Jeremy's thoughts on..........

You read the title right. I do think Aston Villa have a legitimate chance at casuing an upset at Old Trafford on Saturday. Yes, they have been shockingly bad recently. Yes, they did lose to Sunderland at home last week. But they are good side. They caused us a lot of problems at the Emirates a couple of weeks ago and we were lucky to get a point from that game. I know this is all rather hopeful but if Villa can snap out of the crappy form they're in on Saturday, I reckon they could give United a real fight.

Chelsea host Boro, so that's probably three points for them and if Arsenal can beat Bolton at the Reebok then it could make the title race very interesting. I am pretty confident that Arsenal can turn things around and start winning again at Bolton on Saturday. That said, Bolton are fighting to stay out of the relagation zone, so they could be a difficult prospect.

The best game of the weekend is obviously Derby vs Fulham while West Ham make the trip to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland. If Sunderland win this game they could be seven points above the drop zone and I think they have a very good chance of beating the Hammers this weekend.

Wigan go to Portsmouth and Steve Bruce's men will need a couple of more wins to make sure they stay above the relagation zone but one of those wins won't come here. Portsmouth have been in very good form of late, scoring lots of goals and I can't see them losing to Wigan at home.

Birmingham desperately need some points agaisnt Man City and I think there is a strong possibility they will get something from this game as you never know what Man City team is going to turn up these days. Blackburn go to the Madejski Stadium to take on a Reading side who all of a sudden just can't stop winning and I think their winning ways will continue on Saturday.

After winning for the first time in aeons, Newcastle will be confident heading in to their clash with Spurs at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Whilst Tottenham do concede a lot of goals, they do score a lot of them aswell and seeing as Newcastle's defending is even worse than Spurs', I think Tottenham could put three or four past the Magpies in this one.

The big fixture of the weekend though, is probably the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield. Last time this two teams met, the refereeing was absolute catastrophe so lets hope it's a little better this time around. This tie also has rather big implications on the race for the last Champions League spot. Everton have been very, very good this season and David Moyes has done brilliant job but their form has dipped a bit recently and Liverpool will be looking to bounce back following their 'performace' at Man United last week.

Right, no more football. To the NBA we go.

When the Miami Heat traded Shaquille O'Neal (I know you've heard of him) to the Phoenix Suns, many people questioned whether he could fit into the Sun's style of play. Their style is very unique, running up down the court and scoring lots of points. O'Neal is 35, 7 foot 1 and 330 pounds and as he has been getting older, he has had more and more injuries. Not a lot of people could see him running up and down the court for a whole game. Well, credit to Suns coach Mike D'Antoni. It looks like, after a shaky start, that the trade is working out to be a smart one. Shaq is managing to get up and down the court without collapsing each time and is making a significant contribution to the team. The Suns recently had a nine game winning streak and come playoff time, having Shaq and his experience there will be invaluable.

That's all for today's blog, more from me after the weekend.

Well, I think that's it to be honest with you.

We really needed to win that game against Chelsea. We played quite well at times, we had our chances and thanks to Sanga's header in the 58th minute we had a lead. But it didn't last as Didier Drogba scored twice in the space of ten minutes to effectively ruin our title chances. Drogba was at his best on Sunday. Strong, powerful and in the end, clinical in front of goal. He was a handful for Gallas and Toure and they had real trouble dealing with him. With United still to go to Stamford Bridge and a trip to Old Trafford coming up for us in a couple of weeks, there is still a possibility we can still win the league. But we need to win every game from now on and I said the exact same thing last week and look what happened, so, unfortunately, I think it may just be out of reach.

Man United took apart Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday. The minute Mascherano got sent off it was all over. What a tit. He didn't have to go and berate the referee after Torres got a yellow card. If Mascherano had a single working brain cell, he would have stayed where he was instead of running to go and shout at the referee. Even Xabi Alonso tried to stop him but Mascherano obviously knew better and the way he acted when he was sent off was just ridiculous. Just grow up you overpaid idiot. Why Benetiz tried to defend him after the game is beyond me as is why he decided to play Torres on his own up front. Fools I tell you, fools

Kevin 'The Messiah' Keegan finally got his first win since coming back to Newcastle after about a million attempts. Villa continued their shoddy form as they were beaten by Sunderland thanks to Michael Chopra's late strike. Villa were in the running for the last Champions League spot about a month ago but after a run of absolutely terrible results they've dropped all the way to seventh.

Boro vs Derby was as boring as everybody thought it would be but I didn't expect Man City to not score against Bolton. After a good win over Spurs the previous week I thought they had picked up some momentum. Obviously not. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Man City are the most inconsistent team in the league.

Blackburn beat Wigan in a game I thought Wigan could actually win but Santa Cruz seems to have rediscovered his form as he scored two goals to help Rovers to a 3-1 win. Reading continued their good form as they won another key game, this time against Birmingham. Andre Bikey's second goal of the game won it for the Royals after Birmingham had drew level.

For the second week in a row, Everton dropped points at home as they drew 1-1 with West Ham but, with Liverpool losing, it hasn't done too much harm to their chances of grabbing the last Champions League spot.

That's all for the football on this blog.

On to the NBA then.

I'm going to use this space to write about a young team that has probably been the surprise of the season in the NBA. The Philadelphia 76ers weren't supposed to be anywhere near the playoffs this year but having won 19 of their last 24 games they have pushed themselves into playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. After trading their best player, Allen Iverson, to Denver last season I thought it would be years until the 76ers would be a playoff team again. But with Andre Miller playing the best basketball of his career and Andre Iguodala emerging as a potential All-Star, the 76ers are beginning to look like a very dangerous team. And it looks as if they will only get better in the years to come. With young players like rookie Thaddeus Young (19), Louis Williams (21) and Rodney Carney (23) the Sixers future looks very bright.

All done for today's blog then. But never fear, I shall be back tomorrow with a preview of the weekend's football action. I can sense your excitement from here. Laters.

A happy Wednesday to all of you from a rather annoyed Arsenal fan.

If you remember from my last blog I said Arsenal needed all three points on Saturday against Boro. With the Gunners being at the Emirates I thought this task wasn't exactly going to be beyond us. Apparently it was, as that little shit Jeremie Aliadiere (ex Arsenal boy) scored early in the first half. If William Gallas had spent less time waving his arms in the air for offside and concentrated more on defending, he could've have been in the right position to cut out the cross that lead to the goal. But no, he's a dick, and Aliadiere scored. We were lucky to equalise as Kolo Toure's header was deflected into the back of net with five minutes to go. If we are serious about winning this title, I want the boys to pull their heads out of their arses and start looking (and playing) like a fucking team that wants it. Birmingham, Wigan and Boro. That's who we have drawn with. They should all have been three points.

Man United are now top after winning at Derby (not quite the demolition job I though it would be) and have a game in hand against Bolton tonight at Old Trafford. And since they play Liverpool early on Sunday (we face Chelsea later in the day) we could end up being six points adrift. It's starting to look like a three horse race now for the title with Chelsea now only being three points behind the top two after beating Sunderland.They also have a game in hand (vs Tottenham tonight). Arsenal really can't afford any more shitty performances like the one's we have been seeing. I think it will be extremely tough (a trip to Old Trafford still beckons) but we can we can still win the title and I would be very disappointed if we came away from this season with no silverware. I may even cry. But probably not.

Moving on, Liverpool managed to overcome a strong performace from Reading to win at Anfield (Torres scored again!) and Villa keeper Scott Carson made a complete tit out of himself as he was at fault for both of Portsmouth's goals on Saturday. Not good. Especially with England manger Fabio Capello watching.

West Ham ended their run of consecutive 4 - 0 defeats by beating Blackburn 2 -1. Freddie Sears, on his debut no less, was the hero, scoring the winner with ten minutes left to go. Fulham improved their hopes of staying in the Premiership (slightly) by beating Everton.

Even though they played for 85 mins with only ten men, Wigan were able to beat Bolton 1 - 0 at the shithole that is also known as the JJB stadium. We had Robbie Keane having a strop after being substituted agaisnt Man City. I must admit I did laugh. I also laughed when Nedum Onuoha scored to give Man City the 2 - 1 win against Spurs.

Newcastle and Birmingham drew but nobody cares becauses Newcastle are so mind - numbingly shit that even talking about them is tedious. So I'm not going to.

That's about it for the football side of things. There will be a preview of the weekend's games in Friday's blog. That's something to look forward to isn't it.

Don't worry, I won't go on about the NBA too much this time round.

If you remember from last week's blog, I said the Houston Rocket's winning streak would end against the Lakers. Well, it didn't. Shows how much I know. No, instead it ended last night agaisnt the Boston Celtics. 23 games in a row without defeat is quite impressive and that now stands as the second longest of all time. What's odd though is that even with the winning streak, the Rockets aren't being considered as the best team in the NBA and they aren't even favourites to win the Championship year. I don't think they will. I don't think they are the best team in the NBA, that accolade goes to the Boston Celtics, the team that beat them last night.

I think I will wrap it up there. More on Friday.