During the past few weeks, over 58,000 soccer fans from around the world voted in the 2009-10 EPL Awards, a readers choice awards competition that recognizes the best in Premier League football — everything from players and managers to podcasts, blogs, commentators and TV shows of the 2009-2010 season.

Drum roll, please. Here are the winners of the 2009-10 EPL Awards in the general categories of best players and managers:

2009-10 Best EPL Striker

• Best EPL Striker: Wayne Rooney
• Runner-up: Robin van Persie
• Editor’s Choice: Didier Drogba

2009-10 Best EPL Midfielder

• Best EPL Midfielder: Cesc Fabregas
• Runner-up: Frank Lampard
• Editor’s Choice: Cesc Fabregas

2009-10 Best EPL Defender

• Best EPL Defender: Thomas Vermaelen
• Runner-up: Michael Dawson
• Editor’s Choice: Thomas Vermaelen

2009-10 Best EPL Goalkeeper

• Best EPL Goalkeeper: Heurelho Gomes
• Runner-up: Joe Hart
• Editor’s Choice: Heurelho Gomes

2009-10 Best EPL Manager

• Best EPL Manager: Arsene Wenger
• Runner-up: Harry Redknapp
• Editor’s Choice: Harry Redknapp

2009-10 Most Improved EPL Manager

• Most Improved EPL Manager: Harry Redknapp
• Runner-up: Roy Hodgson
• Editor’s Choice: Roy Hodgson

2009-10 Worst EPL Manager

• Worst EPL Manager: Rafael Benitez
• Runner-up: Brian Laws
• Editor’s Choice: Rafael Benitez

2009-10 Best Player Of The Year

• Best EPL Player Of The Year: Wayne Rooney
• Runner-up: Cesc Fabregas
• Editor’s Choice: Wayne Rooney

2009-10 Best Young Player Of The Year

• Best EPL Young Player Of The Year: Alex Song
• Runner-up: Gareth Bale
• Editor’s Choice: Gareth Bale

Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who voted in the awards. As you can see from the above list, the Arsenal supporters were out in full force and helped their players and manager win several awards.

Most soccer pundits will claim that Arsenal’s title challenge is over after their deserved 2-1 loss against Tottenham Hotspur Wednesday night when they were outclassed by a Spurs side who played more like they wanted to win. But the inconsistency that each of the Big Four clubs has shown this season tells us the Premier League title race is far from over.

Based on the performances of late, it’s entirely possible that Tottenham Hotspur will give Chelsea a tough time when the Blues visit White Hart Lane on Saturday afternoon. Plus, Manchester City has its best chance in ages of beating Manchester United at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday morning. Who does Arsenal play this weekend? None other than Wigan Athletic who disappointingly could only draw 0-0 Wednesday night against Portsmouth.

If Chelsea slips up against Spurs and Manchester City beats its cross-town rivals United, and Arsenal wins at the DW Stadium, the Gunners will move into second place and will only be three points behind Chelsea. And remember that Arsenal has the easiest run of fixtures between now and the end of the season in early May.

Having said that, Arsenal did not look anywhere near Premier League title contenders Wednesday night at White Hart Lane where they were completely played off the park until the last 20 minutes when Robin van Persie came on as a substitute to ignite Arsenal’s attack. Prior to that, Arsenal were pathetic, lacked a leader on the pitch, were flaccid in attack and failed to create any real chances except for an attempt that was cleared off the line in the first few minutes and a shot by Nicklas Bendtner that whizzed past the far post three quarters of the way into the match.

Tottenham’s game plan was perfect. Harry Redknapp’s side played exactly the way that Arsenal should have played against Barcelona. As soon as Arsenal got the ball, Tottenham pressured the players and stifled any chances of creating anything meaningful in midfield. When Spurs got the ball, they broke on the counter and used the pace of Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe to break down the Arsenal defense. But when Arsenal did attack, Tottenham quickly retreated and got nine men behind the ball to prevent Arsenal from having anyone to pass to in the box.

When Tottenham opened the scoring through a wonder goal by Danny Rose — and what a spectacular volley it was — the players and supporters at White Hart Lane erupted and it really seemed as if it was going to be Tottenham’s night. The 19-year-old Rose scored one of the goals of the season on his Premier League debut start. It doesn’t get any better than that for the former Leeds United footballer.

I won’t go into the full match report, but three players who were inspirational for me Wednesday night were Gareth Bale, Heurelho Gomes and Robin van Persie. Bale, even up until the final whistle, was explosive down the left wing for Tottenham. As he has been all season, he delivered dangerous crosses from the left wing, put every ounce of energy into his tackles and continually gave right back Bacary Sagna a tough time throughout the night until the Frenchman was taken off.

As for van Persie and Gomes, these two players created golden moments for highlight reels which we could watch over and over again. Van Persie had three incredible shots on goal and showed in just minutes what Arsenal has been missing most of the season. But just as van Persie delivered these world-class attempts on goal, Heurelho Gomes was equal to the task and performed save after world-class save to keep the Gunners at bay. When Arsenal finally did score through Bendtner, it was a flurry of a finish but Spurs held on for a well-deserved three points that re-ignites their race for fourth place.

This is one of those Premier League seasons that has been so topsy-turvy with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all flip-flopping in their race for the title. And at the same time, the race for fourth has seen several teams flip flop such as Manchester City, Spurs, Liverpool and Aston Villa. So many neutral observers of this league have complained for far too long that the league is too predictable. But in this final dash for the Premier League title and the race for fourth, we’ve seen how unpredictable this league and this season really is. What an incredible match we witnessed and what a brilliant advertisement it was for the English game.

• I wanna sleep in one of those tents

As we find ourselves with four matches left in the season, we’re starting to have a pretty clear indication of who’s going home with what and who’ll be playing where next season. A lack luster, Rooney-less Manchester United could only manage a point away to Blackburn and seem to now have enough distance from table toppers Chelsea, who gained 3 points at home to Bolton, to widely be considered out of the title race.

In a conversation with Manchester United supporter, Guardian and free lance writer Rob Smyth, United’s current state was summed up quite accurately, “In many ways, the surprise is not that we have collapsed but that we stayed in the race until April before doing so”.Although I don’t 100% agree, interesting perspective from Smyth nonetheless.

I made a prediction a few weeks ago that Manchester City would end up finishing fourth this year and as of yet, the Citizens have done nothing to disprove my prediction. City have reached a cohesive attacking front having scored 14 goals, yes 14! in their last 3 matches with the likes of Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy and others leading the charge. Again, I must stress the number of important fixtures left to be played in this year’s season, as clear a picture that is attempting to develop in regards to the finish, nothing is final just yet.

There were a number of 0-0 draws this week (more specifically, the Liverpool v Fulham match) as the ever-controversial decision managers have to make of resting players for “more important” matches takes center stage…….is an all English Europa League final in the future?

This week I’m going to leave the winner up to you the readers. What follows will be nominees for Premier League Footballer of the Week. After you read the recaps, feel free to vote for who you think is most deserved of the award. If a player didn’t make the nominees, feel free to leave his name in the comments section.

Nominees -

Graham Alexander, Burnley- It may be a bit too early to tell if Alexander’s double on Saturday v Hull City will be enough to keep Burnley in the Premier League. However, his two emphatically taken penalties were enough to lead Burnley in a 4-1 away win (their first of the season) in the relegation 6-pointer against Hull. When Alexander retires from football, the Scottish right back/defensive midfielder should open a school teaching the finer arts of penalty taking. If you didn’t see the two spot kicks on the weekend, it’s safe to say you missed someone most consider an expert in the field.

Alexander’s inclusion on this list isn’t for scoring two penalties, it’s for how he scored the penalties. Alexander’s unique style has made his penalties quite incredible to watch and unsaveable for opposition keepers. Alexander approaches to strike the ball with a direct and straight run and hits it with the outside of his right foot. The shots are hit with such force and precision that they are in fact almost impossible to keep out, regardless of if the keeper guesses correctly in his dive. Reports across the Internet are sketchy at best, but it seems Alexander’s penalty record is somewhere close to 73 out of 77. Astonishing.

Yuri Zhirkov, Chelsea – Chelsea look to be rightful Champions this year as the 1-0 win on Tuesday night saw them move 4 points clear of Manchester United. There are still some very interesting and tough matches left to play for all three teams involved in the title race, but the tough, grind-it-out 1-0 wins like that of Tuesday night are what make potential champions, Champions. See under Manchester United’s 0-0 over the weekend for a comparison.

Yuri Zhirkov has impressed in recent weeks as he’s deputized for the injured Ashley Cole at left back. Able to defend and move forward to support attacks, the Russian is able to take on opponents at pace and create chances for his teammates. Even a blood-flowing head injury couldn’t keep Zhirkov from contributing to Chelsea’s win as the battered and stitched up Zhirkov continued to apply pressure on the Bolton defense throughout the second half with his runs down the left side of midfield. Zhirkov was definitely man of the match in a game Chelsea may not have impressed in, but were able to solidify their 1st place position and move one step closer to the title.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Manchester City- He’s recently announced his retirement from International duty, which is odd, considering the 26 year old striker could realistically play at least another 5 or 6 years for the Togo team. Regardless of your thoughts on his International career, the tall striker was in blistering form again for City on the weekend winning a penalty and scoring a brace which saw City come out on top of another route.

Roberto Mancini has his squad playing the best football they’ve played all year at the right time of the season. As the Manchester Derby approaches, City are at their high-flying, slug fest best, while United have had one of the worst 2 week runs in recent years. City will also look forward to an important match with the now 5th place Tottenham as both teams will be sure to give it a proper go for 4th.

Adebayor and the City attacking front, when at their best, move with pace and create good chances for each other. Their quick passing and movement without the ball rival top European clubs when they click. Adebayor’s skill in finishing, passing and linking with Carlos Tevez has seen him have another solid year in the Premier League, has scored 13 total goals and looks to be a vital ingredient in City’s race for L4.

Heurelho Gomes, Tottenham Hotspur – Without a win in the league against Arsenal before Wednesday night since 1999, the Spurs keeper produced a number of fine saves in the second half to help Spurs gain a massive 3 points in the quest for L4. Often times considered a bozo the clown-esq keeper, Gomes has found consistent form this season for Spurs.

Two saves from the impressive Robin van Persie and a third off of a Sol Campbell header, Gomes’ quick instincts and shot-stopping ability kept the full brunt of Arsenal’s attack subdued.

Congratulations to Premier League new boy Danny Rose for scoring an absolute blinder of a goal in his League and Spurs debut Wednesday night. The strike is easily in the top three for goal of the season.

Is anyone in better form than Wayne Rooney at the moment? Image: MikeEgerton/Empics

The saying goes that ‘form is temporary but class is permanent’ and on many levels this holds true, however such a huge part of professional sport is the mental aspect of the game, which at the highest level can be just as, if not more important than the physical aspect.

With just 8 or 9 games remaining in the Premier League player form and the momentum it provides can be crucial to clubs fighting for something towards the end of the season.  Classic examples include Fulham’s great escape in 2008 and Kevin Keegan’s Love it Rant as the momentum of 1996 title race shifted in Manchester United’s favour.

With this in mind I have been looking at the form players in the Premier League and which players managers would potentially want in their sides for the season’s run-in, should they have their pick of the division.

Adopting a 4-4-2 formation for nostalgic rather than practical reasons, players in this XI have made at least 20 appearances this season and are free from long term injury.

Goalkeeper – Joe Hart

Birmingham are having a fantastic season, chasing a Europa cup dream and this is in no small part due to the safe pair of hands on loan from Manchester City.

A good shot stopper and strong in the air, it will be a travesty if Joe Hart is not on the plane to South Africa with England on current form.

Right Back – Branislav Ivanovic

After signing for Chelsea in January 2008 the Serbian international seemed to disappear off the radar and it appeared as if Chelsea had uncovered a modern day Winston Bogarde.

However when given the chance Ivanovic impressed the Chelsea faithful with strong, powerful displays at both the centre and right hand side of defence. The injury of Jose Boswinga has allowed Ivanovic to show his value on a regular basis this season.

Left Back – Leighton Baines

With the injury to Ashley Cole,an England debut and regular starting berth in a resurgent Everton side gives Baines the nod over Patrice Evra and Stephen Warnock.

Centre Back - Ryan Shawcross

Despite the publicity surrounding the tackle that broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg the 22 year old has received a positive response to his actions in the aftermath of the horror tackle. He has a commanding, committed style that fits into the Stoke ethos that has allowed Tony Pulis’ side to assert themselves in the Premier League.

Shawcross been one of the stand out defenders in the league this season earning himself an England call up and an outside shot at a place at the World Cup.

Centre Back – Thomas Vermaelen

Bought by Arsene Wenger as a replacement for Kolo Toure the Belgian defender has helped plug a leaky Arsenal defence with some commanding defensive displays.

Costing a seemingly bargain basement €10 million the defender has also shown a keen eye for goal netting an impressive 7 times already this season.

Whilst there have been some doubts over his ‘big game’ performances he edges others such as Richard Dunne and John Heitinga.

Central Midfield – Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas has been one of the best midfielders in the Premier League for many years despite his young age. This season has arguably been his best so far with the Spaniard adding goals to his creativity at the heart of the Arsenal midfield.

Likely  to make the first team at any club in the world, Fabregas is an uncontroversial central midfield choice.

Central Midfield – Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has scored more than 20 goals in each of his last five seasons at Chelsea, despite having detractors dating back to his days at West Ham the player has a record that dumbfounds the criticism.

After a slow start to the season, attributed to his role in the Ancelotti diamond, Lampard has returned to form and looks set to reach 20 goals for a sixth successive season.

Winger – James Milner

Aston Villa are once again challenging at the top end of the table, and this can largely be attributed to the speed and skill of their wingers, although now being played centrally by Martin O’Neil, James Milner has shown he is adept out wide and adds versatility to this XI.

An English player having a fantastic season, Milner looks likely to play a large role in England’s World Cup campaign.

Winger – Damien Duff

After seemingly fading into obscurity at Newcastle a move to Fulham has rejuvenated Damien Duff’s career, back to his dazzling best he has won many plaudits this season and scored some incredible goals.

With plenty of attacking options in the league it is the work ethic and consistency of Damien Duff which has given him the edge over Ashley Young, Nani and Florent Malouda.

Centre Forward – Wayne Rooney

The easiest selection of the lot, with 32 goals this season Wayne Rooney has come to the boil in a World Cup year and is seemingly single-handedly dragging Manchester United towards yet more silverware.

Centre Forward – Didier Drogba

During his Chelsea career Drogba has been prone to sulking and picking up ‘minor’ knocks with greater ease than most, particularly odd considering his bullish style and excellent technique. Under Felipe Scolari it seemed as if his days in the Premier League were numbered, but under Guus Hiddink and now Carlo Ancelotti the striker is back to his best, hassling defenders and chasing down Wayne Rooney in a bid for the golden boot.

A tough choice but Drogba just about edges out Rooney’s former team mate Carlos Tevez for the second striker position due to his goal return and ability to terrorise even the strongest of defences.

Substitutes: Gomes, Modric, Young, Pienaar, Valencia, Heitinga, Tevez

There have also been many stand out performers this season that did not make the line up, for this reason I have named a strong bench. Last year’s villain Heurelho Gomes is now the hero at White Hart Lane and constitutes the goalkeeping option. John Heitinga is rewarded for his fine form by being named as the main defensive back up.

The game changing options are provided by a strong midfield quartet and Carlos Tevez.

A certainty less than a month ago would have been Ashley Cole who despite his off field woes was having his best season in a Chelsea shirt, before injury made him a doubt for the World Cup and gave England a left-back dilemma.

Interestingly notable players such as John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Rio Ferdinand have been left out. The reason for exclusion is due to either injury or in the case of Steven Gerrard them not being hitting the high expectations they have set in previous years.

All in all I think that any manager in the league would be happy to name this line up on form alone given the choice, it may not be the best XI in the league but on current form each player would be a test for any opposition.

Heurelho Gomes has grabbed his share of the headlines this season mostly for reasons that I am sure he and Spurs fans alike would rather not relive.  In the first 3 months of the season it seemed a match week did not go by without the White Hart Lane faithful grimacing and groaning at another howler by the Brazilian between the sticks.  If there were a goalkeeping nightmare reel compiled for the EPL thus far this season, the Spurs keeper would feature prominently.

To be fair he seems to have improved in recent games but the spotlight was burning bright as Manchester United paid a visit to the Lane for the Saturday evening marquee match of the weekend.

There has been plenty written about the upturn in the fortunes of Tottenham since Redknapp’s arrival but the goalkeeping position remains closely scrutinized in the Spurs quarters of North London.  With the improvement in Tottenham’s form and United ominously starting to threaten Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the table, this game garnered match of the week billing, heading into round 17.  The return of Dimitar Berbatov added to the spice and intrigue, although his status appeared questionable until kick-off.

The game, for the most part, lived up to the hype despite the typical appalling weather, and it was played in front of a great atmosphere.  Although Spurs had their chances, testing Van Der Sar on more than a couple of occasions, as expected it was the men in red that controlled long periods of the play.  The first half was relatively quiet in terms of goal attempts.  But Gomes had to be alert when O’Shea drove in a cross around the 6 yard box that even the crescendo of boos could not have prevented Berbatov from tapping in, had it not been for a quick reaction from the Spurs keeper to get down and knock the chance away.

As United drove forward in the second half Gomes rose to the occasion and appeared to gain in confidence as the match progressed.  His performance included a good save from a Vidic shot before he tipped over a rasping drive from Ji-Sung Park.  He saved his best effort for the dying seconds as he brilliantly turned away a Ryan Giggs free-kick that looked destined to give Fergie’s boys all the points in injury time for consecutive weeks.  The only time he was beaten was from a corner that Ronaldo hammered in, correctly ruled out for handball.

Van der Sar, in the United goal, certainly was not the spectator that he was last week at home to Sunderland as Bentley in particular lashed a couple of goal bound efforts that forced the Dutchman into 2 very good saves.  The match finished nil-nil due to the goalkeeping performances on both sides.  We might be accustomed to such displays from United’s stopper but there is no doubt Gomes stole the show on this occasion and gained his team a valuable point against very tough opposition.

Who knows if this form will continue?  Maybe it was a one off and it is just a matter of time before the next howler.  But if yesterday’s match was an indication of the Spurs’ keeper’s capabilities, and assuming he can deliver some consistency, then maybe Harry will have less to worry about between the posts at White Hart Lane.

The Daily Mirror focuses on Monday night’s blunder by Heurelho Gomes, but commits a blunder of its own in the headline pictured above. Let’s see how long it takes before the British tabloid fixes the headline.

In British newspaper match reports of Aston Villa’s 2-1 away win against Tottenham Hotspur, almost all of the stories lead with sentences similar to this one found in The Sun: “Calamity keeper Heurelho Gomes messed up to leave Spurs rooted at the foot of the table.”

True, yes, but it doesn’t provide a complete accurate picture of what really happened last night at White Hart Lane.

All of the blame should be placed on the players at Tottenham Hotspur, not on the shoulders of Gomes. One blunder by Gomes was the difference in this game, but the scoreline could have easily been 4-1 or even 5-1 to Aston Villa. Spurs were that awful.

The three things most missing from Tottenham are desire, confidence and rhythm. They’re not hungry to win. They look lacklustre when going in for 50/50 balls. They look beaten, partly due to a lack of confidence. And lastly, they’re having a lot of difficulty establishing a rhythm. Three or four passes in a row were a rarity for Spurs last night. Plus, the team weren’t getting into open spaces to provide options for Spurs players to pass to.

Spurs were completely outclassed by Aston Villa who were by far the better team last night. Villa had a much easier time creating goalscoring chances while it seemed like rocket science for Spurs. It was a fantastic team performance by Villa, who passed the ball around with ease and lots of one-touch passes. Plus, Villa had a lot more pace down the wings with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor in tremendous form. Gareth Barry was incredible, too. In fact, it’s not fair to the rest of the team to single out just Barry, Young and Agbonlahor. The entire team performance was amazing. If they continue playing like this, they’ll soon be in the top three.

Most football supporters ignore the league tables for the first few weeks of the season. But, after four games, it’s no surprise that Tottenham are bottom. Juande Ramos has a ton of work to do with this team, but the first thing he needs to get them to do is to play with desire. Right now, they look like a confused team with no leader. Jonathan Woodgate was their captain last night, but he’s no John Terry. Spurs needs someone who can command respect and fear. Someone who can single handly change a game by taking control and setting an example for a team to play better.

Luka Modric still hasn’t come to grips with the English game and is making far too many mistakes. Debutant Roman Pavlyuchenko showed glimpses of brilliance but Villa’s defenders did a terrific job of limiting his chances in and around the penalty area.

Don’t forget that the one goal that Spurs scored in this game was a fluke rebound off Darren Bent. The striker had a terrible game with few clearcut chances, but when he did get a chance, he couldn’t score.

Also don’t forget that while the headlines victimize Gomes as the culprit who “lost” Spurs the game, it was Gomes who pulled off several herculean saves to prevent Villa from scoring.

In response to the defeat, Ramos told BBC Sport that “I’m not going to carry out an assessment after one game. Hopefully with calmness and experience we’ll get a positive result.”

To me, Ramos’s response is as passive as his Spurs team. This was another woeful performance from Tottenham. The third of the season thus far (the exception being against Chelsea where they played at a much higher level).

At this rate, with Ramos’s laissez faire atmosphere, Tottenham could be in for a very long season. After playing Wisla Krakow in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, they face a must-win match at home against Wigan on Sunday followed by a trip to Fratton Park to play Portsmouth the week after. Six points from the next two Premier League matches is a must for Juande Ramos. Otherwise, the Tottenham fans will start to turn on him.