The big four seem locked-in a battle to see who is “least worst” in a title race lacking a great team.

Both the Manchester giants, Chelsea and Arsenal all have their weaknesses but all share one common trait – dodgy defences.

The standard of defending this year in the Premier League has been abysmal – more catastrophic than catenaccio.

Watching Man City defend corners with their zonal marking system must remind some of their fans of the bad old days in Division Two.

But Mancini’s men are not alone. Man Utd and Chelsea look horribly porous at the back while Arsenal need to score three to scrape a draw these days.

I doubt George Graham can bring himself to watch the Gunners while the old chant of one-nil to the Arsenal isn’t heard that often anymore.

Of course the quality of the big fours’ forwards and the state of most of the opposition means they can still rack up a decent points tally.

But in Europe these faults are exposed and it was humbling watching Champions City passed off the park by Ajax.

It was like watching Holland v England except most of the City team were foreign so it now looks like the domestic hurly burly is dragging down imports rather than them raising our game.

I fear the Champions League semi-finals will be an English free zone unless our big names learn to keep clean sheets.

While the league may not be the best this year, we can still make some cash out of defensive calamities.

And a decent place to start is the Emirates where Arsenal v Spurs should serve up plenty of goals and I like the look of Paddy Power’s 3/1 that there will be five or more goals in the game.

The bookies are also offering prices on who will be the next director general at the BBC.

I’m not really in the know on that one so I’ll wait for the Newsnight special which is bound to ignore the story then tip the wrong candidate after the race has been run.

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Running Total for all 2012 bets to a £10 stake:   +£161.00