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!

Has Bridge made the right decision to quit England?

World Cup News 25/02/10 Wayne Bridge rules himself out of the World Cup Squad dor 2010

In an announcement made today through his lawyers, Wayne Bridge stated his intention to withdraw from the national squad as his position had become "untenable and potentially divisive". No doubt Bridge has had a difficult few weeks since his ex-fiancee's affair with the former England captain John Terry has become tabloid fodder and it is sad to see a talented player rule himself out of such a prestigious tournament for such reasons.

There is no doubt that Wayne Bridge is a good player, although his international career and his time at Man City have not quite fulfilled the promise of his performances at Chelsea. However although Ashley Cole is a doubt for South Africa with his injured ankle (thankfully his extra-marital activities do not appear to have been with team mates' partners) Capello does still have options at left back, including Everton's Leighton Baines and Villa's Stephen Warnock.

My worries however are that Bridge's actions suggest there have already been damaging repercussions to Terry's behaviour in the England camp. After 44 years without a win, the pressure on Team England is immense and none of the players or serious fans would welcome media speculation about whether Team Bridge were playing well with Team Terry. Barring injury Terry will definitely be on the plane to South Africa, so hopefully the rest of the squad can draw a line under "Terrygate" and focus on bringing back the World Cup. Wayne Bridge deserves our sympathy and now at least he can be confident now that any failure of the England squad to perform will not be laid at his door.

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.

Toni given World Cup hope by Lippi

Luca Toni's move back to Italy could put him in the reckoning to play for the Azzurri in the World Cup this summer.

The veteran striker has made a loan move to Roma following a frustrating period at Bayern Munich and got his first start back in Serie A in his new side's 1-0 victory over Chievo.

Toni has not played for Italy since the Confederations Cup in the summer of 2009, but Marcelo Lippi has opened the door for him to return if he can regain fitness and show some good form before the end of the season.

However, Lippi did warn that he can only have 23 players on the plane to South Africa and he remains "happy and convinced" he will be able to choose from a large number of players in the coming months.

Indeed, this wide pool of players should help ensure Italian are among the favourites when it comes to World Cup football betting.

Speaking about Toni's first appearance back in Serie A, Lippi said: "I saw a great performance by Toni. I was very impressed considering he had not played for several months."

"I follow all the games. I am monitoring everything," he added.

Toni's new teammate Francesco Totti recently said he would be willing to return from international retirement for Italy is he was fit and selected by Lippi.

The veteran quit after Italy's World Cup 2006 victory but now has said he will go to South Africa is Lippi wants him as part of the squad.

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)!!

Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg Manchester City 2 Manchester United 1

League Cup Man City 2 Man Utd 1 : 1st leg semi final at Eastlands
Roberto Mancini's Manchester City took the 1st leg to the Premier League champions Manchester United, winning 2-1 at Eastlands.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Ryan Giggs scored early on in the 17th minute, shooting from close range placing the ball into the centre of the goal.

Carlos Tevez looked sharp, the Argentinian scored a well struck penalty to equalise and then shortly after the break he got his brace in the 65th minute, scoring with his head. Shortly after that Tevez was substiuted but got BBC man of the match which was well deserved.

Manchester United finished strongly but they couldn't quite get the equaliser, setting up a great second leg at Old Trafford.

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.