Big Wayne, Everton, and the title race

Last Wednesday, Everton threw Manchester United a desperately needed lifeline. This past Saturday, they've yanked it right back.

Louis Saha's superb set of strikes against Chelsea granted United a small midweek victory. (An earlier tie at Villa Park put them 1 point behind Chelsea. Just a week and a half later United traveled to Goodison to see the gap spread wide open again.

Bilyaletdinov, Gosling, and young Jack Rodwell did the damage for Everton, turning Chelsea and United's fixtures at Goodison this time around into a zero-sum game.

Berbatov opened the scoring for United on the fifteen minute mark, much like Malouda had for Chelsea.

Noticeably absent from the list of scorers is the man who's form will hold the key to where the league title ends und up this season: Wayne Rooney.

The talismanic striker's prolific form took a very surprise off-day against his former club, and United struggled. It is becoming ever clearer that Sir Alex has placed his title hopes quite squarely on the young Englishman's shoulders. The new responsibility has spurred Rooney into bagging an outstanding 27 goals in all competitions this season - but it's his rare off-days that truly highlight United's deficiencies.

It's not only his runs, his goals, and his work ethic that push United, it's his confidence. No longer second fiddle to Ronaldo, his attitude and energy visibly surge through the Red Devils when they hit their heights.

When Rooney isn't firing, neither are United, and such was the case on Saturday. Perhaps he was thrown off by the return to Goodison, where, once lauded as Everton's messiah, he has become Public Enemy Number One. It was obvious by the nintieth that a few early mistakes in the pressure-cooker environment the Goodison faithful created had taken Rooney out of his game.

This is not meant to be a scolding of Rooney, who has graduated from Best Supporting to Best remarkably, nor a scathing review of United, who have performed admirably this year when most said they wouldn't. But to make history, to win a fourth successive Premier League title for the first time, to win the title without Ronaldo, its going to take a superhuman effort from England's wonderkid. Go on, Wayne.