With last night's Champions League ties involving English sides basically irrelevant, there is a lack of analysis from the defeats suffered by Arsenal and Liverpool. Instead it is to the Premier League we inevitably turn and a pointed piece by Daily Mirror journalist John Cross.

Cross by name, cross by nature it seems as Manchester City, and manager Mark Hughes, are in his sights on Thursday morning. In 'Manchester City are the new club everyone loves to hate, but Chelsea under Ancelotti are winning back friends', Cross identifies a trend in which loveable City are attracting criticism thanks to their brash approach and reserves of cash.

"Credit to Manchester City. It's taken them just 18 months but they have already achieved a major shift in power in the Premier League. City have overtaken Chelsea as the most disliked team in the top flight, the club everyone loves to hate.

"They have gone from being the lovable perennial losers to being a club which now has a flashy, arrogant, rude, nasty, snarling, moneybags attitude. Even Mark Hughes, a clever, young and ambitious manager, appears to have been caught up in the whole new City regime.

"Last week it was an ugly spat with Arsene Wenger (even though Wenger still should have shaken hands). On Saturday, it was claiming that he knew Frank Lampard was going to miss the penalty when he saw him walk up to take it. Hughes effectively accused Lampard of bottling it. The same Frank Lampard who had not missed a penalty for three years and the same Frank Lampard who held his nerve for England against Croatia when everyone else had lost the plot.

"We all laughed at that "Welcome to Manchester" sign which so got up United's noses. But it wasn't just a bit of fun. It was a statement of intent. And they have achieved it. A few years ago, it was Chelsea. Jose Mourinho's arrogance, outrageous remarks and disrespecting the great and the good in the Premier League.

"I used to think it was all about money and jealousy. Certainly, Chelsea, with Roman Abramovich, and City's wealthy owners fit into that category. There's an element of that, of course. City are now a team who everyone loves to beat to shut up and show the big spenders a thing or two. But it's not just about that. And the proof is Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti is a likable, humorous and engaging character. Ancelotti is a throwback to Claudio Ranieri."

All well and good, but surely Manchester United are still the team everyone loves to hate, aren't they?