The Barclays Premier League is taking many twists and turns at the moment. Manchester City lost to Arsenal to give Manchester United an eight-point advantage until United lost to Wigan Athletic.It is a vital stage in the season and City and United still have to play each other. They also have some tricky tests before everything is said and done.You have to take your hat off to United because they were in second place for so long and hung around until City slipped up and they have done just that.The Manchester derby will go a long way to determine where the title lands but neither side can overlook the bottom clubs at the moment as they are in a fight for their lives.Wigan did a good job in defeating United. In fact, it should have been 2-0 but the referee saw things differently.Arsenal, who beat City, are sitting comfortably in third place and Tottenham certainly have a fight on their hands with Chelsea and Newcastle in the running for the fourth and final Champions League spot.The Gunners seemed to start off slowly with the injuries and so forth but with everyone returning, the team are firing on all cylinders and it makes you wonder what might have happened if they had been healthy for the whole season.The sour note of the week was Mario Balotelli’s sending off and I think the boy needs some counselling because he is one of the most gifted players in world football for his age but he has to learn to behave himself.He needs someone help him and show how he is supposed to act. He has a responsibility to both his club and his fans who look to him as role models.The two FA Cup semi-finals are this weekend and on any given day any of the four teams can win the cup.Liverpool will have to be wary of their heated rivals Everton, given their goalkeeping situation with their third string ‘keeper in net, but then again you can’t count them out because they can be a very deadly team on form.Spurs will have a slight advantage over Chelsea, although it is a very tricky one to predict. I will be a bit biased as Spurs are closer to West Ham United than the Blues.* * * *I would like to take time out to send my regards the family of my former team-mate Rudy Minors who died this week. He was a fantastic player and person.I could go on and on about him. I grew up around him as a young player at Somerset Trojans and he will be sadly missed. I send my prayers to his family.* * * *I would also like to congratulate Somerset Trojans junior women’s team who didn’t lose a game all season and made everyone in the community proud.