Hi all, it's a miserable morning here in London, the rain is falling and my bed is calling me to stay. Unfortunately I have to to work. Mind you, I say "I have to", it's not because if I don't they will fire me, there actually very flexible about the hours you work as long as it's more than 14 per week, it's just that if I don't go in I wont get paid....... Shame isn't it..... Well at least I'm not in the situation Shay Given was before he left Newcastle -(read at the bottom of the page)

Shay Given -

"They made me do things I didn't want to do"

What kind off things? I really think he needs to elaborate on this! Maybe they asked him to clean the showers after Fabricio Collocini had used them? That would REALLY be something nobody would want to do!

Any idea's people? Please do let me know.

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

Check out Lawro's picks here - Time to unleash another butt kicking on the former tashed wonder!

Manchester City v Middlesbrough

Intresting stat for this game - Middlesbrough have won more Premier League matches against Manchester City than any other club; 11.

Now you all know how much I like stats and will read in to them when making my picks, it's just than Boro have not won a game in over two months and City have won their last three  home games.

Do I think Boro will get their 12th win over City in the Premiership this weekend? No way!

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa

It seems like Villa always play their weekend games before Arsenal meaning they always get the chance to put the pressure on the Gunners with a win, now I know that Blackburn are unbeaten under Fat Sam but I feel that Arsenal have the trickier game this weekend as they travel to North London rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

This will be another perfect chance for Villa to pile more pressure on Arsenal in that race for fourth place.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Chelsea v Hull

This is the first game this season Hull will be playing starting in the bottom half of the league. Their fairytale season is only a couple more defeats in a row away from turning in to a real nightmare.

This clash pits the Premier League's strongest attack (Chelsea, 44 goals scored) with the weakest defence (Hull, 46 conceded).

With that in mind, what do you think i will be predicting?

Football Guy's verdict 3-0

Everton v Bolton

Wow, imagine Fat Sam was still in charge of Bolton, this game would be a right eyesore..... Thankfully Bolton under Gary Megson don't play nearly as putrid football.

Everton remind me of a girl who, is not that bad looking but acts like a real tart because it get's her laid, when in actual fact she could be a lot classier and still get laid, I guess I'm asking a little too much of David Moyes and his boys to show a little more class than a club skank.

Football Guy's verdict 1-0

Sunderland v Stoke

Big game for both teams, with Sunderland having a BIG chance to put some distance between themselves and the drop zone.

The fact is Stoke are still yet to win an away game in the Premiership and until they do I can't back them to win, Rory Delap long throw or no Rory Delap long throw.

For the benefit of Premier league football I hope Suderland win this one.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

West Brom v Newcastle

West Brom got an important point at Hull last week and then were comfortably beaten by Burnley who, seem to have no problems dispatching Premier league teams in the cups this season (jury is out on West Brom being a premier league team).

Interesting to see two players who left Newcastle in the transfer window take pot shots at their former team (Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia) Now insomnia I can understand, but Shay always struck me as a stand up guy who stuck with Newcastle much longer than most people thought he would. I don't seem to remember too many soundbites from Shay in the past 12 years so things must be rotten there if HE'S taking trash.

Football guy's verdict 2-1

Wigan v Fulham

I was out for a few drink with my buddy Neill, most of you will know him as "I'm not from Leeds" who post comments on here from time to time. Now he swore blindly to me that Man United were playing Fulham this weekend...... Really wish I had bet some cash on that statement.

For all of Fulham's good points this season they still have failed to win a single game away from the Cottage all season adn I don;t see that changing tomorrow.

Football guy's verdict 2-0

Portsmouth v Liverpool

I was surprised at the amount of stick I heard Rafa got from Liverpool fans over his decision to start Fernando Torres midweek against Everton. I know he's injury prone but so what? It's a Derby match! You've got to go out and try to win it and that means playing your best players right? I know if Arsenal were playing Spurs in the same situation I'd want Wenger to play his strongest team.

For some reason I feel Pompey can get something from this game, maybe Peter Crough has one of those "I'm going to prove to you what your missing now you bastards" games and scores the perfect hat-trick (left foot, right foot, header) like he did against Arsenal a few seasons ago...... Or maybe I'm talking out of my backside.... That's probably it.

Portsmouth 0-1 Liverpool

Tottenham v Arsenal

7 November 1999 - That was the last time Spurs beat Arsenal in a league match..... Wow..... That's almost 10 years and it's not like Spurs have been in and out of the Premiership in that time, they have played twice a season ever season since then. I think that might me Tottenham's only league victory over Arsene Wenger.

Don't forget that Arsenal had a similar record over Chelsea until Chelsea beat them in the Champions league quarter finals back in 2004 and then didn't lose to them for the next couple of seasons. Well Tottenham beat Arsenal last season in the League cup semi final and have not lost to them since, granted it's only been one match, but it was a match Arsenal should have won considering they were 4-2 up with two  minutes to go.

For those of you who like betting, back Adebayor to score in this one, he always seems to score against Spurs and has something like 24 in his last 3 matches against Arsenal's North London rivals.

Football Guy's verdict 2-2

West Ham v Manchester United

West Ham's last three games against Big Four opposition have been - 0-0 Anfield, 1-1 Stamford Bridge, 0-0 Emirates.

Their last defeat to a Big Four team was at Old Trafford losing 2-0, coincidentally, three days after losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal.

Will United make it 13 games without conceding? I think so, will they win? Shock Horror!

Football guy's verdict 0-0

Take care

Football Guy 

Well people, the good news is I'm feeling much better than I did a few days ago, the bad news is I still don't feel that great and I have to go back to work later today..... I really do hate having the flu and I'm not talking about man-flu where I might have a sore throat and milk it to no end, this was the real deal stuck in bed, throat feels like someone is scraping it with sandpaper, nose want stop running (like  Park Ji-Sung) and you feel like the end of the world is nigh. That's what I hate!

I must say, a very underrated negative about being really ill is losing the ability to taste. I could have eaten pretty much anything over the last couple of days and as long as it was not rough on my throat it would not have mattered, it's a really shame because last night I had one of my favourite lasagna's (Football Mum's special recipe) and it tasted like I was eating sloppy cardboard....

Speaking of food, I'd like to introduce a new friend of the site to you all - It's long time Football Guy friend and soon to be powerful journalist Tracey Fitzgerald and her blog about eating out in London - I ate London. I fully recommend her judgment on all things food in the London area, so if your eating out in London but not sure of where to go, make sure you see what Tracey has to say about the place and if what she say's is good I'm sure you can't go too far wrong.

I would also like to say Happy Birthday to longtime reader and one of the few people who regularly leave comments on the site - I'm not from Leeds a.K.a Neill Parker - Who despite BEING from Leeds is a Manchester United fan for some reason. "I"won't say how old he is, but just for reference, think Micky Rourke.

Speaking of strange looking famous people, Arry Redknapp's Spurs threw away a three goal aggregate lead last night yet still managed to squeeze through the the League Cup final where the will be defending their crown against United. Don't worry Burnley fan's, you probably won't have to wait long for revenge as there's a decent chance you might be playing Spurs next season if you can just go on a bit of a run and make the Championship play-offs and get promoted, but in all fairness it's more realistic to say wait for Spurs to go down and give them a nice welcome when they arrive.

Speaking of welcome guests, Arsene Wenger has been trying his hardest to get Zenit to let Andrei Arshavin come over to play. He seems to be Arsenal's only real target of this transfer window and could become very handy for an Arsenal team who despite playing better still look like they lack creativity in midfield without Cesc. My only real question about AA is - Whats up with his eyes? Can he see out of them? Is there a professional squinting circuit as I think I've found the champ for the next 10 years..... OK, that was more than one question, but I guess when you see a man with paper cuts for eyes one question is never enough.

Speaking of questions, a lot seemed to have been asked about Liverpool this week after blowing two points late on in the Merseyside derby. That is now their sixth draw in their last nine games and certain sections of the media are starting to really question if Liverpool are good enough to win the title? Now my personal opinion about Liverpool's current form is that it's balancing itself out, by that I mean if you look at Liverpool's early season form there were quite a few games the wound up winning that they could have easily drawn and in the last 10 games or so they have drawn a number of games they could have won. I think Liverpool will end up being who we thought they were - A team not quite good enough over 38 games to win the league - But will be a lot closer then in the past few seasons.

Speaking of being close, how many teams are in the race to stay up? Will if you look at the table, only three points separate 20th-12th and will Hull going down quicker than an erection after seeing Amy Winehouse topless on a beach, I'd say we have at least 10 genuine contenders for the drop and were almost in to February! I wrote about how this was a crazy season a few months ago in my November Power Rankings, but I did think it would have sorted itself out by now. Squeaky Bum time stars early this year.

Speaking of starting early, could we just do away with early kick-offs? More often than not they are pretty dull games and as most football fans I know quite like a drink on a Friday/Saturday night it makes them a chore to get up for. I think evening games are the way forward, I loved the fact Spurs v Wigan was on a Friday night a few weeks back in the FA Cup and I seem to remember the Premiership a few year ago having the odd game on a Friday night, why did they get rid of them? Saturday and Sunday nights should be used as well and I'm sure if you asked most fan they would agree. The only time I want to watch Football pre 3pm is if the World Cup in in Asia!

OK, enough of my rambling, I've got to get ready for work and need to eat some tasteless food as I'm hungry.

I'll be back tomorrow for my weekend preview, until then

Take care

Football Guy

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, slightly later than billed we finally have this weekends preview!

You what they say, "better late than never". It's been quite a hectic few weeks for me and now with the new job I've started, you might need to just bear with me over the next couple of weeks as I find my feet.

I did find out an interesting story last night, it involved leeches... You know, those little blood-sucking things (not Avram Grant) that they used to use in old medicine for "blood-letting".

Anyway the story goes that all leeches are hermaphrodites and when they want to reproduce the leech who is designated to be the guy literally grows some balls! Which the female leech proceeds to eat... err.. what? That's right, leeches reproduce by growing testicles and then having another one eat them whilst still attached... No thanks. This also got me wondering if leech rape constitutes force-feeding?

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

Here's a quick chance to recap how thing stand in my battle for prediction supremacy with Lawro.

Have the wheels finally come off the Hull bandwagon? It's going to get a little tougher before it get's better with the Tigers after getting back from Goodison will be wait for a visit from Arsenal.

Everton's defense has tightened up remarkably over the last month with the Toffees recording five clean sheets from their last six games.

After this game though Everton face Liverpool (a) Arsenal (h) Manchester United (a), nice and easy right?

Football Guy's verdict 1-0

Fulham v Blackburn

If someone told me a year ago Fulham would go TWO whole month's without losing a Premiership game, I would think it was during the months of June and July.

Fulham also boast a rather impressive record against the top five this season with three draws and a win (although yet to play United). What does that mean for tomorrows match against Blackburn?

Blackburn are unbeaten under Fat Sam and also unbeaten in their last five meetings with Fulham.

Fantasy owners take note - If you can, bring in Jason Roberts! he seems to have found a new lease of life under Fat Sam and with home games against Newcastle and Bolton coming up, things could keep getting better for J-Rob and his owners

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Middlesbrough v Sunderland

After managing back to back games scoring four goals in each Sunderland find themselves in a two match goal drought in the league (not happy as I own Kenwyn Jones in fantasy).

Boro on the other hand have not won a league game for excatly two months and have not scored a league goal in over 330 minutes of football.

Surely that has to change right? Well it's not a good sign when you best player openly states he want to leave. Stuart Downing... You are a real big PRICK! How can you come out mid-season and tell your team who are on a horrible run of form and will be battling against the drop that you want out? Can't you wait a couple of month till the end of the season and leave then? Creep!

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Newcastle v West Ham

As you may know, I like to look at trends and patterns to help me decide when I'm not sure of a result. Well West Ham have not won at St James Park for over 10 years! What make's me think that will change tomorrow?

Newcastle surely have to put in a better performance then they did last time out against Liverpool.

I love player who try to manufacture transfer rumors about themselves - Charles N'Zogbia

"My agents are talking with Tottenham and Villa and, from what they've told me, Arsenal could also be in the frame, I have a preference for the Gunners but they are three great clubs".

Joe Kinnear - 

"I have spoken to Arsene Wenger and he said he's not interested in any of my players, so I don't know where the agent is coming from,"

Enough said.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Portsmouth v Manchester City

Getting gumped 3-0 at home by a team struggling to survive in the Championship must surely count as the low point of City's season.

It's alright though City fans, you get to play the team you demolished 6-0 earlier in the season, what a timely pick-me-up.

This might also be the battle of the two manager most likely to be the next ones fired. Pompey have lost four straight in the league and two of those have been heavy home defeats (3-0 and 4-1 to Newcastle and West Ham).

I think we might have another one on the cards tomorrow.

Football Guy's verdict 1-2

Stoke v Liverpool

Remember back in September when Stoke drew 0-0 at Anfield and everyone said "that's exactly why Liverpool won't win the league". Now, fast forward a couple of months to the present day, if Liverpool beat Stoke tomorrow they will go SIX points clear at the top of the league for at least 24 hours. How many still believe Liverpool won't win the league?

Stoke look set to unleash new signing Matthew Etherington on Liverpool... I can smell the fear...

Football Guy's verdict 0-1

Wigan v Tottenham

I watched last Friday's FA Cup tie between these two and thought Wigan were a bit unlucky not to get a replay out of it.

Now, that was without Zaki, Heskey or Valencia. So with them and also being at home means they should win right?

Jermain Defoe is back at Spurs less than a year after leaving for £12m (bought back for £15m), basically Spurs paid Pompey £3m to have Defoe for a year... smart business.

Interestingly rule L19 forbids players returning to clubs within a year, but the League can wave this at its discretion... Hmmm

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Manchester United v Chelsea

And finally we reach the weekends big one. Defending Champs v last seasons runners up, 2nd v 3rd, Red Devils v The Pensioners.

Both United and Chelsea are winless in games against the other big four teams this season although all of those have been away for United where as Chlesea have all been at Stamford Bridge.

Both team do need the three points from this one as they figure Liverpool should turn over Stoke and they don't want to fall any further behind.

I'm not going to do a Lawro, who I'm sure has predicted a draw (I have not looked), I'm going to say a United win, but before I do that, here's a little warning to all you fantasy managers out there that are going to have C-Ron as captain for this weeks games -

Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to score a Premier League goal against Chelsea... Think about it.

Football Guy's verdict 1-0

Take care

Football Guy

Hey ho everyone, it's time for a Tuesday Monday Hangover. It had nothing to do with me being lazy or forgetting. I had a electronic problem, namely my computer was messing me around in a very VERY annoying way. Basically what happened was that about two minutes after I would turn the sucker on it decided to switch itself off, which in turn made it virtually impossible for me to do anything about it, so I had to wipe everything and start again!

Needless to say, once I was done with that I was in no mood to write and had a lot of other stuff on so hence, I come to you today.

Weekend Winners

Aston Villa

Another good weekend for the Villans which saw them move to within five point of leader Liverpool and three points ahead of Arsenal who's game on Boxing day at Villa park should prove to be an intriguing match to say the least. In fact it's a bit like a delayed Xmas present and as I don;t think I shall be getting much this year I'm looking at it as my "Thing" to look forward to (despite being very worried about the possibility Arsenal might end up six point behind them).

Manchester United

United not only won the World Club Championship over the weekend, they also won ground in the title race as their main rivals (other than Villa who I don;t think their to concerned about) all slipped up. United now have two games in hand, both at home, which if they win will see them go level on points with Chelsea and one point behind Liverpool with both having to visit Old Trafford in the New Year. SPOILER ALERT - With this month power rankings coming up next week you might see United on top... Maybe.

Ricky Sbragia

Yes folks, the man with the name I can't pronounce has turn Sunderland's fortunes around it seem and has put himself surly in pole position for the job on a permanent basis. After almost stealing a point at United they have go on to crush both West Brom and Hull, team's which Manchester City can;t seem to figure out. Speaking of which...

Weekend Losers

Manchester City

If you can;t beat West Brom then who can you beat? I'm still not going to go as far as to say it's a crisis at Eastlands but there are certainly some big problems that I'm sure £50-60m will sort out. The only question is if Sparky will be given the chance to sort them out.

Football Guy

Yep, I had my first losing week in my battle with the BBC's Mark Lawrenson. Let's take a look at what went down.

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

As was quite correctly pointed out to me by my mate Amer, I had made a mistake in calculating the points last week. I had given perfect score three points but also gave them one point for being a correct result which basically meant I was give four points for a perfect score which it way too much.

Anyway that has been rectified this week. I managed only Three correct results, all coming on Saturday, where as Lawro had Four correct results with One perfect score. For a full check on how Lawro did click here.

This Week

Football Guy - PS 0 CS 3 WR 7

Lawro           - PS 1 CS 4 WR 6

Season

                         PS - CS - WR - Pts

Football Guy     3     14     16     20

Lawro               3     12     18     18

Well at least I'm still in the lead, although I not happy at all with the gap I have. Will have to make sure I have a good festive period.

Fantasy Football

The only player you realistically would have made captain that done anything

1. Robin Van Persie - 10pts

Players you wish you had made captain but never would

1. Steed Malbranque - 16pts
2. Danny Murphy       - 14pts
3. Matty Taylor          - 13pts

Players who scored more points this week than they had combined in past X weeks

1. Benni  McCarthy - 12pts - more than past 8 weeks combined
2. Jason Roberts    - 10pts - more than past 6 weeks combined
3. Roman Bednar   - 8pts   - more than past 6 weeks combined

Super-Duper goalkeepers

1. Brad Friedel - 11pts
2. Petr Cech    - 10pts

The Cristiano Ronaldo award for Fantasy Football Excelence

1. Steed Malbranque - 16pts

Steed has now scored 39 points in the last 6 gameweek's which works out to 6.5 a week, despite that his value has dropped by .1m, figure that one out?

Final Thoughts

As you may have noticed, there is no Youtube or pictures this week due to some lingering problems I'm still experiencing with my computer. I'm sure I shall have those fixed in the coming days and things will be back on track in no time, until then.

Take Care

Football Guy

Hope you enjoyed part one. No intro's for part two, straight in to the action.

1996/07 - Brought to you by The Spice Girls and Tupac

Middlesbrough lose both cup final's and go down

This has to rank up there with one of the most depressing season's any team has ever had. Two cup final's, lost both, get relegated. Pretty bad. What's worse is that they would have stayed up if not for a three point deduction due to them not turning up for a game against Blackburn. There excuse was that they did not have enough players fit due to illness and injury (the plague was rife that year on teeside). Although they did appeal the points deduction they were not as fortunate as Tottenham who a few years earlier had a points deduction over turned that would have sent them down.

Arsenal hire some guy called Arsene Wenger

Yep, a couple of months in to the season Arsenal brought in a little know Frenchman as their new manager and boy did he look strange! I will refrain from making joke's about what he looked like back then, but let's be fair, it would have been a tough decision over whether to let Gary Glitter or Arsene Wenger babysit your kids.

Anyway, it was one of the most important appointments in Arsenal history and the man over the coming years went on to revolutionize not on Arsenal, but English football as a whole.

Au revoir, Cantona

On 18 May, Eric Cantona dropped a bombshell on Manchester United by announcing his retirement from playing. The news hit football like a tidal wave. Cantona was one of the most idolized footballers of his day. Cantona wowed the footballing world with his talents and the way he bounced back from his long suspension won him even more admirers. In five seasons at Old Trafford, he had won four Premiership titles and two F.A Cups as well being voted PFA Player of the Year in 1994 and FWA Player of the Year in 1996. He had ironically been part of the Leeds United team which pipped Alex Ferguson's men to the league title in 1992, and proved himself to be one of the biggest bargains in Premiership football when he moved to Old Trafford the following November for little over £1million. That's why people think Howard Wilkinson is a idiot.

Keegan does a Keegan

On 5 January 1997, Newcastle United were hit with perhaps the biggest shock in their history: Kevin Keegan had resigned as manager. His reason for quitting was that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could. And during his five years at St James's Park, Keegan had overseen a revolution in Newcastle's fortunes. On his appointment in February 1992, Newcastle had been second from bottom in the old Second Division and looked favorites for relegation. But he kept them in the Second Division and they were founder members of the new Division One in 1992-93. A superb run of form kept them at the top of the division all season and they went up to the Premiership as Division One champions. Third and sixth place finishes followed before Newcastle led the Premiership for most of 1995-96, only to be overhauled by Manchester United in the final weeks of the season. He had walked out on Newcastle as they looked well place to challenge for a league title.

Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager of Newcastle in Keegan's place - ironically Dalglish had replaced Keegan as Liverpool's main striker 20 years earlier!

Side Note

Alex Ferguson famously blamed this kit for a 6-3 drubbing at the hands of Southampton. His excuse was that his players could not see one another....

Manchester United - Producers of the first Cloaking Device used in football.

1997/98 - Brought to you by Elton John and Princess Di

Arsenal clinch double

In Arsene Wenger's first full season as manager, Arsenal went on a storming run during the final three months of the season to take advantage of having three games in hand over leaders Manchester United and clinch the Premiership title after overhauling United's 11-point lead. Two weeks after being crowned champions, Arsenal went to Wembley and beat Newcastle Unted 2-0 to clinch the FA Cup. In doing so, they became the only team to match Manchester United's record of two "doubles", though it was achieved with an entirely different squad to the Arsenal side that had been double winners in 1971.

Michael Owen hit's the scene

With an injury to Robbie Fowler, Owen was thrust immediately into action as a first team regular alongside the likes of newcomer Paul Ince and playmaker Steve McManaman. He scored his first European goal for the club against Celtic in the UEFA Cup and recorded his first professional hat-trick against Grimsby Town in the League Cup. Owen ended that season as a joint top scorer in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers' Chris Sutton and Coventry City's Dion Dublin, scoring eighteen goals, and was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year by fellow professionals. 

David Beckham becomes hate figure

It was all because of this. Silly boy,if your going to kick someone, don't do it right in front of the ref. The public's reaction to this incident was ridiculous. I remember effigies of Beckham being burnt and the media completely destroying him. It's also the reason why I don't do the Sun's fantasy football, after the game they gave ALL the England players 10's except for Beckham who got a 0. Now, let's not forget that the Sun charged you to enter and there was a £50,000 prize at stake, so for them to completely nullify the legitimacy of their competition with that act of jingoistic stupidity was a step to far for me and thus they have never been graced by England's finest fantasy player of his generation ever again!

It is funny though, that Beckham went from public enemy number one to the nations savior in the space of four years... Who ever said English supporters were fickle?

1998/99 -Brought to you by Britney & Monica Lewinsky

The best domestic game of the last 25 years

After a utterly forgettable first game four days earlier the Football world was treated to arguably the best game of domestic football in the last 25 years. I still remember when the final whistle went not being angry but in awe of what I had witnessed over the last 2+ hours.

It had everything with both sets of fans going through all the emotions. I'm still glad to this day that it did not go to penalties as a game like this deserved a goal to finish it and what a goal it was.

Vieira for some reason decided to pass the bass cross field to no one, Giggs ended up getting the ball and the rest was history. My only question would be why Bergkamp (who had missed 3 of his last 5 penalties) was allowed to take what would have been the winning goal?

Check out hairy chest and co here.

That memorable night in the Nou Camp

Clive Tildsley seems to remind us of it every Champions League match for the last 10 years. The game capped of what was a unique treble and at the time, the greatest club achievement in English football. I would say the greatest but I feel it can be done again and will be done again.

It was also the first time I remember seeing a team in the Champions League final get totally dominated yet win the match, something another English team who plays in red would go on to do a few years later.

It must go down as the worst lose for fans in CL history, I can't imagine how Bayern fans must have felt (although after Croatia's Euro 2008 quarter final against Turkey I've got some idea). I remember me and my buddy Pavel watching it around a friend of ours house called Chris who was supporting United because "Their playing the Germans", despite being an Arsenal fan. Me and Pav were supporting Bayern as all good Arsenal fans should have. Anyway when United equalized I remember saying to Pav "Oh well, atleast we've got extra time". 30 seconds later we didn't and I think me a Pav just stared at each other for a good couple of minutes in silence as Chris jumped around.

Watch the drama here if you can stomach it.

All hail Sir Alex

That's his name now, not Alex Ferguson or Fergie, but Sir Alex.

On 12 June, Alex Ferguson received a knighthood in recognition for his services to football - making him the seventh knight of English football and the third knight to be associated with Manchester United, the others being Matt Busby and Bobby Charlton.

Could someone tell me why Bobby Charlton was Knighted and not put to sleep? Old prick.

1999/00 - Brought by Oxide & Neutrino and Sarah Knauss

The year were nothing interesting happened.

United win the League

United retained their Premiership title after losing just three league games all season and finishing 18 points ahead of runners-up Arsenal. Roy Keane was voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and FWA and Andy Cole finished as the club's top scorer with 19 Premiership goals. United lost their defense of the European Cup after losing to eventual winners Real Madrid in the quarter finals. United got demolished against Real, it was also the game Redondo did that famous trick.

Famous debutants

• Ashley Cole, 18, was involved in Arsenal's League Cup tie at Middlesbrough in November 1999, with his first taste of league action following in a loan spell at Crystal Palace.
• Shaun Wright-Phillips helps Manchester City win at Burnley in the League Cup in August 1999, two months before his 18th birthday.
• Michael Carrick is brought off the bench in West Ham United's 3-0 win at Bradford City in August 1999.

That's how boring that year was.

2000/01 - Brought to you by Limp Bizket and Bush v Gore

Sven is England's first foreign coach

With pressure building up on him following England's dismal Euro 2000 campaign, Kevin Keegan di "A Keegan" and resigned as manager of England's national team minutes after a 1-0 defeat to Germany in the opening World Cup qualifying game. The match, played October 7, 2000, was also the last played at Wembley Stadium (I watched that game in my old local sitting next to David Bowie). Howard Wilkinson and Peter Taylor each had one-match stints as caretaker manager before Sven-Göran Eriksson accepted the F.A's offer to become the new national coach. Former Lazio coach Eriksson, 52, was the first foreigner to be appointed coach of the England national team. His first match in charge was a 3-0 win over Spain. England would go on to win their first five matches with Eriksson in charge and all the critics who were opposed to Eriksson being appointed looked to have made a major misjudgment.

Sir Alex makes history with United

Sir Alex became the first manager in English football to win three successive league titles after Manchester United were crowned Premiership champions for the third season running. Their title was secured with 80 points and a 10-point gap between themselves and runners-up Arsenal. Most bookmakers had closed their books before the turn of the New Year and admitted that United were certain of their seventh Premiership title in nine seasons. A 6-1 demolition of Arsenal in late February crushed any lingering doubts over the title's destiny.

United were not the first team to win three straight league titles. Huddersfield Town, Arsenal and Liverpool had all done it before, but with managerial changes in between.

Houllier delivers three for Liverpool

Liverpool captured the 2001 UEFA Cup on 16th May with a 5-4 win over Alavés. I watched this game in break for the Boarder which is sadly not with us anymore, great venue for Karaoke on a Wednesday night. The game was won in the 116th minute by golden goal, and it completed a triplet of trophies for Liverpool which ended their six-year trophy drought as well as delivering their first trophies under Houllier's management. The League Cup had already been won with a penalty shoot-out triumph over Birmingham City in the first English final at the Millennium Stadium, and the FA Cup was secured after a dramatic 2-1 win over Arsenal in which Michael Owen scored two late goals after Freddie Ljungberg had put Arsenal ahead.

Arsenal were well and truly mugged in that game. Liverpool should have had Henchoz sent off for a deliberate hand ball on the line (This started a trend for Henchoz who went on to handball in his own box against Arsenal a further two times, also not getting caught). Arsenal also missed 4-5 glorious chances with Liverpool clearing off the line twice (not counting Henchoz).

To this day I blame my mate Chris for this defeat as we were 1-0 with about 15 minutes to play, he walks in to the pub and Owen equalizes, he buys a drink and comes and sits down next to us, Owen scores the winner, I get up and walk out. Don't really remember the next hour or so...

2001/02 - Brought to you by DJ Otzi and 9/11

Closest title race in years

At the start of 2002 the title was wide open as teams such as Newcastle Utd and Leeds Utd were flying at the top of the table along with the big boys. Newcastle, after two back to back Christmas away wins 3-1 at Arsenal and 4-3 at Leeds stamped themselves as genuine title challengers and led the league at the turn of the year. Leeds were also top at Christmas before losing that dramatic 4-3 thriller at Elland Road to the Magpies.

Come March time, the Premiership was mainly contested between Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, due to Chelsea, Newcastle and Leeds failure to stay in touch with those specific clubs.

Liverpool appeared to crash out of the title race. Despite being top of the table at the start of December and eleven points clear of Manchester United, they suffered a slump into fifth place and five points behind United.

January saw Liverpool head to Arsenal and Manchester United, all in a fortnight. Danny Murphy scored a late winner to give Liverpool the three points at Old Trafford, while John Arne Riise salvaged a point against Arsenal. Manchester United were top of the table for the first time in the season after Liverpool and Arsenal's stalemate draw.

Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham in March installed Arsenal as favorites for the title. The Gunners win against Bolton Wanderers, in April saw them close the gap to just three points for an Arsenal Championship victory.

All eyes were on the match at Old Trafford between Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal needed a draw to guarantee the title for the second time in five seasons, while United needed a win to have any say in the outcome of the league. Sylvain Wiltord was the only scorer in the fiercely battled rival, which had meant that Arsenal secured their third double in ironic fashion. United's loss allowed Liverpool to leapfrog into second place, after their win against Blackburn Rovers, on the same night.

Liverpool confirmed second place and another season of European football on the last day of the season. They trashed and relegated Ipswich Town, 5-0 at home. Arsenal displayed their trophy in style after beating Everton 4-3 at Highbury, while Manchester United could only manage a draw against Charlton.

Sir Alex does a U-Turn

Sir Alex announced in February that he would be postponing his retirement as Manchester United manager by at least three more seasons after he signed a new contract as manager. The news came just after United completed an impressive revival in the Premiership which saw them rise from ninth to first in the space of two months.

United's failure was largely put down to the inability to find a suitable replacement for Jaap Stam, the brilliant Dutch central defender who had been sold to Lazio for £16.25million just after the start of the season. Another disappointment was the failure of Juan Sebastián Verón, at £28.1million the most expensive player ever to sign for an English club, to never live up to his hefty price tag. On a positive note, Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy lived up to his £19million price tag by scoring 34 goals in all competitions during his first season at Old Trafford - breaking the club record that had been set by Dennis Viollet 40 seasons earlier.

Side Note

Arsenal made history that season by becoming the first team in the modern era to go unbeaten away from home all season and score in ever game.

2002/03 - Brought to you by Las Ketchup & The Beltway Sniper

Tragedy - Mar-Vivien Foe dies

On 26 June 2003, Cameroon faced Colombia in the semi-final, held at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France. In the 72nd minute of the match Foé collapsed in the center circle,with no other players near him. After attempts to resuscitate him on the pitch, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart, and although he was still alive upon arrival at the stadium's medical centre he died shortly afterward, in spite of the efforts to save his life. A first autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, but a second autopsy later revealed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and concluded that Foé's death was heart-related.

Foé's death caused a profound shock. Numerous tributes to the man's joyous personality and infectious humor were expressed in the media. Also Thierry Henry and other players pointed to the sky in tribute to Foé after Henry had opened the scoring against Turkey in France's Confederations Cup semi-final that evening. Many suggestions for ways to honor the life of Marc-Vivien Foé were made after his death: it was suggested that the Confederations Cup and the Stade Gerland could have been renamed after him, and former Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan announced that the club would no longer use the number 23 shirt Foé wore during his successful season there. At Manchester City's ground; the City of Manchester Stadium there is a small memorial to him in the stadium's memorial garden, and on the walls of the players' tunnel are plaques paid for by supporters, with their names, dubbed the Walk of Pride. The first plaque on the wall is for Marc and reads "Marc Vivien Foé - 1975 - 2003". His first club (Racing Club de Lens) has given his name to an avenue near the Félix Bollaert Stadium. Foé was given a state funeral in Cameroon.

United win 8th Title

Manchester United ended the campaign as champions for the eighth time in eleven years - an achievement made all the more remarkable by virtue of defending champions Arsenal having led by eight points in the beginning of March.

Although this was a season of breaking new English domestic records for the Gunners and leading at all fronts come the halfway stage, they threw away a priceless lead against Bolton Wanderers and finally surrendered the title with a 3-2 home defeat to Leeds United, in the penultimate game of the season. This result all but saved Leeds from relegation, with a game to spare.

Wayne Rooney becomes the youngest-ever goalscorer in FA Premier League history when he scores a last-minute winner against Arsenal, five days before his 17th birthday, to end the opposition's 30-match unbeaten Premiership run.

He would end something far more greater a few years later through cheating.

2003/04 - Brought to you by Usher and Gavin Arvizo

The most impressive achievement in English football

The Invincibles

Call me biased if you will but I don't care. For me this is the more great an achievement than a treble because it will never be done again. People have done different forms of trebles and United's is the best, but especially in recent seasons teams have come close to it and I feel someone will do it again.

No one has ever gone undefeated in modern English football, no one has come close to it and that's why it's the best!

Rant over.

Abramovich come's to town

Chelsea had been bolstered by a £100 million outlay on world-class players, a spree funded by the extensive financial resources of their new owner Roman Abramovich. He would go on to spend alot more in the coming seasons

Rio disappears for a afternoon

Rio Ferdinand was ruled out for the final four months of the season after being found guilty of the "failure or refusal to take a drugs test". The case of Rio Ferdinand started a debate about punishments relating to drug testing in football, with there being differing views on whether the punishment was too harsh or too lenient.

The fact of the matter was, he missed a test, the rules say punishment and in actual fact he was probably lucky it was not longer.

Arsenal's season

Arsenal, had only signed German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 2003 close season, but French striker Thierry Henry was instrumental in Arsenal's success. Away from the Premiership, Arsène Wenger's team suffered disappointment in the cup competitions. They lost their defense of the FA Cup (which they held for two seasons in a row) after losing to eventual winners Manchester United in the semi-final. Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Chelsea (3-2 on agg)

That game broke my heart, we were by far the better team for three out of the four halfs and Chelsea had not beaten us for like 10 years... Famously in my local after Bridge scored I took my shirt off and threw it at the screen. I'm not really sure why it was that big a deal or why so many people in their always talk to me about it?

Anyway these two blows came with a few days of each other and I really feared that Arsenal might squander their lead of the Premiership for the second successive season, but Arsenal thumped Liverpool (I swear Biscan would have tackled Henry for the second goal if not for Caragher falling over into him) only days later and never looked back. Arsenal's Invincibles finished the season with 26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats and 90 points.

Battle of Old Trafford Part Two

I remember being very upset over the media's reaction at Arsenal over this. One hack from the Sun went as far as to say "Arsenal stand for all that is wrong in football today"

The fact is Arsenal were being robbed in that game and temper boiled. Veira's red card and the penalty were both harsh at best.

Watch

For some reason it's very hard to find good clips of this on the internet.

Side Note

Cesc Fabregas, 16, is given his first taste of first-team football at Arsenal in three Football League Cup ties, the first against Rotherham United in October 2003.

2004/05 - Brought to you by Eric Prydz and Tsunami

The Special one arrives

He was hailed as a breath of fresh air for the Premership, fresh from winning the Champions League with Porto, Jose Bought brought his Midas touch with him winning the Premiership in his first season at Stamford Bridge ending their 50 year drought for the title in their centenary year.

It also ended one of my favorite Arsenal chants for Chelsea -

"You won the league, On radio, you won the league on radio. You one the league before TV, you won the league on radio".

We sing a similar one to Tottenham which goes -

"You won the league, in black and white, you won the league in black and white. You won the league with no colour, you won the league in black and white".

Rooney and United rob Arsenal of 50 unbeaten

This is in my top three Arsenal tragedies and I don;t want to talk about it - Watch.

Never a penalty! Here's what Wenger thought about it

Liverpool mug AC Milan

It what has to be one of the strangest night in football history, Liverpool come back from humiliation with 3 goals in 9 minutes in the second half and go on to win on penalties.

Liverpool were dead and buried at half time and how they managed to come back will remain a mystery. although the warning sign were there with Milan who only a year earlier had let slip a 4-1 first leg lead against Deportivo.

The key goal for me was the second which Dida should have saved, it was a tame shot from Smicer from the edge of the box which Dida somehow let slip through his hands. It gave Liverpool the momentum they needed.

The maker of this video conveniently leaves out Gerrards dive for the penalty - Watch

I must say that that double save from Dudek near the end has to go down as one of the greatest saves of all time.

Brian Clough dies

The man, the myth, the legend. My favorite manager in football history. I loved the great man and very sad to hear of his demise. I actually heard about his death whilst on holiday in Philadelphia having just read his column in 442 magazine only days earlier. 

He achieved league title success as manager with Derby County in 1972 but is best remembered for his achievement at Nottingham Forest - where he won promotion to the original First Division and established Forest as one of Europe's top sides. They were league champions once, European Cup winners twice and League Cup winners four times. He underwent a liver transplant in January 2003, 20 months before his death from stomach cancer in a Derby hospital.

2005/06 - Brought to you by Gnarls Barkley and Robin Cook

Chelsea retain title

Chelsea secured a second successive title with 29 wins and 91 points. Their domestic title challenge saw them lead the Premier League from the opening weekend of the competition, but their chances of winning their first double were ended when they lost to eventual winners Liverpool FC in the FA Cup semi-finals. Their European season came to an end in March, as they met a resurgent FC Barcelona side, whom they had defeated the previous year. In the round of 16, Barca knocked them out over two legs.

Frank Lampard contributed another 20 goal season, and was again named player of the year, and excellent seasons from John Terry, Petr Cech, and newcomer Michael Essien. The season was, in part, defined by three major victories over Chelesa's title rivals throughout the year. In October, the blues crushed Liverpool at Anfield to the tune of 1-4. This was the Merseyside club's worst home defeat since the First World War. In December, Chelsea gave a convincing performance against Arsenal at Highbury, solidly defeating them 0-2 and cementing their status as league leaders.

Finally, with the title already won Chelsea confirmed their status as champions in late April by beating their nearest contenders Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge with Joe Cole scoring a sensational individual goal. Though they did not match their two trophy haul from the previous year, it was still an excellent season for Jose Mourinho and his expensively assembled side. But their lack of continental success this year saw them embark on signings the following summer to improve their form in Europe.

Arsenal become first London team to reach Champions League Final

In a season that saw their worst league performance under Wenger ironically saw them do the best they ever had in Europe.

I remember before the game saying to my buddy Pav that, "I only hope we score a goal that means something, I don't want use to lose 1-0 and never have anything to celebrate"

Well I got my wish, Eboue dive's and wins us a free kick which Campbell nods home. It's strange to say this considering we lost, but that goal was the second best moment in my football life behind winning the league at Anfield in 1989. The pub I was watching in was so packed you could not move and when the goal went in there was just a wall of noise a can't describe, it seemed like we were cheering for 10 minutes solid (I'm sure if I could see it again it was probably only 30 seconds) but for that moment in time nothing else mattered. Strange that such a big defeat would be my second most cherished Arsenal moment of my life.

George Best dies

I've talked about my feeling on George "simply the" Best before, read about them here

2006/07 - Brought t0 you by JT and Youtube

Another quite season.

United win back title

United ended Chelsea's two year dominance of the Premiership by taking back the title after Chelsea failed to beat Arsenal at their new Emirates stadium.

C-Ron starts his dominance

The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2007 was won by Cristiano Ronaldo. He had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award earlier on in the awards ceremony, making him the first player to win both awards in the same year since Andy Gray managed the same feat in 1977.

15,000th goal

The Premier League expected to have the league's 15,000th goal scored at some point in the period between Christmas and New Year. The target was reached on 30 December when Moritz Volz scored for Fulham against Chelsea. Barclays, the Premiership's sponsor, donated £15,000 to the Fulham Community Sports Trust in Volz' name. Additionally, a fan who correctly predicted that Volz would score the historic goal in a contest presented the player with a special award prior to Fulham's game against Watford at Craven Cottage on 1 January. The honor of scoring the 15,000th goal has led to Volz being nicknamed "15,000 Volz"

2007/08 - Brought to you by Rihanna and Antonio Puerta

More United success

United successfully complete the European double despite a poor start to the season, finding themselves in 17th place in the Premier League after three matches. However, on 11 May 2008, United retained the Premier League title with a win over Wigan Athletic. With title rivals Chelsea only able to draw with Bolton Wanderers, United finished the season two points clear.

The club also reached the European Cup final for the third time in their history, having knocked out such clubs as Barcelona and Roma en-route to the final. They beat Chelsea 6–5 on penalties in the final in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, after a 1–1 draw in normal time on 21 May 2008. With this win, they earned their third European Cup title and kept up their record of never having lost a major European final.

Coincidentally, this season marked the 100th year since Manchester United won their first League title, 50 years after the Munich air disaster and 40 years after Manchester United became the first ever English side to win the European Cup. The European Cup final also saw Ryan Giggs make his 759th appearance for the club, overtaking Bobby Charlton as the club's record appearance maker.

John Terry cries

Possibly my favorite football comedy moment of the past 25 years - Watch.

In a game which for me anyway was very much Alien vs Predator, I.E. whoever wins I lose, at least I've got the image of John Terry slipping, losing the Champions League final for Chelsea and crying afterward

Go here and click on the audio link for a very funny John Terry song - skip to 1:10

Check out highlights of the game here.

Record breaking year

There were quite a few, some good and some very bad and some I bet you didn;t know about.

• Derby County finished with the worst record since the league was founded in 1992-93 and also the worst since the introduction of the three points for a win rule. Among the records set by the Rams were:
  • A final record of one win, eight draws and 29 losses for a total of eleven points, worse than the Sunderland team from 2005-06, with the previously set lows of three wins, six draws and 29 losses totaling fifteen points. The single win, coming at home against Newcastle United 1-0 on 17 September was also a record for the fewest wins in a Premiership campaign.
  • Derby's 20 goals scored as a team (with Ronaldo, Adebayor and Torres each scoring more goals individually) was lower than the 2002-03 Black Cats' total with 21 goals scored. This marked the third time a team was outscored by one or more players. The team also failed to score in 21 of their 38 games.
  • Their −69 goal difference (20 goals scored, 89 conceded) was worse than Ipswich Town's 1994-95 goal difference of −57 (36 goals scored, 97 conceded). The 89 goals they conceded was the worst defensive performance by a team since Ipswich Town conceded 97 goals in 1994-95.
  • The 29 defeats they suffered equaled the 2005-06 Sunderland team for the most losses suffered in one Premier League season.
• Chelsea's 85 points accumulated was a new record for the most points gained in a 38-game season without securing the title. The 83 points achieved by Arsenal was a new record for the most points gained in a 38-game season for finishing third.
• Manchester United's goal difference of +58 is the greatest ever attained in a Premier League season, beating the record set by Chelsea in the 2004-05 season.
• Cristiano Ronaldo beat his own record for most goals scored by a midfielder, raising the record to 31 goals. The previous record was 17 goals, from the the previous season. Furthermore, his goal total equaled the highest number of goals ever scored in the Premier League during a 38-game season, equaling the record first set by Blackburn Rovers' Alan Shearer during the 1995-96 season.
• Marcus Bent and Roque Santa Cruz each scored a hat trick for their team during Wigan Athletic's 5–3 victory over Blackburn Rovers on 15 December 2007. This is the first time in Premier League history that players from opposing sides both scored hat tricks in the same match.
• Emmanuel Adebayor scored two hat tricks home and away against Derby. This was the first time in the Premier League, that a player had scored a hat trick against the same team twice in the league.
• Fernando Torres scored 24 goals for Liverpool, a new record for goals scored by a foreign player during his debut season.

Side Note

England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, that's what happens when Steve McCalren take's charge.

2008/09

Who knows, we will come back to this at the end of the year.

Until then, let me leave you with what will undoubtedly be the best Youtube clip of the season -

Thanks Steve, you really know how to brighten my day

I will be back tomorrow as always for the weekend preview.

Take care

Football Guy

So having recovered from my birthday weekend, I'm glad things are back to normal in the world of the Football Guy.

Friday was cool and I would like to thank everyone who came down to see me, for those who didn't you can look on enviously at the great time you missed by checking out the photo's on Facebook (I am not sure who that bearded hobo was who seemed to pop up in a few pics).

The best present I received (ONLY) was a framed picture of Maradona at the 86 World Cup final. It's seems to be quite a unique photo as I was unable to find it via google images, the closest I could find to a copy was this one, hopefully that gives you have a rough idea of what my picture looks like.

Anyway, enough about me. Let's get on to some football talk. 

Before we get onto the Premiership, there was the little matter of a certain game in Spain. El Clasico I think it's fair to say did not disappoint. I watched it at home as I was feeling quite tried and it was raining outside which it seemed to do all weekend. The game although not being a "Classic", was good and certainly entertaining, Barcelona were worthy winners even though they left it late. So well done to them and well done to Lionel Messi who finally had a hair cut and looks SO much better with shorter hair (Also funny to see Cannavaro run into the post like that).

Weekend in Pictures

• £35m hate
• Loneliness
• The mincy wince
• Beenie Man
• £20m benchwarmer
• (INSERT JOKE)
• Hmmmm
• P45
• Man in the middle?
• Merry Xmas Rovers
• Hmmmm part 2

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

I've been asked by a few people to clarify what ranks better in my battle with Lawro, correct results or perfect scores?

So after a suggestion from the Sportboy I'm going to say that Perfect Scores count as THREE points and correct results count as ONE point.

So I had another good week over Lawro and have extended my lead over him by a couple of points.

This Week

Football Guy - PS 1 CS 5 WR 5

Lawro          -  PS 1 CS 3 WR 7

Season

                        PS - CS - WR - Pts

Football Guy    3     11      9      20

Lawro              2      8      12     14

So a nice six point lead for me over Lawro after two weeks. At this rate I'll be 66 points ahead come the end of the season!

Stat of the Weekend

Jamie Carragher has put to ball in the net 11 times in his Liverpool carer. 7 have been own goals, 4 for Liverpool, 3 for Spurs and 2 for Manchester United. It's amazing to think he has almost scored as many goals for Tottenham as he has for Liverpool.

Fantasy Football

Players you wish you had not made captain

1. Berbatov   - 2pts
2. Robinho     - 2pts
3. Van Persie - 2pts 

Players you should have made captain

1. Agbonlahor    - 15pts
2. Gerrard          - 14pts
3. Ashley Young - 13pts

Players you wish you had made captain but never would

1. Valencia           - 17pts
2. Reid                 - 16pts
3. Cattermole      - 10pts 
4. Kenwyn Jones - 10pts

Players you wish you had not left on your bench

1. Guthrie         - 10pts
2. Jose Enrique - 9pts
3. Gomes          - 8pts

The Cristiano Ronaldo award for Fantasy Football Excelence

1. Valencia - 17pts

Well done to him, Valencia does have occasional big fantasy weeks and kudos to you if you have him in your team. It's been a few weeks now that C-Ron has failed to even come close to winning his own award and with United off in Japan next weekend it's going to be a little while longer before he regains his crown.

Things we found out this weekend

1. Aston Villa are title contenders? Well if Arsenal fan's still think they are then why should Villa not be counted as well? Boxing Day should be a treat as the 5.15pm game is Villa v Arsenal, Battle for 4th? Could be.

2. This is one of the most strangest season in recent history. Only one of the top 8 this weekend won and everyone from 6th down I think is pretty much as good as each other. You could jumble all those other teams up in a hat and pull them out one by one and say that was the oder in the Premiership and I would believe it.

3. The Legend that was Chelsea's home form is officially dead. In the last four season's the most points Chelsea have dropped at home was 14, they have already this season dropped 10! Back in the 05/06 season when Chelsea last won the league they dropped only TWO points at home winning 18 of 19. Those days seem a long time ago.

You Tube

Now this handsome fellow in the picture above is a Friend of mine called Murat. Now, after being told by another friend of mine Peter (who bought me the Maradona picture) that he looked like a certain someone Murat seemed to be very happy with that. I'm saying that the person who Peter said you look like Murat is nothing to be pleased about.

Who is that person I hear you ask? It's a bloke called Michele Salvemini who, sings a song called "Abiura di me" which, so I'm told was a massive hit in Italy about computer game.

I must say I love this song and it currently sitting at the No1 spot in the"Football Guy's top 3 tunes to get ready to go out". The other two being the "Faber Collage theme" from the movie Animal House and Otis day and the Knights singing "Shama lama ding dong" from the same film.

Next up we have this guy who teaches us how to do a Christopher Walken impression which is pretty good. I know it's long but the Walken part is within the first 5 minutes, watch of for those greesy little gooks.

Lastly check out "The Special One's" thoughts about how Arsene threw the Proto game so Arsenal would come second in their champions league group and avoid playing his Inter side. Good stuff.

Final Thoughts

If you were six points ahead of Mark Lawreson would you see that as success or failure?

Take care

Football Guy   

Hello all, as some of you may know, it's my birthday today! Woohoo, what does that mean for you? Nothing much but next week I will have a few birthday treats for you.

In Europe this weekend see one of the biggest derby games in the world. It is of course "El Clasico". What a name, "The Classic". Could there be a better name for a derby match?

Well if you do a little research it turns out that in latin America all derby's are called "Clasico BLANK" or some sort of variation of that. My favorotie might well be Peru's "Superclasico" between Alianza Lima and Univertitario. There is no hoilding back with that name. The Super Classic, say's it all really and much better the what we have here in the UK of generic (INSERT LOCATION derby) I guess the Old Firm does sound quite cool.

So it got me thinking what other names do countries attack to there biggest football rivalries?

In Croatia the biggest game of the year is when Hajduk Split take on Dinamo Zagreb in what Croats call the Vječni Derbi which means "Eternal Derby"

In Denmark F.C. Copenhagen v Brondby is called the New Firm and I would love to know why? Hardly original. I do love the fact that all other major derbies in the land of bacon are called battles, like the Battle of Jutland which pits Aalborg (Who had quite a phsycal battle with United on Wednesday) take on Aarhus for supremacy of Jutland. I'm quite surprised we don't have a "Battle" game in England, I think it would be cool if we did and in fact from now on I'm going to refer to all major derbies as battles. Battle of Manchester sounds much better than Manchester Derby!

The French too have a battle game, when Caen play Le Harve it called the "Battle of Normandy" which is a good way to sell the game. If someone asked me if a wanted to watch Caen v Le Harve I'd probably say no but, if asked if I wanted to watch the "Battle of Normandy"I might think twice.

In Greece you have the Derby of eternal enemies (which sounds like a poor 1970's martial arts film) between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos and in contrast to super cool name you have Egaleo v Atromitos who have the unfortunate luck of having their derby called "Derby of the poor ones". What a kick in the teeth that must be, sounds like a street fight between two hobo's.

I think the most ridicules one might be when Holland's Den Haag and Ajax square off it's called the brilliantly stupid "Seat of Government vs Capital derby". Much to big of a mouthful even though it's good in a carzy unique sort of way. I'm sure it sound's better in Dutch.

Now the Poles have a gooden, it's played between Caracovia and Wisla Krakow and is called Święta Wojna. Care to take a guess what that means? "The Holy War", screw a battle, Caracovia and Wisla Krakow do not do mundane battles, they fight Holy Wars! Not only does the victor get bragging right , they gat to convert the rivals fans to their religion until the next time they square off. Great name.

Unfortunately for all the great named derbies there has to be at least on crap name and I'm sorry Venezuela but, "Clasico de las Autopista" between Carabobo (great name) and Araqua is by far the worst. In English it  means "The Motorway Derby". Motorway Derby? MOTORWAY DERBY! That is a poo name for a derby although if your team name is Carabobo maybe you need other poo names to distract people from you equally poo name.

On to this weekends games.

As you know I'm doing battle with Mark Lawrenson and his picks. As suggested by a friend of mine Amer, I will be picking the results without see what Lawro has had to say so as not to influence my decision

Last week I got six correct results to Lawro's five, I got two perfect scores to Lawro's one and we four and five wrong respectively.

Football Guy 6-2-4

Lawro           5-1-5

 

Middlesbrough v Arsenal

There used to be a time when Arsenal would dish out two beatings a year to Boro and by beatings I mean beatings. The Gunners would score around four to six goals a match against them. That was a long time ago now and so much so that Arsenal have won at Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge more recently then they have won at the Riverside.

I read somewhere the other day that Gareth Southgate had laughed off a rumor about Tuncay going to Chelsea for £8m, I too laugh and am glad to see Gareth has a sense of humor about stories that are either completely false or Chelsea are complete dumbasses. Surely you could find a better striker than Tuncay for £8m? That same price might net you Michael Owen who like Tuncay likes to spend his time in the treatment room but manages to at least score a few when playing.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Aston Villa v Bolton

I'd like Ashley Young to refrain from having a super game two weeks in a row because his antics last weekend against Everton hurt my fantasy football team. Villa have had a couple of hiccups in games like these lately that they should be winning (See Fulham at home a few weeks back).

Bolton are flying high at the moment and have a nice five point cushion from the drop zone. They have also had four wins away from home which is double the amount they have had at the Reebok. They also have four losses away and I think they will add to that tomorrow

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Liverpool v Hull

I've had a few friends tell me how they think Hull will get a result from this game. I say don't be silly. Whilst Hull have preformed well away against the big teams this season (Liverpool have also had some blips at home) I don't think that will continue this week.

I've said before that I believe Rafa hates fantasy football and will say it again. Why after playing Daniel Agger first team has he decided to drop him for a guy Rafa didn't deam good enough to make Liverpool's Champion League squad? It has to be to spite fantasy football managers who brought in Agger (like me two games ago) dam you Rafa.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Manchester City v Everton

That was a tough loss for Everton last week. I don't think under any circumstances should you lose a game after equalizing in the 93rd minute. On the plus side for Everton it was good to see Lescott rediscover his scoring touch as the Toffees have no front men and need someone to bang in some goals. A bit poor the need a Klingon defender to that for them.

How many more bad results do you think it will take before Mark Hughes job becomes very unsafe? I say that if they don't start preforming soon it might be a new manager as well as new players that come in in January.

Football Guy's verdict 2-0

Stoke v Fulham

Stoke will for the second week running be playing one of the two other teams than themselves that have failed to win away from home this season.

It's not just that Fulham have failed to win away that worrying, it's the two goals scored on their travels that is the real problem. Can't win if you don't score.

Stoke have been very good at home this season. They have actually picked up more points at home than Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton, pretty good going. Mamady Sidibe seems to be getting alot of good press in the fantasy football world, not a bad pick up if you need a cheep striker.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Sunderland v West Brom

OMG, what a bad game. The proverbial six pointer. Both teams need a win and funnily enough I feel West Brom have been playing the better football of late it just does not seem to be doing them any good (good sign of going down)

It's a massive game for both teams and especially for Sunderland who are at home a will feel they need the result to stop the bleeding. 

I really want to say a draw but I think Suderland will pull this one out.

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Tottenham v Manchester United

It looks as though Berbatov might be out of his return to White Hart Lane if this mornings rumors are to be believed and if he is, it means United's attack will be seriously depleted as Rooney is suspended for this game.

I guess it's not all that bad for United as it means Tevez will step in. It was he who scored a very late equalizer for United to salvage a point last season in the same fixture.

Spurs seem to be on a run of late of win one lose one. They won last week so...

Football Guy's verdict 0-2

Wigan v Blackburn

Another six pointer and if the result goes the wrong way for Blackburn, could be Paul Ince's last game in charge.

Blackburn just can't keep a clean sheet to save their lives and considering they really need to win this game will surely will leave gaps at the back for Zaki to expose.

Wigan seemed to have changed persona's of late, earlier in the season I felt they were playing well but not winning (Like their game last week at the Emirates) but of late they have not been playing that well but have been getting results (like at home to West Brom)

Football Guy's verdict 2-1

Chelsea v West Ham

I heard a rumor this week Arsenal might be looking to buy Matthew Upson and West Ham will sell due to the precarious finances. Would not surprise me.

Chelsea have not put in a good performance in a while but I'm sure will be buoyed by the fact Drogba looked good midweek. He is so important to Chelsea if they are to win they league this year.

Lampard could also do with a goal and it's always a good bet for a player to score against his old team. I know my fantasy football team has it's fingers crossed that it happens.

Football Guy's verdict 3-0

Portsmouth v Newcastle

Newcastle, tisk tisk. How do you throw away a two goal lead at home to Stoke? Poor...

Tony Adams is still looking for his first home win as Pompy manager, I feel he might have to wait a little while longer.

Football Guy's verdict 1-1

Final Thoughts

I've just noticed after looking back over my predictions that there is not one 0-0 in there. Should be a good weekend of action.

Take care

Football Guy

I'm not sure what's more unusual - Me posting on a Tuesday or Arsene Wenger NOT mentioning "Mental strength and Desire" in a post match interview? Probably Wenger failing to mention his teams mental toughness as it's a Tuesday and I've got a post for you guy's!

There have been a few questions popping in to my head over the last couple of weeks and I feel they may need answering, so I'm going to throw them out to you, the reader to answer them for me.

Let's get the ball rolling.

 

Juande Ramos

Did Juande lie about where he has been from October 2007 - October 2008? As you may well be aware by now that Juande today got the Real Madrid job taking over from Beard Schuster.

Did Real not look at his performance at Spurs? Did they think that once he left La Liga that he must be on Holiday? I wonder if he had to go to an interview like a normal person with a CV and like a normal person would, put instead of managing Spurs he put he was traveling in South America. I know I've always put down "traveling" on my CV when there is a gap or when I was at some crummy job I would get a bad reference from.

Maybe Real looked at it from a business sector point of view. Example - He might have failed in the English sector but in the Spanish sector he has done very well. Like if you worked in sales and were very successful at telesales, you then quit and decided to try your hand at field sales but failed miserably, when you went back to telesales I'm sure your employer would overlook your failure in field sales as it's different to telesales, right?

I guess Juande was in the right place at the right time, it's midway through the season as there are not a lot of top class managers sitting around waiting to be picked up. I wonder if Frank Rijkaard's name ever popped in to there minds? That would have been fun, picking up the ex Barca man to try at right the ship at their biggest rivals.

Can Ramos right the wrongs? Well he has done very well in Spain but has never had a job like this (Let's be fair, not many jobs are like managing Real Madrid). Real do need some work obviously as does Juande's reputation. Will it work out? We shall see.

Michael Owen

Will Michael Owen be sold in January? Is there a market for broken down strikers who IF fit can score but spend as much time in the treatment room as Amy Winehouse does in crack dens in Camden. I think Micky Owen still has it but, what's the use if he's injured all the time?

If he does go, who will buy him and for how much?

If Owen does leave he will want to go to a big team right? I'm sure if Newcastle a willing to let him go cheep then Liverpool might be interested but I can't see Newcastle's price being less than £10m and I think that would rule out Rafa who sold him for about that much four years ago. United are already having problems trying to fit Rooney, C-Ron, Berbatov and Tevez together but, if Tevez were to leave in January it might open the door for Owen. Siliemrly with Chelsea if Drogba were to leave in January maybe there would be room for him at Stamford Bridge but I don't think Scolari would want/need him and Arsenal already have one sick-note in the team who goes by the name Tomas Ro-sicky.

Could Owen go back to Europe? Well again it comes down to price and who would want him and I don't really think Owen want's to go abroad again.

Everton would be a good fit for him as they are in desperate need of front me but they have less money to spend then I have (£15m on Screech took care of that. Tottenham would also be interesting but there is not enough room in their treatment room as Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate have it booked up for the foreseeable future.

Should he just stay at Newcastle? Well it would be a novel idea, player signs contract and see's it out. Unless there is a better offer on the table (don't count on it) I don't think he will have much choice.

Liverpool FC

Do people see Liverpool as realistic title challengers? At the moment I'd still say most people don't. Why? I guess it's because they feel Chelsea and Manchester United are better equipped for 38 games.

Is that fair? Well yes and no. Yes - Liverpool do seem to lack quality replacement in certain areas notably upfront, who is going to bang in the goals when Torres (like he is quite often) is out of the line up? Rafa seems to have lost some confidence in Robbie Keane as he has been left out of the starting XI recently and as my friends the Sportboys pointed out, has cost £5m a goal so far. The rumors are already staring about Keane possible heading back to Spurs (no chance). Elsewhere, what happens if Gerrard goes done for a couple of months as well as Torres? I just don't think they have enough quality replacement for a long season.

No - Let's not forget they have beaten United and Chelsea (Not as impressive anymore since Arsenal have as well)and they do lead the title by a point. Other than Arsenal coming up at the Emirates they don't have an awful lot of tough games from now until the end of January and I'm sure if they are still in front going in to February peoples opinions will have changed somewhat.

Manchester City

How good are Manchester City? Not very good looking at the league table, it currently tells me that Stoke, Boro, Wigan, Bolton, Fulham and Hull are all better than them.

Why are they talk about so much? Well City are a team which people find themselves talking about what they MIGHT do instead of what they ARE doing. The tabloid hack's love it as they can write ridicules stories like my favorite - Buffon to City for £5om - There are many others but I don't have all week to write this column.

Were City better last year? So far yes. Why is that since they have bought the likes of Robinho and Co? Well Sven (despite what you hear) was a better manager than what Mark Hughes is. City were better last season because they were tighter at the back, remember last season when they started with four clean sheets out of the first five games? Their personnel at the back is pretty much the same (apart from their best defender leaving - Corluka) and if anything they have a more potent attack so for me the blame falls squarely at Hughes door for their lack of form.

Who will they buy in January? That's kind of like asking what Bill gates buys his kids for Christmas, when you have funds like that anything is possible.

Who would you buy? I'd start out by getting a new left back, Garrido and Michael Ball are not players you want in your first team if you have higher aspirations than mid table. I'd also look for a top class defensive midfielder as Didi Hamann is so old he actually fought in the second world war for Germany and get free travel nationwide.

What is City's ceiling? Well this season if they can stop conceding goals they can still make the top 6-7 in the league and possible 5th although they need to start getting back to back win's soon. For the future, who knows? When you have a portfolio of £500b backing you anything is possible.

Who is going down?

With it being the holiday season we shall soon find out who will be bottom on Christmas day and therefore almost guarantee their relegation back to the football league. West Brom have to be favorites at the moment but they are the only team in the Premier league era to avoid relegation after being botton on Jesus birthday.

Who will join them? I'm saying Stoke will join them, I'm actually hoping Stoke join them. I don;t like the way they play and as Hull are proving, you don't need to play ugly to survive to the Premiership.

Who else? Well I could argue that about six or seven teams could be the other. Blackburn have real problems, namely at the back. Paul Ince could well be the next manager out especially after these comments from the board. Sunderland won't be far away, even if Fat Sam get's the jobthey still have issue's, they would also become the team most people want to go down due to Fat Sam being a arse.

What about Bolton, Wigan and Fulham? They will all be in the mix as well, just at the moment they have a nice little cushion and are all playing quite well.

Spurs, Newcastle and West Ham? I think one of those three will still be in the mix come March/April and unfortunately for hammers fan's I think it will be you. Not getting anything from Tottenham at home was bad and I really thought you would get something against them.

So ti clarify, I believe it will be West Brom and Stoke followed by one of Blackburn, Sunderland, Bolton, Wigan, Fulham and West Ham.

At least I'm sure of two.

Who will win the Golden Boot?

Who will score the most goals in the Premiership? Well at the moment Anelka has a 5 goal lead at the top with 13  followed by Robinho, C-Ron and Zaki all with 8.

Where's my money? I'm going to stick with C-Ron retaining his crown. C-ron can make up five goals in two games when he gets back to top form and Anelka's goals will surly come less ferquent once Drogba get's back. You can get odds of 7/2 at most bookmakers on C-Ron winning it and thats where my money will be.

Anyone else stand a chance? Well Robinho looks good to keep scoring and I'm sure Adebayor will get back in the groove so their two to also consider.

What about Jermaine Defoe? Yeah, what about him? he has the same amount of league goals as Peter Crouch and Defoe takes penalties. I think a better question is - Will he be top goalscorer at Pompy? For whatever reason Defoe seems to get a lot more olumn inches than his lanky counterpart and I think that's unfair. Crouchinho is banging in the goals too, lets give him some credit!

What has the Football Guy got in store for us in the coming weeks?

Well It's my 25th birthday on Friday so next week I'm planing a column on the 10 greatest domestic football moments of the last 25 years which should be good.

I've heard you mention a Podcast? Yes I'm still planing on getting one up and running although it's taken longer than I hoped for due to a "friend" blowing me out every time I ask to get a piece of equipment from him! I guess I should go and buy it and stop being cheep.

Is there anything you want from us your readers? Yes. Any suggestions you have be sure to let me know. There is a thing on here called "Comments" and what that does is allow you to leave.... Comments. No need to past a message through Facebook or Email, leave a comment and I will read it. That's what there there for people!

Anything else? Word of mouth. It's a powerful tool and please use it to help me. If you like reading what I write then tell your friends who also might like it. That's how it works, quite simple and it does not cost you a penny.

Is there any other way we can get involved? Well when I have the Podcast up and running and when there is the odd week I'm not interviewing a leading figure from the world of football you will be welcome to join me on the Podcast. As long as you know a bit about football and are half funny we can make it work. YES WE CAN.

Final Thought

If the 6th, 7th and 8th placed teams in the league have negative goal differences, does that make it a poor league?

Take care

Football Guy

So, all four of the "Big Four" managed to win during the same weekend for the first time in what seems like forever (It was actually the 18th of October). Although it must be said that none of the victories were that convincing other than perhaps Chelsea who after taking an early two goal lead never looked back.

Speaking of Chelsea, what's happened to Frank Lampard's goals? He has not scored since November 1st in the league (Only one assist in that time) and even if it's not hurting Chelsea too much, it is hurting my fantasy team quite a bit. I'm sure Fat Frank will regain his scoring tough soon but just in case, could whoever is officiating their home game against West Ham next Sunday please make sure Chelsea get a penalty, it's always a good way to start you scoring again.

Arsenal Fan's

Good job gunner's. I have to had it to you, you really know how to make your own players feel unwelcome. Opposition fan's used to mock "Highbury the Library" due to that lack of noise the home crowd made and despite almost double the attendance at the Emirates, Arsenal fans are still rightly mocked for the lack of noise they generate. I think they all went a long way to disprove those accusations on Saturday against Wigan, as they showed, they might not be loud in Supporting their players but when it comes to Booing their players they can be as loud as you like.

Once again, Good Job.

A game of two halves

Watching Match of the Day on Saturday night I felt that the highlights of the Newcastle Stoke game really emphasized that old saying. What happened to Newcastle in the second half? For that matter where were Stoke in the first?

Weekend in Pictures

• No doubt Arsene is looking at signing at least three of these five
• Gayest aerial challenge ever
• This was red last week
• Remember me? I can still score!
• Opinions divided
• New PR photo

 

Football Guy v Mark Lawrenson

As those who read my weekend preview column on Friday will know, I will be going up against Lawro (Or "Robo" as my friend Amer kept calling him the other day, seriously Amer, what made you call him Robo?)and his weekly predictions that he does for the BBC website to see who the better man is. With one game remaining tonight, let's take a look at how we both did over the weekend.

Correct Results

1. Football Guy - 6
2. Lawro           - 4

Perfect Scores

1. Football Guy - 2
2. Lawro           - 1

Totals

                       CR   PS  WR

Football Guy    6      2     3

Lawro              4      1     5

Good start for me and I expect this to continue as the season progresses.

Fantasy Football

Players you wish you had not made captain

1. Robin Van Persie - 1pt
2. Wayne Rooney    - 1pt
3. Dimitar Berbatov  - 2pts
4. Jermaine Defoe    - 2pts

Players you should have made captain

1. Ashley Young    - 15pts - Thanks Tom for not making him captain
2. Michael Own     - 13pts
3. Nemanja Vidic   - 12pts
4. Jose Bosingwa  - 11pts
5. Deco                 - 11pts
6. Steven Gerrard - 10pts

Players you wish you had made captain but never would

1. Joleon Lescott        - 14pts
2. Jonathan Greening - 10pts
3. Jimmy Bullard          - 9pts
4. Alex Song                - 9pts

The Cristiano Ronaldo award for Fantasy Football Excelence

1. Ashley Young - 15pts

My only real rival in my fantasy league had him, needless to say I was not amused at his performance this week. He managed two points less than my five man midfield combined.

Things we found out this weekend

1. Arsenal fan's are quite, apart from when they boo one of their own players.

2. Everton don't need to bring in another striker in January, just play Lescott up front and all will be fine. He is quite obviously better in the oppositions box than his own as shown by how badly Ashley Young roasted him for the winner.

3. Norwich are better than Ipswich, bet you didn't see that coming!

You Tube

This one has been doing the round lately on the net. It's a clip of an Arabian footballer who (from what I gather) has some sort of seizure and starts doing back flips and all sort. Quite an amazing clip

Another clip you might have see is the Karate Baby. This kid scares the crap out of me!

World of Warcrafts greatest ever player shows us his battle skills. LEEEROOOOOYYY MMMJJEEEENNKIIINSSSSS

Final Thoughts

Next time you ask a friend or family member to do something they can do but in a way they are not used too (Like for example cook pasta but from a recipe they have never cooked before). Now when they mess up, be sure to BOO them really loudly, I'm sure that will help them preform better in the future.

Take Care

Football Guy 

 

Hello all, I was hoping to have a Podcast for today but that has not been possible due to me being misled to believe I could borrow some equipment needed from a "friend". I'm sure there must be a woman involved.

Grrrrr.

Anyway, on to more important matters. I would like to send out a massive WELL DONE to my buddy Tom who makes up 98% of the Sportboys. The reason for the well done is because not only did he get in to the Guardian weekley photoshop competition, he WON it! Go check it out at The Sportboys home page.

Lawro's Predictions

As you may remember reading, I said a few weeks ago that I was going to take on Lawro at his prediction this he does on the BBC website and was disappointed to find out it had been discontinued........ Well I was wrong, it had never been discontinued and I'm pleased to announce I shall be taking him on from now until the end of the season. If I fail to beat Lawro I promise to donate £100 of my own cash to a charity voted for by you guys, my readers. 

So without further delay, here is this weekends preview.

Fulham v Manchester City

I was wrong about Roy Hodgson, I never thought he would turn Fulham in to the effective little team he has. They kept clean sheets in their last two games, both away and to Liverpool and Aston Villa no less. In fact they have only conceded 11 goals all season in the league which is one more than Manchester United and EIGHT less than Arsenal, to think I've had John Pantsil and Mark Schwarzer on my Fantasy Team's bench for a lot of those clean sheets sickens me. It's a good think I own the guys who I play with otherwise it might have caused a problem.

Unlike Fulham who have had a week off, City played on Wednesday and since this kick-off is an early one it might swing this more in Fulhams favor. Having said that City need to start performing more consistently otherwise it could spell trouble for Hughes and I think they get a result here

Football Guy's Verdict 1-1

Lawro's Verdict           2-1

Arsenal v Wigan

Arsenal's kindergarten academy destroyed Wigan's first team last month at the Emirates yet Arsenal's first team has had problems with Wigan at home over the last two years, wouldn't it be just like Arsenal to beat Chelsea away last weekend then slip up at home to wigan. If they do I will be force to put them in the Craps Shoot Club were they will join Boro and Wigan, the latter have started to get more stable results and might leave the club it that continues.

Football Guy's Verdict 2-0

Lawro's Verdict           2-0

Blackburn v Liverpool

Do Liverpool want to win the league? I'm questioning that after their draw at home on Monday night to West Ham. What a chance to go three points clear at the top. They can't afford to keep dropping points at home to teams they should beat if they want to end there 18 year title drought.

Blackburn are a real mess at the back. I've pointed out a number of times how they have the leagues worst defensive record and still do. Another worry for them should be there home form which is worse than their away, just one win in seven home games this season and only FOUR goals scored! That is truly relegation form.

Football Guy's Verdict 0-2

Lawro's Verdict           0-2

I'm not just copying him, honest.

Bolton v Chelsea

Chelsea are beasts away from home, their record - Played Seven Won Seven Scored 19 Conceded One. I don't care how good Bolton's form is at the moment, Chelsea will be returning theirs this weekend. After only one point from their last two home games some might call it a mini crisis for the Blues, I wouldn't but, if they slip up here I might change my tune.

Football Guy's Verdict 0-3

Lawro's Verdict           0-2

Hull v Middlesbrough

If you told me at the start of August that 15 games Hull would only be three points behind Arsenal I would have thought that Arsene Wenger must have been fired and that Arsenal were the new Tottenham. Hull seem to keep getting results and from what I hear they will be looking to strength in January. They only really need another 15 points or so the be safe and I'm sure that's what their main concern still is.

Boro, Craps Shoot Kings. Because I feel they will get beat here that means they wont, CSC rules dictate I must do the opposite of what I feel with boro and I shall say a Boro win!

Football Guy's Verdict 1-2

Lawro's Verdict           1-1 

Newcastle v Stoke

I can't believe I have two players in my fantasy team playing in this game and am still doing really well. If Newcastle can pick up at least a point from this game they will have at least as good home form as Chelsea, I can't believe that's true, yet I still think Chelsea for the title, maybe I need to re-consider this in this months power rankings in a couple of weeks.

Stoke are one of three teams in the Premiership still looking for their first away win, the other two being Fulham and funnily enough Newcastle. Until they get their virgin Premiership away win I can't tip them to do any better.

Football Guy's Verdict 2-1

Lawro's Verdict           2-0

Manchester United v Sunderland

To quote Vince Vaughn in Swingers "Who's the big winner? Manchester United are the big winners". That was defiantly true last week, with the two teams ahead of them in the title race both slipping up Sir Alex must have felt Christmas had come early.

Did you happen to see "The Carlos Tevez Show" on Wednesday night? I love Tevez and as I've said before think it's SO unfair United can keep him on the bench week in week out. I miss not having him in my fantasy team this season to the point that I'm considering making a voodoo doll of Berbatov or Rooney and sticking needles in their testicles right before kick-off.

I think Roy chose this week to quit as he couldn't face the humiliation of getting a beating at Old Trafford by his former boss. I do think Keane can still succeed as a manager but he needs to be able to work with players similer to his on stature when he was a player. He also needs to work out that over paying for mediocre players is a bad move.

Football Guy's Verdict 4-0

Lawro's Verdict           3-0

West Brom v Portsmouth

Pompy are out of Europe, with out a home win under Tony Adams and might have a new manager next season. Sol Campbell is so far past his sell by date that if he were a carton of milk it would be cheese and after Thursday nights performance we can safly say "Calamity James" is back.

West Brom are poor. Poor poor poor. They are the worst team in the league and I feel despite playing well last week it proved they are the worst because if you play well and still can't beat Wigan you must be bad.

Football Guy's Verdict 1-1

Lawro's Verdict           2-0

Everton v Aston Villa

So with Yak done for the season and Saha out as well it might be a good time for me to phone up David Moyes and let him know I'm available. I'd like to think of myself as the rich mans Peter Crouch. This could be a good time to bring Tim Cahill in to your Fantasy Team as he will surly be playing basically as a second striker and see him return to gaol scoring ways, something he has not done in the league since September.

Villa are still Villa, I think missing John Carew will hurt them more than they think, it's defiantly affected my Fantasy teams attack.

Football Guy's Verdict 1-1

Lawro's Verdict           2-2

West Ham v Tottenham

Luis Boa Morte should have won the game late on at Anfield for the Hammers. Rob Green should be in the England team ahead of Scott Carson. Lucas Neill should not be on 90K a week. Kieron Dyer (remember him?) should be back soon. West Ham should get something from this game.

Spurs are lucky Blackburn and Sunderland stink and are playing Liverpool and United otherwise they could find themselves back in the bottom three. One question - Will Gareth Bale start? It affects my prediction

Football Guy;s Verdict  2-1 - Gareth Bale starts

Football Guy's Verdict  2-2 - Does not start

Lawro's verdict            1-2 - He does not care

Take Care

Football Guy