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At Stamford Bridge

Carlo Ancelotti chose fine wine rather than fine words to illustrate the scale of his satisfaction with Chelsea's savage statement of title intent. The toast, presumably, was Frank Lampard.

Ancelotti passed up the opportunity to expand on , a handy help to their potentially decisive goal difference after firing five past Portsmouth on Wednesday.

Ray Wilkins, the ever-engaging stand-in spokesman for a silent Ancelotti, said: "Carlo deserves a rest. He's having a nice glass of red."

Villa boss Martin O'Neill looked more in need of smelling salts than after one of his most embarrassing days as a manager - but it was the wonderful Lampard who deserved to have the corks popping after placing himself in the Stamford Bridge Hall of Fame.

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Rafael Benitez has fallen a long way in 53 weeks - from inflicting humiliating defeat on Manchester United at Old Trafford to suffering what might just be the ultimate indignity for a Liverpool manager.

If Liverpool needed any further confirmation that times are hard at Anfield it came in the shape of Sir Alex Ferguson's magnanimous declaration that he felt "a twinge of sympathy" for his old adversary Benitez. This is almost a neon sign that things are bad.

And - where they won 4-1 in spectacular style last season - was a painful illustration of why Ferguson felt safe in bestowing some uncharacteristic goodwill on Benitez.

The phoney peace between two managers who conducted a public feud last season lasted only 11 explosive minutes at Old Trafford. Ferguson and Benitez were at each other's throats, almost literally, in the technical area as normal service was resumed.

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As Sir Alex Ferguson expressed his satisfaction at Manchester United's Champions League dismissal of AC Milan, a dark cloud suddenly hovered overhead in the shape of an innocent inquiry about last year's final defeat against Barcelona.

Ferguson's face contorted for a moment before he said: "The Rome final was too hard to explain. You wouldn't understand. We lost a game when we should never have lost it."

Most of us in Rome that balmy night thought we understood. We thought we understood that, apart from the opening 10 minutes, United had been taken to the cleaners by the vastly superior team. Not Ferguson apparently.

And one of the many tantalising prospects left open by - and a theory already being supported by the bookmakers - is that he might get another chance to right what he feels, whether anyone else agrees with him or not, one of the wrongs of his career with a repeat performance in Madrid in May.

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At Stamford Bridge

Chelsea's fans did the unthinkable and turned on Jose Mourinho amid the dying embers of their latest failure to win the Champions League.

It was only a noisy minority, but in their fury and colourfully-expressed frustration they were paying the biggest of back-handed compliments to "The Special One" they once idolised.

This is because Mourinho's meticulous preparation, and masterly execution, of showed his former club exactly what they are missing.

Mourinho celebrated victory by polishing off more of his beloved custard creams - but the manner of Inter's deserved win would have felt more like a custard pie to Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti and owner Roman Abramovich.

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Jose Mourinho wore an unfamiliar mask of modesty as he showered Chelsea in respect on his return to Stamford Bridge. To no-one's surprise it did not last.

Stroll into Stamford Bridge's Centenary Hall, take a left turn towards the Chelsea museum, and a message is painted loud and clear in blue and white on the wall: "I am not from the bottle. I am a special one."

Sitting just a few yards away was the man who . And he was only too happy to deliver a reminder to his former employers on his comeback with Inter Milan in the Champions League.

, even when trying his best to avoid the below the belt verbal jabs he has made his stock in trade out of deference to Chelsea. After 30 minutes of almost stone-faced restraint he could resist no longer.

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Phil Brown survived publicly murdering the at the KC Stadium - but upsetting the Women's Institute as they marched across the Humber was a bridge too far.

. So what chance did Brown have after being forced to when a rally was interrupted by fisticuffs between those two unlikely pugilists, Jimmy Bullard and Nick Barmby?

This, followed by an , provided an almost surreal conclusion to the eventful, but not exactly unsuccessful, reign of Brown at Hull City.

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The debate about David Beckham's place in England's World Cup squad is over. The question now is whether he will ever grace the highest level again.

As someone who consistently stated he should have no place in Fabio Capello's plans for South Africa, it would be hypocrisy on a grand scale to join the mourning that greets his absence after .

This, however, is the professional context. The personal part of this story dictates there who had set his heart on becoming the first player to represent England at four World Cups.

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At Turf Moor

Burnley will discover plenty of opponents only too willing to give them a push over the Premier League precipice in coming weeks without inflicting potentially fatal wounds on themselves.

It was always going to be a matter of who would blink - or blunder - first when the Premier League's poorest defence came up against the top flight's least potent attack at Turf Moor.

And so it proved as Burnley's , can seal a club's fate as he gifted Wolves their crucial opening goal.

The air of resignation that hung over the ground at the final whistle, and as the assembled made their way out along Harry Potts Way, suggested Burnley's supporters are fearing the worst.

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At Old Trafford

The sight of David Beckham standing at the Stretford End draped in the colours of the anti-Glazer movement crowned just about the perfect evening for Manchester United's fans.

Beckham, for all the glitz, has a sure touch with a populist gesture, and the chance to drape himself in the green and gold scarf that is now Old Trafford's public symbol of protest against the club's American owners was too good to miss.

He may have been wearing AC Milan's shirt, but this simple gesture of solidarity with the dissenters will have surely struck a chord with Avi and Joel Glazer as they watched from the directors' box, although Beckham later claimed the protests were "not my business".

leaving plenty of time for those fans disheartened with the Glazer regime to register their discontent.

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At Emirates Stadium

History suggests Chelsea or Manchester United might just fancy meeting Arsenal in the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals. .

Wenger made no effort to be careful what he wished for as he virtually floated in to pore, and purr, over Arsenal's artistry as they at the Emirates.

He has been accused of flying in the face of logic before - therefore it should come as no surprise that Wenger rolled out the welcome mat for two teams who have inflicted four defeats, three of them emphatic, on Arsenal this season.

Wenger insists revenge is not his motive, and his explanation that "we can't do any worse than we did in the league" does not exactly present the most convincing argument.

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As Roy Hodgson switched seamlessly from English into perfect Italian, he provided a graphic illustration of the scale and success of his reconstruction on the banks of the Thames.

Hodgson had finished discussing Fulham's fight on equal terms with Tottenham to reach the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley - and was moving on to the Europa League date with "The Old Lady" of Juventus in Turin on Thursday.

This cosmopolitan and experienced manager has brought heady days to Craven Cottage, and his presence alone guarantees "La Vecchia Signora" will treat Fulham with unswerving respect on the next stage of their European adventure.

Hodgson is still admired in Italy after his time at Inter Milan, and while , it still demonstrated the sound principles and pure common sense he has brought to Fulham.

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At Wembley

Fabio Capello did not like the question - but the blame for its refusal to go away lies firmly at the feet of Peter Crouch.

Capello reacted with uncharacteristic public tetchiness when asked, very reasonably, exactly what Crouch has to do to start for England after .

Crouch's England record is invariably damned with faint praise, with doubts expressed about the supposedly he has punished followed by questions about his effectiveness against the elite.

as being "in a really good moment of form", and there can be no serious doubts about the Tottenham striker's right to a seat on the plane to South Africa for the World Cup.

But has he done enough to displace the striker who appears to be Capello's preferred option as Wayne Rooney's partner, Emile Heskey? Don't bank on it.

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Fabio Capello would not have expected an in-depth inquisition about Egypt's threat or England's lack of an official World Cup song. And he was not to be disappointed.

This was Capello on the back foot at England's London Colney training base as he was quizzed about weightier, and highly-contentious issues, ahead of . The word "Egypt" barely merited a single mention.

Capello's opening salvo was a plea to England's fans not to jeer John Terry, after the Chelsea defender was deposed as captain amid allegations of a relationship with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne Bridge.

And so it went on as Capello played out a verbal mounting a stern defence and hoping to finally bolt the door on the sideshows that have provided a backdrop of off-the-field distractions to the Italian's World Cup plans.

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Wayne Rooney's golden streak is now so unstoppable that he is winning Wembley finals for Manchester United even when he is meant to be having a day off.

Sir Alex Ferguson revealed the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa was pencilled in weeks ago as the day he would give Rooney "a break." Some break this turned out to be.

Rooney's imposed inactivity lasted precisely 41 minutes until he replaced the stricken Michael Owen. This, according to Villa boss Martin O'Neill, made the final "more exciting" - but not in a good way for his side.

. It is just that sort of season for Rooney.

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