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!

Carling Cup 4th round Newcastle 0 Arsenal 4 27th October 2010

A glamour tie for the Geordies this evening as Arsenal made the trek to St James Park in the Carling Cup fourth round.

Wenger selected a decent team - one that you could see in the Premier League which I found refreshing. Why not - it's a day at Wembley for the fans...it potentially silverware that the Arsenal trophy cabinet could do with!

Arsenal assumed their normal fresh, one touch passing system in the first half as the home team managed to maintain rigidity in midfield and defence. Arsenal piled on quite a bit of pressure prior to the half time break and managed to put a corner in resulting in a goalkeeping blunder from rookie Tim Krul, who spilt a catch into his own net. Cruel, it could be said in the 45th minute but this seemed a fair reflection in the 1st half.

In the second half, Arsenal started brightly and managed to double their lead when Theo Walcott found himself in lots of space behind the back four with Nickolas Bendtner scampering out of the way from an offside position. Bendtner collided with one of the Newcastle central defenders and Walcott coolly slotted home past Krul for his 5th goal of the season. Fabio - get this lad back in our England 1st eleven!

Newcastle then brought on Andy Carroll and Enrique and this resulted in a decent spell of pressure lasting 10-15 minutes for the home side. They plugged away but Arsenal defended very well.

Fabregas came on towards the conclusion of this tie for run out but this proved completely academic. Bendtner too advantage of a Guthrie error and went on to smash a third in - great finish...worth a look on the highlights or Youtube. In the 85th minute, Ryan Taylor hit a great free kick stretching Szczesny to his absolute limit.

Walcott grabbed a second goal to make it 0-4 - flattering given the mid game spell that Newcastle United had but the Gunners took their chances well, with great on the break style away tactics.