Bristol Rovers v Southampton

Cardiff v Wolves

Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough*

Liverpool v Barnsley

Manchester United v Arsenal*

Preston v Portsmouth*

Coventry v West Brom

Chelsea v Huddersfield

(Ties to be played on February 16th and 17th)

With just 6 Premier League sides left in the 16 teams in the 5th round, it promises to be a very interesting cup.

The choice fixture of course is Manchester United hosting Arsenal at home. The FA Cup has thrown up some crackers between these two teams over the years, and none more so than the semi-final replay in 1999 - Beckham opened the scoring with a great long-range goal, Bergkamp equalised with a neat one himself, Roy Keane got sent off, Schmeichel saved Bergkamp's penalty, and then Ryan Giggs scored THAT wonder goal, and United went on to win the treble. Then in 2003, Arsenal sent a second-stringish side to Old Trafford and won 2-0, with goals from Edu and Wiltord, and Franny Jeffers putting in a memorable hard-working performance up-front. The next meeting was the semi-final in 2004, Arsenal were unbeaten and top of the league, and a few players were rested for this fixture. United ended up winning 2-0, some might say unjustly, after Arsenal had had the post twice and wasted several chances to take the lead early on in the game. And finally, in 2005, the teams met in the final of the FA Cup. Arsenal were negative and lucky (but decimated by injuries), and nervously saw out the 90 minutes goalless, before Jens Lehmann made an excellent save from Scholes' spot-kick to seal the penalty shootout and cup for Arsenal.

You can expect another very entertaining fixture, although both teams will be resting players because of the Champions League, and Man United are likely to have the better side out, since they have a larger, stronger squad.

The other matchup of interest is Sheff Utd vs Middlesborough. The Blades have an excellent cup record, and have engineered many upsets over the years. Even though Neil Warnock is gone, they still have a strong setup, and Bryan Robson keeps his troops spirited. Middlesborough had some difficulty seeing off lowly Mansfield Town in the previous round, and are ripe for an upset given their indifferent form over the season. The arrival of Afonso Alves might just give them a big boost though.

Chelsea won't have much trouble with Huddersfield, although Liverpool might with Barnsley, especially given the proximity of these fixtures to the Champions League ties. The Blues' young striker Scott Sinclair started out at Huddersfield, and may just get a long run-out in this fixture.

Portsmouth should be able to beat Preston, although it will be a very tricky fixture for them. Pompey benchwarmer Dave Nugent will be coming up against his former club, where he did so well and earned his first England cap. 

Cardiff and Wolves will be a tight all-Championship fixture, as will Coventry v West Brom (in addition to being a Midlands derby), and Southampton should dispatch Bristol Rovers without much trouble

In a recent interview, Alex Ferguson said that it was his duty to produce English players, because nobody else was going to. Whether he intended it that way or not, the media interpreted it as a pop at Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, and probably a bit at Liverpool as well.

Of course, this all comes on the back of England's defeat to Croatia, and their generally bad football over the last year, and how all this is somehow the fault of foreign players coming in, and how clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool don't produce enough English players. Of course clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea are hailed for having "English souls" and whatever else, but that's really a lot of crap. It's easy for the two richest clubs in the country to go out and spend 10-20m on an English player and then claim that they have homegrown players. It's also nonsense.

So I thought i'd take a look at the two clubs named as the big "saviours" of English football, and see just exactly how many English international players they've "produced".

From the England squads, Manchester United have Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Rio Ferdinand and Ben Foster. Which is fine I suppose, it's nice to have 7 England internationals, and I guess Alex Ferguson can be proud of that. But when it's used as stick to beat other clubs and managers with, then it becomes very, very unfair, because how much did these players cost?

Well, Rooney cost £27 million, Carrick cost £18m, Hargreaves cost £17m, and Ferdinand cost £33m. Ben Foster was a £1 million buy from Stoke, and ONLY two players - Gary Neville and Wes Brown - are from United's "famed" youth setup. Well, that's a total cost of £96 million! It's easy to brag about your "English core" when you're filthy rich isn't it!

And Chelsea? Well they have Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Shaun-Wright Pillips. Once again, errr... well done for having all these Englishman in the squad, but again, how many have Chelsea produced? Just one - John Terry. As for the rest? Ashley Cole cost about £17 million (£5m + William Gallas), Wayne Bridge cost £7m, Frank Lampard cost £11m, Joe Cole cost £7m and Shaun Wright-Phillips cost £21m. Total cost: £63 million.

Chelsea and Manchester United spend more on their beloved English players than most clubs (Arsenal included) do in 2 or 3 seasons on ALL their players. And how many can you say are worth it? Is Owen Hargreaves really worth £17m when Mathieu Flamini cost £1m? Is Rio Ferdinand really worth £33m when Kolo Toure cost £750,000? Is Wayne Bridge worth £7m when Patrice Evra was only £4.5m? And Michael Carrick £18m when the far superior Xabi Alonso was only £11m? There's a reason that clubs look abroad for players, and it's not because they dislike English players or want to harm English football, it's because the prices and hype that surrounded even a moderately talented English player are ludicrously high, and clubs other than Chelsea and Manchester United can't really throw the money around.

In any case, we've seen that between them, Chelsea and Manchester United presently have only three club-produced England internationals in their squads. So why don't we look at the recent England squads, and the number of players that have been club-produced by the "Big Four", and when they won their first caps:

Manchester United: Gary Neville (1995), David Beckham (1996), Phil Neville (1996), Wes Brown (1999)
Arsenal: Ashley Cole (March 2001), David Bentley (September 2007)
Liverpool: Steven Gerrard (2000), Michael Owen (1998)
Chelsea: John Terry (June 2003)

OK, so Manchester United have the most home-produced players of those 4, but the most recent cap of them all was Wes Brown in 1998, and he's not even that important. They're basically still living off the reputation of their much vaunted "Golden Generation", but the fact is that United have not produced a decent English player in years and years, and their present crop are decidedly ageing and average at the ages of 32, 31, 32 and 28.

And I'd like to follow that up by asking you which club from the "Big Four" has produced the most number of players to be capped in this decade? Well the answer to that, funnily enough, is Arsenal! Two is not a large number, but it's certainly more than Manchester United have given to English football in the last 7 years. And if you look at the recent England youth squads, you will find that it's Arsenal who are producing the most talented young English players, and in good numbers as well. Surely this can only be because of their foreign manager, and all the incredibly talented foreign players that are there in training and on the field?

Incidentally the two clubs that have contributed the most to recent English squads are Leeds and West Ham. Leeds - Aaron Lennon, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Scott Carson, and Jonathan Woodgate
West Ham - Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe (although the latter was schooled mostly at Charlton)

FIFA has prohibited the ownership of players by third party organisations. The ban is in effect immediately, and was spurred mostly by the massive controversy surrounding the ownership of Carlos Tevez by MSI.

The first incident in this case was the validity of the contract on which he was playing at West Ham, and it began to be investigated late into last season. West Ham United were adjudged to have violated Premier League laws, and were fined a record £5.5 million, but were not docked any points, and Tevez did not serve any suspension.

He was fantastic in the latter half of the season, and almost single-handedly saved the Hammers from relegation. Their safety came at the expense of that of Sheffield United, who were relegated, and responded almost immediately with legal action against the Premier League and West Ham. They called on FIFA and Blatter to intervene, but ultimately their case was dismissed.

The whole situation then intensified towards the end of the summer, with Manchester United's attempts to sign Tevez. Kia Joorabchian, the owner of MSI was claiming ownership of the player, West Ham were too, United were trying to negotiate with both parties, and Sheffield United were watching carefully. Ultimately it emerged that Joorabchian's MSI were the "rightful" owners, but since the league would not allow money to be exchanged between clubs and third parties, a complicated arrangement was finally worked out whereby Tevez signed for United, with MSI and West Ham both receiving compensation, and although there were no official transfer fees, it was indeed a very, very sketchy transfer agreement.

Sheffield United meanwhile re-ignited the fires, albeit in vain, because Joorabchian's part in the whole transfer agreement had proved that Tevez's presence at West Ham the previous season was in breach of Premiership rules.

The whole affair was a huge media circus, and so FIFA have finally acted to try and ban the third party ownership of players. MSI had been a major player in this regard - buying over Brazilian giants Corinthians and signing top players such as Tevez, Javier Mascherano, and Carlos Alberto. Mascherano had in fact joined West Ham along with Tevez, but had been signed by Liverpool in January in an arrangement where a loan/payment arrangement was made with MSI and West Ham. Technically, this was equally as controversial as Manchester United's signing of Tevez, but since Mascherano had been in the reserves, and not playing well, nobody paid much attention or took much objection to this transfer.

MSI had all long intended to make Corinthians into a sort of shop window/clearing house for South America's top talent. Their idea was to buy top players in the region, and negotiate their sales, or partial sales to top European clubs. However, their affairs fell apart in Brazil as well - Corinthians' results were terrible, they lost the fans support, the infrastructure at the club had started to fall apart, and eventual there were also warrants issued for the arrests of Joorabchian and fellow investor Berezutsky by the Brazilian police over financial fraud issues.

On paper, it looks as if FIFA have made a decision to stamp this out, but let's see how strictly they enforce this. Consortiums in Eastern Europe have been running rackets in the trafficking of young African footballers, and in poor countries it will be very difficult to stop this. Additionally, as in the case of Leeds United's purchase of Mark Viduka, clubs can still use third-party investment companies to fund the purchase of players, with the player's registration acting as collateral. It remains to be seen whether this too will be legislated against, or whether it will continue to exist as a loophole.

Carlos Tevez has been confirmed as having agreed to join Manchester United. The transfer fee is rumoured to be £20 million and it is expected that he will be signed and unveiled after Argentina's Copa America campaign is complete. West Ham are trying to do everything in their power to keep him, and will try to challenge this. Legally (technically, rather), they still own the player, but as was exposed by the Premier's League's investigation a few months ago, they really don't own or control him. Tevez has previously been seen showing up at a news conference in a Man United shirt, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise that if he had his choice of clubs, he picked United.

This leaves Manchester United with an army of attacking midfielders/strikers - Anderson, Tevez, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Saha, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo, and it's thought that the last of those will finally be on his way to Real Madrid. All throughout last year Real kept chasing him and releasing statements about how they wanted him, and he in turn was completely non-comittal towards United. But he signed a new 4 year deal, amidst much celebration from the club, fans and the media. However, those with elephant-like memories might remember both his agent and Real Madrid making statements afterwards that went something like "one should never rule out a transfer". Well, this might still happened, or might have even already been agreed. It's possible the new contract was signed because they wanted full focus and as much high morale as possible to maintain their title run. It's possible also that they made an agreement with Ronaldo that he could leave (and maybe even with Real Madrid). Remember also, that Manchester United are financed completely by debt, and that they don't have Roman Abramovich to give them unlimited cash. The Glazers are money-makers, and on Tevez, Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, they have spent a massive £70 million. Fake Ronaldo going the other way for £30-40 million would make the deficit more reasonable.

And lastly, Christian Chivu, who has been linked with both Barcelona and Real Madrid is quite possibly on his way. Real however are the more likely destination since Barcelona signed powerhouse left-back Eric Abidal (who can also play in the centre when needed). The Madridistas are also more in need of a solid centre-back than any other club, and Chivu would be perfect for them. Roma have spoken of late about how Chivu is not going anywhere, and how they don't want to sell him, but it's gone somewhat unnoticed that they've signed the excellent Brazilian international centre-back Juan from Leverkusen. Juan is not the kind of player that you keep on the bench, so unless they plan to let Philippe Mexes go (unlikely), they have already prepared for Chivu's departure.

Manchester United have apparently reached deals to sign Brazilian startlet Anderson from Porto, and Portuguese wonder-kid/winger Nani from Sporting Lisbon .

F*CK. SH*T. B*LL*CKS. OK, didn't need that many asterisks there, but come on. This is exactly what the Arsenal needed to do after they won in 1998/2002/2004 - strengthen. There's been no news on the transfer front apart from Robin Van Persie saying that they don't really need to sign anyone, and that Julio Baptista has decided to ship his chunky, useless self back to Madrid. COME ON! Man United have gone and signed two of the best young players in Europe (and i'd rate Anderson as one of the best young players in the world), for £35 bleedin' million pounds for the pair. That's almost Chelsea-esque.

Nani has excelled this year for a rejuvenated Sporting, and his goalscoring wingplay could see him become into one of the most dangerous attackers in Europe. Him and Cristiano Ronaldo on opposite wings might just see the introduction of double fullbacks on each side as a tactic (well Chelsea do it anyways).

Anderson is a bit more of an enigma. Back in October/November the press couldn't shut up about him, he was doing amazing things in the Champions League, Barcelona were interested, and he was enjoying his football. He's since gone off the boil a bit, but the ability is still there.

It might be a shame though if he doesn't achieve what he's supposed to at United. I know many Brazilians consider it a shame that Kleberson (one of the most talented players in Brazil at the time) never achieved his potential and ended up losing his way completely in Manchester, and I would hope that the same does not happen with Anderson, because he really is a special player. I don't really have faith in Alex Ferguson's management in this matter, but maybe Carlos Queiroz will prove crucial here.

Four years ago Man Utd missed out on Ronaldinho because they didn't want to pay a few million pounds more. Now, they're splashing out in a big way, and one or both of those players might well go on to eclipse and exceed Ronaldinho in a few years' time. 

Barcelona and Manchester United. They are both struggling. Oh yes they are.

On a weekend of upsets, Barcelona lost 1-0 away at Zaragoza, and United went down 2-1 at Portsmouth. Both sides are choking badly, and while United have a once-again consistent Chelsea grinding out wins and catching up with them, Barcelona are fortunate to have equally bad chokers Sevilla as their title challengers. Time and time again Sevilla have failed to capitalise on Barca's slip-ups, and on Saturday they could only manage a goalless draw against Racing Santander in response to Barca's defeat, which came courtesy of a typically opportunistic Diego Milito strike .

It all certainly has provided a very interesting twist to the finishes of Europe's two major leagues. A while ago, United looked confident and in-control, especially when Chelsea were struggling, but the tables look like they might be turned now. Henrik Larsson is being sorely missed. He might not have set the world on fire in his short spell at Old Trafford, but he was an experienced, top-class player that they had in an attack short of depth; his departure has left the attack short of ideas and confidence, and just 3 points ahead of Chelsea.

Rooney hasn't scored many this year, neither has Saha, and Solskjaer has been patchy when fit. Cristiano Ronaldo has been their main threat, and it looks like a situation where they will now have to prioritise between the Champions League and the Premiership, although that problem might not last much longer if they fail to overturn their 2-1 first leg away defeat against AS Roma. Ferdinand will have to regain his confidence after scoring a wildly entertaining own goal at the weekend, and Van der Sar has looked a bit shaky – he failed to cleanly either hold or punch away shots against Roma and Pompey , both of which resulted in similar rebound goals.

Barca however have no real excuses. Eto'o and Messi are both fit and the latter has been wonderful since his return from injury, they have a team that is far stronger than last season's and really should be doing better. But they have been generally shaky this term, and slipping up a lot. They are out of the Champions' League, and should be focussing 100% on domestic duties, but somehow seem to have confused their objectives even more by handing the initiative to everyone else. Barca are on 56 points, Sevilla are on 55, Real Madrid are on 54, and Zaragoza and Valencia are both on 50 .

Not many people have mentioned much about Zaragoza this season, but they have been steadily climbing up the the league, and whilst their 1-0 win over Barca might be considered an upset by most, there are some who will look at the league table and say that every team in the top 7 is very, very tricky. Barca have already lost to Real, Valencia, Sevilla and Zaragoza this year, and if you can't beat your opponents at the top, then you don't deserve to win. Something just seems to be awry at the Nou Camp, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Rijkaard gone in the summer.

Anyway, off to sleep for me. Tomorrow's Champions League action could make me a very, very happy man if both Man United and Chelsea go out of the competition :)