I know we are living in an age of instant communication and gratification, but the way football is reported is completely ridiculous.

A minute before Tim Cahill's last-gasp equaliser for Everton at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were going temporarily to the top of the Premier League and Avram Grant was  the new Messiah ad infinitum. Similarly, when Chelsea lost at Manchester United and then drew at home to Fulham under Grant's new watch, so the club were a motley crew. Grant was going to be fired and the fans were involved in a mass hunger strike until Saint Jose was brought back.

A 4-0 win over Hull in the Carling Cup interspersed the United and Fulham games but Grant's position was a tad shaky.

'Form is temporary, class is permanent, and that is something we do know with Arsenal and Manchester United looking most likely this season'


Of course, since the Fulham home draw, things have been looking up for Chelsea. But what the past few weeks have shown us, and not only at Chelsea, is that you cannot make a sweeping generalisation about a club based on results over two weeks.

The table never lies, and whatever happens in Arsenal's game at Reading, the gap between top and ninth place (Everton) will be 10 points. Now that is three and a bit games and with around 75 more points up for grabs, it's absurd to be saying anything too general about any particular team.

When West Ham were thrashed 6-0 by Reading on the first day of 2007, the press already had the Hammers in the 2007-8 Championship fixture list. True, Messrs Biscuit and Curbishley were incredibly lucky to escape the drop (the script about how they came back from Blackburn with three points could have been written by Ronnie Biggs), but their form from February to May was very good.

And then there's Liverpool, where weeks of frustration for the fans were transformed almost overnight with the OTT win over Besiktas and a more run-of-the-mill victory over Fulham. One week Rafa ain't even the gaffer, now he is spearheading a recovery.

Form is temporary, class is permanent, and that is something we do know with Arsenal and Manchester United looking most likely this season. But with so many games left, is there enough to go on to make real predictions? Who would have foreseen Manchester City and Portsmouth to be in third and fifth places respectively? And Tottenham to be 14th (and happy to be there after the past few weeks).

And for Derby, Wigan and Bolton fans, don't tell me your causes are more than marginally worse than those of Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Birmingham. Yes, Derby have been losing badly, which obviously is a worry, but despite losing nine out of 13 games played, I can't see they are the absolute certainties for relegation that the press and pundits are so sure of.

What is the point of there being a league of 20 teams if there are only four shoe-ins at top and bottom? In that regard, Cahill's goal at Chelsea was an important metaphor. It teaches us that there are no certainties, and certainly none before Christmas and that the league is not about instant gratification, like the Cup.

I've logged the table as it stands after 13 games (with Arsenal having two in hand). Let's see where we stand after 25.

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