Picture this: It's Saturday 3rd December. A packed 52,000-capacity St. James' Park. Alan Pardew's high-flying Newcastle are at home to under-pressure Andre Villas-Boas' Chelsea in the lunch-time kick-off. An emotional tribute is paid, as others will be across the nation, to late former midfielder and Wales manager, Gary Speed. The atmosphere is tense, fraught. Then, with 15 minutes gone, the visitors are awarded a penalty. Frank Lampard steps up to ease the burden on his 34-year-old manager and stuttering side…and he misses.

Well, in football they say it all evens itself out in the end. Now fast forward to Monday 12th December. A rainy yet pulsating night at a packed Stamford Bridge. With eight minutes to go, the score is Chelsea 1, ten-man Manchester City 1, when Joleon Lescott handles Daniel Sturridge's close-range shot. Penalty. Substitute Lampard steps up to convert the spot-kick that could see the Blues become the first team all season to beat City, and keep their own slim title hopes alive…and he scores.

Suddenly, it's game on. City's lead from Manchester United is just two points, a mere nine points now separate the top five, Chelsea go third to top the London triad, and Villas-Boas shows he might yet be a little bit more special than just in the Special One's shadow. Or at least he can justify his lambasting of media criticism.

However, the 224-hour-and-38-minute journey between these pivotal penalties has more ups and downs than a highly caffeinated trampolinist. First, the ups; let's reverse time and go back to that initial miss. It proved not to matter a jot, as the Blues ran out 3-0 winners – Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Sturridge doing the damage, while Nicolas Anelka and Alex went on the transfer list.

And those strikes were the tempting hors d'oeuvres of a veritable 25-goal feast in that Saturday's top-flight fixtures. Leaders City stayed five points clear with a 5-1 triumph over Norwich. While United went second, though with the lowest score of the day, Phil Jones claiming his club opener to give the champions a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.

Elsewhere though, more shots flew in. Tottenham brushed aside ten-man Bolton, 3-0, while Arsenal ran out 4-0 victors at Wigan. Celebrity fan Goran Ivanisevic watched West Brom from the stands for the first time as they grabbed a 1-1 draw at QPR. And Ayegbeni Yakubu netted all four in Blackburn's 4-2 romp at home to Swansea to move Rovers off the bottom – and save manager Steve Kean his job.

Sunday saw fewer net-busters, but all of them noteworthy. Robert Huth's first-half effort helped Stoke beat Everton 1-0 – their first victory at Goodison Park for thirty years. And Steven Fletcher scored a late second-half brace as struggling Wolves won 2-1 at home to Sunderland, who had said goodbye to Steve Bruce and were watched by incoming manager, Martin O'Neill. And on Monday Clint Dempsey snatched the late winner, as Fulham beat ten-man Liverpool 1-0 at Craven Cottage.

But, for the highs of the goals, there were the lows of the injuries. Javier Hernandez's premature exit left United with only three fit strikers (Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda), while Aston Villa lost Shay Given and Jermaine Jenas, and West Brom wrote off Zoltan Gera for the rest of the campaign. More were to follow.

And this situation was compounded in Europe. The following Wednesday, Manchester United ignominiously became the first team to go from finalists one year to group stage failures the next, after losing 2-1 in Basel, with the added kick in the prospects of having Nemanja Vidic ruled out for the season.

There was scant consolation in knowing they would contest the Europa League trophy with Manchester City, who also crashed out. A fortnight earlier, Sir Alex Ferguson had laughed off suggestions the Manchester sides were struggling in Europe. How those words must have haunted him since.

Meanwhile, Chelsea gleefully defied the odds to go through as group winners – along with Arsenal – with Villas-Boas making the most of the opportunity to pour scorn on the media, mediums, pundits and professionals who had hinted at a Bridge under troubled water.

Yet, beware the backlash. When United were last eliminated from the Champions League group stage in 2005, they went unbeaten in their next 10 matches in all competitions. So Wolves became the lambs to the slaughter. Rooney and Nani both struck twice in the 4-1 mauling to close the gap at the top to two points – with City set for a corker at Chelsea on Monday.

Meanwhile, Arsenal gifted themselves the 125th birthday present of a 1-0 win at home to Everton, to leapfrog Chelsea into "Champions League" fourth for the first time this season. Unsurprisingly, it was prolific Robin van Persie who pounced after 70 minutes to claim his 19th goal of the season, and 33rd of the calendar year. The victory was the Gunners' seventh from their last unbeaten eight games, their woeful start to the season now ancient history. But worryingly for the financially strapped Toffees, they mustered just one attempt on target, and have lost four of their last six.

At Anfield, controversial striker Luis Suarez – he of the middle finger gesture, racism charge, ban for biting and infamous World Cup handball – did what he also does best with a fifth goal of the season, giving Liverpool a 1-0 victory over QPR to go sixth. While Alan Pardew bemoaned his casualty list as Newcastle stumbled to their third defeat in four, 4-2 at resurgent Norwich, after having Dan Gosling sent off.

Elsewhere, there were more narrow but priceless victories. At fortress Liberty Stadium, flying Dutch 'keeper Michel Vorm saved a Dempsey penalty at 1-0 en route to keeping his seventh clean sheet, as Swansea clinched a 2-0 win over Fulham. Though Jordi Gomez put away his second-half penalty as Wigan moved from bottom and out of the drop zone, after coming back to beat West Brom, 2-1, at The Hawthorns. And Aston Villa went eighth with their first away victory, 2-1 at Bolton, who slipped to rock bottom.

So to Sunday, and the Stadium of Light erupted in applause for the Return of the Tracksuit, as O'Neill made his Mackem managerial debut in a bottom-three battle with Blackburn. And Rovers' 316 fans had something to cheer after Simon Vukcevic's 17th-minute opener put them on course for victory. But, with six minutes remaining, David Vaughan produced a piledriver and Sebastian Larsson snatched an injury-time winner to send O'Neill into orbit – and Sunderland up to 16th.

In the Potteries, former Hotspur Matthew Etherington bagged a first-half brace, as Stoke won 2-1 at home to ten-man Tottenham. Younes Kaboul saw red late on, and manager Harry Redknapp turned red post-match, in a game where controversial refereeing decisions took centre stage. Either way, Spurs' 11-match unbeaten run was at an end, and they missed a chance to go within two points of United.

So everything was teed up for Monday's "Battle of Stamford Bridge". Fifth-placed Chelsea, ten points adrift, against table-toppers City, who could regain their five-point lead with a victory. And looked set to do so after 94 seconds, when the shy and retiring Mario Balotelli calmly put them ahead.

But, half an hour later, an unmarked Raul Meireles volleyed the Blues level. And, when Gael Clichy picked up a second booking with half an hour left, the game was there for Chelsea's taking. Up stepped Frank Lampard to blow the title race wide open…and he scored.

What better way to answer your critics than on the pitch.

­The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.