Premier League 17th & 18th December 2011

Premier League Review 16th December 2011

Football fans all over England will be wishing for a good Christmas period and the stakes don't get bigger than the Barclays Premier League. Manchester City have set the pace, with their relentless, aggressive spending and managerial musical chairs finally sticking with a great squad/coach combination this season. Money can warp and transform Premier League trends. Who would have thought 5 years ago that Arsenal would tentatively travel to the City of Manchester Stadium (aka the Etihad) expecting to struggle to come away with even 1 point.

As a Spurs fan, I loved Mancini dissing Chelsea as in his mind there is a 3 horse race of Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham. As we get closer to the transfer window, will Chelsea get rid of Torres? Andre Villas-Boas has insisted that he isn't for sale; however his failure won't fall on the new Blues boss's shoulders.

Man Utd are almost guaranteed to be there or thereabouts despite losing Nemanja Vidic for the rest of the season and Darren Fletcher for an unknown period of time. Fergie's larger than life management style shines through irrespective of the manpower constraints that pop up in any football squad as he makes sure that his players understand what it means to pull on the Manchester United jersey. That said, Aguero and co are better. :-)

This weekend's fixtures are very interesting as the top 4 teams are all in extremely difficult matches. Chelsea will have a physical battle on their hands at the DW. Manchester United travel to QPR who have been very impressive in their debut Premier League season. Spurs might suffer from new manager syndrome as they face Sunderland and Manchester City have to keep Robin Van Persie out who is currently on fire.

Here are the fixtures - enjoy fellow football freaks!

Premiership fixtures 17th and 18th December 2011

Sat December 17th 2011

Blackburn v West Bromwich Albion 3pm @ Ewood Park

Everton v Norwich 3pm @ Goodison Park

Fulham v Bolton 3pm @ Craven Cottage

Newcastle United v Swansea 3pm St James's Park

Wolverhampton v Stoke City 3pm Molineaux

Wigan v Chelsea 3pm DW stadium

Sun December 18th 2011

QPR v Man Utd 12pm Loftus Road

Aston Villa v Liverpool 2pm Villa Park

Tottenham v Sunderland 3pm White Hart Lane

Man City v Arsenal 4pm Etihad Stadium

Premier League review 15th/16th October 2011

Premiership review 15th/16th October 2011

The first game of the day is the big fixture - the noon kickoff is at Anfield as the reigning champions travel across Lancashire to Merseyside. A huge match for Dalglish as the rivalry will be considerable as it always is. You would still bet on Man Utd being unbeaten at the end of tomorrow though. Wayne Rooney's ban has taken a lot of the sporting headlines but I am sure that he will be looking forward to just getting on with his football.

A difficult match for Mancini after some more negative publicity with Carlos Tevez, who apparently now may never play for Manchester City ever again. Irrespective of this I think they will comfortably beat Aston Villa with their slick, professional squad.

Both North London clubs (Arsenal and Tottenham play the North East clubs (Sunderland and Newcastle) on Sunday - Wenger in need of all 3 points. Spurs haven't suffered from off pitch behaviour from Modric like City have with Tevez and are coming into decent form so I expect the lily whites to get at least a point tomorrow if not all 3. We shall see, I may have just electronically cursed my beloved Spurs!

Anyhow - here are the games - anyone who is attending a match, watching Super Soccer Saturday or just good old MOTD enjoy the full Premiership programme - I for one don't miss the internationals once they come to an end!

Premier League fixtures Saturday October 15th 2011

Liverpool v Man Utd, 12.45pm Anfield
Man City v Aston Villa, 3pm Etihad Stadium
Norwich v Swansea, 3pm Carrow Road
QPR v Blackburn, 3pm Loftus Road
Stoke v Fulham, 3pm Britannia stadium
Wigan v Bolton, 3pm DW Stadium
Chelsea v Everton, 5.30pm Stamford Bridge

16th October 2011 [Sunday] Premier League fixtures

West Brom v Wolverhampton, 12:00 Hawthorns Stadium
Arsenal v Sunderland, 13:30 Emirates
Newcastle v Tottenham, 16:00 St James' Park

Gervinho sent off : Newcastle Utd 0 Arsenal FC 0 Premier League result 13th August 2011

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 0 Premiership 13th August 2011 5.30pm evening kick off

Teams:

Newcastle United: Krul, R Taylor, Coloccini, S Taylor, Simpson, Barton Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Ameobi.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna, Song, Rosicky, Ramsey, Gervinho, Arshavin, Van Persie.

In the past 4 years, Arsene Wenger has spent £98.55m on players, received £110.59m - netting Arsenal £12.04m in player profit. Whether you think Arsenal are a selling club or not, you have to admire the commitment from Wenger to the board to deliver quality on the pitch and chairman proof figures off it. Fabregas and Nasri going has hit the top pre-season headlines. There is only this and the Man Utd signings that have really been of interest. My last point on Arsenal – superb to see Aaron Ramsey start the Gunners’ Premier League opener.

Newcastle hit the headlines for Twitter shenanigans as Joey Barton criticised Newcastle for being a selling club with Carroll, Nolan and Enrique all gone. Alan Pardew has suggested that Newcastle would be putting controls in place with players’ social media accounts particularly Twitter. Furthermore, Newcastle seem to be gradually splashing the Andy Carroll cash – 25 year old midfielder Yohan Cabaye has come in from French champions Lille for only £4m and there are apparently more on the way. I think the Magpies will do well in this new 2011-2012 football season and I also think it is ridiculous that he should be under pressure at this early point in a 5 year deal.

As you would imagine, both sides were straight at each other, following on from the 4-4 thriller 6 months ago. Arsenal countering with Newcastle probing with the wonderful Toon Army singing their hearts out. After the initial flurry of mad, headless chicken football, the pattern of one touch passing resumed with Wenger’s team illustrating that they are still the best team in the Premier League to watch. Gervinho displayed decent energy, two good feet and good balance on a couple of occasions. Arshavin also looked bright down the right hand side linking up nicely with Sagna. Vermaelen managed the Arsenal back 4 and the Newcastle top 2 effortlessly squeezing the home team up the pitch to quieten the Toon faithful.

Ex-Spurs legend made a good call a quarter of an hour in when commentating on ESPN when suggesting that a 4-5-1 re-shape for the home team might be the way forward as the Arsenal pass and move had made the Newcastle midfield dizzy and ineffective. Joey Barton made a couple of decent link up passes in this first quarter but it was all one way traffic with Arsenal fully bossing the show.

Van Persie had the first half chance in the 17^th minute after some industrious wing play from Gervinho. Arsenal maintained possession for a spell after this, making the ball do the work and in doing so making the first run out for Newcastle a difficult one athletically.

Gutierrez then had Newcastle’s first chance as he powerfully volleyed within the 18 yard box going about 2 yards wide – a decent hit.

Alex Song got yellow carded in the 28^th minute after putting himself about a little bit too much but as an athletic holding man I think Song is really starting to look the part.

Despite completely dominating the first half an hour, Newcastle did show resilience in defence and there were no real clean cut chances. Arsenal’s final ball could have been a little bit better but I would give the Newcastle defensive unit credit for good pressing and chasing.

Arsenal continued to walk through the Newcastle midfield but then walk into a strong Newcastle defence that they got no change out of. As Arsenal concocted their intricate passing moves on the edge of the ‘D’, Newcastle simply crowded them out with six men behind the ball. It certainly looked like Pardew’s strategy was the old park a bus method; and it worked. Newcastle United nursed out the last 10 mins, effectively numbing the Arsenal alchemy to go in at the break 0-0.

 Moving into the second half would Newcastle park the bus in front of the Gunners? The first change was that Obertan started the second half to build link up play, making his debut after moving from Manchester United. This was a nice way for the home team to begin the second 45 minutes showing their intention to produce attacking football in the traditional Newcastle way.

 After attempts from Newcastle to squeeze the visitors, Arsenal regained their poise and started to dictate the pace of the game. Van Persie caracked a terrific free kick in the 54^th minute with plenty of spin but the ball went a foot over Krul’s crossbar.

 In the 58^th minute, Joey Barton (not for the first time) was at the centre of a controversy as it appeared that Alex Song stamped his studs down on Barton’s leg after a tackle. Barton sprinted over to the referee’s fourth official questioning him on what he saw but nothing came of it at the point in time. 

Theo Walcott’s introduction in the second half did create some inspiration for Van Persie and the other attacking Arsenal players. He chased down some ambitious through balls and had one half chance after a classic Arsenal passing move.

The second half proved to be a little dull – typical first day of the season stuff. Arsenal displayed great touch but struggled to pack the punch in the final third (and yes, they could have done with either Nasri or Fabregas). Their possession in the second half was slightly more fragmented as Newcastle got their angles right and stifled some of the triangles and creative passes. 

Gervinho then sparked Joey Barton madness. A run into the box that seemed to end in a ‘creative fall’ by Gervinho was the catalyst for the old Premier League handbags between Barton and new boy Gervinho. Barton man handled Gervinho who seemed to slap Barton – Barton then hit the deck like a ton of bricks. Gervinho got a red card which I agreed with however Barton only saw yellow so Joey managed to con the referee successfully. Video evidence…discuss? J

Barton had a half chance in the 80^th minute, how ironic that would have been. Walcott had a good header chance on the subsequent break but squandered the chance.

In the 94^th minute, Rosicky was subbed for Ghanian international powerhouse Frimpong came on to protect the back four.

There wasn’t a great deal you could conclude from this match as is the case with many Premier League openers but Newcastle did a professional job of muting the Arsenal creativity, the game was marred by one unsavoury incident which Arsene Wenger did criticise after the match. There was an interesting Twitter  tete a tete as Jack Wilshere suggested that Barton was in the wrong with the Newcastle midfielder defending his actions right back via the social media month Twitter.

Reds clear out and buying spree

Kenny Dalglish had a superb impact at Liverpool last season when Roy Hodgson departed making way for the ex-Reds man to take charge. A man of football, Dalglish was judged on results after a long spell out of professional football management and within a small amount of team was given the Liverpool manager position permanently from his original post of caretaker.

Tipped for top 4, Dalgish is continuing to make big decisions. Following on from selling Torres/acquiring Caroll in the eventful winter transfer window 2011 King Kenny is having a clear out. It is rumoured that Jovanovic, Konchesky and Cole could all be on the transfer list and you would imagine that there will be good demand within the Prem for Joe Cole (its that bargain time of the year, 'arry!). Blackpool virtuoso midfielder Charlie Adam nearly moved to Anfield in that last window but has now completed the transfer.

With Liverpool linked with Roma 'keeper Alexander Doni and Aston Villa's Stewart Downing these are exciting times yet again for the Reds. Go on Kenny!

Transfer News pre season 2011/2012

New West Ham boss Sam Allardyce will be pleased to reunited with ex-Bolton skipper Kevin Nolan. Funnily enough this today on Twitter Joey Barton tweeted showing his distaste about the sale, clearly dissapointed in Newcastle. Almost like Wayne Rooney with his hair transpant tweet, this broadcast will do Barton no harm!

After a dissapointing Premier League and Champions League campaigns, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is highly rumoured to be leaving Arsenal. That would have to be a mammoth transfer fee as Fabregas has 4 years left on his current Gunners contract. Wenger is apparently keen on signing midfielder Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk, with a potential cash + swap deal of Denilson rumoured to be on the table.

High rollers Man City and Chelsea will go after Barcelona's front man David Villa, which apparently would allow the Spanish giants to fund a purchase of Fabregas. Personally I would be surprised if Barca let Villa go, I still have his Champions League goal at Wembley against Manchester United etched vividly on my football memory.

Tottenham are close £12m for Internacional's Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao. 21 year old Damiao, who made his international debut at the Emirates in March against Scotland.

Alex Mcleish is linked with a move to Aston Villa after resigning at relegated Birmingham City.

Premier League Man U vs Chelsea 7th May 2011

7t/5/2011 Manchester United vs Chelsea

It's great when even at this late stage in the season the title race is still open. Despite their lack of form and 3:1 defeat by Stoke earlier this afternoon, Arsenal's fans can take some comfort that their victory over Manchester United last week has given Chelsea the chance to steal the top spot if they beat Ferguson's men this evening. Great for the neutral, great for those who dislike Manchester United. Could this be the opportunity for Fernando Torres to really earn those millions that Chelsea paid for him? Or will Rooney be the star of the show?

Just about to log out of this blog and Man U are already ahead. Just can't type fast enough. Hernandez has scored in the first minute. This is going to be a great game!

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!