If Chelsea lift the Premier League title this season then City can take a bow!

That is the angle pursued by Paul Brown in the Mirror following a chat with Stamford Bridge stalwart Frank Lampard.

Brown’s recent conversation with the England midfielder elicited the notion that our 4-2 win at Chelsea may have done both sides good.

“Frank Lampard claims Chelsea are back on course for Premier League glory – thanks to Manchester City,” enthuses Brown.

“The Blues surrendered their proud unbeaten home record this season when they crashed 4-2 to City in the league 10 days ago.

“However, Lampard scored against Stoke on Sunday to help them rebound strongly and book an FA Cup semi final date with Aston Villa.

“And the England midfielder claims losing to City was just the wake-up call they needed.

“He said: ‘Everyone has them, results like that. We have been as good as anyone over the last few weeks but they can happen.

‘Maybe they can be a kick in the right direction and help you react positively. Hopefully it can make us more aware and make sure we get back on it, especially at home, for the rest of the season.’”

Elsewhere, in amongst myriad pictures of our players enjoying themselves during a sanctioned weekend off, former England ace Chris Waddle has showered praise on City players in his column for the Daily Mail.

“Shaun Wright-Phillips looked lively last week against Egypt and we have a few other wingers such as Ashley Young and Stewart Downing at Villa and Adam Johnson who I am delighted to see has started so well at Manchester City. He looks one for the future not for this World Cup,” he declared.

More far reaching matters even than this summer’s jamboree in South Africa have been occupying the thoughts of Oliver Kay in the Times who reckons Spain and Italy’s bid to reclaim top dog status from the English Premier League begins with this week’s Champions League fixtures.

“With the dramatic fall of the pound against the euro combined with the 50 per cent tax rate for top earners the dominance of English football seems to be on the decline,” he intones.

“It appears that Manchester City is the only club capable of bucking the trend,”

Let hope so Oliver!