have a worse away record this season in the top flight.
Wolves
Nobody has noticed they are here, nobody will notice when they've gone.
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