United's crown starts to slip

A bad week for Sir Alex Ferguson got worse on Sunday after Manchester United came undone against Manchester City, confirming his side's worst start to the league season since 1992 and sending their odds of retaining the title out to 3/1. After draws against Reading and Portsmouth, the loss of Wayne Rooney to another broken foot and the suspension of star man Cristiano Ronaldo for three matches, Ferguson needed to prove that the £50m spent on strengthening the squad was not in vain, but Geovanni's first-half strike sunk United who now find themselves one point above the relegation zone and five points behind current favourites Chelsea after three matches. Ferguson is even 10/1 not to see out the season at Old Trafford. The one saving grace for the champions was that Chelsea were held at Liverpool. Indeed Jose Mourinho's men were lucky to get a point after being awarded a laughable penalty by referee Rob Styles for a non-existant foul on Florent Malouda. This enabled Frank Lampard to cancel out the excellently-taken opening goal by summer signing Fernando Torres. Chelsea are now into a best-priced 6/5 with VCBet and Stan James while Liverpool are a stand-out 4/1 with William Hill. Arsenal's Jens Lehmann committed his second blunder in as many matches to cost his side three points at Blackburn Rovers. Robin van Persie had early profited from an error at the other end by Brad Friedel before Damien Dunn's snapshot flew straight threw the erratic German's hands, taking the Gunners - our antepost tip for the title at 12s - back out to 10/1 for the title with Ladbrokes. Van Persie's second goal of the campaign has earned him favouritism to be top goalscorer, alongside Didier Drogba, who has scored one less. The Dutchman is at 7/1 - in from last month's 28s - while Torres is now an enticing 14/1 from last week's 20s. With three wins out of three City are now perched atop the Premier League and the 9/4 recommended in this column about them finishing the season in the top half (now priced at 8/13) looks as safe as their back four. Bet365 make them 12/1 to finish above their Manchester rivals in the Premier League. Conversely, Bolton's third defeat in as many matches, against Portsmouth, has taken them into 5/2 with SportingBet to go down - a generous proposition especially if Nicolas Anelka is lured away from the Reebok this month. The pressure is heaping on their new manager Sammy Lee, who only last week was tipped here to be the man to win the managerial sack race at 3/1. His price is now into 9/4. Interestingly, despite their 4-0 win against Derby, Tottenham Hotspur boss Martin Jol is now favourite at 2/1 to be the first Premier League manager to pack his shell suit and leave the Lane. The Dutchman was as long as 8/1 when also tipped on this site as a value bet last week and though assurances have been made that he is in it for the long haul those utterances have significantly come from Jol himself and not the London club. Forthcoming matches against Manchester United, Fulham and Arsenal will be crucial to his survival.