We're 10 weeks into the English Premier League campaign and have a tight title race once again. This weekend's fixture's featured a reshuffling at the top of the table, Jose Mourinho being real mad and the firing of a manager.

A New EPL race

The Premier League looked like it was Manchester City's to lose after the first five weeks of the season. The Citizens stood with maximum points, while Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United struggled to find their feet behind them.

Now, more than a month later, City is tied with surging Arsenal for first in the table thanks to City's 0-0 draw with United in a lackluster Manchester Derby and a 2-1 win by Arsenal over Everton.

Since that hot start to the campaign, City has fallen off, securing only two wins in the Premier League, while also garnering two losses and Sunday's draw. Arsenal trended in the opposite direction, winning four consecutive EPL matches since a 2-0 loss to Chelsea on Sept. 19, as well as securing a huge momentum boost by defeating Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Manchester United, meanwhile, sits in fourth place and two points off the lead.

This is all good news, of course. The last thing we want is a situation like last season when Chelsea got out to a fast start and walked away with the title, rendering the last few weeks of the season almost meaningless (for the teams at the top of the table, at least). There will likely be much jockeying in first place, with the lead team switching places quite a few times. And there's still plenty of time for one of the clubs to run away with the title. But a tighter race at the top renders each match that much more valuable and makes them that much more enjoyable as well.

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad Mourinho

One team you'll notice that's conspicuously missing from that discussion on EPL contenders is Chelsea.

The Blues have dropped all the way to 15th in the table after a disastrous loss to giant-slaying West Ham -- and, oh, what a disaster it was. West Ham opened the scoring via a Mauro Zarate goal in the 17th minute, but the insanity truly began right before the half.

In the 44th minute, Chelsea defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic was sent off with a straight red card. Apparently that wasn't enough time for manager Jose Mourinho to cool down before the half, because Mourinho allegedly burst into the officials' dressing to complain, which I'm pretty sure is against the rules in every sport that has ever existed. Mourinho was kicked out of the match and forced to watch from the West Ham director's box, where he saw Chelsea draw level on a Gary Cahill goal in the 56th ... and lose that lead on a goal from Andy Carroll in the 79th.

Here's what that looks like, if you wanna play "Where's Mourinho?"

That's him, directly behind the cheering opposition executive box. He did not look happy, understandably.

This would normally be the part where I include what Mourinho said after the game, because he says crazy things that are entertaining to read. But Mourinho dipped out on the post-match press conference, leaving the media waiting for 50 minutes.

So things are still bad at Chelsea. This is the point where most managers for the club would be unceremoniously sacked by owner Roman Abramovich. But Mourinho has a point when he subtly whines about the club not bringing in any of his desired transfer targets this summer. And Abramovich seems to be attempting a more level-headed approach to personnel management. So Mourinho probably has a bit more time to right the ship than usual at Chelsea, but he's burning up lots of good will with his antics and, more importantly, losses.

West Ham, on the other hand, find themselves in third place in the league with wins over Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. If you have EPL allegiance, might I suggest you root for the Hammers? They win big games and have fun players who are fun to watch. Good talk.

Sherwood out

Aston Villa is a garbage fire of an organization at this point. The Villains have lost six consecutive EPL matches. Owner Randy Lerner -- who also owns the Cleveland Browns -- has been trying to sell the team for two years with no one willing to buy at his price, and a lame duck owner isn't the best way to bring in the resources needed to succeed. And now, after eight months in charge, manager Tim Sherwood has been sacked after a 2-1 loss to Swansea.

Villa must now find someone willing to manage a sinking ship, as they are almost sure to be relegated. There simply isn't the quality of player needed to do anything else. The Villains have dug themselves a hole, sitting last in the EPL with only 4 points. Lerner almost certainly won't have his asking price met if Aston Villa finishes the campaign by getting relegated.

Full weekend results

West Ham 2-1 Chelsea

Stoke 0-2 Watford

Leicester City 1-0 Crystal Palace

Aston Villa 1-2 Swansea City

Norwich City 0-1 West Brom

Arsenal 2-1 Everton

Sunderland 3-0 Newcastle

Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City

Bournemouth 1-5 Tottenham

Liverpool 1-1 Southampton

* * *
 

Cy Brown writes about soccer for Sports on Earth. Follow him on Twitter @CEPBrown. All EPL games and highlights can be seen live on SuperSport, your world of champions.