1. The Day The Title Race Was Over
Picture the scene: your team sits second in the league, 9 points behind your fierce local rivals who are attempting to recapture the title that your team owns. This is exactly the situation Manchester City found themselves in at 17.30 on Saturday the 9th of February just prior to kick off at St. Marys Stadium, and what happened in the following 90 minutes was nothing short of a disaster for Citys title hopes. From an innocuous free kick in the Southampton half, Danny Fox hit a cross field ball towards the right wing where Rickie Lambert was positioned. At this point I should mention Lambert faced the challenge of outpacing Gael Clichy to have any hope of getting into the area, but after laying off a one-two which completely bamboozled Clichy, Lambert found himself striding towards the area where he cut inside and struck a hopeful at best shot towards the near post. Only 3 days before this game we had all seen Joe Hart save a Ronaldinho penalty in the England vs. Brazil game, so nobody expected him to completely fail at capturing the ball, which squirmed agonisingly between his legs presenting Steven Davis a simple tap in. This disastrous error seems enough by itself to sit at number 1 in this article, but this is only half of the story. Then came a speculative low cross by Lambert dribbled across the penalty area after being played behind the waiting Jason Puncheon - at this point the danger for City is over and it was left to Gareth Barry to clear the ball. Instead, the English international seemingly got caught between playing it back to Hart and putting it out for a corner, resulting in Barrys back pass being a very accurately placed shot in the bottom corner, one which any striker would be proud of. Double England international disaster. This game was the chance for City to put pressure on Manchester United by reducing the points deficit to 6 points ahead of Uniteds Sunday fixture against Everton, but after the mistakes by Hart and Barry the title is now almost certainly out of their reach with United winning that weekend and claiming a 12 point gap. It was at this season defining point that one and all believed the title race is now over and its only a matter of time before United regain the trophy from their noisy neighbours. What else has gone disastrously wrong this season? Does Sunderland's goal-shy shooting rate warrant a place, or Newcastle's failure to strengthen in the summer - how about the appointment of Paul Lambert at Villa? Share your thoughts below.