World Cup goalkeepers:
Capello will pick 3 goalkeepers for this World Cup. Contending for places are: Robert Green, David James, Ben Foster, Chris Kirkland, Joe Hart, Steve Harper and Paul Robinson. The obvious choice is David James but there are serious doubts about his fitness and he could easily not make the World Cup through injury. Robert Green will probably be chosen but there are doubts that he can't play at a high tempo. Ben Foster has a good chance if he recovers from the shambolic form he's in. Chris Kirkland? I doubt it unless we are having an injury crisis. Joe Hart has been outstanding for Birmingham in recent games and really should be picked. He is a great young keeper. Steve Harper is actually a serious contender for a place, the Newcastle goalie is a solid player. Paul Robinson has an ouside chance if he plays well for Blackburn.
My 3 picks:
David James (as long as he is fit)
Robert Green
Joe Hart
Reserve:
Ben Foster

Blackburn 2:2 Sunderland
Chelsea 2:1 Fulham
Everton 2:0 Burnley
Stoke 0:1 Birmingham
Tottenham 2:0 West Ham
Man-City 3:0 Wolves
Well, this was that was one of the most boring first halfs I have ever seen. All off the games apart from Mancity vs Wolves kicked off at the same time. Overall, 12 goals were scored. Guess how many goals had been scored at half time. 1. It looks like the Man-City bosses made the right descision to get Mancini as manager. Tevez scored twice in a 3-0 win over Wolves. Blackburn drew with Sunderland and Chelsea unfairly got a win against Fulham. The 'special one' was watching and he must have thought this: 'Dear, dear what kind of a midfield formation is this? Why is Drogba scared of a blade of grass? Memo: When Drogba is through on goal all we need to do is prod him. ' It was that bad. ZAMORA FOR ENGLAND. Seriously, this guy has everything except scoring. He would be the perfect target man.

Prem results:
Wigan 1:1 Blackburn
West Ham 2:0 Portsmouth
Sunderland 1:1 Everton
Man City 2:0 Stoke
Liverpool 2:0 Wolves
Fulham 0:0 Tottenham
Burnley 1:1 Bolton
Birmingham 0:0 Chelsea
Man-U 3:1 Hull
Arsenal 3:0 Aston Villa
Some interesting results here. In the relegation battle, West Ham beat Portsmouth 2-0. A misfiring Everton team drew 1-1 with Sunderland, the Mancini 'reign' started well with a 2-0 win against Stoke. Liverpool showed signs of starting to recover from their pathetic start to the season while Tottenham drew 0-0 with Fulham. Birmingham continued their incredible run while Chelsea scored score no goals in a match for the first time in the season. After an incredible cameo appearence from Captain Marvel a.k.a. Cesc Fabregas Arsenal beat Aston Villa convincingly while Man-U beat Hull in a hard game.
Ranked: Under pressure managers
1st: Phil Brown, Hull
2nd: Rafa Benitez, Liverpool
3rd: Mick McCarthy, Wolves
4th: Roberton Martinez, Bolton
5th: Ginfranco Zola, West Ham
6th: Gary Megson, Bolton
7th: David Moyes, Everton
8th: Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea
9th: Steve Bruce, Sunderland
10th: Avram Grant, Portsmouth
11th: Roberto Mancini, Man City
12th: Sam Allerdyce, Blackburn
13th: Owen Coyle, Burnley
14th: Tony Pullis, Stoke
15th: Arsene Wenger, Arsenal
16th: Roy Hogsdon, Fulham
17th: Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa
18th: Harry Redknapp, Tottenham
19th: Alex Mcleish, Birmingham
20th: Sir Alex Ferguson, Man-U
Prem predictions:
Blackburn 0:2 Sunderland
Chelsea 1:1 Fulham
Everton 2:2 Burnley
Stoke 2:3 Birmingham
Tottenham 3:1 West Ham
Wolves 0:3 Man-City

Craig Levein, who the heck is he?

As you probably know, the 'turnip in disguise' George Burley was sacked as Scottish manager and Dundee manager Craig Levein replaced him. But who is he?
He was born in 1964 and he started his playing career at Cowdenbeath. In 1983, aged 19 he joined Hearts for £30,000 and was named the SPFA young player of the year two years later. He also became the firat player to win this award twice, despite having a knee injury. He played 16 times for Scotland, starting in a 1-0 win against Argentina. He was forced to retire in 1997 because of a knee injury, but he swiftly entered coaching. He started at Hearts where for 18 months he coached the youth players. He then was made manager of his old club, Cowdenbeath and guided them to the top of Division 3. He then rejoined his old club Hearts. He did well at Hearts but he made an enemy of his employers, the SFA when he refused to play a £1,000 fine for criticising a referee. He refused to pay the ban and because of this, the SFA doubled the ban twice and gave him a four month touchline ban. This was not the end of it, however and Levein took the SFA to court and won, so that the fine was reduced back to £1,000 which Hearts payed for Levein. In 2004, Hearts reached 3rd in the SPL and got into the Uefa Cup group stages. At that point, however, Levein left for Championship side Leicester City with the aim of getting to the Prem. His time at the Walkers Stadium wasn't a success and Levein was sacked when Leicester were in the relegation places. Levein soon returned to Scotland to take over Raith Rovers. He didn't stay there for long and in a short time he became manager of Dundee. He did well there and because of this he was made Scotland manager. His aim is to reach the finals of Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

World Cup Group H:
Spain: (1st)
Let's just make this clear. They are so good that Fabregas can only normally make the subs bench. They have the best striking combination in the world (Torres and Villa) and have two of the top 5 players of the year (Xavi and Inietsa) they have an extremely strong goalkeeper in Casillas and their 4th choice goalkeeper is probably Almunia. They also have a grat defense. What else can I say? They can be beaten however and they were beaten by the USA so that gives us some hope. Prediction: Final
Switzerland (18th)
Have no big stars and have an industrial squad with their best player being Phillipe Senderos.
Prediction: 1st round.
Chile (17th)
Surprised everyone by coming 2nd in the CONMEBOL qualifying group and play the attacking game very well. Prediction: 2nd round
Hondarus (38th)
How are they here? Who are they? Prediction: 1st round

World Cup Group G guide:
Brazil: (FIFA ranking in November 2nd)
They are obviously one of the favourites. Their manager (Dunga) is a great one and they have recently won the Copa America, the Confederations Cup, and have topped the South America qualifying group. They're so good that they don't even need Ronaldinho. Their team is amazing and it centres around the former master of the universe, Kaka. Prediction: Winners
Ivory Coast: (16)
Arguably the unluckiest team at the World Cup. In their two World Cups so far, both times they have been drawn in the group of death. They do have a great side with Drogba and the Toure brothers. It's really hard to think that one of Kaka, Ronaldo and Drogba won't be going to the second round of the World Cup. Prediction: 2nd round. I really think that they can pip Portugal to second place in the group if they try hard enough.
Portugal: (5th)
The very fact that they are ranked 5th is an outrage. They needed a narrow victory in the play-offs to be here so why should they be ranked 5th? They do have some good players in Deco and Ronaldo. Prediction: 1st round
Korea DPR: (52)
Lets just put this straight. They have no chance of going to the next round after being drawn in the group of death. Prediction: 1st round.

Mark Hughes' sacking, was it deserved?
As we all know, Mark Hughes has been sacked by cash rich City and been replaced with Roberto Mancini. Was this a deserved sacking or not? I don't think so.
Mark Hughes' pros and cons:
Pros:
Signed great attacking players.
City have only lost twice, less then any other team.
Had the confidence of most of his players.
Beat Arsenal and Chelsea
Are only 6 points off the top 4 with a game in hand
Cons:
However good his attacking signings were his defensive signings were a lot worse
Robinho, Adebayor, Toure and Lescott have all been playing rubbishly.
8 straight draws is not what you'd expect from a cash strapped team.

Hughes was clearly not the owner's man and the only reason why he wasn't sacked earlier was that they couldn't find a good replacement. Getting Mancini is a great gamble as he is very young for a manager and has only played 4 games in England. He talks with all the arrogance and self-confidence as Mourinho, setting the league title as his target next season. Pull the other one. It was also embarisingly obvious that City had approached Mancini a month ago and not as Gary Cook had said on Wednesday.

Chelsea 1:1 West Ham
Wolves 2:0 Burnley
Birmingham 1:1 West Ham
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm
The Prem table is the link while in the Championship, Newcastle beat Middlesborough 2-0.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/table/default.stm
The Championship table is above with Newcastle 10 points clear at the top. It makes you wander whether they will get a record number of points as at the moment it is looking very likely. I think, more by accident then design that Newcastle have found the perfect manager in Chris Hughton. He has made some shrewd signings and Newcastle are now back on track. Talking of new managers, Gordon Strachan is doing terriblt with Middlesborough they were just beggining to get themselves back on track with Gareth Southgate when he was sacked, now Middlesborough are the equivalent of Liverpool. Back to the Prem, 1 win in 4 games isn't what you'd expect from the leading side in the Prem! Also, for the equalising goal (Lampard scoring a penalty) the penalty had to be taken three times because of continued enroachment. Even in the allowed penalty there was enroachment and it shows that player will always cheat to get an advantage. In most penalties there is something wrong. Either the goalkeeper doesn't stay on his line or the players are enroaching the penalty area. It seemed that Wolves Man-U selection was justified as they beat Burnley 2-0 and a rare sight... Birmingham not winning! They had a draw against Everton. The top 4 has become the top 7 of Tottenham, Aston Villa, Man-City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man-U there is a cancelled Prem fixture of Bolton vs Wigan today as well.

Arsenal 3:0 Hull
Aston Villa 1:0 Stoke
Tottenham 2:0 Blackburn
Man-city 4:3 Sunderland
Fulham 3:0 Man-U
Portsmouth 2:0 Liverpool
Mark Hughes, the Man-City manager has been sacked with former Lazio and Inter Milan manager, Roberto Macini. It was coming before the match, even if he won 20-0 he would have been sacked as the owners want an instant result. I'm asking one thing: Is there a single Arab owner who knows a thing about football and its traditions? Arsenal beat Hull 3-0 despite their two joint top scorers missing (Fabregas and Van Persie). Aston Villa continued their superb run of form with a win over Stoke. Suddenly the midlands are being feared again with Birmingham and Aston Villa both on crazy runs. Crouch scored twice as Tottenham beat Blackburn. I watched Fulham beat Man-U and the only bright spot was that I got Fergie's autograph. Bobby Zamora has now scored 5 goals in 4 games and at this rate he should be picked for England! Liverpool had another loss against bottom of the table Portsmouth with identical goals from them. Liverpool have got to sort themselves out. Second last year with only 2 defeats, they are now 7th with 7 defeats.

Prem predictions:
Arsenal 4:1 Hull
Aston Villa 2:1 Stoke
Blackburn 0:2 Tottenham
Man-u 2:1 Fulham (going)
Man-City 1:2 Sunderland
Liverpool 1:0 Portsmouth
Everton 0:1 Birmingham
Chelsea 3:2 West Ham
Wolves 1:2 Burnley
Some interesting fixtures this weekend. Arsenal will hope to win against Hull despite some of their first team regulars missing, Aston Villa will try to continue their superb run of form against mid table Stoke. Tottenham will try and carry over momentum from their surprise 3:0 win over Man-City while Blackburn will also be looking for a result. Man-U play Fulham which I'm going to see. I'll be sitting near the subs bench. Two of the prem's oldest and best managers will meet in Ferguson and Hogsdon. Hogsdon doesn't get enough credit for what he does at Fulham. Fulham should be fighting for survival let alone in the Europa League. Mark Hughes' days at Man-City might be numbered as their owners are being dissapointed with a poor run of form. They play the team with the most under rated strike force, Sunderland. Darren Bent, Fraizer Campell and Kenwyne Jones is a great forward line up and just don't get credit. Portsmouth and Avram Grant will be hoping to get a result against a poor Liverpool squad. Birmingham will try and get their 7th win in a row against Everton. In the BBC build up to the Birmingham match against Man-City (finishing 2-2) I remember somebody calling BBC on twitter and saying
"Today sees Birmingham start a 28-game winning streak which sees them finish 1st in the PL. Or then again..." he was obviously being sarcastic but this comment seems to be coming true.
Chelsea will hope to banish the meof the past few games with a win against West Ham while there will be a massive relegation scrap between Wolves and Burnley. On Tuesday, Wolves played their reserve team against Man-u because of this match so the Wolves fans will be expecting something good.

World Cup Group F
Italy (4th in November rankings)
The former world champions have much the same players that won the world cup in 2006 apart from a few newcomers such as Pato. They are a good side and will be hoping to make the semi-final. Prediction: quarter-finals
New Zealand (77)
They qualified against Bahrain due to a PLYMOUTH striker scoring the winner. Their best player is Blackburn's Ryan Nelsen. Prediction: 1st round
Paraguay (30)
They have some good players such as Roque Santa Cruz but shouldn't be the surprise package. England beat them in the 2006 World Cup. Prediction: 2nd round
Slovakia (34)
I have no clue about them. Prediction: 1st round

Champions and Europa League draw:
Well, it was a hard group stage but most of the big clubs, apart from Juventus and Liverpool made it through. The second round is out for Europa and Champions League and here is the draw:
Inter Milan v CHELSEA
Lyon v Real Madrid
AC Milan v MANCHESTER UNITED
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
FC Porto v ARSENAL
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
David Beckham will face his former club, Man-U as they play AC Milan. Chelsea have got a tough draw against Inter Milan, Lyon are playing the walking price tags of Real Madrid. The easiest draw is Olympiakos vs Bordeaux. Arsenal play Jose Mourinho's old club Porto. Sevilla vs CSKA Moscow is another easy fixture while defending champions Barcelona play Stuttgart. Bayern Munich play Fiorentina as well.
Europa League draw:
Rubin Kazan v Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Athletic Bilbao v Anderlecht
FC Copenhagen v Marseille
Panathinaikos v Roma
Atletico Madrid v Galatasaray
Ajax v Juventus
Club Brugge v Valencia
FULHAM v Shakhtar Donetsk
LIVERPOOL v Unirea Urziceni
Hamburg v PSV
Villarreal v VfL Wolfsburg
Standard Liege v SV Red Bull Salzburg
FC Twente v Werder Bremen
Lille v Fenerbahce
EVERTON v Sporting
Hertha Berlin v Benfica
Liverpool are playing Unirea Urziceni, Everton are playing Sporting and Fulham are playing Shakhtar Donetsk.

Europa League results:
Who really cares? Anway...
Anderlecht 3:1 Ajax
Benifica 2:1 AEK Athens
Timisoara 2:1 Dinamo Zagreb
BATE 1:0 Everton
Fenerbahnce 1:0 Sheriff
Valencia 2:1 Genoa
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1:0 Hamburg
Lille 3:1 Slavia Prague
Rapid Vienna 3:3 Celtic
Steaua Bucharest 1:1 FC Twente
Red Bull Salzburg 1:0 Villarreal

Europa League Wednesday results:
Werder Bremen 3:0 Athletic Bilbao
Fulham 3:2 Basle
Cruj-Napoca 0:2 PSV
Club Brugge 1:0 Toulouse
Roma 3:0 CSKA Sofia
Heerenveen 5:0 FK Ventsplis
Hertha Berlin 1:0 Sporting
Nacional 5:1 Austria Vienna
Panathinaikos 3:0 Dinamo Bucharest
Partizan Belgrade 1:0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Sturm Graz 1:0 Galasataray
Copenhagen 3:0 Sparta Prague

Europa League predictions:
Ajax 2:1 Anderlecht
Benifica 1:1 AEK Athens
Dinamo Zagreb 2:0 Timisoara
Everton 3:2 BATE
Fenerbahce 2:1 Sheriff
Valencia 3:1 Genoa
Hamburg 2:1 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Lazio 1:0 Levski Sofia
Lille 1:1 Sparta Prague
Celtic 1:2 Rapid Vienna
Villarreal 0:0 Red Bull Salzburg
FC Twente 2:0 Steaua Bucharest.
The snow plays havoc with the fixture list as lots of matches are cancelled.
Prem results:
Tottenham 3:0 Man-City
Arsenal 1:1 Burnley
Chelsea 2:1 Portsmouth
Liverpool 2:1 Wigan
In a surprise result Tottenham thrashed Man-City when a draw was widely expected. Arsenal had a dissapointing result against Burnley when Burnley even had a goal dissallowed. Chelsea only narrowly beat bottom table Portsmouth and Lampard scored a penalty. While Liverpool finally won a game! N'gog and Torres scoring

Birmingham 2:1 Blackburn
Bolton 3:1 West Ham
Man-u 3:0 Wolves
Aston Villa 2:0 Sunderland
There were no major surprises with these results. I hate to say this but the new owner of Birmingham might just know what he was doing after all. If anybody said to me at the start of the season that Liverpool would be 3 points behind Birmingham 16 games into the season I would have laughed. At the beginning of the season their aim was to avoid relegation but now they find themselves hoping to qualify for Europe! West Ham's survival hopes are looking bad. Not only have they been beaten by Bolton but now Dyer is injured (again). Man-U beat a virtual reserve Wolves team after Mcarthy rested a load of players. It's so cynical 'we're not going to beat you so we're going to play our worst side na na na'. If Wolves lose to Burnley on Saturday I hope their manager gets the sack. I wouldn't be too surprised if the FA did something about it. Aston Villa are serious contenders for a top 4 place with another good win. They are in cracking form!Europa League predictions
Heerenveen 1:1 FK Ventsplis
Hertha Berlin 1:2 Sporting Lisbon
Fulham 3:1 Basle
CSKA Sofia 1:2 Roma
Panathinaikos 2:1 Dinamo Bucuresti
Sturm Graz 0:2 Galastaray
Club Brugge 1:1 Toulouse
Partizan Belgrade 3:2 Shakhtar Donetsk
CFR Cruj-Napoca 1:3 PSV Eindhoven
Sparta Prague 1:0 Copenhagen
Athletic Bilbao 2:2 Werder Bremen
Nacional 0:0 Austria Vienna
Prem predictions:
Burnley 1:3 Arsenal
Chelsea 2:0 Portsmouth
Liverpool 1:1 Wigan
Tottenham 2:2 Man-city
Some interesting Prem encounters now. Arsenal vs Burnley. Chelsea are hoping to end their bad run and not concede any goals. Liverpool vs Wigan is an interesting battle. Wigan have had moments of genius (such as beating Chelsea) and moments of complete and utter madness (such as losing 9-1 to Tottenham). It all depends on which Wigan will turn up. The two pretenders meet in Tottenham and Man-City. Both these teams have good chances of getting into the top 4 and the encounter will be interesting

Predictions:
Aston Villa 2:1 Sunderland
West Ham 1:1 Bolton
Man-U 2:0 Wolves
Birmingham 2:1 Blackburn
Two great sides are meeting tonight in Sunderland vs Aston Villa and the result will be intresting. Man-u should beat Wolves comfortably, there's a relegation scrap between Bolton and West Ham and Birmingham will try and make it 4 wins in a row

World Cup Group E Guide:
Netherlands (3):
Will be looking to go far and have a good chance of winning with Van Persie, Kuyt and Robben. They would be even stronger if they persuaded Edwin Van Der Sar to come back from retirement. Prediction: Semi Finals.
Cameroon (11):
They actually have a pretty good side with Eto'o being their best player. They are the best African team by far and will be hoping to do something special.
Prediction: 2nd round.
Japan (43):
Lets just face it. They are an industrious, working side but I'd be surprised if they got past the 1st round. Prediction: 1st round
Denmark (26)
Are better then some people realise but would still have to work hard to get to the 2nd round
Prediction: 1st round

Well, the awards are flying in all the time so I'll make a few of my own
The worst commenter:
I'd just like to thank Will for this high prestige award. Somehow, whatever I write, he always seems to put me down with 'how Liverpool were in the old days'.
The Robbie Keane best celebration:
Who else but Jimmy Bullard? Not many people can make a mickey of their manager and not get hairdryer treatment. Donovan however came close with a Nazi like celebration when he scored against Brazil, his celebration seemed to consist of pointing at himself and mouthing 'me me me'
The Cristiano Ronaldo best 'I'm a sulky brat':
Sol Cambell. Was at Notts County for just one game before leaving.
The Steve Mclaren worst manager:
It was tough this year but joint top are Diego Maradona the man who couldn't organise a tea party let alone a World Cup qualifying campaign. Also Raymond Domenech for being an Englishman in disguise. Whoever thought that he would try and get France out of the World Cup before it's started?
The Dimitar Berbatov best contribution by a non moving object:
The beach ball is an obvious choice, if Liverpool miss out of the top 4 by 2 points they'll know who to thank.
The Diego Maradona pantomine villain:
Thi is obviously Henry's for handballing the ball and then crossing to Gallas to head it in. We'll be organising a victory parade for you in Dublin.
The Diego Maradona award for a moment of genius after a moment of madness (or vice versa):
It was obviously a tie between Rafa Benitez and Jermain Defoe. Shortly after just losing out to Man-U for the Premier League, Benitez is now having a terrible season: out of the Champions League group stages and 7th in the Prem. Jermain Defoe, after having a stupid 3 match ban he scored 4/5 goals in one half against Wigan.
The Pele award for best player:
Has to be Messi. Enough said.
The Kevin Keegan mentalest manager:
Phil Brown narrowly pips Benitez to this spot after some superb performances. Singing a kareoke song after Hull stayed up is enough to win alone.
The Lucas most unnapreciated player:
Bobby Zamora all the way.

Just had an intresting poll, it seems that most of you don't think that Man-city are going to break into the top 4. Is this because you think Liverpool will regain their spot or because Tottenham or Aston Villa will break in? This week's poll is: who is your favourite Sunderland player? Please vote!

Liverpool 1:2 Arsenal
Another loss for Liverpool. I don't know why they bother. Liverpool started brightly and took the lead but in the second half, Glen Johnson scored an own goal and from there they collasped. Arsenal still have chances of winning the Prem. They are now 5 points away from Chelsea with a game in hand. Giggs has won the BBC Sports Personality of the year. I think he deserved to win. He has been playing for ages and is still one of Man-U's best midfielders.

Man-U 0:1 Aston Villa
Birmingham 1:0 West Ham
Chelsea 3:3 Everton
Wolves 1:0 Tottenham
Burnley 1:1 Fulham
Hull 0:0 Blackburn
Wigan 2:2 Stoke
Sunderland 1:1 Portsmouth
Bolton 3:3 Man City
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/11/you-are-the-ref-neville#zoomed-picture
Above is this weeks 'You are the ref' puzzle. The answers are:
1: Disallow the goal
2: Use common sense
3: Stop play immediatley and show the winger a yellow card. If you didn't hear the sarcastic comment stop play and restart with a drop ball.
A surprise loss for Man-U. This is becoming more and more like Div. 1 when big teams regularily dropped points to worse sides. The chances were equal but Agbonlahor scored in the 21st minute. All the tosh about English players never diving was discarded when Rooney was booked for it. Chelsea lost points again with a 3-3 draw with Everton. In the past 4 matches, Chelsea haven't won and have conceded 10 goals. Not what you'd expect from the league leaders. Birmingham continued their excellent run of form with a 1-0 win over West Ham. I take it all back about how Alex McLeish is the worst manager in the Prem! Lee Bowyer (a former West Ham player) scored the winner. (Birmingham winning the Prem in the next few seasons? You heard it here first). By the way, I've got a funny feeling that Lucas is going to be Liverpool's best player for the match against Arsenal, don't know why. Tottenham stuttered to another dissapointing result against Wolves, Fulham drew 1-1 with Burnley, Hull need Bullard back as their next few matches will be very hard. Figueroa (a name that has all the vowels in it!) scored a superb goal inside his own half as Wigan drew 2-2 with Stoke. Some facts about it are: It was 60.59 yards, just inside the Wigan half. It travelled at 47.1 mph. It took 2.63 seconds to hit the back of the net. It was the third longest Prem goal ever. (1st was by Paul Robinson at 84.74 yards and 2nd was by Xabi Alonso from 60.64 yards). How's that? Sunderland gave away 3 points against Portsmouth as Kaboul equalised in the 93rd minute and Man-City went back to their favourite pastime: drawing against rubbish teams.

World Cup Group D guide;
Germany (6)
Are an aging side but logic would see them win this World Cup. They came 3rd in 2006, 2nd in 2008 so therefore... they do have some great players though. Prediction: Quarter finals.
Ghana (37)
This is their second World Cup and they have a good chance of getting to the next round. Their best player is Michael Essien. Prediction: 1st round.
Serbia (20)
Any team with Vidic in is going to be physical. This sums Serbia up perfectly. Prediction: 1st round
Australia (21)
They don't have any stars but have a good all round side and have a good chance of going through. If they come 2nd in their group and we come 1st in ours we will play them in the 2nd round. They would dearly love to thrash us 'miserable Pommies'. Prediction: 2nd round.

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, I was busy.
Dean Ashton has quit profesional football because he can't get rid of an injury.It's quite sad, he was a great player and might even have forced his way into Capello's thoughts. He's only 26 too. He might sue Wright-Phillips because he was the person who caused the injury but I don't think he should. It was an accident that anyone can make and not his fault.
Prem predictions:
Liverpool 2:2 Arsenal
Birmingham 2:1 West Ham
Man-City 2:0 Bolton
Fulham 2:1 Burnley
Chelsea 3:1 Everton
Hull 1:2 Blackburn
Man-U 2:1 Aston Villa
Stoke 2:1 Wigan
Sunderland 3:2 Portsmouth
Tottenham 2:0 Wolves
The big game is obviously Liverpool vs Arsenal. In big games Liverpool do quite well. Some recent victories have been against Everton and Man-U. Both derbies. They are playing a top 4 side today in their quest for 4th place and Torres and Aqulani are both fit. This could be a classic.
Birmingham will hope to continue their run of good/great form with a win over West Ham. Man-City will be hoping to carry over momentum for the Chelsea result and beat Bolton. Hull will be looking to prove that they're not a 1 man team after Bullard got injured and Man-U should hopefully win against a red hot Aston Villa.

Champions League Results:
Barcelona 2:1 Dynamo Kiev
Inter Milan 2:0 Rubin Kazan
Fiorentina 2:1 Liverpool
Lyon 4:0 Debrecen
Stuttgart 3:1 Unirea Urziceni
Standard Liege 1:1 AZ Alkmaar
Sevilla 1:0 Rangers
Olympiacos 1:0 Arsenal
Through to last 16:
Bordeaux, Bayern Munich, Man-U, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Chelsea, Porto, Fiorentina, Lyon, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Sevilla, Stuttgart, Arsenal, Olympiacos
To the Europa League:
Juventus, Wolfsburg, Marseille, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni, Standard Liege.
Top Scorers:
Ronaldo: 6
Owen: 4
Krasic: 4
Dzeko: 4
I don't want to be smug but 3 of the top 4 scorers are playing for teams who were in Man-U's group. This just shows how excellent we are. Anyway, Liverpool's Champions League campaign ended just the way it had begun... with another defeat. The only bright spot for them was that Aqualani played quite well. It was a night where Tom Cruise played for Arsenal. It wasn't the Tom Cruise we know and love/hate however. It was a teenager and Arsenal lost. Arsenal, however looked sharp and were unlucky to lose.

I've been guilty by ascossiation ( is that the right spelling) for the Bobby Zamora incident. I'd just like to say I played no part in this and think Zamora is good player.

World Cup Group C guide:
ENGLAND (9)
We have to be one of the favourites. We have a superb manager and great players. Hopefully there will be no more quarter final heartbreak. One other thing, if FIFA's rankings are accurate then we should go out at the second round! I doubt that's going to be the case though. I mean with Gerrard, Lampard, Terry and Rooney how could we not be favourites? We need to sort out our goalkeeper situation though. Prediction: Semi finals
USA (13)
Are better then most people think and have a good FIFA ranking. They have a good manager and some good players. They have also beaten Spain in the Confederations Cup Semi Final and caused Brazil some worry in the final. With Donovan, Howard and Dempsey they should be feared. Prediction: 2nd round
Algeria (28)
Have a fairly average side who beat Egypt to qualify. Really, we shouldn't fear them. They've got two Portsmouth players (Belhadj and Yebda). Prediction: 1st round
Slovenia (33)
Are the smallest nation at the World Cup and are spirited. Their best player plays for WBA and is called Robert Koren. Prediction: 1st round.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/champions_league_tables/default.stm
The Champions League tables are above with these results:
Porto 3:0 Atletico Madrid
CSKA Moscow 2:1 Besiktas
Chelsea 2:2 Apoel Nicosia
Zurich 1:1 AC Milan
Juventus 4:1 Bayern Munich
Bordeaux 1:0 Maccabi Haifa
Real Madrid 3:1 Marseille
Man-U 3:1 Wolfsburg
It was a night of surprises which ment my predictions went haywire. Michael Owen put further claims for an England shirt with a hat-trick against the German champions. The makeshift defence did surprisingly well. I heard Man-U are trying to sign Sol Campell. No. We are desperate but not that desparate. I know that a few 100 years ago Campell was a good player but he's 35 now, and shouldn't be with the champions after storming out of Notts Country.
Predictions:
Barcelona 2:1 Dinamo Kiev
Inter Milan 2:0 Rubin Kazan
Liverpool 1:1 Fiorentina
Lyon 3:1 Debrecen
Arsenal 3:2 Olympiakos
Sevilla 2:0 Rangers
Standard Liege 2:1 AZ Alkmaar
Stuttgart 2:1 Unirea Urziceni
Oh, by the way something very rare might happen today that will probably not happen again for another 2 years. Aqualani might start for Liverpool. (Gasps of shock all round) The injury ravaged player hasn't started for Liverpool since joining for £20 million as Alonso's replacement. All I can say is that Alonso is probably laughing in Spain.

World Cup Group B:
Argentina (World ranking 8)
They only just qualified despite having a bufoon of a manager (Diego Maradona). Maradona should be starred in one of those Government 'Drugs don't work' adverts. Despite that, they've got to be one of the favourites. A forward line up of Messi, Augero and Tevez is incredible. You can bet that Argentina's World Cup is going to be enthralling, controversial and surprising with Diego Maradona as manager. Prediction: Quarter finals.
Nigeria (22)
An African nation with a promising futre. Their best player is probably Yakubu. Prediction 2nd round.
South Koresa (52)
In 2002 they shocked the world by coming 4th but look unlikely to do it again with their best player being Park Ji-Sung. Prediction: 1st round
Greece (12)
They have a high FIFA ranking and might surprise everyone. Prediction: 1st round

Man-U injury crisis. Man-U are facing a crisis. This match against Wolfsburg will see the probable defence as: Park (normal position Attacking mid) Left back, Carrick (Centre Midfield) Centre back, Evra (Left Back) Centre back and Fletcher (Centre Midfield) Right back. I hate to critiscise my own team but it's pathetic. Thank goodness they've already qualified for the next stage. Hopefully we should beat the German champions (Wolfsburg) but the probable result is a draw. Predictions:
Atletico Madrid 1:1 Porto
Besiktas 0:1 CSKA Moscow
Chelsea 4:1 Apoel Nicosia
FC Zurich 1:2 AC Milan
Juventus 0:0 Bayern Munich
Maccabi Haifa 1:2 Bordeaux
Marseille 0:2 Real Madrid
Man-U 3:3 Wolfsburg

World Cup Group A guide:
Group A:
France (FIFA Rank 7)
Only qualified due to a horrible handball by Henry. Never underestimate them despite them having an idiotic manager (Raymond Domenech) they have a great forward line up with Ribery, Anelka and Henry. Did you know that Anelka has never been to a World Cup? Prediction: Quarter finals.
South Africa (85)
The hosts and the lowest ranked FIFA teams in the finals. The host side has always got past Round 1 but will it happen this time? Their most famous players are Steven Pienaar and Benii Mccarthy: Prediction: Round 1.
Mexico (15)
Mexico are surprisingly rubbish for a football mad nation and they recovered from a terrible start by former England manager Svenn Goran-Erikkson to qualify. Their best player is probably the defensive rock, Rafael Marquez. Prediction: 2nd Round.
Uruguay (19)
Winners of the first World Cup, they've gone down recently although they still have got some good players such as Diego Forlan. Prediction: 1st round
Tomorrow: Group B

Everton 2:2 Tottenham
Fulham 1:0 Sunderland
A late escape for Everton as they drew with Tottenham and Zamora scored early for Fulham as Roy Hogdson's men made more progress with a win against Sunderland. I'd just like to say a bit about Liverpool's crisis. Apart from Liverpool fans, nobody really likes Liverpool's unfreiendly manager (Rafael Benitez) and for every good buy he makes (Torres) he makes 4 bad buys (Lucas, Vorinonn, Pennant, Babel). He also hasn't been able to handle some newcomers with Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane being unhappy. Pennant was tipped to have a great future when he arrived at Liverpool but now he's playing for a newly promoted Spanish team. When Torres and Gerrard are missing. Liverpool are quite frankly horrible. Liverpool are doing really badly at the moment but with Aqualani fit (in about 4 years time) who knows?

World Cup Strikers:
Capello is probably going to choose 4 strikers for the World Cup (posibly 5)
and the main candinates are Carlton Cole, Heskey, Rooney, Defoe, Bent, Owen, Agbonlahor and Crouch.
As long as Rooney is fully fit he is a certainty. There is no way that England won't pick him. That leaves Owen, Crouch, Bent, Cole, Defoe, Agbonlahor and Heskey battling it out.
The strikers ranked:
1st: Obviously Rooney
2nd: Probably Crouch or Defoe
3rd: ditto
4th: Cole
5th: Bent
6th: Agbonlahor
7th: Heskey
8th: Owen
Danny Welbeck anyone? Jokes aside I really like Defoe's style of play. A mix of warrior and artist. Crouch is a little overated as he has only really scores against rubbish teams. It seems that he moves club every summer to whichever team Redknap is managing. If Redknapp moved to QPR, Crouch would soon follow. I wonder what club he'll move to next? Agbonlahor is a little to young and needs to get more goals at club level to really challenge for a place. Heskey? Please. I don't know what Capello sees in him. If he ever scores again for England, (highly unlikely) he'd go into shock and need treatment. Picture the scene. Semi-final against Spain. England go out on penalties after Heskey squanders their only chance. Help. I would much prefer Carlton Cole to Heskey. Owen needs to play more games for Man-u before he can truly challenge for England again. Darren Bent has a good record but needs to move to a bigger club. Last World-Cup, Svenn picked a semi-fit Rooney and Owen. A 17 year old Walcott and Peter Crouch. Pathetic.

A guide to Liverpool:
Current position: 7th
Manager: Rafa Benitez (left)
Captain: Steven Gerrard
My prediction: 6th
Line up
Goal: Reina
Defence: Insua, Carragher, Johnson, Skrtel
Midfield: Gerrard, Riera, Mascherano, Lucas
Striker: Kuyt, Torres
Goal: 90%
Defence: 82%
Mids: 89%
Strike: 96%
Average: about 89%
Best player: Torres. One of the best strikers in the world. A great Spanish player who is mainly the reason Liverpool are playing so poorly. (He's injured)
2nd: Gerrard
3rd: Reina
Worst player: Lucas. Underestimated, unapreciated and over hated. This sums him up perfectly.
2nd: Riera
3rd: Insua

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm
The Prem table is above after these results.
Chelsea 1:2 Man-City
Man-U 4:0 West Ham
Arsenal 2:0 Stoke
Aston Villa 3:0 Hull
Blackburn 0:0 Liverpool
Wolves 2:1 Bolton
Birmingham 3:2 Wigan
Portsmouth 2:0 Burnley
We had a comfortable victory in a reasonably one sided affair. We also might have found Schole's replacement, Darren Gibson. He and Scholes both scored goals that mirrored each other in the match with Valencia and Rooney also scoring. We have more defensive injuries with Neville and Brown having to go off. This match we had to have Fletcher at right-back and Carrick at centre back. Man City beat Chelsea, ending a near League record of 7 straight draws. Carlos Tevez scored a great goal for Man-city and a rare sight... Lampard missing a penalty. Man-U are now only 2 points behind Chelsea. Arsenal got a comfortable victory against Stoke despite Van Persie missing through injury. Jimmy Bullard got injured again as Hull lost. Jimmy Bullard is at the centre of Hull's play and his injury will be a real blow for Hull who are in danger of getting relegated. Liverpool's poor season continued with a dissapointing draw against Blackburn. The big debate now is that will Liverpool get in the top 4 with Tottenham and Man City pushing for a place? Probably not is the answer. Wolves beat Bolton and Birmingham continued their amazing run with a 3-2 win over Wigan. Birmingham are now 8th! That's amazing for a club that's just been promoted. They have a 6 match unbeaten run and might get into Europe (you heard it here first). Portsmouth gave Avram Grant a good start as manager with a 2-0 win.

Just found an intresting piece of trivia. Did you know that South Africa (the world cup hosts) have exactly the same group as England did when they hosted the competition. Whwn England had that group they went on to win the World Cup and although South Africa look unlikely to win, you never know.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8383755.stm
World Cup draw is above with England getting quite a kind draw, Algeria,USA, and Slovenia shouldn't pose any major challenges while the group of death is probably Group G.
Prem Predictions:
Arsenal 1:1 Stoke
Aston Villa 2:2 Hull
Blackburn 1:1 Liverpool
Chelsea 2:1 Man City
Portsmouth 2:1 Burnley
West Ham 0:2 Man U
Wigan 0:1 Birmingham
Wolves 0:1 Bolton
Everton 2:2 Tottenham
Fulham1:1 Sunderland
Boringly, most of the League fixtures will be draws. A fascinating match is Chelsea vs Man-City.
The two richest teams in the world. Man-City are trying to recover from their poor record of draws while Chelsea want another victory Anelka will probably face his old club as well. Will Portsmouth get off with a win against Burnley with Avram Grant? Intresting.

World cup seeds:
Pot:1
South Africa
Brazil
Holland
Spain
England
Italy
Germany
Argentina

Pot 2:
Japan
S.Korea
N.Korea
Australia
N. Zealand
USA
Mexico
Hondarus

Pot 3:
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Cameroon
Nigeria
Algeria
Paraguay
Chile
Uruguay

Pot 4:
France
Portugal
Slovenia
Switzerland
Greece
Serbia
Denmark
Slovenia

Our ideal group:
N.Korea
Ghana
Slovenia
Worst group:
USA
Ivory Coast
Portugal.
The World Cup draw is today in South Africa. (Did you know that a South African Premier League ticket could cost only £2?) and England our fortunatly the top seed. The top seed is based on October world rankings. (Apart from South Africa who are hosting the competition). That means that Portugal and France arn't in the top seed. I made my own groups and this is what I got.
Group A:
Italy, Japan, Uruguay, Greece
B: (Group of death)
Holland
Cameroon
Portugal
N.Zealand
C: (Group of life)
Mexico
South Africa
Denmark
Paraguay
D:
Spain
USA
Slovenia
Chile
E:
Germany
Slovakia
Hondarus
Algeria
F:
Brazil
N.Korea
Ghana
Serbia
G:
Argentina
France
Nigeria
S.Korea
H:
England
Australia
Ivory Coast
Switzerland
Then I cancelled all the seeds and the groups I got were:
A:
Ghana
Greece
Australia
Slovakia
B:
Portugal
Mexico
Serbia
Hondarus
C: (Group of life)
Algeria
N.Korea
Nigeria
N.Zealand
D:
Spain
Italy
S.Africa
Switzerland
E:
Argentina
France
Slovenia
Paraguay
F:
Brazil
Holland
Denmark
S.Korea
G:
USA
Japan
Ivory Coast
Chile
H: Group of death
England
Germany
Cameroon
Uruguay
Europa League results:
PSV 1:0 Sparta Prague
Roma 2:1 Basle
Shakhtar Donetsk 0:0 Club Brugge
Sporting 1:1 Heerenveen
Toulouse 1:0 Partizan Belgrade
Werder Bremen 4:1 Nacional
Dinamo Bucharest 2:1 SK Sturm
Copenhagen 0:3 Athletico Bilbao
Ventsplis 0:1 Hertha Berlin
Fulham 1:0 CSKA Sofia
Galatasaray 1:0 Panathinaikos

Europa League predictions:
Sporting Lisbon 2:1 Heerenveen
Ventsplis 0:1 Hertha Berlin
Fulham 2:0 CSKA Sofia
Roma 2:1 Basel
Dinamo Bucuresti 1:1 Sturm Graz (what kind of a name is Sturm Graz?)
Galatasray 2:2 Panathinaikos
Shakhtar Donetsk 1:2 Club Brugge
Toulouse 1:1 Partizan Belgrade
Copenhagan 1:0 Cluj-Napoca
PSV Eindhoven 1:1 Sparta Prague
Austria Vienna (crikey that's original) 0:1 Athletico Bilbao
Werder Bremen 2:0 Nacional

Chelsea 3:3 Blackburn Blackburn through on penalties
Man-City 3:0 Arsenal
In the Carling Cup Semi finals:
Man-U vs Man-City
Blackburn vs Aston Villa
A surprising night when 2 of the 'top 4 teams' went out of the Cup, leaving it wide open. There is now only 1 'top 4' team remaining and that's Man-U. In two suprise results Man-City thrashed Arsenal's kids and Blackburn beat Chelsea on penalties.
Europa League:
Anderlecht 0:1 Dinamo Zagreb
Timisoara 1:2 Ajax
Slavia Prague 0:0 Genoa
Valencia 3:1 Lille
Celtic 2:0 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Hamburg 2:0 Rapid Vienna
Levski Sofia 0:2 Villarreal
Red Bull Salzburg 2:1 Lazio
Sheriff 1:1 Steaua Bucuresti
Twente Enschede 0:1 Fenerbahnce
AEK Athens 0:1 Everton
BATE Borisov 1:2 Benifica

Europa League predictions (predictions were made before the matches started)
Anderlecht 0:2 Dinamo Zagreb
Timisoara 0:2 Ajax
Slavia Prague 1:1 Genoa
Valencia 3:1 Lille
Celtic 2:1 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Hamburg 1:1 Rapid Vienna
Levski 0:1 Villarreal
Red Bull Salzburg 1:2 Lazio
Sheriff 0:0 Steaua Bucharest
Twente Enschede 0:1 Fenerbahnce
AEK Athens 0:1 Everton
BATE Borisov 1:2 Benifica

A guide to Chelsea
Current position: 1st
Goalkeeper: Cech
Defenders: Terry, Carvalho, Cole, Ivanovic
Midfielders: Essien, Cole, Deco, Lampard
Strikers: Anelka, Drogba
Manager: Ancelotti
Goal: 94%
Defence: 94%
Mid: 97%
Strike: 97%
Average: 95.5%
Best Player: Drogba. A human ball of muscle. Although he's 30 he's having the time of his life, scoring goals for fun.
2nd: Lampard
3rd: Terry
Worst Player: Ivanovic: He's quite good actually but not compared to the other players.
2nd: Cole
3rd: Deco

Man-U 2:0 Tottenham
Aston Villa 4:2 Portsmouth
Sorry, I forgot to make predictions for these matches but anyway. Man-U and Aston Villa are through to the League Cup Semi finals while Man-City vs Arsenal and Chelsea vs Blackburn is today. Darren Gibson scored 2 long range efforts in an otherwise dull match.
Predictions:
Man-City 2:2 Arsenal. Arsenal through on penalties
Chelsea 3:0 Blackburn

The Republic of Ireland have asked FIFA to be the 33rd team at the world cup. They were knocked out in the play-offs due to a handball by Henry. When Sepp Blatter (the FIFA president) was told about this, he laughed at Ireland. This is just cruel. Ireland have been robbed and all FIFA can do is laugh at them. The only FIFA men with importance that I respect are Platini and Beckenbaur. With Blatter, football is becoming a politician's game.