1. Upset of the day

It was an up and down day for the title contenders in England. Manchester City throttled Villa 5-0–thanks in part to some shoddy refereeing, though City deserved three points–Chelsea fell at the Hawthorns and Manchester United capped today’s action with a loss of their own. The comeback kids fell behind in another game thanks to a superb Anthony Pilkington header in the 60th minute. The Blackburn native was the man of the of the match. Javier Garrido was fantastic as well, providing problems for Valencia and Rafael throughout the game. It was Garrido’s cross that found Pilkington alone in the box for the lone marker.

Chris Hughton’s side build on an impressive run in recent weeks, adding a victory over United to their wins against Arsenal and Tottenham. For Sir Alex Ferguson, today’s loss sees City leapfrog the red devils for first place in the table. He’ll have nightmares of John Ruddy, who contended for Pilkington’s MOTM crown after a superb performance. Special shout out to Canary diehard James Bigg. Today is a good day for his crew.

Speechless. Outstanding display and well deserved three points #ncfc – looked solid and organized. Great finish by Pilks.

— James Bigg (@JamesBigg) November 17, 2012

2. Creepy doll of the day

He eats gold for breakfast.

We get this gem from Joe Ross –who watched Barcelona take on Real Zaragoza at Camp Nou with KJ and Sharms. He took this photo at the official Barcelona store outside the stadium. I gleam two things from this doll. One, Iniesta literally shits gold. Everything the man touches turns to gold, including his secretions. Two, Barcelona fans are into kinky nicknacks that make you laugh and cringe at the same time. I dig it. Well played.

3. Photo of the day

She's Beau-ti-ful.

Brendan Rodgers had to win this one. Well he didn’t have to, but with Roberto Martinez–who interviewed for the job at Anfield as well– and Wigan in town it would’ve looked terrible had Liverpool failed to produce three points. They did, thrashing the Latics 3-0. Luis Suarez notched two goals, but perhaps more important for the long term health of the reds was the performance of Jose Enrique. The Spaniard was employed in an attacking midfield role and did not look out of place. And so Liverpool win for only the second time at home this season. Rodgers can breathe easy.

4. Gif of the day

I hope we’re all sick and tired of comparing Leo Messi with Ronaldo, Santa Claus, the Green Latern and any other mythical superheros that come to mind. He’s good. Like damn good. Let’s leave it at that. In fact, on this day –November 17th, 2012– making comparisons between Messi  and CR7 is a criminal offense. You were warned, Didier.

5. Rant of the day

“The red card did not change the running of the game,” he said. “We felt at half-time [at 3-1 down], that if we could cut the margin to one goal … the stadium wasn’t with Arsenal, there was nervousness around … we felt that we could have a chance. At 4-2, we had chances for 4-3.

In the aftermath of the Adebayor on field lobotomy that effectively doomed Spurs, Andre Villas-Boas is refusing to blame his striker for another embarrassing defeat at the Emirates. Good on him. Judging by Adebayor’s post match demeanor, he didn’t blame himself either, joking and high-fiving his former teammates. For all the crap AVB –deserved and undeserved– gets it would be nice to see his players give a damn. There was Clint Dempsey putting in another thoroughly unimpressive performance. Tom Huddlestone, terrible and William Gallas an abomination.  Adebayor effectively ruined his manager’s game plan, one that was working quite well before Spurs were reduced to ten men. I’ll defend him till the end. It’s time AVB’s players did the same.