It seemed 2011 still had a quota of surprises to reach before signing off, because its last day was bizarre from first minute to last. It began with Alex Ferguson’s odd team selection and ended with penalty chaos at the Brittania. In between, Manchester United had lost to Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea lost at home to Aston Villa and Tottenham slipped up at Swansea having taken the lead. Robin van Persie, meanwhile, illustrated he didn’t have a completely golden teach as he failed to break Alan Shearer’s records for goals in a calendar. Although he did still hit Arsenal’s only goal in their win over QPR – the only result that really went to plan.

United’s 3-2 defeat to Blackburn – and only their second this season – was, of course, the result of the day. And it provided some of the oddest features of the day. First of all, Ferguson fielded a team in which the only central midfielder was in defence and their four wingers in the centre. And, despite the absence of so many first-choice players, he still rested Wayne Rooney. The question, naturally, is why rest him now when that leadership is most needed?

It backfired badly for United as Blackburn went into a 2-0 lead. First Dimitar Berbatov pulled down Christopher Samba for an Aiyegbeni Yakubu penalty before the Nigerian then stunned United with a second just after half-time.

Berbatov immediately responded before Valencia then set up another for the Bulgarian. But the second bizarre factor of the day was that – in very un-United fashion – the next goal after such a comeback didn’t come from then. It cam from Grant Hanley for Blackburn who took advantage of David De Gea’s strange decision to come from a corner. After that, then, there is no late rally from United. Just a flat, meek performance.

Of course, the worst thing about the result – whatever about the performance – is that United should, by rights, have used this game to go temporarily ahead of City at the top and really close off that gap in goal difference. Instead, they meekly surrendered the initiative. In that, given the boost it could give City and manner it could sap United’s momentum, this could end up a decisive day in the title race.

As far as that goes, Chelsea can almost certainly consider themselves out of it now after a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa. Indeed, a fourth successive 1-1 draw would have been a consolation in the circumstances. Chelsea had taken the lead through Didier Drogba’s penalty only for Stephen Ireland to hit back with his first goal for Villa. And, with the match then opening up, substitute Frank Lampard played an atrocious pass which allowed Stilian Petrov to eventually take advantage with a low finish. Ireland then helped wrap up the points with an unselfish ball to Darren Bent. Once again, though, the game illustrated the gaps and holes in Chelsea’s system… not least between David Luiz and John Terry. Reflecting Chelsea’s fortunes at the moment, Fernando Torres came off the bench at 1-1 to immediately hit the bar.

Spurs, by contrast, were fortunate to come away with a point against Swansea who dominated them from first minute to last. Rafael van der Vaart had stunned the Swans with an undeserved opener but Brendan Rodgers’s side showed great character to come back with Scott Sinclair equalising.

Arsenal, meanwhile, kept up a bit of pressure on Spurs in third and even leapfrogged Chelsea into the Champions League places by claiming that win over QPR courtesy of Van Persie.

At the bottom, Bolton kept up the theme of the day by claiming an uncharacteristic draw – their first of the season. They had taken the lead against Wolves through Sam Ricketts only for Steven Fletcher to then outfox the same player to equalise. Norwich, meanwhile, claimed a 1-1 draw against Fulham after Simeon Jackson had equalised Orlando Sa’s early opener.

In the battle of styles at the Brittania then, Wigan seemed to have outpassed Stoke to a 1-0 win through Victor Moses opener before chaos took over in the last few minutes. First, Gary Caldwell was sent off for superbly saving a Cameron Jerome effort on the line with his hand. Jon Walters despatched the penalty before then setting up Jerome to put Stoke 2-1 ahead. Almost immediately, however, Hugo Rodallega went down softly under pressure from Ryan Shotton to get another penalty.

And, emphasising the odd nature of the day, Ben Watson was brought off the bench to take it. Given that he had already missed two penalties this season, it was hardly ideal for his first touch… but Watson hammered it into the top corner.