Leeds United sack Gary McAllister

Gary McAllister is the latest managerial casualty of this football season as boss of sleeping giants Leeds United.

Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has taken action against their dip in form and sacked manager Gary McAllister after an 18 month spell.

Leeds, currently in ninth position in Coca Cola League One are in danger of drifting away from promotion with a 15 point gap between leaders Leicester City and themselves. After losing 4 consecutive matches including falling out of the FA Cup when losing against non-league Histon, McAllister looked vulnerable with Bates looking for quick results. It is expected that a new manager will be recruited quickly to give the new leader some time in the transfer window to strengthen the squad.

Ex assistant coach Gus Poyet has been strongly linked for obvious reasons as he was supposed to be instrumental in Leeds' success under Dennis Wise before departing for Tottenham Hotspur. Aidy Boothroyd has also been linked with the position.

Eduardo makes a return in Arsenal Reserves

After 10 months out with a career threatening knee injury Croatian forward Eduardo pulled his hamstring in reserves. Last season Birmingham defender Martin Taylor strongly tackled Eduardo which led to the injury and this left him sidelined for the Gunners.

Despite picking up an injury that keeps him out until the new year, Eduardo is delighted to be back and remains positive about his prospects.

"I'm just so happy to be back playing after 10 months out. I hope to be back playing at the same level or even better, but now it's just good to forget about all the bad things in my life."

Paul Ince sacked by Blackburn Rovers

Ex Manchester United and MK Dons boss has been sacked by struggling Premiership club Blackburn Rovers after six months in charge. Blackburn Rovers have had a terrible run of form taking them to 19th in the division. Paul Ince started managing Blackburn on the 22nd June and joins Ramos and Keane to be the thitrd Premiership manager part company with their clubs. Blackburn's last victory was in September against Newcastle United and pressure has increased since Roy Keane's difficulties at Middlesborough lead to hs resignation.

Blackburn's club statement read: "The board, having selected Paul Ince back in June, were desperate for him to succeed and wanted to give him as much time as possible in the unforgiving environment of the Premier League, where time is such a precious commodity."

Ray Mathias, Archie Knox and Karl Robinson from the Blackburn coaching team will be managing agains Stoke on Saturday 20th December.

British coaches such as Roy Keane, Paul Ince and Tony Adams should represent the future of English management and will need the support and patience that Niall Quinn showed at Sunderland. Although there is nothing wrong with having a foreign manager for our national team I think most Englishmen's prference would be to see one of our coaches have the right types of opportunities in the Premiership and, for that matter top divisions in other European countries to see us have a truly English team.

Premiership result Chelsea 1 West Ham 1

RESULT: Chelsea 1 West Ham 1 14th December 2008


Gianfranco ZOla's return to Samford Bridge West Ham was successful with a vital point against his old club.

The home team started brightly but West Ham managed to deny Anelka any space in dangerous areas.

Scott Parker worked hard in midfield to break up the rhythm of Deco and Lampard. The Hammers kept deep and defended well, with Matthew Upson continuing to show good central defensive judgement. Then in the 32nd minute West Ham got to the byline with Noble and passed in to Craig Bellamy who in turn controlled and volleyed in emphatic style past Cech to open the scoring very much against the run of play.

In the second half the home team statred more aggressively with Drogba coming on to join Nicolas Anelka upfront. It was the in form frenchman Anelka however that got the equaliser, volleying home a delicate chip in the box from Frank Lampard to net his 14th goal of the season.

More pressure followed from Chelsea as the had most of the possession, camping in West Ham's half forcing them to sit on the 18 yard line with little rest. West Ham 'keeper Robert Green commanded his area well, and in the last 5 minutes West Ham slightly came into the game possesssion wise. Frank Lampard had a well struck free kick that he steered straight towards Green, apart from that West Ham were good for a point on this frustrating day for the Premiership leaders.

RESULT: Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 3

Premiership result: Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 3 14th December 2008
Newcastle move into 14th position ahead of Tottenham on goal difference after their first away win of the season at Fratton Park against Tony Adam's Portsmouth. Portsmouth dominated in the first half but Defoe and Crouch were a bit wasteful of possession in the final third of the pitch. Newcastle hit the post with a fantastic twenty yard swerving drive from forward Obafemi Martins.

In the second half Portsmouth squandered more chances, then Newcastle took advantage of some inaccurate passing and put Michael Owen through in on goal. Owen took a heavy first touch but then more than made up for it with a delicate chip over Portsmouth keeper David James to open the scoring at 0-1.

Newcastle started to gain more possession and confidence after the first goal and it was Martins that scored the second goal in the 76th minute after some bad defending and a premature dive from James.

It was Guthrie who completed a great win for the visitors with the third goal after a through ball fell nicely into his path and he smashed it past David James who perhaps could have done more to prevent this goal as well as the second.

Spurs 0 Manchester United 0

Spurs 0 Manchester United 0

Dimitar Berbatov's return to White Hart Lane was frustrating for him and Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils as Tottenham Hotspur managed to keep a clean sheet against the Premier League champions.

In the first half, this match was quite tight, Modric went close with a header from a David Bentley cross and then towards the end of the first 45 mins Manchester United began to dominate possession but with no end result. David Bentley also had a spectacular volley saved by Van der Sar. Christiano Ronaldo netted from a corner in the penalty box but it was judged to have been handled by the Portuguese international.

In the second half, Manchester United continued to pass the ball fluently but Spurs were resolute in defence with great performances fom Michael Dawson and Didier Zokora. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were brought on towards the end of the match to attempt to break the Spurs defence down but the home team managed to keep things under control and had a good chance from Modric going just over the crossbar. Overall, Tottenham were good for a point and moved Harry Redknapp's Spurs up to 14th position. However this result made things difficult for Man Utd as the gap between them and Chelsea increased to 6 points.

Everton 2 Villa 3 Ashley Young scores a late winner

Match Report: Everton 2 Villa 3

Ashley Young left it until injury time to score a fantastic winner to give Aston Villa all 3 points at Goodison Park, after Everton had equalised in the attack just before it.

Steve Sidwell scored from 20 yards with a strong shot to give Villa the lead and then left back Lescott levelled to 1-1 from close range.

Aston Villa were gifted the second when a terrible backpass from Phil Jaglieka was directed into Ashley Young's path and the England international slotted the chance home with great composure.

Joleon Lescott then scored a second with a spectacular acrobatic volley to bring Everton level again. Then came the drama. A long kick from Everton was headed by defender Martin Laursen which was then in turn passed on in midfield to Young who cleverley passed the ball around Lescott, picked it up after sprinting past him and then curled the ball around Tim Howard to win the match with the last kick of the game.

Manchester United 1 Sunderland 0

Match report - Manchester United 1 Sunderland 0

Manchester United left it until the 90th minute to secure 3 points against Sunderland, under caretaker manager Sbragia after Man Utd put heavy pressure on the visitors for the majority of the game.

After several attacks in the last half an hour, Berbatov put a close range header over the bar and it looked like with good defending from Anton Ferdinand it looked like Sunderland might hold on. Then, with only 2 minutes to go, man of the match Michael Carrick struck a 20 yard shot which hit the post and defender Vidic followed the rebound up like a striker would to get the win in typical Manchester United fashion and secure third place with Arsenal in fourth.

Carling Cup semi-final draw

Carling Cup semi-final draw

Tottenham v Burnley (First Leg w/c January 5th, White Hart Lane)

Derby County v Manchester United (First Leg January 5th, Pride Park)

Evra banned by FA for improper conduct

Manchester United left back Patrice Evra has been fined £15,000 and handed a four match suspension after the FA founded him guilty of improper conduct in a confrontation with Chelsea groundsman Sam Bethell. This occurred in the Man Utd v Chelsea match on 26th April, allegations of racism from the groundsman towards Evra have not been proven which was claimed by assistant manager Mike Phelan. Evra struck the grouundsman on the head and coninuted the row after it had been broken up. Chelsea were also fined £25,000 for this infamous 'Battle of the Bridge' incident.

“Manchester United notes the announcement from the FA and is disappointed with the decision and in particular considers the sanctions against Patrice Evra excessive,” a statement said. “Manchester United and Patrice will consider all options once there has been an opportunity to digest the full reasons for the decision. There will be no further comment.”

Evra’s ban starts from 22nd December, however he is also banned for the game on the 21st December 2008 against Spurs for receiving five bookings this season.