SOCCER ANGLES:We have seen Blackpool win at Liverpool, West Brom triumph at Arsenal and Sunderland run three goals past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

'TIS THE Premier League season of the curled, raised eyebrow. We are all Carlo Ancelotti now as we stare at a series of results that have left us follically-challenged, so to speak.

The season is one third old and we have seen Blackpool win at Liverpool, West Brom triumph at Arsenal and Sunderland run three goals past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United have managed to remain unbeaten but they have drawn more league games than they have won; they shivered when West Brom took the score from 2-0 to 2-2 at Old Trafford and needed two goals in the last nine minutes at Aston Villa last Saturday.

There will be a common and confident belief that United will ease past Wigan at Old Trafford today, but if they don't, we will have more ammunition for the notion that we are witnessing a change in the order.

Or are we? Had Chelsea beaten Sunderland last Sunday - hardly inconceivable even 44 minutes into the game - they would have pressed five points clear of Arsenal in the second place and six ahead of United in third. The accepted belief that Chelsea are a class apart from the rest would have been reinforced.

Yet Chelsea sort of caved in on themselves in the second half against Sunderland and having lost at Anfield the previous Sunday, then heard bad news on injuries to centre-halves John Terry and Alex - and with Frank Lampard still out and Didier Drogba struggling with malaria - Ancelotti's team are suddenly arriving at Birmingham City today looking beatable. In the space of a fortnight they appear to have gone from can-do to no can-do.

"Achievable" was the word Birmingham manager Alex McLeish used this week about the possibility of a home win.

McLeish was reluctant to go any further on the matter of a substantial change in Premier League things as we know them, but he said he had been speaking to his old Aberdeen manager Ferguson about this "freakish" season.

" 'False' was actually the word he used," McLeish said of Ferguson.

That suggests Ferguson believes we are experiencing a blip, not a change. Ferguson has got a lot right before and we would not be shocked should the top four next May have Chelsea, United and Arsenal in there with either Tottenham or Manchester City.

But McLeish agreed with the theory the Premier League is tightening up due to improvements from below.

Birmingham were a revelation last season when finishing ninth, Bolton are up to fifth under Owen Coyle, Blackburn are Blackburn, Stoke and Wolves have improved, while the three promoted clubs - Blackpool, West Brom and Newcastle - are in McLeish's phrase "having a go."

That is one part of this theory's equation. The other is Chelsea and United, in particular, are experiencing the uncomfortable effects of belt-tightening.

At Chelsea, this is said to be part of the reason Ray Wilkins was pushed out 10 days ago, though presumably there is more to it than that. It is why the home bench against Sunderland contained four teenagers and no-one over 25. United's bench at Villa had six players 23 and under.

Injuries and suspensions are, of course, an important factor in these two benches. So is the desire from United traditionally, and from Chelsea of late, to push home-grown players for reasons of club pride.

But there is also the comparative cost. The wages Chelsea pay 17-year-old Josh McEachran - who looks a real talent - are considerably less than those given to either Joe Cole or Michael Ballack, both allowed to leave in the summer.

McEachran's time will come, it is just that under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's time has generally been here and now.

So this is different.

Whether Abramovich really cares about the forthcoming Uefa Financial Fair Play regulations is one thing, certainly football agents are not taking them seriously, believing clubs will always find a way around rules. But Chelsea's stated aim has been to become self-sufficient economically. By signing only Yossi Benayoun and Ramires in the summer, Chelsea indicated a shift in approach.

Last Sunday it felt as if a power vacuum has been created in the squad, highlighted by the bench, when not so long ago Chelsea would have been able to cope. Yet had Michael Essien been available, Sunderland's victory would not have been as slick or may not have happened at all. So perhaps we should not be reading quite so much into autumn results.

But Essien is again suspended today and with Terry, Alex, Lampard and Benayoun also out, Birmingham look a big price at 9 to 2. Chelsea are five points adrift of their total at the same stage last season; by tonight that could be eight adrift.

Our collective interest would rise again, just like Carlo's left eyebrow.

Gourcuff: nice player, pity about the diving

THOSE OF us determined to like Yoann Gourcuff for the stylish manner in which he glides around a football pitch have to contend with the fact Gourcuff is no stranger to the practice of diving.

Despite many years of watching this, or being forced to watch it, diving remains unappealing. It is cheating. On Wednesday night at Wembley Gourcuff reacted to a challenge by Jordan Henderson as if his surname was Haaland and Roy Keane had just visited. As a consequence Henderson was booked on his England debut.

Henderson has played 14 times for Sunderland this season and not been booked. He is not that sort of player.

Gourcuff squealed, then rolled around, received the obligatory treatment. Then, unhurt, he got up and ran at the England defence in that smooth, so-likeable style.

Ireland not Villa flavour

WHATEVER happened to Stephen Ireland? The thought occurred as Brian Kerr extolled the virtues of Aston Villa's Barry Bannan at Pittodrie on Tuesday night.

It is not a question we should be asking of a 24 year-old with his ability but since he moved to Aston Villa as part of the James Milner Manchester City transfer, Ireland has failed to score and has not started a Premier League game for a month.

Bannan, 20, meanwhile, has stepped in and up and made his Scotland debut against the Faroe Islands in Aberdeen.

Kerr's point was Bannan must be doing something to be ahead of Ireland. He is.

Like Ireland, Bannan has a delicate first touch and good vision. New Villa manager Gerard Houllier clearly likes him. There is obviously less admiration for Ireland. And now Robert Pires is around Villa Park too.

Ireland is being squeezed - you may have seen that as a headline elsewhere this past week.