It’s getting hot in here … oh, it’s the EPL!

FEB 6 — The English Premier League (EPL) is anything but quiet. We watch brawls on the pitch, temper tantrums, taunting by rival fans, and then read about the verbal attacks on referees, players and other managers, and now, about players damaging cars while drunk, managers sleeping with prostitutes and players sleeping with their teammate’s wife.

And all this just in the past week alone.

Most of this noise is just unnecessary drama beside the action that really matters.

So, being off the radar lately has helped Liverpool to quietly restart (to borrow a much-used phrase by manager Rafa Benitez) their season. No losses in the last six in the league and an impressive five clean sheets kept in that spell.

Liverpool’s form over the last eight matches is equal to that of Arsenal, one point worse than Chelsea and just two points off Manchester United. Sure, that run has seen some decidedly awful performances, some curious team selections and few goals, but Benitez has taken his side to a mere point behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth.

It’s not even as if one could argue those six games having all been pushovers either. The run has included wins over Spurs and Aston Villa, and the nature of the performances has perhaps been due to a much needed “back to basics” spirit.

However, a Merseyside derby is a different matter. Even without the various unpredictable extras a derby brings, tonight’s match between Liverpool and Everton is set to be a thriller because of the blue half’s recent form too.

Everton has been in excellent form, winning four of their last five and being almost as miserly as their neighbours in defence. Their form over the last eight games is actually better than every other club outside the Big Four.

In recent seasons, it is Merseyside’s men in red who have held the bragging rights. Since Everton’s 3-0 win at home over their nearest and dearest rivals back in 2006, Liverpool are unbeaten against the Toffees in league action. Everton did scalp Benitez’s men in the FA Cup last season but it’s more than a decade since the Blues won at Anfield.

Chances are that this one will go down to the wire. The fact Everton have scored nine goals in the final 10 minutes of matches this season, earning them an extra 10 points in the process, could be telling.

Liverpool have won in big games when the general view was against them, while they have fluttered in supposedly sure-win games. Everyone expects Liverpool to bag the points given the recent climb up the table, however, this will only add to the pressure and could result in Everton nicking a point off their city rivals.

If the Mersey derby is unlikely to produce much goals, there is almost a certainty that Manchester United will more than make up for it tonight as they host a Portsmouth team all tangled up in a financial crisis. Pompey are in a big and complicated mess but in short they are almost bankrupt and could be put into administration in the near future.

Having had as many changes of owners as wins this season, it’s been the off-the-field activities rather than the football which seem to have dictated Pompey’s fall to the foot of the EPL.

Just this past week alone, the club was taken over by a Hong Kong businessman due to the previous owner’s failure to repay a loan, midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng found himself in trouble with the law in Berlin for damaging cars while drunk, and manager Avram Grant was exposed by The Sun newspaper in the UK as being the EPL manager who visited a brothel, which was masquerading as a Thai massage parlour, in London a few months ago.

With all the uncertainty off the pitch, Portsmouth, who are without a win since late October, will be one of the easiest bets for a big loss this weekend to Man United, let alone relegation at the end of the season.

Man United’s return to form can be equated to the form of Portuguese international Nani. His rebirth is one of the most unlikely comebacks of the season. A goner two months ago, for speaking up against Alex Ferguson, he was pivotal in the Gunners’ dismantling last weekend.

A few more performances like in the last three matches and I’m sure many would jump onto the bandwagon claiming the lad is ready to step into Cristiano Ronaldo’s shoes.

Or he could just be a pretender like many others in the Man United line-up hoping to emulate the skills and goal-scoring capability of the Real Madrid star.

Speaking of pretenders, with Liverpool’s great form and steady climb up the table, not to mention that of Everton, the day finishes with a big match involving two other clubs vying for that lucrative fourth spot and a chance to qualify for the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur take on Aston Villa at White Hart Lane, where the Lillywhites have taken 10 points from a possible 12 while keeping four successive clean sheets. Interestingly though, Spurs have won only once in the league in 2010.

Jermaine Defoe scored his third hattrick this season during the midweek FA Cup replay against third division Leeds United and will be high in confidence. However, to me he is nothing more than a bully who really turns up in matches against weaker teams, such as Wigan Athletic against whom he scored four goals earlier this season.

Villa are a big club and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Defoe fluffing chances that come his way.

Martin O’Neill’s side have won three of their last four away fixtures and would leapfrog Harry Redknapp’s men with another success on their travels. They won 2-1 at White Hart Lane last season, their first victory there in nine visits.

Eventhough The Villans have one of the meanest defence in the EPL, but they have also been ironically low in the scoring department. Only Burnley, Hull, West Ham and Wolves have scored fewer goals than Villa over the last eight league games.

The return of striker John Carew, after a four-match absence with a knee injury, should boost their chances of pulling off a second successive win in the capital following the impressive 2-0 victory at Fulham last week.

Defeat for Aston Villa, however, would leave them five points adrift off Spurs in fourth and seriously hamper their Champions League aspirations. Personally I would like to see Villa kick some Spurs butt, but it is likely to be a draw, a score draw.

So today should end with Spurs, Liverpool and Aston Villa all staying put, Man United back on top of the table, while praying for title rivals Arsenal to take an unlikely win away to Chelsea in the battle of London. More on that match tomorrow.