(CNN) -- It's been a weekend of contrasting fortunes for American club owners in the English Premier League. 

The Glazer family can look forward to Manchester United's imminent record-extending 20th league title, and their fifth since a leveraged takeover in 2005 that left one of the world's wealthiest clubs saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. 

For Ellis Short, owner of Saturday's beaten opponents Sunderland, the prospect of losing top-flight status is all too real after a 1-0 defeat that left his team just one point above the relegation zone and marked the end of the reign of manager Martin O'Neill after less than two seasons. 

He was replaced Sunday by controversial former Italian forward Paulo Di Canio, whose previous managerial club job was with English third division side Swindon. 

One of O'Neill's former players, Paul Lambert, has been seemingly on the verge of the sack for most of this season but the Aston Villa manager seems likely to see it out despite Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Liverpool, which kept his side in the bottom three but only four points behind 12th-placed Southampton. 

"Yes, definitely," Lambert said when asked if his team could avoid the drop, with seven games to play. 

"I think anybody who was here today would say the same. We're certainly playing well enough. We don't look like a team down the bottom at the minute. 

"If we keep going the way we're going, we'll win more games than not. There will be so many twists and turns." 
was his team successful?
1-0 defeat 