Moyes hold out for £22m as Lescott moves to Man City

Everton have parted company with central defender Joleon Lescott, with Moyes holding out to get a £22m payment from Manchester City subject to personal terms and a medical test.

After criticism from the Toffees fans, Lescott was left out of Everton's defeat against Burnley and Mark Hughes has got his man. After the first 2 games, Manchester City have looked great going forward but many Premier League teams would fancy their chances against the current back four. However, when Lescott is added to the first 11 it could propel them on to being top 5 material.

Good signing, premium price for Man City. If you've got it, then spend it - and any jealous fans looking to bitch about Mark Hughes' boys just remember that if it was your club you would be in seventh heaven.

Premier League fixtures 22nd August 2009

Premier League matches 22/08/2009

Isn't it great to have Premier League football back?! This season is going to be a corker. The league has been blown wide open after a tricky transfer window for Sir Alex, losing the super talent of Tevez and Ronaldo. Their team will still be good but their squad has undoubtedly been weakened. Looking forward to this weekend, all of Manchester United's rivals will be looking to gain an early advantage after their shock defeat on 19th August against Burnley. Chelsea have a tricky away tie at Craven Cottage against South London neighbours Fulham, however I predict a win for them. Arsenal have looked awesome and I think they'll convincingly beat Pompey. The Red Devils will be looking to restore some pride against Wigan, with a return to his old stomping ground for Valencia.

Here are the fixtures - I reckon some potential for some great football accumulators here:
22/08/2009 Premiership fixtures
Arsenal v Portsmouth 3pm
Birmingham v Stoke 3pm
Hull v Bolton 3pm
Man City v Wolverhampton 3pm
Sunderland v Blackburn 3pm
Wigan v Man Utd 3pm

23/08/2009 Premiership fixtures
Burnley v Everton 3pm
West Ham v Tottenham 1.30pm
Fulham v Chelsea 4pm

Premier League 2009/2010 results 19th August

Premiership results Wednesday 19/08/2009
Hull 1 Tottenham 5
Burnley 1 Man Utd 0
Birmingham 1 Portsmouth 0
Liverpool 4 Stoke 0


Fantastic result for Burnley tonight at Turf Moor, 3 points they never would have expected when preusing the 2009/2010 Premier League fixture list. Big result also for promoted Birmingham City, winning at home against Porstmouth who by many are tipped for the drop this season.

Jermaine Defoe is hoping to make one of the striker positions in the England squad his own, by scoring a hat trick at the KC stadium tonight he is demonstrating that he is potentially the best talisman out there for Capello to select.

So far there have been no draws in the opening 16 matches of the top English division - the last time that this happened was 1891!

Spurs 2 Liverpool 1 Premier League result

Liverpool faced Tottenham this afternoon for a tricky away Premier League 2009/2010 opener at White Hart Lane.

The Reds started tentatively inviting the home team to attack and pressurise Liverpool, who will definitely miss the talented Xabi Alonso. Sebastien Bassong made his Spurs debut because Harry Redknapp has been forced into buying a central defender to cover for Woodgate and Dawson who are both injured.

Towards the end of the first half, Tom Huddlestone’s free kick was charged down and Benoît Assou-Ekotto hit a 20 yard power drive into the top corner – check this goal out on Match of the Day...it’s an absolute beauty.

In the second half the home team continued to dominate the game, with a great attempt from Palacios going tipped over the bar by Reina. Aaron Lennon also got himself into a great position but failed to feed the ball successfully to Defoe. Shortly after that, Gomes conceded a penalty which was a clean cut decision – Gerard then confidently netted his spot kick. Within minutes of the goal, Bassong scored on his debut giving the White Hart Lane something to shout about.

Peter Crouch came on for Spurs favourite Robbie Keane, making his debut after moving from Portsmouth for £10m. Liverpool looked more alert in the second half and caused a little bit of panic in the Spurs back four that overall did well to contain the pressure from Kuyt, Gerard and Torres.

Great start for Harry’s boys, after that result Rafa undoubtedly will be looking in the transfer market for a midfield-striker link player to replace Alonso.

Premiership results and round up 15th August 2009

So what will the table look like tomorrow night? The third team promoted from the Championship, Birmingham City, start their campaign tomorrow against the Champions. Based on today's results, it seems unlikely that Arsenal will be knocked off the top or Everton lifted from the bottom, but with this beautiful game, who can tell? Birmingham City fans will probably not be expecting to win but will be fervently hoping not to concede 6 or more.

The other game kicking off tomorrow sees Spurs take on Liverpool. Liverpool and Spurs fans both had an ultimately disappointing season last year and will be hoping to start brightly. Robbie Keane would no doubt love to put a fair few past the Scousers!!

Full list of results:

Aston Villa 0-2 Wigan
Blackburn 0-2 Man City
Bolton 0-1 Sunderland
Chelsea 2-1 Hull
Everton 1-6 Arsenal
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham
Stoke 2-0 Burnley
Wolverhampton 0-2 West Ham

Wolves vs West Ham 15th August 2009 - Match Report

Wolves 0: West Ham 2

Despite starting well and being cheered on by a great home crowd, Wolves went down to West Ham at Molineux. Mark Noble scored in the first half and a Matthew Upson header ended the contest in the second half, although prior to this header Mick McCarthy's men did threaten to equalise through a couple of fine long range efforts from Nenad Milijas.

Stoke vs Burnley 15th August 2009 Match Report

Stoke 2: Burnley 0

Premiership new boys Wolves and Burnley both experienced a baptism of fire and went down 2:0 today. Stoke City scored from 2 set pieces, with Ryan Shawcross nodding in Liam Lawrence's free-kick and the unfortunate Stephen Jordan glancing a trademark Rory Delap throw-in into his own net to put Stoke 2-0 up. Burnley fans can however take some comfort that their team, who were playing their first top flight footie for 33 years, significantly improved after half time and Wade Elliott came close to scoring.

Portsmouth vs Fulham 15th August 2009 Match Report

Portsmouth 0: Fulham 1

Fulham, who last season finished in their highest ever place, continued this run of form as Clint Dempsey's shot deflected in off Bobby Zamora to earn them a 1:0 victory over Portsmouth. To be fair to Pompey, despite a difficult summer with key players leaving and a proposed takeover yet to be finalised, the team started brightly and did challenge Fulham throughout. The fans will however be anxious for the takeover to be completed and for funds to be made available to Paul Hart asap.

Aston Villa vs Wigan 15th August 2009 Match Report

Aston Villa 0: Wigan 2

Aston Villa, who started so full of promise last season, were so poor today against Wigan that they were booed by their own fans. Hugo Rodallega scored a stunning first goal and Jason Koumas the second to give Roberto Martinez a victorious first game as manager of the Latics.

Chelsea vs Hull 15th August 2009

Chelsea 2: Hull 1

As the bookies would have predicted Chelsea also ended the day victorious with a 2:1 win over Hull; however Phil Brown's men pushed the Blues hard and would have gone in with at least a share of the spoils if Didier Drogba hadn't spoilt the party. Hull's new signing Stephen Hunt overcame the jeers from the Chelsea fans (as a Reading player his clash with Cech resulted in a fractured skull for the keeper) and put the Tigers ahead after 28 minutes. Drogba then levelled and the Ivory Coast international went on to score the winner in injury time after a controversial 6 minutes had been added.