Premiership is back again this weekend and the most high-profile match sees Tottenham visiting Chelsea.I think Spurs have a real chance of causing an upset this time around, and a draw looks the most likely result to me.But I would not not bet against Anelka scoring the winner for the blues.Manchester United face Newcastle at Old Trafford when the Magpies are in all sorts of trouble.I fancy United to dish out a bashing to a very poor Newcastle side.Arsenal have an easy game against Birmingham City and whatever side the Gunners put out,it will be just too strong for Birmingham.Liverpool have a tricky trip in prospect to the Riverside to play Middlesborough,who always seem to raise their game against the 'Big Four'.Liverpool are not in any sort of great rhythm and I feel Boro have a real chance of getting a draw.This is what i think will happen in all the 10 games of the premier league being played this weekend.

Arsenal v Birmingham 3-0
Aston Villa v Reading 2-1
Chelsea v Tottenham 1-1
Derby v Wigan 1-1
Everton v Manchester City 1-1
Boro v Liverpool 1-1
West Ham v Fulham 2-0
Manchester United v Newcastle 4-0
Sunderland v Portsmouth 1-2
Bolton v Blackburn 1-1

On New year's day, Manchester United defeated Birmingham, thanks to an amazing goal by Carlos Tevez. But United's performance was not up to the mark' and Birmingham had many chances to equalise. Fortunately, they did not have their shooting boots on. West Ham failed to do to Arsenal what they did to United, and the Gunners ran out comfortable winners at the Emirates. Fulham continued their wretched season as they were beaten by Chelsea at Craven Cottage. Most surprisingly, Wigan managed to hold Liverpool to a draw at Anfield. Torres gave Liverpool the lead, but incredibly, Titus Bramble equalised near the end, to end Liverpool's title challenge once and for all.

Here are all the results, and my predicted results are in the brackets.

Fulham 1-2 Chelsea (2-2)

Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (3-2)

Manchester United 1-0 Birmingham (4-0)

Middlesborough 0-2 Everton (1-1)
Reading 0-2 Portsmouth (1-1)

Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham (2-2)

Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City (1-1)

Bolton 1-0 Derby (3-0)

Liverpool 1-1 Derby (3-0)

Blackburn 1-0 Sunderland (2-0)
I got FOUR results right.

Its FA Cup weekend now, so do not miss the magic of the cup.

Manchester United have surprised everyone by signing a 24-year old Angolan striker who goes by the name of Manucho Goncalves. Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed his signing in a pre-match press conference and he will join up with his team after the African cup of nations.

Manucho has been the top-scorer of the Angolan league for the past two seasons. In addition, he has already won a handful of international caps, scoring 2 goals for his country. United were made aware of his talents through Carlos Queiroz's contacts and subsequently United took him on trial for 3 weeks. He is said to have impressed the United staff and officials during the trial and therefore, a 3 year deal was offered to him which was accepted. He adds to the Portugese-speaking
contingent among the United players. According to Manucho, Ronaldo and Nani have already been of great assistance for him in his time at United so far.

As far as his contribution to the team is concerned, I don't think he will feature too much, if at all this season. This is because foreign players take at least 6 months to adjust to the English game. Next season, he may replace the injury-prone Louis Saha. Sir Alex has described him as being a tall, agile striker. Therefore, I think he might not be the finisher United fans have been crying for. He sounds more like a striker with a physical presence in the penalty area and good aerial ability. If he turns out to be anything like Drogba, I will be quite pleased. Having said that, Manucho's signing is a gamble by United and only time will tell if this gamble will pay off.

These days the biggest news is Berbatov's likely departure from Spurs. I think United will be a great destination for him as his type of is what United lacks now; a quality finisher. But I do think Berbatov's signing in this transfer window by United will be more of a luxury than a necessity and he looks more likely to join Chelsea or any European team.

Alan Hutton of Glasgow Rangers was also linked with United last weekend. He is a quality right-back who is brilliant in attack as well. He has earned rave reviews for his performances this season, especially his outstanding display against Barcelona in the Champions League and looks set for a move away from Scotland. With Gary Neville' continuous injury problems and Wes Brown's possible departure, United's right-back slot is up for grabs. Hutton has the potential to be a Neville's long-term successor at United, but let's see if Sir Alex is willing to take him on.

The Boxing Day provided us with some greatly entertaining matches. Machester United easily brushed aside Sunderland's challenge at the Stadium of Light, leaving Roy Keane with some serious work to do in order to raise his team's morale after a crushing defeat. Arsenal looked shot-shy and fatigued as they drew away to a resilient Portsmouth team. Moving on, Rafael Benitez and his players should be deeply ashamed of themselves as they needed a stoppage time Gerrard-goal to defeat woeful Derby County. It was Chelsea and Aston Villa that provided us with the most pulsating and intriguing match. In a game that had everything (great goals, awful mistakes, red cards, dubious penalties), Gareth Barry scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time to hand Villa a deserved draw. The following are all the results from the Boxing Day fixtures.

Sunderland 0-4 Manchester United (0-2)

Portsmouth 0-0 Arsenal (0-1)

Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa (2-1)

Derby 1-2 Liverpool (0-4)

Birmingham 3-0 Middlesborough (1-1)


Everton 2-0 Bolton (3-0)

Tottenham 5-1 Fulham (3-1)

West Ham 1-1
Reading (2-0)

Wigan 1-0 Newcastle (1-1)

Manchester City 2-2 v Blackburn (3-1)

Last time, I got FOUR results right but ZERO perfect scores.


Here is what I think will happen in this weekend's fixtures.

West Ham v Manchester United 1-3

Everton v Arsenal 1-1

Chelsea v Newcastle 2-0

Manchester City v Liverpool 1-1

Birmingham v Fulham 3-1

Sunderland v Bolton 2-1

Portsmouth v Middlesborough 1-0

Tottenham v Reading 3-1

Wigan v Aston Villa 2-2

Derby v Blackburn 1-3

At the weekend the big four all won. Therefore, there were no significant changes at the top of the table. Arsenal were lucky to get another victory over Spurs as Keane missed a penalty. United were lucky too in their match against Everton, as Ronaldo fired in a late winner from the penalty spot. Liverpool beat Portsmouth at Anfield easily and Chelsea ground out another narrow win, this time over Blackburn. Here are all the results, and my predicted scorelines are in brackets.

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham (3-2)

Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester City (2-1)

Bolton 3-0 Birmingham (1-0)

Fulham 1-1 Wigan (2-2)

Liverpool 4-1 Portsmouth (1-1)

Middlesborough 1-2 West Ham (2-1)

Reading 2-1 Sunderland (2-1)
Manchester United 2-1 Everton (3-0)

Newcastle 2-2 Derby (4-1)

Blackburn 0-1 Chelsea (1-1)

I got FIVE results right and ONE perfect score.


Now we are in the middle of the festive season, with games coming thick and fast. There are 9 fixtures on the Boxing Day, with only Man City and Blackburn playing their match on Thursday. Manchester United face Sunderland at the stadium of light which promises to be a fiesty affair. Despite all of Roy Keane's efforts, I expect United to get the 3 points they need. Arsenal make a short trip to Fratton Park where Portsmouth have not been excellent this season. I think the Gunners to be victorious in this encounter by a single-goal margin. Liverpool travel to Pride Park to face Derby, and I can't see anything but a comfortable win for Liverpool. Chelsea meet Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. As Chelsea's home form is impeccable, I expect them to continue this run and grind out another result against Villa, playing in a boring and dull way again. Here all my predictions for the Boxing day fixtures.

Sunderland v Manchester United 0-2

Portsmouth v Arsenal 0-1

Chelsea v Aston Villa 2-1

Derby v Liverpool 0-4

Birmingham v Middlesborough 1-1

Everton v Bolton 3-0

Tottenham v Fulham 3-1

West Ham v
Reading 2-0

Wigan v Newcastle 1-1

Manchester City v Blackburn 3-1

FIFA world player of the year awards were held last week. As expected, Kaka won the award getting 1047 votes. Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo got 504 and 426 votes, coming second and third respectively. This has led to a hot debate in the footballing world about whether Kaka really deserves being the world player of the year. To help answer this question, lets have a brief look at each of these players achievements over the past year.

Although Kaka won the Champions League With AC Milan and was the top-scorer of the competition with 10 goals, his name was nowhere to be seen in the top scoring charts of Serie A and his side finished way off the pace. He also failed to win any domestic cups. He is an integral member of the Brazil national team but did not take part in their Copa America campaign (which Brazil won), claiming he was too 'tired' after a 'long and hard' season with AC milan. Coming to this season AC milan lie in an unbelievable 12th place in the Serie A table and have failed to register a win in their 7 home games. Surely, if Kaka is such a great player, he would have helped his team to attain much better results.

Lionel Messi is a great prospect for the future but I don't think he is the finished article yet last season, Barcelona went out in the early stages of the Champions league and did not win any of the domestic cups. They also failed to win the Spanish League, losing out to their bitter rivals Real Madrid on goal difference. Although Messi played well in many matches and scored some spectacular goals, he regularly went missing in big matches that really mattered and missed large parts of the season due to injuries. He failed in the Copa America with Argentina too, as Brazil defeated them comprehensively in the final. Giving him the second place ahead of Ronaldo is outrageous as he failed to win ANYTHING last season.

On the other hand, Christiano Ronaldo enjoyed a phenomenal season at Manchester United scoring an incredible 23 goals in all competitions as Manchester United had a real go at the treble. He played a great rolein the United's title-winning campaign last season and they came very close to winning the FA Cup too. He helped United to reach the Champions League semi-final as well. This season, Ronaldo has already scored 16 goals and is well on his way on surpassing his previous season's tally of goals. Moreover, he took his club form to the international stage helping Portugal to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

So it is clear that It was Ronaldo who deserved the FIFA world player of the year accolade ahead of Kaka ,who I think is hugely over-rated. I think Kaka got the award just because Milan defeated Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Champions League. In that tie, United played without many of their regular players, including their whole first-choice defensive like-up. On the other hand AC Milan had the luxury of all their star players for the European matches as they were out of all other competitions and had no chance of winning their league. I think FIFA its should review system of giving out the awards, because if awards continue to be dished out to wrong players, they will soon lose their importance and status.

Here's how I did with my predictions last week. Predictions are in brackets.

Birmingham 1-1 Reading (2-1)

Derby 0-1 Middlesborough (1-1)

Manchester City 4-2 Bolton (1-0)

Portsmouth 0-1 Tottenham (2-1)

Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa (1-2)

West Ham 0-2 Everton (1-1)

Wigan 5-3 Blackburn (1-1)

Fulham 0-1 Newcastle (2-2)


Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United (0-1)

Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (1-1)


Coming to this weekend, the north-London derby is the biggest fixture. Under Juande Ramos, Tottenham have a real chance of upsetting Arsenal. Manchester United face Everton on Sunday and despite Everton's excellent recent form, I feel United will be too strong for them. Chelsea face a tough to Ewood Park to meet Blackburn Rovers, and I think Chelsea can struggle against them. Portsmouth have the best away record in the league, and they now come
against Liverpool at Anfield. Although Liverpool can easily beat them, I am going for a draw in this match. Here are all of my predictions for this weekend's round of matches.


Arsenal v Tottenham 3-1

Aston Villa v Mancheste City 2-1

Bolton v Birmingham 1-0

Fulham v Wigan 2-2

Liverpool v Portsmouth 1-1

Middlesborough v West Ham 2-1

Reading v Sunderland 2-1

Manchester United v Everton 3-0

Newcastle v Derby 4-1

Blackburn v Chelsea 1-1

The draw for the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions' league has just finished and these are all the ties drawn out.

Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v manchester united
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Chelsea v Olympiakos
Fenerbahce v Sevilla

Arguably,the pick of the ties are Liverpool against Inter and Arsenal taking on Milan. They are certainly going to be great battles. The matches take place in February and March. Like all football fans,I can not wait for them.

The draw for the UEFA Champions League first knockout round takes place today. The rules for the draw are simple; group winners have to play group runners-up but a team can't face another team from their own country or qualifying group.
The group winners are:
Porto
Chelsea
Real Madrid
AC milan
Barcelona
Manchester United
Inter Milan
Sevilla

Then group runners-up are:

Liverpool
Schalke 04
Olympiakos
Celtic
Lyon
Roma
Fenerbahce
Arsenal

Therefore, Manchester United can meet either Schalke, Olympiakos, Celtic, Lyon and Fenerbahce in the next round. Chelsea opponents will be selected from Roma, Olympiakos, Celtic, Lyon and Fenerbahce.

As Liverpool and Arsenal finished second they have got a much tougher draw. They will have to play either Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan or Inter Milan. Also, Liverpool and Arsenal can face Sevilla and Porto respectively. I really hope there will be ties like Liverpool v AC Milan and Arsenal v Real Madrid in the next round. I will be posting the ties as soon as I get to know them.

As I predicted, Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-0 last night to book their place in the last 4 of the Carling Cup, a feat they also managed last year. Both sides missed great chances to open the scoring in the first half. But finally Chelsea got lucky in the second half when Lampard's strike deflected in off Carragher. Liverpool's chances of a comeback were over when Peter Crouch was sent off for his horrible tackle on Mikel. Towards the end, Shevchenko also got on the scoresheet when his shot went in at the near post. All in all, it was a comfortable victory for the Blues. But Chelsea fans should not take too much heart from this win. Liverpool were poor last night and it is the upcoming busy festive period that will be their real test. Same is the case with Liverpool, who really need to chalk up some victories to get their season back on track and please their American owners.

The draw for the semi-finals took place after the match. It sees Arsenal meeting Tottenham Hotspur again and Chelsea taking on Everton, who have looked quite good this season. I expect both ties to be tight contests and fun to watch and I for one will not be surprised if Everton are able to get past Chelsea and Spurs are able to take revenge from the Gunners for beating them at the same stage last season. Both first and second legs of the ties will take place in January and they are certainly ones to look forward to.