Premier League result - Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1

6th February 2011 Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1

Today was the day Chelsea unveiled their £50m man, with huge irony in that he faced his old club Liverpool FC. So how did he look? I thought Torres looked sharp and happy to be in and around some world class faces. He was subbed towards the end, before the winner from Raul Meireles, only to be greeted with a standing ovation from eager Chelsea fans and simultaneous growls from the unhappy scousers. The suggestions this week that Torres wasn't trying since the World Cup I thought was hugely disrespectful towards the Spaniard, who is a professional that has stayed at Liverpool through a very tough patch. Playing as a lone striker, some times under Benitez carrying injury, I don't think anyone really expected Torres to stay at Liverpool for the rest of his career.

Will Chelsea reap the rewards of the Torres buy? I think they will get goals, yes. I also think the shirt sales will have been a calculated revenue line in the huge record £50m valuation - good luck to Chelsea who did the brave thing that countless pundits / fans can lazily criticise.

Transfer window latest 31st Jan 2011

Football Transfers 2011

Well A LOT has happened in the Premier League transfer window since my last blog. Robbie Keane signed for West Ham instead of Birmingham. Birmingham have snapped up Keane, Bent has started well for Villa (£24m), huge amounts of money are about to move about with Torres moving to Chelsea, Andy Carroll eyeing up a dream move to Anfield and ... all eyes are on Charlie Adam as Ian Holloway looks to maximise the potential transfer fee.

Interesting to see Blackburn Rovers signing for the future with the acquisition of Ruben Rochina from Barcelona. Daniel Sturridge going to the Reebok is also a buy demonstrating ambition from Bolton Wanderers. It will be nice to see ex-Pompey star Sulley Muntari back in the Premier League playing for Sunderland as his spell in Milan comes to an end...again, cracking business by Steve Bruce.

All eyes were on Anfield this evening with Suarez and Carroll both moving to play under ex-Red player/manager Kenny Dalglish.

Abramovic's Chelsea have shown aggression and competitiveness in this 2011 transfer window - Luiz and Torres must take the Blues forward after their slump in the Prem which appears to be over.

I could go on, with so many mouth watering signings cracking off in this allstars competition that is the Premier League. Lots of loan deals in this transfer window!

At January 31st 10pm, this is my key transfer update in the Barclays Premiership:

Arsenal - no players signed
Aston Villa - Bent
Birmingham - O Martins, Bentley (loan)
Blackburn - Santa Cruz, Rochina, Formica
Blackpool - James Beattie, A Reid
Bolton - David Wheater, Sturridge
Chelsea - Fernando Torres, Luiz
Everton - Dier
Fulham - S Sidwell
Liverpool - Suarez, Caroll
Man City - Dzeko
Man Utd - Lindegaard
Newcastle - Stephen Ireland
Stoke - Pennant, Carew
Sunderland - S Muntari
Tottenham - Pienaar
West Brom -
West Ham - Wayne Bridge, Robbie Keane (loan)
Wolves - J O'Hara (loan)

Good luck to 'Arry tonight - Aguero for £38m was turned down but you are the absolute transfer market master!!

Transfer latest January 2011

Although updates surrounding David Beckham's training and Man City's considerable spending has dominated this January 2011 transfer window, there's plenty going on now. Here are my favourite top 3 bits of transfer news/gossip:

Keane leaves Tottenham Hotspur to join David Bentley at Birmingham City. Great business Alex Mcleish, £4m is a bargain.

Pienaar snubbed Chelsea in a £3m offer...lucky escape Steven if you're not a fan of warming the bench!

Dutch midfield work horse Mark Van Bommel could be eyeing up the Premier League, with Dutch and Italy clubs also interested.

Monday 13th December Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0 Premier League report

13/12/2010 Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0 Premiership result

Sky Sports determined the awkward Monday evening fixture of the big clash Manchester United against in form Arsenal. Currently the Premier League is wide open with 5 teams in it - with all of the big boys playing each other in the next few weeks you would imagine that this will be down to 3 once the festive period is completed.

26 of the 33 Chilean miners the survived the recent disaster attended this evening's match with a great chaperone in David Beckham

In typical fashion, the Old Trafford crowd witnessed a game of chess as these two giants tested each other mainly in midfield. Arsenal looked dangerous on the break but possibly lacking striking power agianst Vidic and Ferdinand. Nasri showed good poise on the ball, demonstrating that he is the key man currently form wise.

The goal came in the 41st minute for Man Utd from a long ball which Arsenal failed to clear efficiently. Rooney flicked a header over to Nani who moved inside with admirable disguise and Ji-Sung Park cleverly contorted his neck to get into a position where he could loop a header over Wojciech Szczesny. A blow for Wenger as scoring 2 at OT is not the easiest task even when you are the Arsenal.

The Gunners started brightly in the second half with Nasri playing in a more advanced central position. They played grest one touch football with Wilshere, Nasri and Arshavin all providing classy movement and passing.

However Fergie's midfield remained resilient with good grafting from Fletcher and Anderson. The Red Devils flexed their muscle when they needed to but it was a good honest contest with no stupid challenges. Wenger got to the 1 hour mark and decided to take a bit of a risk with so much at stake. A double subsitution followed, Rosicky came off for Cesc Fabregas and Wilshere came off for Robin Van Persie.

Wayne Rooney battled well as the lone striker, showing some signs of his unstoppable form in the 2009/2010 season. Nani also displayed persistent qualities in the 72nd minute inside the box, leading to a harsh penalty where Clichy was to have judged to handled. Rooney stepped up and surprisingly gave it the Chris Waddle 1990 treatment, skying the ball over the Arsenal cross bar giving Wenger's men a lifeline.

Arsenal still seemed a bit short. In the 76th minute, Arshavin was substituted for Theo Walcott in an attempt to increase the pressure on the Man Utd back four. Fergie's midfield packed the centre of the park, protecting their defence impressively. This frustrated the Gunners and forced them into optimistic long range shots as they moved into the last 10 minutes.

Walcott had some nice touches, linking up with Fabregas but the home team seemed to work harder and display more physical strength in the central areas of the pitch. As Manchester United successfully killed off the last few remaining minutes, Old Trafford legend Ryan Giggs came on in the 84th minute.

Rooney had a good chance towards the end, trying to chip Szczesny who got a palm to the ball. Rooney did look incredibly sharp and linked up with Ryan Giggs a couple of times showing that he is very much still a huge part of the Manchester United future.

With 4 minutes of added time, Arsenal struggled to find any space in the final third as they desperately attempted to put pressure on the home team. Walcott had one half chance in the 93rd minute but volleyed over the bar allowing Van der Sar to run down some more seconds. The ref blew up to see the home team grab 3 huge points to make a big move for the Premier League, putting Manchester United top with 34 points.

Arsenal v Spurs Saturday 20th November 2010 Premiership preview

Premier League preview: Arsenal versus Tottenham H Emirates 12.45pm 20/11/2010

This is a London derby not to miss, as ex-gooner captain William Gallas travels to the Emirates stadium with his new club Tottenham Hotspur.

The clash will remind football fans of Sol Campbell making his first trip back to White Hart Lane as an Arsenal player, where the abuse and missiles were relentless as the Spurs fans demonstrated the fierce rivalry between these two North London clubs.

To spice up the atmosphere with Gallas even further, French forward Samir Nasri has stated that he will blank Gallas pre-match and not shake his hand. There are rumours that suggest that Nasri has abone to pick with Gallas since the release of his autobiography had references to Euro 2008 and Nasri's supposed negative influence.

The big question for the travelling team will be whether missed forward Jermaine Defoe starts, who is back after an ankle injury. Harry Redknapp has dearly missed Defoe, who yesterday reinforced this fact that missing the England striker for 6-7 games will always mean that you run the risk of dropping points - which has been the case for the lily whites. It is more than likely that Crouch will start and Redknapp will use Defoe as an impact player. Dutch hit Van der Vaart will play a supporting striker role, giving the Spurs team a real added dimension.

Tottenham's staccato league form however is mainly down to their UEFA Champions League debut. Through injury and midweek fatigue, Redknapp has been frustrated by mediocre peformances and forced into regular squad rotation leading to missed opportunities in the form of points.

After recent losses at home against West Brom and Newcastle, Wenger will be keen to show Chelsea and Manchester United that they are a serious Premier League contender in this 2010/2011 campaign - their record in these North London derbies is good when playing at home - most tip the Gunners for a win. Popping into second regularly has given the Arsenal faithful hope - but 3 points today would put them momentarily into 1st - giving their players added belief that this could well be the season to get some silverware.

Jack Wilshere is expected to start, recovering from a back problem which kept him out of the midweek friendly against France.

Predicted first 11 line-ups

Gunners: Fabianski (GK), Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Chamakh.

Spurs: Gomes (GK), Hutton, Gallas, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Modric, Palacios, Jenas, Bale, Van der Vaart, Crouch.

Should a a great Premier League derby!

Chris Houghton gets the sack?!?!

A formal statement came out from St James Park tonight regarding Chris Houghton's future at Newcastle United. Newcastle confirmed that Chris Houghton will remain in place as manager of the magpies until the end of the season and that his contract would be re-negotiated at this point.

But then...

Ashley sacks Houghton ?!?! This has to be the worst board decision in the history of the premier league...see my latest article

Chris Houghton - you will be rewarded by a good club with a clever chairman, hopefully with a club that will help send your old club down!

Well done Gareth Bale - Spurs 2 - Arsenal 1

For scoring tonight against the Gunners when Harry really needed you.

For keeping your head down when the media vultures pulled you apart, highlighting the unfortunate coincidence between your appearances and Premier League failure.

Having the best left foot at Tottenham Hotspur football club.

Not going on loan to a crap team.

....what a superb evening for the lily whites - unlucky Wenger's boys - great derby tonight.

Arsenal 2 West Ham 0 20/03/2010 Barclays Premier League

Arsenal 2 West Ham 0 20th March 2010 Premier League

Arsenal looked to set this latest Premier League weekend's pace with a 2-0 win over London rivals West Ham United, putting them top for at least the next 20 hours or so.

For the first 30 minutes, the Gunners showed us their dominance up front. It took less than 5 minutes for the home team to take the lead with Denilson strike from just outside the area. The was not a great deal more excitement for the majority of the first half except for perhaps Diamanti and Campbell going in the book, but in the 44th minute the visitors had plenty to shout about when Vermaelen was controversially sent off for a challenge on Guillermo Franco in the box. However despite scoring in the previous 2 encounters between the London rivals, Almunia denied Diamanti his third time lucky. Gooners would say it was a great save, Hammers would point to the fact Almunia was a long way off his line. 1:0 to the home team at half time.

In the second half the Hammers tried their best to make their extra man work for them, but to no avail. Just after 80 minutes a hand ball by ex gunner Matthew Upson handed a penalty to the Arsenal, which Fabregas converted with ease. This galvanised the Wenger boys, who threatened a third for the remainder of the match. However going after 90 minutes top of the premiership is surely result enough for the Gooners. But will they able to play this convincingly against Barcelona??

Premier League 20th March 2010 latest fixtures

Premier League 20th March 2010 latest fixtures and lunchtime result

Lunchtime match 20th March 2010 (12:45pm)
Aston Villa 2 Wolverhampton 2 PREMIER LEAGUE RESULT

3 o'clockers
Everton v Bolton, Goodison Park 3pm
Portsmouth v Hull, Fratton Park 3pm
Stoke v Tottenham, Brittania Stadium 3pm
Sunderland v Birmingham, Stadium of Light 2pm
Wigan v Burnley, JJB Stadium 15:00

Evening match
Arsenal v West Ham, Emirates Stadium 5.30pm

Tottenham 3 Blackburn 1 13th March 2010 Premier League result

13/03/2010 Spurs 3 Blackburn Rovers 1 Barclays Premiership result

Today's lunchtime Premier League match was at White Hart Lane as Big Sam's Blackburn Rovers took on Harry Redknapp's Spurs who are battling fiercely for that fourth position in the league. OK so as a keen Football Blogger I do self indulge content wise - Spurs are my team. However this was a game with lots of goal mouth incident, tough refereeing calls for Howard Webb to make and 4 goals - it could have so easily been more.

Blackburn Rovers, captained by Chris Samba set a defensive stall out but unfortunately lost ex Tottenham Hotspur 'keeper Paul Robinson after the first 15 mins with a calf injury.

Blackburn remained resilient and managed a handful of attacking breaks, namely David Dunn who clashed with Corluka after a great run - this was a tough call for the ref but without my Spurs scarf on, I think that he did get this one correct - I think Dunn fouled Corluka.

On the stroke of half time, Jermaine Defoe poached a goal in typical goal scorer fashion, tapping in from close range as Corluka Had headed the Modric corner goal wards.

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the other 2, sandwiching a late goal from captain Chris Samba.

"It's a great win for us," said Harry Redknapp on the Tottenham Hotspur website. "You get a feelings about games and driving to the stadium this morning, I just felt it was going to be difficult day for us against Blackburn because they are so strong.

"We watched re-runs of their match against Liverpool and they gave them a lot of problems so to pick up the three points was great for us.

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4 28th February 2010

Chelsea 2 Man City 4 Premier League result 28/02/2010

Manchester City took 3 points away from Stamford Bridge today in over 17 years, with a riveting 6 goal match taking Man City into fourth position.

It was unfortunate that this exciting game had an element of tension with the well publicised John Terry and Wayne Brudge friendship bust up. In the team meeting prior to the match kick off, Wayne Bridge did no shake John Terry's outstretched hand which then led to the Chelsea fans booing Bridge for the entire match. All typical pantomime stuff really - Wayne Bridge was a perfect professional about the whole occasion and showed that he has match sharpness after his knee injury. England calls, Mr Bridge - we need you!

At the end of the match, Sky Sports congratulated Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy on their goal scoring and away victory. Inevitably they asked about how things had been in the Man City in relation to the Wayne Bridge - John Terry bust up. "You guys (the media) make a lot more of it you know (the fall-out between Terry and Bridge). I know what JT is like and nothing surprises me about it, so I'm not going to comment on that. I think everybody in football knows what the guy is like, but that's off the field. "On it he's an outstanding player. He's a great captain for Chelsea. It's always going to be difficult when you play him and his team."

The last bit of friction was Tevez and John Terry squaring up chest to chest with the referee jumping promptly in to prevent any unsavoury scenes.

The first 40 minutes of this match was dominated by Chelsea, Manchester City had Carlos Tevez back in a lone striker role with a defensive travelling strategy under new boss Roberto Mancini. To be honest, the play was dull so when Frank Lampard took his chance with international class written all over it the neutral football fan benefited almost instantly.

Manchester City managed to equalise with a pivotal moment in the game with Tevez battling on his own against Terry and Carvalho, then managing somehow to scrape a shot past Petr Cech's understudy Henrique Hilario just before half time. Hilario will be criticised for this goal and his performance in general today.

In the second half, Man City had more possession and better quality attacking moves. It was Craig Bellamy that got City's second with a sprint down the left hand flank, dribbling directly at the Chelsea full back and then shooting across Hilario who seemed to get his angles a bit wrong.

Chelsea had Ballack sent off after Carlos Tevez had converted a spot kick where Belleti fouled Gareth Barry from behind clumsily in the penalty box. This period of time killed it for the home team.

Wright-Philips came on towards the end, hit Chelsea on the break to square to Bellamy to make it 1-4. Chelsea lost a second player to a red card late on, finishing the last 5 minutes off with 9 men. Chelsea got a penalty late on which Frank Lampard converted but this was Team Bridge's day, pushing Man City into a Champions League spot in the Barclays Premier League.

As for England, we really need Wayne Bridge - hopefully the emotional hurt that he has heals a little before the World Cup because I want to see this lad play...he's brilliant! John Terry has definitely had a dip in form, looks like he might have lost concentration (understandably) and perhaps a yard of pace. Poor old Capello!

Should John Terry stay as England captain?

For those of you living in a cave, it was revealed this weekend that John Terry has been bonking the ex girflriend of Wayne Bridge, who is also the mother of Wayne's child. Some are saying that this act of betrayal will so undermine respect for John Terry within the England squad, Terry has to surrender his captaincy. Others argue that this is a private matter, which has absolutely no bearing on Terry's professional life. It is certainly a topic that will run and run in the countdown to South Africa.

My view is that although Wayne Bridge can be none too pleased at the revelations, if as reported his relationshop with his ex was well and truly over before her affair with Terry kicked off, Terry's acts, although a betrayal of his wife (for which she deservedly should red card him if she sees fit) but not a betrayal of his team mate. Bridge's concerns for his son are understandable, but Terry did do his best to gag the media. I do not want to see England lose a captain because of Wayne Bridge's hurt pride. If every footballer who had an affair was demoted, the conference would be full of world class talent.

Tottenham Fulham score - Spurs 2 Fulham 0

As Spurs have their UEFA Champions League dream this season, Fulham also look to push themselves into this hunting pack between 4th and 6th in the Premier League.

Both London sides started brightly with Zamora taking up good positions against the Spurs back four and Modric dictating alot of the Tottenham possession. If anything though it was the home team that looked dangerous, with Damien Duff making things difficult for Corluka down the left flank. Zamora had a big chance but fluffed it; a big moment in the 1st half for the former Spur who had passed a late fitness test after recovering from a broken collarbone.

Un the 27th minute Peter Crouch used his height to open the scoring, nodding a left footed David Bentley cross from the right hand side as he cut inside. A neat header but a possible lack of judgement from Fulham 'keeper Schwarzer as he came some length for the cross. Then Modric battled to get the original looping header back to Crouch who poked the ball into the net. A good 45 minutes for ex-Blackburn Rovers player David Bentley who was deputising for the pacey Aaron Lennon. Bentley seemed to enjoy alot of space in the first half and looked pretty neat for the home side.

In the 45th minute Luca Modric had a great chance within the penalty area after some neat dribbling but blasted his shot just over the cross bar.

In the second half Tottenham Hotspur played smooth, attacking football, piling on the pressure to build on thier 1-0 lead. The goal came eventually with a deflected free kick from David Bentley. Unlucky for the away side but Spurs were definitely good for it, with the industry of Huddlestone/Palacios and Modric's wizardry in midfield.

For Tottenham, it was good to see the confidence gradually trickle back into both David Bentley and Gareth Bale. Dawson failed to get a header on target from a great Bentley cross and Bale tirelessly bombed up and down the left flank, looking every bit a Premier League quality wing back.

Fulham took Zamora off and he would have been dissapointed to get his goal at White Hart Lane. Fulham had some nice attacking moves in the last ten minutes and Redknapp took the decision to put on the athletic Robbie Keane in order to counter balance this possession.

The home side killed it to win 2-0 to get a great 3 points to fight off Liverpool from muscling the 4th position off them.

Does Wenger's selection mean another trophyless season for the Gooners?

FA Cup Result 24/01/10 Stoke 3: Arsenal 1

While most of Arsenal's first team were rested to concentrate on the league, Wenger's second choice selection of young talent plus former legend Sol Campbell crashed out of the FA cup at the Britannia Stadium yesterday. Although at 67 minutes and at 1:1 Wenger brought on the big guns of Arshavin and Eduardo plus the talented youngster Aaron Ramsey, this triple change was too little, too late. Ironically Stoke, who played well throughout and deserved their win, played even better after Wenger's change. The Arsenal manager had wanted to avoid a replay but got his wish granted somewhat differently than he had hoped when Fuller whacked in a second goal for the home team and Etherington got the third.

Many Gooners are bemoaning Wenger's team choice as they saw the cup competition as Arsenal's best chance of winning silverware this year. However as I wrote last week, I believe Arsenal do still have a reasonable chance of winning the league this year if they can continue their unbeaten run through their next few fixtures. In the next couple of weeks Arsenal are playing Villa, Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool and understandably Wenger did not want to add to his injury list for this challenging run in. These tough choices around team selection are unfortunately the reality for clubs who don't have owners with deep deep pockets.

Plus although the FA Cup is a great competition, winning the Premiership is a far superior prize. It was only 2 years ago that Portsmouth won the cup but have been pretty much in freefall since. This year Man United and Liverpool are already missing from the competition, which in my view would devalue the win somewhat (unless of course you are a Leeds fan)! So in my view Wenger did the right thing by resting his first team, although I am not convinced that Sol Campbell is the answer to Arsenal's defensive problems!

Tevez and Neville - sort yourselves out!

Who wants to be a millionaire? Who wants to be a millionaire whose vocation in life is being a Premier League footballer for either Manchester United or Manchester City?

ALL OF US!

Carlos Tevez and Gary Neville have lacked class and taste with their recent spate of name calling in the media. In my 2nd favourite sport, cricket, you would not win any friends from such vocal behaviour and indeed would compromise your position long term.

I would love football to have more honour and respect in it - both on the field and off of the pitch. Surely the two are intrinsically linked. As football has become progressively non-contact, I think the pent-up anger in the stands has got worse in some ways. As a spectacle football is ahead of both cricket and rugby in terms of popularity but lots of parents that look to take their kids to sporting events will shy away from subjecting them to a barrage of swearing and friction between opposing fans and assault slinging towards prima donnas like Tevez and Neville.

Do footballers take their positions seriously enough? Their actions have a huge influence on millions of football enthusiast youngsters.

Grow up chaps.

Can Arsenal win the premiership?

Premiership result 20/01/10 Arsenal 4: Bolton 2

Although the Gallas challenge on Mark Davies is still the subject of controversy (Bolton fans argue that play should have been stopped; instead it set up the Fabregas equaliser) the superiority of Arsenal over Bolton last night is not. In addition few would dispute that the ability of the Arsenal team to turn over a 2 goal deficit and make it look easy shows that morale is high in the Gooner camp. Walcott's appearance for the first time since Christmas was also good news for the Emirates' faithful, who have been mourning the loss of Van Persie's pace since he injured his ankle in an international friendly in November.

Arsenal are currently riding high at the top of the table by virtue of goals scored, although Chelsea in second do have as game in hand. Arsenal and Chelsea are also due to meet again on 7th February, which given the Blues' 3-0 hammering of the Gooners when they met in November at the Emirates, is not a fixture Arsenal will be counting on 3 points from.

For the past few seasons Wenger has claimed until the very very last minute that the Arsenal are still in contention for the premiership, but at this point in time in this season it would be difficult to dispute. Of course Chelsea remain the hot favourites and have played some absolute cracking football this season, but even teams of their calibre are not immune to slipping up - remember the Wigan result in September (3:1 to Wigan)!!

Birmingham City 1 Manchester United 1 Premier League Latest

As one of only two fixtures that survived the cold snap today, lots of smug ESPN subscribers (including myself) will have enjoyed the match at St Andrews today where home team Birmingham managed to get a point against current Premier League champions Manchester United.

Snow has disrupted many industries, including football particularly in lower leagues. However Man Utd played last week in the FA Cup against Leeds and took a big knock in that game at home. Looking to bounce back today, for 30 minutes in the first half Birmingham City could hardly get a touch of the ball as the red devils were truly awesome in ther mastery of attacking football. No goals from it though. Jerome scored first against the run of play (one of my top five football clichés) with a scrappy goal coming from a corner.

In the second half after some more dominating football, it was Manchester United's turn for a scrappy goal. As the cross came in and the ball went in the net after blocked shots from both Rooney and Scholes, Rooney gingerly claimed the goal but then there was hesitation with the officials as the Birmingham players and fans piled on the pressure claiming an offside. However, it was then clear that the goal was to stand because it was actually an own goal.

Bad result for Man Utd - I think it now has to be Chelsea's to lose.

Mancini wants Robinho

Brazilian virtuoso Robinho has been linked with Barcelona for the last few months, but Mancini has publicly stated that he wants him to form part of the bigger picture at Eastlands.

Last season. Robinho had his critics for lightweight appearances away from home. For me, Robinho was a breath of fresh air in the first half of the 2008/2009 Premier League season but he's new to English football and I'm sure that under the right management he can sustain a long term future in this league and show how good he really is.

"Robinho is a fantastic player but for a big player like him, it is important to make the history of a club. I played at Sampdoria for 15 years. I wrote the history. It is important. Robinho can do that here." Mancini stated, drawing on his own player experiences and citing the level of loyalty that he demands in players.

Good start Roberto. Now you need some points!

Premier League Christmas fixtures December 2009

Barclays Premiership Christmas matches December 2009

Always a great period for drammatic football action, I'm sure that this Christmas will not dissapoint for some superb Premier League matches. What a busy time this will be for Roberto Mancini - fully expected to beat Stoke at home on Boxing Day as well as Wolves away on Monday 28th as well as sign some galacticos for his new club. In sixth, they will be trying to leap frog over Villa and Spurs to go into fourth and for me this is the area of real excitement this Christmas in the Premier League. There is the small matter of Liverpool's disastrous beginning to their 2009/2010 Premiership campaign. Benitez says that he'll get the Reds into the top four - as does Mancini - there's not enough room for them all and with Villa and Spurs doing so well we are in for a great fight for 3rd/4th.

At the top, Ancelotti's Chelsea have a tough game against in form Fulham who beat Manchester United 3-0 on the weekend. Man Utd have a home match against Wigan which you would imagine them to win, Fergie will be tough on the squad going into this so I think wigan will feel the full Old Trafford factor on the 30th. I can't see past Chelsea this year for the Premier League title. Despite missing the chance to go 6 points clear of Manchester United when the drew at Upton Park against West Ham United, they still look physically and mentally strong enough to go the whole way.

So then at the foot of the table, Portsmouth have a potentially tough Christmas, with a relegation scrap away at West Ham on Boxing Day and entertain Arsenal on the 30th. Avram Grant will be concentrating on the West Ham match as a base point to clawing Pompey out of the bottom 3.

I must say that I am surprised to see Bolton struggling in the bottom 3. Gary Megson's boys were pretty strong last season after their boss dealt well with the pressure on his shoulders. Having just beaten West Ham they would have been dissapointed that their match was postponed last night due to a frozen pitch at the JJB Stadium. THey have to continue scrapping - they face Burnley and Hull in the Christmas period so their target has to be to take 6 points. Phil Brown's Hull City seem really galvanised in their plight to remain in the Premier League - in a way playing Man Utd at this time is good (27/12/2009) because they have nothing to lose other than really taking the game to the reigning champions as they did at the end of last season when they narrowly lost 0-1 in May 2009.

Spurs have a tough Christmas - Harry Redknapp has blocked any players Christmas party and the lily whites have 2 away fixtures - both London derbies. They play Fulham away on Boxing Day which will be an interesting match and then have East London strugglers West Ham United on the 28th December.


Here are the fixtures:

Saturday, 26 December 2009
Birmingham v Chelsea, St Andrew's, 12.45pm
Burnley v Bolton, Turfmoor 2pm
Fulham v Tottenham, Craven Cottage 1pm
Liverpool v Wolverhampton, Anfield 5.30pm
Man City v Stoke, Eastlands, 3pm
Sunderland v Everton, Stadium of Light 3pm
West Ham v Portsmouth, Upton Park 1pm
Wigan v Blackburn, JJB Athletic 3pm

Sunday, 27 December 2009
Arsenal v Aston Villa, Emirates 1.30pm
Hull v Man Utd, KC Stadium 4pm

Monday, 28 December 2009
Blackburn v Sunderland, Ewood Park, 3pm
Chelsea v Fulham, Stamford Bridge, 3pm
Everton v Burnley, Goodison Park, 3pm
Stoke v Birmingham, Britannia Stadium 3pm
Tottenham v West Ham, White Hart Lane, 12.45pm
Wolverhampton v Man City, Molineaux, 7.45pm

Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Aston Villa v Liverpool, Villa Park, 7,45pm
Bolton v Hull, Reebok Stadium, 8pm

Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Man Utd v Wigan, Old Trafford, 8pm
Portsmouth v Arsenal, Fratton Park, 7.45pm

Mark Hughes gets the sack for Mancini

Bookmakers had stopped taking bets on it. The press talked about his 'last day in charge'. After their 4-3 victory over Sunderland, it was confirmed that Mark Hughes was dismissed as Manchester City manager. The statement exaplained that 2 winds from 11 matches wasn't acceptable. Obviously you need a return on investment when you spend £207 million on players but The replacement I found a bit surprising - Roberto Mancini. Potentially a great coach - but is this really a step forward for Manchester City? Certainly there was a feeling that some of the new players didn't feel comfortable with the management set up. I agree with the timing of the appointment, if you have infinite funds for players then let the new boss get his players in so that he can be properly assessed. The existing squad he has is great but I'm sure that some of the big names won't be getting their way and will leave within the next couple of transfer windows.

Good luck Roberto!