Weekend Predictions

Saturday 23rd of February (All Kicks Off 15:00 Unless Stated)

Birmingham 1 – 1 Arsenal (12:45)

Fulham 1 – 1 West Ham

Liverpool 3 – 1 Middlesbrough

Newcastle 0 – 2 Manchester United (17:15)

Portsmouth 2 – 1 Sunderland

Wigan 2 – 1 Derby

Sunday 24th of February

Blackburn 2 – 1 Bolton

Reading 1 – 1 Aston Villa (12:30)

Carling Cup Final

Tottenham 2 – 1 Chelsea

Champions League Round-Up

This round-up is mainly going to focus on Manchester United performances (if you didn’t already gather, I support them). Many United fans are already concerned by our Champions League chances from this performance; however I am still extremely confident. To get a 1-1 draw away from home against Lyon who has won the French division 6 times in a row is a good result. Considering out of all the teams we could’ve got drawn against Lyon was the hardest this is a good result.

Although I am very sceptical about playing Rooney up front on his own, away from home, it hasn’t worked in years gone by and it won’t work this year. When we won the European Cup back in 99’ we played with two up front every game, and this is something we should do again. We are not great at defending leads or defending at all in Europe so (cliché alert) the best form of defence is attack. I do expect us to win at Old Trafford in a few weeks however this away result will hopefully provide Ferguson will a re-think of how to win at the likes of the Nou Camp, San Siro etc.

Elsewhere across Europe Schalke have a slender lead over Porto by beating them on their own soil 1-0. Liverpool gave themselves a massive chance of going through by beating Inter Milan 2-0 at Anfield. Chelsea only managed a 0-0 draw away from home and Real Madrid suffered a 2-1 defeat to Roma. Wednesday night saw European giants AC Milan battle it out with current Premier League leaders Arsenal in a 0-0 draw. The two games of the week involved two Spanish clubs as Barcelona got a 3-2 victory against Celtic away from home however Sevilla lost 3-2 in Turkey against Fenerbache.

Champions League

Tuesday 19th February

Schalke 1 – 0 Porto

Roma 1 – 2 Real Madrid

Olympiacos 0 – 2 Chelsea

Liverpool 1 – 1 Inter Milan

Wednesday 20th February

Celtic 0 – 0 Barcelona

Lyon 0 – 2 Manchester United

Fenerbache 0 – 1 Sevilla

Arsenal 1 – 1 AC Milan

FA Cup Round-Up

What a great weekend in the FA Cup, Saturday morning at 12.30 saw League One side Bristol Rovers take on Championship side Southampton who weren’t in the final that long ago. Bristol Rovers were worthy winners of the game as the problems continue for the Saints. The biggest shock of the weekend came up at Anfield where Barnsley knocked out five times European Champions Liverpool. A last minute winner and a absolutely magnificent performance from ex Manchester United goalkeeper Luke Steele saw The Tykes into the Quarter Finals.

West Brom thumped manager less Coventry and thanks to a sublime Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink goal Cardiff City beat fellow Championship side Wolverhampton. Sunday saw Sheffield United and Middlesbrough battle out the only draw of the weekend and Preston narrowly lost to Portsmouth thanks to the superb David James. Huddersfield put a good fight at Chelsea, however Avram Grant’s men were too strong and two goals from Frank Lampard sealed the win.

The tie of the weekend was at Old Trafford where Manchester United walloped Arsenal 4-0 with goals from Rooney, Fletcher and Nani. This year’s FA Cup has been one of the best for years thanks to sides like Havant & Waterlooville, Barnsley, Bristol Rovers and Chasetown. Who would’ve thought that potentially there could be JUST one Premiership side left in the Semi-Finals if the shocks continue in the Quarter Finals?

Game of the Weekend: Liverpool v Barnsley
Team of the Weekend: Barnsley
Player of the weekend: Luke Steele

Quarter Final Draw

Sheffield United or Middlesbrough v Cardiff City

Manchester United v Portsmouth

Bristol Rovers v West Brom

Barnsley v Chelsea

F.A Cup Predictions

Saturday 16th February (Kick Offs 15:00 Unless Stated)

Bristol Rovers 2 – 1 Southampton (12:30)

Cardiff 1 – 1 Wolverhampton

Chelsea 3 – 1 Huddersfield

Coventry 2 – 1 West Brom

Liverpool 2 – 0 Barnsley

Manchester United 2 – 1 Arsenal (17:15)

Sunday 17th February

Preston 1 – 2 Portsmouth (16:00)

Sheffield United 2 – 1 Middlesbrough (14:00)

Premiership Round-Up

You may be thinking that rounding up the Premiership action is a little bit early considering the game at the Emirates between Blackburn and Arsenal still hasn’t been played. However whatever happens tomorrow night Arsenal are the biggest winners this weekend. Liverpool and Chelsea played out a bore draw resulting in drop points for both sides and Manchester United dropped all three points in the Manchester derby.

Saturday saw Aston Villa triumph 4-1 over Newcastle, Keegan still to record a win in his second era with the club. Wigan lost to fellow relegation battlers Sunderland 2-0, Fulham still cannot win away losing to Middlesbrough. Spurs heaped more misery on Derby by defeating them 3-0, meanwhile Birmingham and West Ham drew one a piece. Portsmouth kept up their impressive away record by despatching of Bolton by a Diarra goal and Everton also defeated Reading by the same score line dragging Reading right into the bottom three.

Game of the weekend: Man United 1 – 2 Man City
Team of the weekend: Aston Villa
Player of the weekend: John Carew

Weekend Predictions

Saturday 9th February (Kick-Offs 15:00 Unless Stated)

Aston Villa 2 – 1 Newcastle

Bolton 0 – 1 Portsmouth

Derby 0 – 3 Tottenham

Everton 1 – 0 Reading

Middlesbrough 1 – 0 Fulham

Sunderland 2 – 2 Wigan

West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham

Sunday 10th February

Chelsea 1 – 1 Liverpool (16:00)

Manchester United 2 – 1 Manchester City (13:30)

Monday 11th February

Arsenal 2 – 0 Blackburn (20:00)

Premier League Abroad.

I am a huge fan of American Football, in fact I would go as far as saying the Superbowl last week between New England Patriots and New York Giants was one of the best finals I’ve ever witnessed. Now the NFL this season had a match between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at Wembley, and next season the San Diego Chargers will play the New Orleans Saints at Wembley. These matches are not friendly matches either, they are an official NFL game just outside of North America.

Today all 20 Premiership clubs agreed a proposed 39 game season which would see games being played overseas, similar to the American Football games played at Wembley. This in my opinion would be wrong, everything about it is wrong – the extra game apparently would be picked at random. So imagine if Manchester United pull out Manchester City or Everton pull out Liverpool or Spurs get Arsenal to play in Saudi Arabia. The great thing about those games just mentioned is the rivalry between two halves of one city, derby matches should ALWAYS be played in the town of the teams.

Imagine a scenario where Wigan gets Reading – with the match being played in New York for example. No disrespect to both teams but how many American supporters will want to see the two teams mentioned? Not many I’d imagine. Also, another potentially problematic scenario is if Manchester United get Derby County in this extra game and Arsenal have to play Chelsea in their extra game. How will that be fair? Say Manchester United win (which no disrespect to Derby, they would) and Arsenal and Chelsea draw 0-0 (which is a likely score line) and Manchester United end up winning the title by two points gained over Arsenal in the extra game. Arsenal will claim this to be unfair, just as Manchester United/Liverpool/Chelsea or any other team would do too.

I do not want to see this happen, but inevitably it will happen – and when it does it will be a sad day for English football.