Here are all the results from an action-packed weekend of the FA cup. Unfortunately for the minnows, there were no major upsets and all the favourites came through unscathed. The closest we got to witnessing a giant-killing was at Anfield where the tiny Havant & Waterlooville managed to score 2 goals against Liverpool but failed to hold on to thier lead and went down 5-2. Arsenal defeated Newcastle thanks in no small part to Adebayor's brace. Anelka's fine finish and a great assist set up Chelsea's win over Wigan. Despite not playing at their best, Manchester United were able to defeat Tottenham Hotspur at old Trafford,making it to the fifth round as well. Only six Premiership sides are left in the competition,which bodes well for the chances of a team from the lower leagues to reach Wembley this year.

Sheff Utd 2-1 Man City
Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & W'looville
Derby 1-4 Preston
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Portsmouth 2-1 Plymouth
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
Mansfield 0-2 Middlesbrough
Watford 1-4 Wolves
Peterborough 0-3 West Brom
Southampton 2-0 Bury
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield
Southend 0-1 Barnsley
Barnet 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Hereford 1-2 Cardiff


The draw for the fifth round is out,and undoubtedly,the tie of the round is Arsenal's trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. generally,Cup clashes between the top sides proove to be really boring affairs but this match could be an exception. Certainly,it has all th ingredients for a classic. Arsene Wenger has already began the mind games,and Sir Alex is sure to respond. Let's see which master tactician comes out on top his time to keep Their FA cup dream alive. In other notable ties, Chelsea face Huddersfield town at Stamford bridge. It's a wonder how Chelsea get so easy ties against smaller teams. Moreover,they play at home most of the time. Liverpool also have a quite an easy fixture. They take on Championship side Barnsley. Finally, Bryan Robson faces his former club Middlesborough with his current side Sheffield United. Boro are no longer a side to be feared,and therefore,he should fancy his chances against them


Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff City v Wolves
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston v Portsmouth
Coventry City v West Brom
Chelsea v Huddersfield Town

The oldest and arguably the best cup competition , FA Cup, is back this weekend. Here are all my predictions for the fourth round matches being played this Sunday (I wanted to write about Saturday's matches as well, but due to a problem with my internet connection, I was unable to do so.)


MANCHESTER UNITED V TOTTENHAM

In terms of sides involved, this is the tie of the round. Many peolple are saying that United's trip to Saudi Arabia will harm thier chances against Spurs-but I don't think so. The friendly against Al-hilal was played on Monday and since then, United have had plenty of time to rest. If anything, the mini-tour should leave United in a better shape for the remainder of the season.

Tottenham will be very bouyant on thier way to Old Traffod after humiliating Arsenal in mid-week. What a story it will make if they manage to take anothe 'Big Four' scalp in space of a week. And Spurs have never had a better chance of doing so as Manager Juande Ramos's cup record is absolutely brilliant. He has not lost a cup game in years and he will be eager to keep it that way. The front four-Berbatov,Keane,Lennon and Malbranque are looking awesome and at the moment, are capable of scoring against anyone.

Having said that,United don't have the meanest defence in the Premier League for nothing. Ferdinand and Vidic should be able to keep Spurs' strikers quiet for most of the match. This match is going to be nice and entertaining one as both sides will go out for a win. But I feel that United will be too strong on the day, especially as they are at home.

Prediction: 2-0


SHEFFIELD UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY

Sheffield United were one of the start- of- the season promotion favourites. But now they are languishing in the mid-table of the Championship with demands for manager Bryan Robson's head growing everyday. Although they managed to beat Bolton in the previous round, their form in the Championship has remained indifferent.

Manchester City has fallen off the pace lately. their defence is very strong, but they seem to lack firepower upfront. Furthermore their away form is awful. Therefore, I think the Blades have a chance in this match and I see this match going to the replay.

Prediction: 1-1


HEREFORD V CARDIFF

Hereford are the other minnows left in this year's competition and they have not got the credit they deserved as all the media attention had been diverted towards Havant and Waterlooville. Hereford will do the best they can against Cardiff, but its not going to be enough, not even to earn themselves a replay.

Prediction: 1-3

In the first semi-final of the Carling Cup, Tottenham Hotspur were finally able to break their Arsenal hoodoo, beating the Gunners for the first time in 9 years as they thrashed them 5-1. After along time, Spurs are on their way to Wembley.

In the first leg at the Emirates, Tottenham were clearly the better side and Arsenal were lucky to salvage a draw through a fluke Walcott goal. White Hart Lane and the Spurs faithful thought that this might be their day.

And they turned out to be right. But even more surprisingly than the result was the manner of the Spurs victory. Within the hour mark, they were 4 goals up leaving Arsenal with no chance of a comeback. The Gunners defence was totally unable to deal with the Spurs high-tempo attacking game as Jenas, Keane and Lennon all scored. (The forth goal was an own goal by Bendtner). Adebayor's 20-yard strike proved to be a consolation as Malbranque rounded off a thumping victory near the end.

Arsenal fans are arguing that this defeat was due to their young, inexperienced side. But you can only beat what's in front of you, and Spurs, managed to do it brilliantly. Moreover Walcott and Traore were the only youngsters in the side. Players like Diaby and Bendtner in addition to Sagna, Gallas and Fabregas are very much part of the first team. Arsene Wenger must learn from this loss. You can't field your second string side in every match and expect to get a good result. Wenger said that this defeat is a part of youngsters' learning process but a team's morale can never be high after a humiliating defeat at the hands of their most bitter rivals.

On the other hand, its celebration time in the other half of North London.Tottenham had made it to a final, and with Juande Ramos's outstanding cup record, I think that they have a decent chance of winning the Carling Cup. Now the more important thing for Spurs is to try and change their cup form into league form and sneak into a European place come the end of the season.

In the other semi-final, Chelsea managed to beat Everton by a single goal at Goodison Park, securing their place in the Carling Cup final for the third time in four years. Chelsea had a 2-1 one advantage from the first-leg, which meant Everton had to score to remain in the tie. Petr Cech turned out to be the main difference between the two sides as he made countless saves to keep Everton at bay. Credit must also be given to Chelsea's defence, who were able to survive Everton's onslaught. Finally,Chelsea were able to kill the game in the 69th minute, when Joe Cole controlled a long ball with a sublime touch and struck it past the helpless Tim Howard.

Everton would have to wait for another chance to play in a final, something which they have not done since 1995. But they can now turn all of their attention to wrestling the fourth spot from Liverpool,which will enable them to qualify for the Champions' League.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have continued to win games under Avram Grant. He now has an identical record to Jose Mourinho for the first 28 games in charge. But Chelsea's fans should not rejoice too much as far greater challenges lie ahead. The matches against Manchester United. Arsenal and Liverpool and the European powerhouses in the Champions' League will be the real test of Grant's mettle. I have serious doubts on whether he will be able to pass them with flying colours.

On Sunday a British tabloid reported that Newcastle are preparing a bid for Manchester United's Micheal Carrick. The report went on to say that Carrick is Keegan's top transfer target, and owner Mike Ashley is ready to spend 18 million pounds to land the Newcastle-born midfielder. But I think this report is based on pure speculation rather than concrete facts.

However, if Newcastle DOES manage to lure Carrick to the Tyneside, it will be a great signing for them. The Newcastle team is in free-fall right now and they need new blood desperately. Carrick is a sort of a player that can instantly shore up the midfield and bring creativity in a side that seems utterly incapable of finding their way to goal, even at home. Moreover, he can also play in a defensive role and his tackling has improved immeasurably.

But I don't think Sir Alex Ferguson will be willing to part company with Carrick, even for 18 million pounds. I know that many of United's fans are annoyed with Carrick's inconsistency and want him to be sold as soon as possible. I admit that he is inconsistent, but still, he is a very useful player to have in your squad. When he is at the top of his game, he can dictate a game with ease, spraying passes all over the field that are simply unstoppable. Furthermore, Scholes can't play forever and Hargreaves is very injury-prone. That leaves us with Carrick as the only alternative to partner Anderson in midfield apart from Fletcher, who is not frankly good enough to play first-team football (although his commitment is highly commendable). United should only sell Carrick if, and when, they sign another quality midfielder or any youngster gets promoted to the first-team.

Carrick to Newcastle is a move that has as much chance of materialising as Newcastle finishing in the top six this season. I for one see Carrick remaining at Old Trafford for the foreseeable future.

After months of speculation, Nicolas Anelka(real name Abdul-salaam Bilal) has finally left Bolton. Although he was linked with many clubs,including Manchester United,it is Chelsea who have signed him Manager Avram Grant is delighted that Chelsea have been able to sign their main transfer ,and many think they have pulled off a real coup. The $30 million that Chelsea paid Bolton to secure Anelka's services have made him the most expensive player in history of football.

Anelka's footballing abilities have never been in doubt . He is probably one of the best strikers in the world at the moment, possessing terrific pace and brilliant finishing ability. He is one of those few players that will score 9 times out of 10 in one-on-one situation with the Goal-keeper. He is at equal ease when he plays with a partner or alone upfront. Not only does he score goals ,but he chips in with quite a few assists as well. He had already scored 11 goals for Bolton this season,which is an outstanding achievement considering the fact that Bolton are fighting relegation.

It is Anelka's off-the-pitch antics that have blighted his football career and tarnished his image. He even got the title of 'Le Sulk' when he demanded a move to Real Madrid during his time at Arsenal. But I think Anelka greatly improved at Bolton and he is past his bad-boy days now.

Anelka has said that Chelsea will be his last club. I doubt this statement very much, but there is a great chance that this WILL be Anelka's last shot at the big time. This would be a huge motivating factor for him to do well. It will be interesting to see whether Anelka plays with Drogba. Although they may play together this season, the general feeling is that Drogba will leave Chelsea in the summer and Anelka has been bought to replace him. Regardless of the fact Drogba stays or not'Anelka has the potential to be a hit and other teams should fear his presence at Stamford bridge. He has a crucial role in this season's title race too. if Anelka fires,You can expect Chelsea to push manchester United and Arsenal all the way or the premiership crown.

Chelsea have also completed the signing of 23-year old Serbian defender,Branislav Ivanovic, from Russian outfit Locomotiv Moscow. He ahas already earned 9 international caps and partners Manchester united's Nemanja Vidic in the heart of Serbia's defence. Understandably, Old Trafford was thought to be his next destination. He was even linked with Juventus,Inter Milan and AC Milan,but Chelsea managed to land him in the end.Being a versatile player,He can play all across the defence and in a holding midfield role. In my view, has been bought for the future,with his current role being to provide cover for the first-choice players.This is partly due to the fact that foreign players take at least 6 months to adjust to the premiership. If he turns out to be anything as good as Vidic, Chelsea will have gem on their hands. His arrival will also signal the end of Tal Ben haim's time on Stamford Bridge,and I think the Israeli defender will be off to a mid-table club soon.

Chelsea have shown they are not afraid to keep spending big. Let's see if they take another dip in the transfer market this January.

Last night, Reading gave Manchester United a good contest and managed to keep United at bay for 75 minutes. But then, the inevitable happened and United went ahead. Ronaldo also scored in the stoppage time, ensuring another victory for the Red Devils and maintaining their top spot.

There were two major changes for United in their starting line-up.Hargreaves returned in midfield in place of Anderson, while park replaced Giggs on the left wing. Steve Coppell opted to have a go at United, and Reading had all three of their main strikers, Doyle,Kitson and Lita, in the team.

Coppell's strategy appeared to have succeeded when the first real goal scoring chance went to Kitson but Vidic kept him from scoring.United dominated the next 30 minutes but their finishing let them down and Hahnemann made a stunning save from a Hargreaves free-kick which looked destined for the top-corner. After that, Reading came back into the game and Kitson again had an excellent oppurtunity to score. With Van Der Sar off his line, he unleashed a great shot from range but the back-tracking Ferdinand cleared the danger to save his keeper's blushes.

In the second half, United re-discovered their rhythm, and Reading were forced to play a counter-attacking game. But the Reading defence stood strong and it seemed only a moment of brilliance will break the dead-lock. That moment duly arrived 15 minutes from time. Tevez chipped in an excellent ball into the penalty area which Rooney guided into the net through a deft touch. But there was a nervous finish for United as reading chased an equaliser. James Harper came agonisingly close to scoring, but it proved to be the last chance for Reading to rescue something from the game as Ronaldo scored in the stoppage time to finish a swift counter-attack to ensure 3 points for United.

In my view, most of the credit for the victory should go to the United defence. They managed to thwart all of the Reading's attacks, keeping yet another clean-sheet. Carrick and Hargreaves were quite good but Park looked distinctly average. Rooney managed to score at last, and hopefully, he will go on a scoring run again. Ronaldo looked off-colour as all of his 7 shots were prior to the goal were off-target. But he has taken his seasons tally to 23 goals already and no-one can blame him. United's finishing was poor too, which might persuade Sir Alex to buy another striker in January or in the summer.

After the match Sir Alex said:
"We had a number of chances in last third but we started to worry that we weren't going to get the goal."
"Credit to Reading who never stopped working and really made us work."
"It was a really open match. Our own attacking play wasn't at its best and more care was needed up front. We scored at the right time and held on."

To sum it up, it was a great win for United as Reading are a bit of a bogey team for them and they appear to be on course to retain the title. Now the team heads to Saudi Arabia to play a friendly. The wisdom of such a trip is disputed, and I do hope that there are no injuries to any of our key players during the tour.

Another premiership weekend is nearly upon us. This time, Manchester United travel to the Madejski stadium to face Reading. At this time of the year, all is looking good for United. Top of the table, with no major injury worries, and clashes to look forward to in the Champions League and the FA Cup. United's players have had a week's rest, and they should really up for this game. Although Reading's home form has been quite good, I don't see them getting anything out of this game.

Arsenal face Fulham in a London derby. The Gunners are suffering a little blip right now. They drew with Birmingham last week, and they should have been beaten by Tottenham in the Carling Cup. They are also missing Toure. Not only he is as solid as a rock in defence, he also started quite a lot of their attacks by virtue of his excellent distribution. Therefore I think this match is going to be a lot closer than most people think,but Arsenal will be able to grind out a result in the end.

Chelsea are away to Birmingham, and I see birmingham making it difficult for Avram Grant's side. They got a good result at The Emirates last time around,and this would give them a big boost. But I think Chelsea's superior quality will tell and they will get the 3 points they need from this game. Anelka will make his full debut, and he has a good chance of scoring his first goal for the Blues.

The Monday Night fixture sees Liverpool hosting Aston Villa . This season , Martin O'Neil and his side are realistically chasing the fourth place and they will be extra-motivated for this game. Liverpool are not playing well these days, and it seems doubts sorrounding over Rafael Benitez's future and all the boardroom uncertainity is finally affecting the players. I think this will be a really interesting match, and Liverpool will be victorious in the end, securing Rafael Benitez's future-for now.

This is what I think will happen in all the matches of this weekend.

Birmingham v Chelsea 1-2
Blackburn v Middlesborough 2-0
Fulham v Arsenal 1-2
Portsmouth v Derby 2-0
Reading v Manchester United 1-2
Tottenham v Sunderland 3-0
Newcastle v Bolton 3-1
Wigan v Everton 1-1
Manchester City v West Ham 1-0
Liverpool v Aston Villa 2-1

This is how I did with my predictions last week. Predictions are in the brackets.
Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham (3-0)
Aston Villa 3-1 Reading (2-1)
Bolton 1-2 Blackburn (1-1)
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham (1-1)
Derby 0-1 Wigan (1-1)
Everton 1-0 Man City (1-1)
Man Utd 6-0 Newcastle (4-0)
Middlesbrough 1-1 Liverpool (1-1)
Sunderland 2-0 Portsmouth (1-2)
West Ham 2-1 Fulham (2-0)
I got FOUR results right and ONE perfect score

Newcastle have announced that Kevin Keegan will be their new manager,who is making a dramatic return to management after leaving manchester city in 2005.He is already being regarded as a messiah by the geordie fans. Personally,I think his appointment is a good move by the club as they could not have found any better candidates for the job other than keegan.Also,I think keegan will be able bring some stability to the club and rujuvenate the side. Now I can see Newcastle making a decent finish to the season.Reaction to this remarkable news is certain to follow over the next few days.

Tom Hicks has publicly revealed what many of Football fans have suspected,that he had a meeting with Jurgen Klinsmann in Amearica back in November and offered him the Liverpool manager's job. Klinsmann turned him down,and since then Bayern Munich have announced that he will be their new manager come June.Hicks said that the purpose of thr meeting was to have 'insurance' in case Rafael Benitez left to join Real Madrid or any other club.This meeting is what led to Rafa's infamous outburst against the owners in a pre-match conference in November.This is what Hicks exactly said:

"We attempted to negotiate an option as an insurance policy... if Rafa left for Real Madrid or other clubs rumoured, " Hicks told the Liverpool Echo.

He added: "Or in case our communication spiralled out of control."

"After George and I had our long and productive meeting with Rafa following the Manchester United match, we put all of our issues behind us and received Rafa's commitment that he wanted to stay with Liverpool," said Hicks.

"We never reached agreement on an option with Jurgen, and we are both pleased for him that he has a great opportunity to return to Germany and coach a great club team.
"Rafa has both of our support, and our communication has greatly improved." (source:BBC)

I have no clue whatsoever as to why Hicks chose to inform the press about this meeting.As Alan Hansen has said,maybe he thought the tabloids will get hold of the story soon enough and it would be better to tell the world about the meeting himself. If truth is to be told The Sun did carry a story about the meeting back in november or december. This revelation has seriously undermined Rafa. When an owner offers the manager's job to somebody, it clearly shows he is not confident in the current manager,. I don't care what excuses Hicks mentions,I think what he has done is unethical,outrageous and disrespectful towards Rafael Benitez. I believe he has always intended to,and still plans to, get rid of Benitez. And now this revelation has effectively turned Benitez into a dead man walking. If I was Benitez,I would have left Liverpool now. In any case,I expect Benitez to get the sack by the summer.(I think Benitez and Liverpool should part company also because Liverpool are not playing well and have failed to mount a serious title challenge in the Premier League,but that's another story.)
This season,Premiership clubs' owners and chairmen have shown an alarming degree of impatience withe thier managers. Nine managers have already left thier clubs this season snd I think Benitez is the favourite to be the next one to go.

On Saturday, Manchester United faced managerless Newcastle at Old Trafford. Before the match, I had a feeling that United were playing against the Magpies at just the right time. This is exactly what happened as United notched up an incredible 6 goals a woeful Newcastle defence.

Sir Alex fielded his best available eleven players. Rooney and Tevez started upfront, Giggs and Ronaldo took their positions at either wing and Carrick partnered Anderson in midfield. in defence, O'Shea replaced the suspended Wes Brown.

The Manchester United players took a while to get going which resulted in a goalless first-half. Despite dominating possession, they failed to create many clear-cut chances, making the Newcastle defence look unusually good. United had two good penalty shouts, but I can't blame Rob Styles for not giving them. It was Newcastle who were most hard-done by, as Owen's strike was ruled out due a wrong offside flag.

And Newcastle were made to rue the mistake by the assisstant referee as United turned on the style in the second-half. The Magpies defence was ripped apart countless times, and they had no answer to Man utd's passing and movement. Ronaldo scored from the free-kick to open up the flood-gates.Soon after this,calamitous defending by Jose Enrique and Shay Given allowed Tevez to score an easy goal.A simply sublime foer-man move led to united's third,with Ronaldo showing excellent skill and composure to control Tevez's pass and bury it into the net.Ferdinand volleyed in the fourth,scoring a goal any striker in the world would be proud of.Even after this,United kept up the pressure and Ronaldo got his first-ever hat-trick for the red devils as a deflection carried his shot past Given. Tevez rounded the scoring,when the linesman correctly judged that his shot crossed the line.Alan Smith did not agree,and the ref gave him a straight red when he foolishly confronted the referee.

Man Utd scored six when they could easily have scored beyond ten.Newcastle cleared the ball off the line four times and I lost count of united'ds total Goal scoring oppurtunities. Towards the end of the match,it was like men against boys,professionals against amateurs and a Premiership club against a pub team. Such one-sided matches are rare,and you really enjoy if the dominating team is the team you support.

Needless to say,Ronaldo was absolutely brilliant in the match,taking his tally of goals to 22 for the season.Also,it is good to see that Tevez's finishing is up to the mark.It is interesting to note that Roonry failed to score,but I think he will go on a scoring run soon enough.All in all,it was an awesome,breath-taking display of beautiful football by man utd.(That which othe football owners and managers crave for,most notably, Roman Abramovich).

As far as Newcastle is concerned,they need to appoint a manager as soon as possible and bring in a few players in the transfer window. If they don't improve their game, I think they have an outside chance of being relegated.

To cap off a wonderful weekend for United, Arsenal vould only manage a draw against Birmingham. (I think that the Gunners took Birmingham lightly, and missed their defensive stalwart Toure, who has gone for AFCON). After this performance, United should be able to hold on the first spot for some time, if not until the end of the season.