Xabi Alonso's early goal made Liverpool the first road team to win a Premier League game at Chelsea since February 2004. Lyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images The Limey's Mailbag Keep the banter flowing to The Limey. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

It's a whisper that's slowly becoming a roar -- Liverpool for the title. Seasoned Reds fans in England's Northwest may be staying tight-lipped, but as grim economic recession stories multiply in the U.K. headlines, talk of a football renaissance in the European capital of culture is spreading through the back pages.

After Liverpool's 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Wednesday, the Reds maintained their three-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premier League. Like so many of Liverpool's previous wins, it was hard-fought, but with Daniel Agger, Javier Mascherano, Albert Riera and Robbie Keane resting, the win had to please manager Rafa Benítez, who found his squad may have the depth to mount a serious title challenge.

Not only was it unbeaten Liverpool's fifth successive league victory, but the win over Portsmouth also came on the back of an outstanding 1-0 road win over Chelsea last weekend, when the Reds became the first team to record an EPL victory at Stanford Bridge since Arsenal in February 2004. Xabi Alonso's ninth-minute goal proved the game-winner. Benítez must be ecstatic that the failure to acquire Gareth Barry has kept the cultured Spaniard, who is in the best form of his life, at Anfield.

Though Liverpool had previously played in patches of brilliance, evident in come-from-behind 3-2 wins over Manchester City and Wigan, the results had hinged upon the ejections of City's Pablo Zabaleta and Wigan's Antonio Valencia. Liverpool's detractors were questioning for how long the Reds could accrue points without consistently performing for 90 minutes.

Liverpool has played intelligent, patient possession-oriented soccer this season. Many argue that if the squad can marry that to a greater sense of adventure in its play, it could take control of games from the opening kick. With four EPL games in November, all against lower-table sides, Liverpool has a chance to develop that knack.

First up is the newly rejuvenated Spurs, who last weekend sacked Juande Ramos and replacing him with Harry Redknapp, a slippery fish freshly poached from Portsmouth. Redknapp has already been termed "Harry Houdini" after securing Tottenham's first EPL win of the season against Bolton last Sunday, and securing a point from the trip to the Emirates on Wednesday -- a game it was losing 4-2 in the 89th minute.

For Redknapp, these results represent quite a contrast in fortunes from the awkwardness of last Tuesday, when he was given the Freedom of the Portsmouth at the city's Guildhall. Last July, when Portsmouth Council decided to bestow the honor upon Redknapp for winning last season's FA Cup, few could have predicted that he would resign his post three days before the ceremony. A crowd of 600 watched, and while many clapped, some spectators were led away for heckling their former hero.

The Spurs remain saddled in last, but on Thursday revealed grand plans for the future. Not only to overtake 19th-place Bolton in the EPL, but also to build a 60,000-seat stadium near their present White Hart Lane home in North London. It is expected to open in about five years and naming rights will be issued (please e-mail us with any witty suggestions).

Also hoping for a brighter future is Newcastle United's combative midfielder Joey Barton, who was jailed from May to July this year after being found guilty of assault and affray in a drunken Liverpool City Centre incident last December. After being belatedly suspended by the English FA for six games early this season for a May '07 assault on former Manchester City teammate Ousmane Dabo, Barton returned to action last weekend in Newcastle's road defeat at arch-rival Sunderland.

Vilified by the media, Barton was subjected to spitting and verbal abuse as he warmed up for his substitute appearance. Undeterred, Barton followed it up with a starting berth, a goal and a man-of-the-match performance in Newcastle's 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion.

It was the Magpies' first EPL win since August, and enough to take them out of the relegation zone. Never a shrinking violet, caretaker manager Joe Kinnear said if the club is not sold soon, then a longer contract should be sent in his direction. Kinnear is a man who doesn't do subtlety well, recently uttering no less than 52 expletives in a press conference.

Another man rarely found in the shadows is David Beckham, who on Thursday agreed to terms for a loan to AC Milan during the MLS offseason, joining the Rossoneri on Jan. 7. For his part, Beckham has pledged his future to the L.A. Galaxy, despite Bruce Arena's side again failing to qualify for the playoffs.

England national team coach Fabio Capello has made it clear Beckham must be playing regular soccer if he is to be selected for the squad. Beckham, with 107 caps, is now just one short of Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player. With 125, Beckham would equal former English goalkeeper Peter Shilton's record. Shilton, one of the all-time great keepers, astonishingly made his league debut in 1966 at the age of 16, and his final league appearance in '97, at age 47.

Letter to America

John Hartley of Birmingham, Ala., questions how fair it is that Beckham is amassing a lot of England caps through short substitute appearances while other players, whose number of caps he has eclipsed (or is aiming to), have made more 90-minute appearances to achieve their total.

John, Shilton has commented on this issue, exclaiming that, "For an outfield player to break [his record] in the modern game would be fantastic." However, Shilton "didn't think it was justifiable at all to bring [Beckham] on with two minutes to go against Belarus." To the legendary goalkeeper, that amounted to giving caps away.

Femi of Akure, Nigeria, wrote to ask when Chelsea FC was founded. The Blues were founded in 1905 and elected to the Football League Second Division (now termed "The Championship") shortly thereafter. Following a second-place during the 1906-07 season, they were promoted to the First Division (now the EPL), where they've remained for the majority of their history. Chelsea last played outside the top flight in 1988-89, when they were promoted from the old Second Division alongside Manchester City.

Michael Bains wrote to suggest that only a team's captain should be allowed to debate decisions with the referee, and that if other players complain, they should get sin-binned. Michael thinks this policy would result, much to his liking, in many Chelsea being sent to the sin-bin.

This is a hot topic in England at the moment, which holds that only the captain may question the ref's decisions, according to the FA's Respect Initiative. However, rumor has it that at least two EPL managers are considering removing their club's backing from the initiative, in protest that the appeals process can be as inconsistent as the match day refereeing.

Can Liverpool win the EPL title? Send your thoughts on that and any other banter across the Anfield Road to thelimey@hotmail.co.uk. Remember, we're also looking for banter surrounding the naming rights for Spurs' new stadium.