Arsenal V Newcastle Utd

This season has been far from a good one for both fans and club alike but theres light at the end of the tunnel and the silver lining of potential Champions League football that didn't seem possible running into the New Year.

From the opening whistle you could see the hunger in the Arsenal players eyes. I was at the game last night and thought it was pure dominance by the Gunners that almost ended in frustration until the Verminator bundled over a 95th minute winner.

When Newcastle opened the scoring against the run of play in the 14th minute it seemed common place that RVP linked with Theo to strike past Krul no less then 60 seconds later.
At the very point that the equalizer went, Newcastle started playing for the draw with Krul clearly time wasting at every opportunity.

The Arsenal eventually prevailed in the last gasp which has put them just 1 point behind rivals Spurs who have to be looking over there shoulders at both Arsenal and Chelsea who now have that sniff of Europe's top competition
and with their experience running into the last 10 games would you bet against Spurs finishing 5th maybe even 6th??

Thoughts on a postcard......

Norwich Hold Chelsea To A 0-0

Norwich City achieved their first clean sheet since being back in the Premierleague and in turn kept Chelsea from earning 3 points which has to ultimately end any hopes of the title depending on other results of course.

Another talking point will be one more game gone without Nando scoring and even though Ruddy did so well to stop him scoring it still doesn't reflect well on the out of form Spanish international.

So is champions league qualification the best the blues can hope for? And is that even going to happen?

Who knows....

Drogba To China?

According to a Chinese newspaper Didier Drogba is very close to completing his move to Shanghai Shenhua to link up with Anelka who moved earlier this month.

Is this really a good move for Chelsea?? If true then they will be losing a real goal scorer when Torres still can't hit the target and Sturridge is still being played out wide.

I would say that this would be a clear sign that Chelsea will be seeking a new striker but who??

Has The Festive Schedule Decided The Top 4?

As usual it's been a very hectic fixture list over the festive period but as we look at the league table here in the first week of January, are we seeing the realistic final four?

Current top 7....

1• Manchester City. Points - 48
2• Manchester Utd. Points - 45
3• Tottenham H. Points - 42
4• Chelsea. Points - 37
5• Arsenal. Points - 36
6• Liverpool. Points - 34
7• Newcastle Utd. Points - 33

While looking at the league as it stands it becomes apparent to me that Spurs really find themselves in with a chance of completing for the league title.
Not only were they the only team not to lose over the Christmas & new year they also have a game in hand which if they win will leave them level on points with Man Utd and therefore just three points behind Man City.

After the last few matches alot of people from fans to pundits will consider Manchester Utd in real trouble after losses to Blackburn and Newcastle respectively but in reality they are still up there.

My main question to football fans everywhere as the title suggests, is the top four decided or do Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle still have a chance?

In conclusion my personal opinion is that apart from Spurs no one in the premiership is majorly consistent right now and for me that leaves the top four very much wide open.
With 18 games still to play it's anyone's game and I wouldn't be so confident that the top 4 we currently have in place will still be firm by the time May comes around.

Michael F.

Headlines: Alex.... Destination QPR?

It has been suggested that Alex might make the short journey from Chelsea to QPR for a bargain price of 3 million pounds.

What's your thoughts on this potential deal?

Has Lampard Saved AVB?

It looked for a split second that Chelsea were going to go 5 games without victory until super Frank scored when it really counted at the relief of everyone to do with the club.

The person maybe most relieved about tonights result must be AVB because surely the pressure on him to be sacked wouldve be massive had they not won?!

Even though the blues have won today fans will still be wondering whats happening and will be hopefully looking forward to a transfer bolstering January...

January Comes Early....

News that Bolton have confirmed a price with Chelsea for Gary Cahill and Thierry Henry will be going back to the Emirates for a 2 month loan all sorted before Jan 1st makes for interesting reading.

Obviously paperwork still has to be done but the deals are as good as in the bag.

Is this a suggestion that January will be a busy time or another frustrating winter sale for fans?

The news that Chelsea might be willing to break the British transfer record 2 Januarys in a row is a strange revelation to me.... I mean surely there's such thing as learning from your mistakes? And what would this mean if indeed Chelsea did purchase the Hulk from Porto? Torres out? Drogba out? Sturridge benched? Or will they all live happily ever after knocking in 20 a piece?

My question is... Will this be an inspired move by AVB or and incredible mistake?

Bad Week for Chelsea...

Well just over a week has gone since the QPR match and the count is as follows:

• 6 goals conceded
• 2 Red cards
• 2 loses
• 1 racism investigation

and finally....... 1 slip that may have ended Chelsea's title hopes already and its only just touching into November.
Granted its not the end of the world but conceding 5 goals at the Bridge against London rivals Arsenal just didn't seem like the team we have been used to seeing since the Russian revolution began.

Where do Chelsea go from here?

The Blues will need to go and get a morale lifting victory tonight against Genk in the Champions League otherwise the away visit to Blackburn on Saturday could prove to be a very difficult task as it was when Arsenal lost to Rovers after a confidence draining start.

So are they going through a similar issue as their north London rivals or is this simply just a blip? either way the fans will be expecting an uplifting 7 days with 2 wins and if not then the restlessness could set in and that only spells bad news....

What do you think?

What a Weekend of Football.

Another great weekend of premiership football has come and gone and with that possibly the title challange of Man Utd and Chelsea aswell.
Man City will feel a massive sense of achievement beating Man Utd 6-1 and in all honesty it's a result that shocked me even with Utd being down to 10 men.
Can Man Utd bounce back straight away or will this of hit them like they hit Arsenal earlier on this season? It took Arsenal a fair few games to recover from the 8-2 mauling but after the 3-1 win over Stoke at the weekend there record in all competitions stands at 6 wins in 7 games.
Even as an Arsenal fan I must say I felt sorry for Chelsea at the weekend who deserved a point for me but when you have 9 men it's tough... Robbed by the ref in my opinion but what's your opinion?

Is the title going to the blue half of Manchester?
Do Blackburn stand any chance of staying up?
Are Arsenal back?

Have your say.

The Premier League Returns.

With mixed emotions on the international break for the home nations its back to the bread and butter of the league this weekend.

This weeks fixtures:

Saturday-

Liverpool v Man Utd
Man City v Aston Villa
Norwich v Swansea
QPR v Blackburn
Stoke v Fulham
Wigan v Bolton
Chelsea v Everton

Sunday-

West Brom v Wolves
Arsenal v Sunderland
Newcastle v Tottenham

The one fixture that stands out this weekend will be the early kick-off at Anfield between Liverpool and Man Utd.
This game never fails to gain the attention, wheather its due to the quality of football, sendings off or just the heated war of words between managements and this weekends match should be no different.

With Man Utd being on 19 points and Liverpool being on 13 alot of people will consider this game important for the continuation in Liverpools revival, if Utd ended the weekend on 22 points Liverpool would already be 9 points behind the champions where as if Liverpool got themselves a win 19 points to 16 looks much better and could add Liverpool into the potential league winners group of Utd, City and Chelsea.

Looking at the other fixtures I think the City v Villa game could be very interesting indeed as both teams still find themselves undefeated along with Utd and Newcastle....so...will something give? will one team see their first lose? many will think its in the bag for Man City but im not so sure its as clear cut.

Three fixtures that could be just as important but for reasons further down the table are
Norwich v Swansea,QPR v Blackburn and Wigan v Bolton.

Norwich and Swansea are both joint on 8 points so a win for either team would propel them into a great position but if you're a betting man you'd probably go for the draw which both teams would likely take as a good result.

QPR on the same points as Norwich and Swansea find themselves at home to second from bottom Blackburn and after their terrible result against Fulham will be determined not to fall foul again but Blackburn will be hoping to kickstart their season and realive the pressure, even if its just for a little bit.

Wigan 18th hosting Bolton 20th is arguably the most interesting fixture out of the 3... if either team lose the  confidence that they started the season with could really be dented and would really find themselves early favourites for regation...fans will be watching this one with interest, nerves and hope.

The last two fixtures on Saturday Chelsea v Everton and Stoke v Fulham i think are both worth a watch with Chelsea and Fulham having high scoring wins last time around will they be able to carry that through? wWe shall see.

Sundays fixtures could make for a very interesting day too with Newcastle being unbeaten still and Spurs still on a high after a North London derby win...Arsenal  and Sunderland will want to put a stop to their very average starts to this season and West Brom v Wolves which is always a heated occasion and will be a very hard game to predict.

All in all this weekend could prove to be a classic with early season hopes on the line and potential must win games across the ball, i know ill be watching with interest and personally hope the Arsenal can start heading in the right direction.

Who ever you support have your say.

PBS