Title down to two?

"And then there were two!"

Phil McNulty's words not mine.

Sunday's match wasn't your normal cagey affair between two of the big four, instead it was as open a game of football as you could wish to see. Well it was open in the way that Arsenal's defence opened up for the United attack, especially Messrs Rooney and Almeida da Cunha (or Nani to most of us).

This of course was not the first time that another member of the top four exposed Arsenal’s defence to looking like it had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese, oddly enough Philippe Senderos was already on loan at Everton. Back in November Chelsea exposed Arsene Wenger’s side in the same way, at least Wenger could be happy Thomas Vermaelen didn’t break his leg last week otherwise it would have been Rooney and Nani running at Sol Campbell, the match may have been even more unbearable for Gunners everywhere.

I for one had picked out Arsenal as a good chance for title success just a few weeks ago. United had just lost to Leeds and Chelsea had just lost their African players to their continental competition, Arsenal had a tough run of matches coming up against Aston Villa and United followed by Chelsea and Liverpool. “If they win those four I think they’ll win the league”, this time they were my words, I need to stop predicting stuff- “Marouane Fellaini must be one of the worst midfielders in the Premier League” just before the Everton vs. Man City match and “I can’t stand Park Ji-Sung he just doesn’t add anything to the attack” before Sunday’s match- are both amongst my latest observations before watching football.

Of course United seem to have picked up some form since losing to Leeds, Chelsea look excellent even before their African players arrive back in the Premiership and Wenger’s ‘new animal’s’ have looked like very tired sloths in their matches against Villa and United. That last comment may be slightly harsh, certainly against Villa they weren’t all that bad but certainly against United they showed that perhaps they hadn’t grown up as much as the Frenchman thought since last year’s Champions League exit to the same opponents. So are Arsenal out of the league already?

Clearly there is still plenty of time till the end of the season and they are only 5 points off Chelsea’s top spot, a gap which could be diminished at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. There is also the fact that last time Arsenal lost in the league, against Chelsea, they reacted by going 10 games without losing. Last but not least in Arsenal’s favour is the return of most of their previously missing players- Alex Song’s return from Angola is essential, as is Nicklas Bendtner’s return from injury to give Wenger an actual striker to pick up front instead of rotating the skillful but short midfielders who have beern occupying that area of the pitch.

There is though the other side. For one Arsenal’s best striking option, Robin van Persie, is still out and most likely till April, unless someone else can start scoring the goals by the time the Dutchman is back it may be too late for the title to head to the Emirates. Secondly is the question of the squad. We all know in this day and age it is not about the first 11 but about the whole squad, and Arsenal are definitely third in these stakes. Only a few weeks ago you would have argued Arsenal’s was stronger than United’s but take a look at the champion’s bench on Sunday and you’d find Valencia, Owen, Berbatov, Giggs and Gibson- there was no room for Anderson or Diouf and there is still Ferdinand and Vidic to return from suspension and injury respectively. Finanlly is Arsenal’s recent record in winning the Premier League- unlike their two rivals it is some time since they managed it. Last time they challenged was two seasons ago, Arsenal looked good in the league and travelled to Old Trafford in the FA Cup fifth round on February 16th 2008. They were outplayed in every deparment, losing 4-0 and being embaressed by a young skilfull Portugese winger named Nani. Arsenal never recovered mentaly from that hammering and United went on to win the league.

Football doesn’t always repeat itself but then again Robbie Keane has just gone on a temporary transfer to the team he supported as a boy!

Then there were two? Sunday may just have the answer!

Welcome to Football!

Forget the gloating. Forget the violent morons arrested before the match. Forget the insults. Forget the poster. Forget Carlos Tevez, actually don't forget him, he's important.

Last night it didn't matter if you were a Manchester City or Manchester United fan, it didn't even matter if you hated both these teams, it just mattered that you can appreciate football in it's most beautiful form.

It wasn't just about last night though, it was about last week as well. Two of the countries biggest clubs entertained us to the maximum in the last 7 days and all in a competition that has been nicknamed the "Mickey Mouse Cup", the "Worthless Cup" and such other things in the last few years.

Suddenly the countries attention turned to the Carling Cup. On a night where Aston Villa faced Arsenal and Chelsea put in another brilliant performance to go top the Premier League never seemed so insignificant.

Not having Sky Sports I went to a pub to watch the match with some friends. One a big City fan, one a big United fan and one with very little interest in football. The pub was split pretty evenly with City and United fans. Singing began before kick off, the United fans booing any sights of Carlos Tevez and chanting the name of the white Pele on his every appearance "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney". Even from the pub some 3.5 miles away from Old Trafford you could sense that these two would be the protagonists for his side.

The nerves lay on the shoulders of those in Blue as the match started. United were favourites but had nothing to lose, City were ahead and had it all to lose but so much to gain to. The none football fan amongst my friends remarked towards the City fan "watching your reactions is half the fun". As the game wore on the nerves didn't quite totally shift, but I certainly began getting more nervous, and so did the other United fans as they began to sing more, the nervous energy becoming songs.

But it's not just about my experience of the game, last night was about pure drama, pure football. One moron, possibly two, tried to ruin the atmosphere and the excitement by throwing a coin at Craig Bellamy, if anything it added to the excitement and it the occasion, it showed the two sets of players agreeing with the rest of the population, that this person is clearly a moron. The way I'd punish him would be to ban him from all football matches but one. And for that one match I'd drag him into the centre circle at half time of Manchester City vs Manchester United and allow the Welshman to kick the moron right in the testicles and let everyone point and laugh.

But enough of that. He tried to ruin the game he didn't. It was awesome. I loved watching it, I love watching all football but this game was special to everyone, especially everyone in Manchester. The rivalry last night was taken to a new level but at the same time the rivalry kind of disappeared. We all loved the game no matter, obviously come the end of the match City fans weren't in as good a mood as the reds of Manchester but even they had to applaud a real battle of two teams who really wanted to win, needed to win.

This blog hasn't really been about anything. Some might complain about that but it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just telling you how much I love football especially when it was exciting as last night.

Talking of cup excitement last Sunday was the Shonn Trophy, no doubt you don't know this competition because it's one that Sporting JLGB played in. Yes ladies and gents- it's back, Sunday League is back. We lost 2-1 to Maccabi, saddening yes but we played with 10 for the whole match and we were excellent. For half an hour we outplayed them, and then we went down to 9 men, and they got a cheeky goal. Very annoying but we came off the pitch, heads held high. Unfortunately no semi final place but still.

Back at Old Trafford United fans and players celebrated. City fans and players thought of what might have been. Fortunately they have the F.A Cup still to play for and a trip to Wembley is still possible. Any side who took part in that semi-final deserves that place, and so I for one will be cheering them all the way to the FA Cup Final and I don't care if that upsets any United fans.

Welcome to the league cup! Welcome to football! Most of all, WELCOME TO MANCHESTER!!

Scrub Up!

At the forefront of any great TV soap is a well known opening sequence with a recognisable theme tune and at the end is of course the dramatic ending where the theme tune once again kicks in.

From time to time a show may slightly change the opening sequence or the theme tune, for example when the Millennium dome was built in London Eastenders had to place it in their opening sequence.

One final thing that soaps are well known for is the return of old characters just when the plot line seems to be getting a little boring. We've seen people disappear off the edge of the cliff only to come back years later, a person shot 'dead' only to reappear and some flee for the mysterious land of Manchester but find the lure of London too strong.

In the soap world that is the Premier League we often get rid of characters as they get relegated, only to return via promotion. Sunderland, West Brom and Birmingham are amongst the serial leavers and yet they always come back for more. But the Premier League very rarely gets rid of characters only to bring them back when the story line is boring, perhaps because the story line is rarely boring. But if there's one man who could make it even more interesting, well... welcome back Patrick!

Yes, for those of you who don't know, Patrick Vieira is back in England and back in the Premier League, and I for one couldn't be happier. In the pomp of his career Viera was THE force to be reckoned with. He marshaled an Arsenal side that had grit, determination, aggression (sometimes too much), and most importantly a side who won silverware. In fact it's always struck me as no coincidence that the last kick of a football the big Frenchman took for Arsenal was the winning penalty against Manchester United in the 2004/05 FA Cup final, Arsenal's last piece of silverware.

Vieira is a born winner and a born fighter and for those reasons he's possibly the ideal signing for new club Manchester City. It is obviously difficult to tell right now if the French captain can keep up with the pace of the Premiership 5 years after leaving it, especially as he's not played much for Inter Milan in the last two seasons. But his experience and determination to win could be the kind of push City need in their push toward silverware and the top 4.

The big question, other than whether or not Vieira is past it, is where exactly will he fit in. City have clearly had some problems this season, although perhaps not as many as we're often led to believe. But surely these problems have been in defence and not in midfield or up front. Expensive Summer signings Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott have been way below par as has Wayne Bridge, leaving City's back line to consist of, well just Shay Given really. In Vieira's position the Citizen's already have Nigel de Jong- one of the Premier League's best performers, Gareth Barry and Vincent Kompany, three good, expensive and much younger players than Vieira.

Could the big Frenchman about to move position into central defence? Surely not. Especially judging on his loss of any pace he might once of had, not that I'm sure he ever had much, it's unlikely. More to the point, judging on his collection of red cards down the years and the fact at centre back he'd be last man it's certainly not a good idea.

Of course Vieira is famous in these parts not just for his red cards and his collection of medals, including a World Cup one, but also for his on screen love affair with another big character from the Premier League soap drama, and a man who for sentiment alone is unfortunately no longer acting- Roy Keane. Who can forget them almost coming to blows in the tunnel at Highbury as Keane tried to protect Gary Neville from Vieira. Like I said, unfortunately Keane is no longer in this soap as he resides in the Championship version and the reason it's unfortunate is because, for all it's current drama, the Premier League's lack of big characters.

The reason I welcome back Vieira is, successful or not, he's sure to add some more drama. And you can never have enough drama- cue music!

That's a wrap

As the Sky cameras pulled away from Fratton Park and Old Trafford the videos of those games could be thrown in the vault just in time for the door to shut. "That's it boys, lock away the 'noughties'"! (I warn you now it's a long one)

It's been some ten years; firstly I'm pretty sure we were all doomed at least twice this decade. As the year, decade and century turned just ten years ago all our machinery's clocks were due to change to year 00 thus making the whole world implode. Of course our machinery was clever enough to realise it was 2000 rather than the reliving of Christ's birth and we survived.

In footballing terms the last 120 months have seen some wonderful moments and also some horrible ones. Among my favourite ones were the 5-1 thrashing England gave the Germans, John Terry missing in Russia (cruel maybe but still funny), Sporting JLGB beating North Manchester K.D on penalties in the cup and going to my first ever match at Old Trafford- United vs West Ham January 1st 2001 3-1 home win, not sure I'll ever forget the first feeling of walking out from the underbelly of the stadium out into the stands to hear the noise.

Amongst the most horrible moments have to be England losing to Portugal on penalties, Ronaldinho's floated cross/shot over David Seaman, Steven Gerrard's pass towards David James intercepted by Thierry Henry, South Manchester coming back from 4-0 down to beat Sporting JLGB 6-4 and Martin Keown jumping all over the back of Ruud van Nistelrooy- if he'd scored that damned penalty the invincibles never would have existed (slightly bitter I know but I'm allowed).

Suddenly many more bad England memories are coming flooding back, and as it's already 3.00 a.m and I don't wanna be up all night with football nightmares it's time to give the English or at least it's Premier League the opportunity to fight back. So here it is, my Premier League XI vs my European XI

The Premier League XI is simply any body that played in the Premier League whose greatest contribution came whilst playing in the EPL and in the last 10 years. Though the Premier league has evolved, into lots of teams playing a variation of the 4-5-1, the decade kicked off with most sides still playing the classic 4-4-2 and this is what my Premier league manager of the decade, Sir Alex (predictable? who cares), would have played.

Picking a goalkeeper for any side is a struggle but I'm going to go for Shay Given, just ahead of Brad Friedel, Jussi Jaaskelainen (I googled it yes) and Edwin van der Sar, simply for consistent brilliance often playing behind some dreadful defenders. If only he were English.

At right back Gary Neville takes his place. No doubt Neville has had some long-standing injuries but these didn't come till 2007. As a person disliked by most, as a footballer disliked by most but mainly because he wasn't on your team- go on you can admit it, you like him really, besides who else you gonna pick? Danny Mills?

The left back slot goes to another still flying high in the Premier league and another often hated as a person. Ashley Cole come on down! Playing all his football in the 'noughties', and often in the papers for his own naughties, the former Arsenal left back is again relatively unchallenged in the last 10 years.

At centre back I'm going for what will most likely be a controversial partnership for different reasons. First up is a man who, granted had a crazy start and end to the decade, had a big part to play in 'the invincibles' of 2003/04. Of course it's none other than Sol "where have my marbles gone" Campbell. A rock at the back for Spurs, Arsenal, Pompey and England for big chunks of this decade. Of course there was the free transfer move from White Hart Lane to Highbury and the Notts County debacle but still. More surprisingly he's partnered by Liverpool's very own Finnish star- why it's big Sami Hypia of course. Captaining Liverpool to a F.A Cup, League Cup, UEFA cup treble and then winning the Champions league in one decade is pretty impressive for a player so underrated by any one outside the Anfield family.

In midfield I'm almost tempted to go for an all Manchester United quartet. I could go with Beckham, Scholes, Keane, and Giggs. I could replace Beckham with Ronaldo. But I'm not going to, don't get me wrong two of them will still be in there.

At right wing I'll kind of cheat. I'm going to shove Steven 'Stevie G' Gerrard out on the wing. There are three reasons for this. Firstly I wanted to avoid picking Ronaldo. Secondly I wanted to pick Gerrard but not ahead of my centre midfielders. And thirdly one of Gerrard's main contributions for Liverpool has been his ability to drag the team out of the mire from any position on the field and he has played wide right many a time for King Rafa of Liverpool.

On the left wing is THE player of the decade. The only man to score in every Premier League season since it began. Yes it is Ryan Giggs! Not much hasn't already been written about Giggs and though you could argue his main contribution came pre 2000 you could also argue it came post 2000. And simply for his proof of longevity and loyalty in these days of tearing up contracts and injuries galore I'm going for post 2000.

My midfield marshal is another member of les invincibles, it's Patrick Vieira. The Frenchman is living proof that you didn't need to play for a majority of the decade to catch the eye, after all he only spent the first five years over here before moving to Italy but his greatest contribution definitely came in an era where Arsenal weren't criticised for having a soft core to their team. Along side him is the midfielder who can't tackle, astonishing when you consider how well regarded he is. Of course it's Paul Scholes, another whose professionalism, loyalty and longevity added with his skill and Champions league semi-final winner against Barcelona see him slot straight in.

Up front is the kind of strike force any manager would drool over. Despite both these players moving onto Spain in the last few seasons they did their real damage whilst at Old Trafford and Highbury. First up is the quintessential goal scoring striker and the man quickest to 50 Premier League goals, Ruud van Nistelrooy. That's the goals inside the box taken care of. What about the cut in from the left and curling shot passed the keeper from outside the area... well handball or no handball that would have to be Thierry Henry, pretty much in the Premier league he was the French for va va voom!

Moving straight onto the European XI, and simply it's players with European nationality whose main contribution came outside the English Premier League, so Owen Hargreaves would be welcome here, although he's not. Making the tactical changes for Europe is a man whose biggest managerial contribution will hopefully come in England next decade. A man who won two (possibly three) Serie A titles and on La Liga title in the last decade, Fabio Capello.

In goal is without doubt a keeper Fabio would be familiar with. It's Gigi Buffon. World Cup, Serie A titles and a relegation. It's been a rather frantic decade for the keeper who also found time to become the most expensive shot stopper ever. Nuff said really!

Right back for team Europe would be captain of Barcelona and therefore current captain of both the World's and Europe's best team. Carles Puyol. Adding 2008 European Championships to his ever-growing list of silverware means this Catalonian won't go the way of many and fail to deliver on an international stage.

Maldini! It only needs one word really. Unfortunately retired before his countrymen got their hands on the World Cup but somehow I still feel part of that triumph belonged to him. Another whose best work came in the 90's, and possibly the 80's, but whose work in the 'noughties' should not be over looked. Besides he played at the top level till he was 40!

Two more Italians in centre back, Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro. Playing most of his 21st century football in Milan, Nesta has made four apperances in the UEFA Team of the Year and watching him in his prime it was obvious to see why in 2002 he became the most expensive defender in the world. He also had a pretty decent year in 2006 winning the Champions League and World Cup, most would struggle to do that on Football manager. His partner in crime is the only ever defender to win FIFA World Player of the Year and that alone speaks volumes. This decade has seen him play for Inter, Juventus, Real Madrid and Juventus again, not a bad collection of bloody good teams. Now 36 and still playing for Italy don't count him out to pick up more honours before he retires.

The only player to win the Champions League with three different clubs plays at right wing for EFC (Europe Football Club). So the 90's may have seen Clarence Seedorf win his first two but the 'noughties' saw him win two more this time both with A.C Milan. And despite being a back-stabbing piece of work moving from the San Siro to the San Siro and supposedly being at the centre of many Dutch arguments this decade Clarence is still a class act of a footballer!
These days’ jokes about Chuck Norris suggest he can do everything, but whilst I was at school we used to joke that Pavel Nedved could do anything, and thus he finds himself in my squad. Nedved is a Ballon d'Or winner and was simply a footballing genius.

The central midfield for Europe might not have the bite of its Premier League opposition but it certainly has the skill. The man to sit and play the ball wherever he feels will be Andres Iniesta. Twice a Champions League winner and once a European Championship winner it's been quite the European decade for one of the most underrated footballer's on the planet, and that says a lot when you consider how highly he's thought of.

If you asked any footballer what he'd like his final act as a footballer to be he probably wouldn't answer "head butt someone in a World Cup final". And of course Zinedine Zidane wouldn't have wanted it either but in a weird way I'm thankful it was. Zidane walking passed the World Cup trophy is probably one of the images of the decade, sporting or otherwise. He was also a bloody good player and anyone who takes a penalty like that in a World Cup final deserves a place in this team.

Upfront are two of Europe's biggest striking servants, in terms of years playing at the top and goals. And our final World Cup winning player to make the team is Alessandro Del Piero. The goal scoring and goal-creating machine could probably make a team of the 90's as well but I'm not interested in that. He's survived several injuries and relegation and yet the man who is Juventus' best ever goal scorer is still right at the top of the game. Along side him is a man who seems now to be overtaken at his team by the new, young, expensive strikers around him. But remember kids he is Spain's and the Champions League's top goal scorer and his name is Raul. He's scored more goals for Spain and more goals in the Champions League than anyone else, what more do you want?

And the result?! Well as with many of my high and low points of the decade this one will go to penalties. And with Fabio no doubt going over and over penalties in his preperations before 2010's World Cup I'm going to have Steven Gerrard lashing home the winning penalty past Buffon!

OK I've gone on for a long time and I'll finish with this thought; A lot's changed in a decade, after all, this time 10 years ago Manchester United had just won yet another Premier League title and were after another and we all looked towards June where we believed England could win an international trophy for the first time since 1966. A lot has changed in the last 10 years and then again, it might just be exactly the same! Good night and happy New Year!

Manager of the Season!

Yet another week when football, and the Premier league in particular threw up a whole load of headlines. From weather based cancellations, more injuries to David Moyes' Everton, Lionel Messi picking up yet another award after winning the World Club Cup for Barcelona, 3 time taken penalty, the Spurs' players 'golfing' trip to Dublin and of course unpredictable results by the bucket load.

Ok granted the bucket maybe wasn't as deep as in past weeks but there was still losses for Liverpool, Manchester United, and Celtic whilst Chelsea dropped points at could be relegation fodder West Ham.

Chelsea were looking invincible just a few weeks ago and suddenly, having lost to Blackburn on penalties in the League cup, they seem anything but. Petr Cech would find it difficult to get into the England squad on current Chelsea form, if England had any goalkeeper they could rely on, and John Terry is playing at his worst for some time. Tony Cascarino said on Sky Sports News today that he couldn't see Chelsea playing worse than they currently are but he seems to forget that in January some of there most influential of players will be jetting off to Angola to take part in the African Cup of Nations. It may of course have little effect on the Blues but it will leave Carlo Ancelotti looking over his shoulder at United and Arsenal.

Talking of the champions, that's United of course and not Arsenal, their title defence is starting to look a little nervy to say the least. When Sir Alex says "there's no light at the end of the tunnel" you can't help but listen. Of course just a day or so later the Glaswegian was stating that many of his defensive injuries were nearly back and he wouldn't be swooping into the market to pluck out and defensive cover come January.

The fact is thought that whilst United lost for the 2nd time in 3 league games they once again lost to an in form side. Fulham are transformed under Roy Hodgson, from a team who would have been relegated had it not been for Rafa Benitez resting all is players in a match against them a couple of years ago (don't remember Arsene Wenger complaining then), into a side who look at home in Europe and are easily disposing of the champions. At this point you'll all be looking at the title and thinking something along the lines of "Oh he's going to say Roy Hodgson is manager of the season. Bit premmature but fair enough." You're wrong of course, the Premier league 2009/2010 Manager of the season goes to either....

Roberto Mancini- Manchester City's new manager is going to have an incredible season, winning the Carling Cup having beaten city rivals United in the semi final and then going onto finish 4th in the league. Oh no the future's not been decided yet?!? I thought it had, I thought that's why City sacked Mark Hughes. Wait so Mancini hasn't already won the league cup and got to 4th? He's done nothing in English football so far you say? Well I am mistaken. So Mark Hughes leads his side to 6th in the Premier league, a good position to find yourself in just before Christmas, and a league cup semi final and still gets sacked! He wasn't managing United or Chelsea, teams who would frown on being 6th at any time of the season passed the third game, he was managing at City, a side who have never finished inside the top 6 in Premier league history.

For those of you who didn't work out the last paragraph was written slightly tongue in cheek. I'm also not a big fan in the way Manchester City have gone about sacking a manager who, though he hasn't blown the Premier league away, has done little wrong to get sacked. I'm especially not a fan of Garry Cook, who is chief executive down at the City of Manchester Stadium. In the past he has been referred to as the David Brent of football, watching him in Monday's press conference acting arrogant and passive aggressive towards journalists you can see why. Cook was unflappable in suggesting the club were right to sack Sparky and did nothing wrong with the way they went about it. For me though deciding you're going to sack a manager three weeks before you actually sack him and then doing it after a victory is almost definitely the wrong way to go about it! I'm not saying that sacking a manager needs to be an impulse decision but that victory over Sunderland should at least have bought him some time and having the new guy in place almost by the time Hughes had left the changing rooms for one last time must have been a kick in the nads for the Welshman. In the end though it will be City who may well regret Hughes' sacking most, if rumours are to be believed then should Mancini fail to make the top four he'll be sacked and the Blues of Manchester and their fans will once again be green with envy over the stability just a few miles away.

But why stop there! We have another nomination to come....

Ladies and Gents I give you, Rafa! Well what a season, back in November they were knocked out of the Champions League and found themselves in near disarray in the Premier league. Then came wins against Arsenal, Wigan and Portsmouth in a week and the whole season turned around. They surged up the table into fourth place and won the FA Cup and Europa League double. Ok so granted just like the Mancini hypothetical situation it could end up not being so hypothetical, but again like with Mancini I can't see it happening.

The reason I'm picking on Benitez, other than it being fun, is he just makes it too easy. About 10 days ago the Scouse Spaniard said "the season starts here", in which case he's started with 3 points from a possible 9 with a goal difference of minus 1, and judging on how badly the real seasons gone so far he may just take that.

We were led to believe at the beginning of the season that if Torres and Gerrard were fit then it would be extremely difficult to stop Liverpool finally winning the league, they haven't stayed fit and it has exposed the holes in the squad and specifically the Rafa made problem of having few strikers after selling Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy in the last couple of seasons. Indeed even with El Nino and Stevie G fit they have been anything but firing, as on Saturday when they were well out played and out gunned by south coast strugglers Portsmouth. I know only a few short weeks ago I said Liverpool were dangerous in the race to the top four as a wounded, out of Champions League, animal type way but having seen them continue to struggle and Spurs and Villa looking just as strong or stronger I'm starting to believe they'll be lucky to finish ahead of City, Birmingham or Manchester.

With the end of the year and in fact end of the decade approaching it's only inevitable we start to reminisce over the last 10 years of football. Personally I'll be blogging about it next week but for now with the exciting Christmas schedule to come over the next week or so I'd like to look forward, after all the season truly starts here!

So many questions...

It's been a busy few weeks for the Sidler and I've seemingly got a little lazy with my blogging. Just as I looked for some inspiration to start up again the Premier League came up with a weekend of unpredictable results followed by a midweek full of action drama and talking points. You can't fault midweek football when it's like it was this week, that is of course unless your name happens to be Arsene and you happen to be be unhappy about some manager's team selection. I wonder if Arsene would be so arsey if his team had won... no need to wonder he probably wouldn't have cared less.

The truth is Mr Wenger shouldn't be too unhappy after his team's performance against Burnley yesterday. Don't get me wrong they didn't defend well enough and they didn't finish some of their early chances but Burnley were excellent and may have won had Stephen Fletcher's goal not been ruled out, what happened to the offside rule where the attacking side got the benefit of the doubt?

The last few days in football have certainly thrown up more questions than answers, and much debate will of course be on Mick McCarthy and his choice of team to play against the champions. Having secured 6 points out of 6 his side travelled to United, most would be hopeful of an outside chance of nicking a point or three. Mick though decided to play a team full of his non regulars and admitted afterwards he had pretty much already decided his team would lose no matter who played.

The former Sunderland manager perhaps had a point. His side were coming up against a United team scorned after losing to Aston Villa at the weekend, and the reds rarely lose two league games in a row, especially at Old Trafford. And in the side's defence this wasn't a team of no hopers nor were they overrun by United, until the opening goal that is of course, but then how many times has that happened to even the best of side's at Old Trafford. Also in Mick's defence isn't football a squad game in these modern times? Long ago of course players played every game in which they were fit and available for, these days though the title isn't won on who has the best 11 but on who has the best 25 or so and it's the same down at the bottom. And though Mick may have technically broken the Premier League's rule on picking your best available side, has he really done anything worse than the United's and Arsenal's of this world who rest players for the league cup, it is simply prioritising. On the flip side is the fact that Wolves did break a rule and that it in turn gives United an advantage in the title race. Added to that there is the obvious annoyance to fans who had to pay £45 for the ticket alone just to see Wolves turn up with a second string, they arguably turned up at Old Trafford with a stronger side for the Carling Cup game. For me the defence out weighs the prosecution against Wolves and the only ones it harms are Wolves themselves, for the fans of course all will be forgotten if they beat Burnley and go on to avoid relegation come May.

There was of course questions for United as well, the first being why didn't Fergie play two up front against Aston Villa. I don't want to take anything away from Villa but United aren't the kind of team who should play 4-5-1 at home. For me though the real question for United and the Scottish knight was asked not at Old Trafford on Tuesday but at White Hart Lane on Wednesday. Why didn't you sign Niko Kranjcar? The Croat was the picture of perfection as his team ripped through the static defending of fellow 4th place wannabees Manchester City. He created lots, he scored twice and he scared the living daylights out of defenders. United have been lacking this scare factor many times this season, other than the boy Wayne of course, who became 2009's top Premiership scorer on Tuesday. Up until recently though United have lacked enough creativity in midfield and there has been lots of talk about who Fergie might invest in during the January transfer window, especially with £80 million of Ronaldo money still hanging around. Yet Wednesday's destructive play by Niko not only highlighted that Spurs look far more likely than City to be in the top 4 it also highlighted him as the best value transfer of last summer, at £3 million it's a wonder why no one else tried.

Wenger said this week that eight teams still had a chance of winning the league, and though mathematically he may be right there's surely no more than four who have an actual chance. Outside of the usual Chelsea, United and Arsenal there is of course the wild card, Aston Villa. Martin O'Neil's side have started asking the question, why not? Wins this season against Liverpool, Chelsea and United have caught the headlines. Draws with fellow Europe chasers City and Spurs and wins over Birmingham and Fulham mean they have gathered valuable points where City and Spurs have dropped against similar opposition. With Stewart Downing finally fit after his summer move it is like Villa have made a new signing just before the busy December period, added to the fact Emile Heskey has scored a few goals and Martin O'Neil has replenished his squad before next month's transfer filled period, Christmas come early if you please.

At Anfield my 2nd favourite headline maker (behind Arsene of course) was up to his favourite pastime, creating headlines of course. Guaranteeing a 4th place finish for his team may well end up being the moment Rafa started writing his own resignation letter and it leads me to ask, why?. Liverpool currently lie 5 points outside the top four, this is of course a pretty small margin, especially at this time of the season, but as it is only December it's also a long way to go before you start guaranteeing anything, never mind turning your season around. In their 2-1 win over Wigan, Liverpool may have grabbed 3 points but they hardly set the world alight or gave much proof that their form from now till May can be better than Villa, Spurs, City or even Birmingham for that matter. Liverpool's defence is still weak, the midfield still aren't creating enought and the strikers, outside Fernando Torres of course, aren't up to much, despite David Ngog's goal on Wednesday. Of course Benitez will luck an absolute genius should his side get in to the top four but his previous as far as mid season press confrences are concerned suggets they won't... and that's a fact!

It would be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful run that Birmingham find themselves on. Can it last? With money to come from their new owners in January it is indeed a possibility. The Blues from England's second city have one of the league's smaller squads and yet Alex McLeish has seen his side win 5 Premier League games in a row and sit behind Liverpool on goal difference alone. Like many pundits I predicted that Birmingham would be mere relegation fodder, a decent side who would struggle to find goals. And yet Cameron Jeremoe and changed man Lee Bowyer have proved that theory very wrong. I can't imagine Birmingham being in the European places come the end of the season but a top 10 finish is certainly a possibility and Birmingham fans could have hardly asked for more than that in August.

One last question lingers following the midweek football- were Arsenal playing claret and blue or white in their match against Burnley last night. Of course I know the answer, it was claret and blue right? Ok ok I'm joking but the point stands. We often purr over the beautiful football Arsenal play, and rightly so, with players like Fabregas and Arshavin at their disposal it is unsurprising. And yet last night they were outplayed, out passed, out Arsenaled. Burnley were fantastic. Mcdonald, Fletcher, Elliot, and Eagles caused the Arsenal defence all sort of problems and they came within an offside flag of a yet another unlikely home victory. Arsenal were of course very good themselves for periods of the game but as soon as Burnley didn't concede a second and then won themselves a penalty the result always looked to be going Burnley's way if anything. If Burnley can learn to defend better away from home they'll almost definitely be in the Premiership for season 2010/11.

Wenger of course had to complain not only about Wolves choice of players for their trip to Old Trafford but also that his team had to play three times in one week. With action as good as it's been I have to answer his question with a question.... Can't they all play seven times a week?

Someone a Little Special

First up today I'd like to apologise to all Spurs fans, well not all, just any who I like. Last week's blog was meant to be about Spurs, their wonderful striker Jermain Defoe and specifically their resounding victory over Wigan. As I began to write about their chances of getting into the top four Liverpool got knocked out of the Champions League and suddenly my attention was averted elsewhere. Since then Spurs have gone to Villa Park and got a very good point against Martin O'Neil's side and looked good doing so.

Enough of that! It's been a whole 12 days since I mentioned England, of course I blogged about international football after what is now one of the most famous footballing moments of the modern era, THAT handball.

Talk of international football is to be expected, we are only 7 months away from the World Cup and excitingly only 5 days away from the draw. Week after week we are shown images of Fabio Capello and Franco Baldini as they sit in the stands of yet another Premiership team, eyeing up the players already in the England squad and perhaps more importantly those not.

And with talk of which players will or won't get to join J.T, Wazza, Stevie and the boys (I've got to give it the Steve Mclaren it was quite fun to call them that), some names start to creep in that might just surprisingly force their way in. At the beginning of the season Jack Wilshere was amusingly mentioned. Keiran Gibbs is another Arsenal youngster with an outside chance and more recently David Dunn's shining performances for Blackburn have been praised at the highest level. Of course sometimes players aren't good enough for the press to consider them that the player themselves must mention it, enter Tyrone Mears.

For me the surprise name that Fabio may well want to pay close attention to is a midfielder whose surname begins with B. A talisman for whichever team he's played for. Who inspires with his football ability and his personality. A player who has had his fair share of injuries, with a special talent for dead ball situations.... NO NOT BECKHAM! It's good old smiley Jimmy Bullard!

Go back to January of this year and perhaps the the most surprising of that window's transfers was that of Bullard from Fulham to Hull. The £5 million Phil Brown handed over seemed to be an absolute bargain for a side who had started to sliip down the table after such a fantastic start to the season. Bullard's enthusiasm, skill and hard work makes him an all round fantastic central midfielder and one who had performed solidly for Fulham and had them dreaming of a place in Europe. Phil Brown though needed to reinvigorate his side who had gone backwards since the start of the season that could of had then dreaming of Europe.

Suddenly though disaster struck! On debut for Hull Bullard picked up an injury on the same knee he'd dislocated during his time at Fulham. It was cruciate ligament damage and would rule him out of the rest of the season. The Tigers went on to struggle for the rest of the season as the ex West Ham youth watched from the sideline. Relegation may have been the nightmare turned reality had the form of Newcastle and Middelsborough not been so poor.

This season though Jimmy is back, and with a bang! Again Hull have found themselves struggling, and Phil Brown has found himself in danger of being sacked/resigning/leaving by mutual consent (same thing different PR companies). But the ex Wigan player seems to be saving his manager's job almost on his own.

8 valuable points in the last 4 matches have come in some way or other via a piece of magic from Bullard. It is not always his goal or assist that has set up the points for his side but it is certainly his personality that has been stamped on every game, no more so than on Saturday. Playing against City, Hull were looking like the inferior side that they are. Mark Hughes though played straight into Phil Brown's hands. When Robinho was taken off, understandably considering his recent injury and hard work during the match, it left a bigger hole for Bullard to occupy. As the three points seemed to be heading for the home side Hull won a penalty. Up stepped Bullard and with the calm and collectiveness of the best around he dispatched it beyond Shay Given and the points were shared.

Of course that wasn't the end of it, Bullard then went and mimicked his manager's moment of madness from last season. That moment was of course when Brown gave his half time speech at the City of Manchester stadium on the pitch with his side 4-0 down last season. Bullard stood, circled by his team mates, and pretended to tell them off. Even Brown found it funny, and how could he not. All the pre game talk had been about that moment derailing Hull last season and here was the man of the moment taking the piss out of it, the line under that moment is thoroughly drawn.

Who could tell me J.B (yeah I'm at it again) isn't worth a place on Capello's plane to South Africa in the summer? Put it this way; in a match where Lampard is injured would you rather Michael Carrick of Jimmy Bullard replace him? Exactly what I thought.

His exuberance alone is something that is not only rarely seen in football it is certainly seen no where else in the England squad. Along with that he has excellent dead ball taking skills, highlighted by his ability to step up at the most pressure filled moments and score a penalty.

If there is to be any major surprised in the England squad for next summer's World Cup then we should forget all about Arsenal youngsters or even Blackburn veterans and go for the shaggy haired blonde....no not Beckham... Jimmy of course!