The Premier League is back

After a two week absence the Premier League was back, and back with a bang. With 22 goals in only 8 games.

Match Week 34 started with Man U's journey to the Stadium of Light to play Sunderland for the early kick-off. Man U would go 18 points clear with a victory and they managed just that. They did it in classic United style, a hard fought 1-0 win. To top that the goal was an own goal, but they say "Champions must win even at their worst" and Man U did just that.

Among the 3 o'clock kick-off, the stand put performance (as I predicted a couple days back) was Arsenal V Reading. Arsenal ended up run away winners, beating the Royals 4-1. The stand out performer was Gervinho, yes Gervinho, that wasn't a typo, Gervinho did indeed play well.

Other stand results include Man City's 4-0 drubbing of Newcastle, which brought the gap at the top back down to 15. Particularly good goals scored by Silva and Kompany, whether or not the laters finish was on purpose may be up for debate.
Chelsea were defeated by an very impressive Southampton. Rickie Lambert scored a rocket of a free kick from 35 yards to regain the Saints lead mid way through the first half. The fact that Benitez didn't start either Mata or Hazard did not help his cause, especially after the full time whistle went at Southampton 2 - 1 Chelsea
Wigan picked up another invaluable 3 points against Norwich. Arouna Kone scored them only goal late on in the second half. The win takes Wigan out the bottom three. The Wigan revival continues.

Tottenham managed a victory over Swansea. Laudrup blames the defeat on Tottenham's quicker start and Gareth Bale. Bale set up the first and scored the second himself. Vertongen was the other Tottenham scorer, whose goal is well worth a watch. Michu pulled one back , but it proved to be no more than a consolation.
West Ham got back to winning ways after beating West Brom in an eventful game. Carroll the hero scoring twice one a spectacular volley. O'neill was the other West Ham scorer and Dorrans scored a penalty for the baggies, but to late on to give West Ham any scare. Things got even worse for West Brom when Mulumbu reacted badly to a foul and got sent off.

The late kick off was Everton against Stoke and a Kevin Mirallas' solo goal was enough for Everton to take all 3 points. Which means they may still have hope for the top four.

There is one Easter Sunday match. Liverpool travel to Villa where both sides will look to keep good form going.
Televised on Sky Sports: 1330

NEXT GEN SERIES (part 2)

The semi final matches for the next Generation series were played today, (What is Next Gen Series?) with three out of the four semi finalists being English clubs.

Aston Villa V Sporting Lisbon: And so to the second of the semi finals, which included only one English side. An English side that may have not been many people's first guesses in Aston Villa, played Sporting Lisbon for a place in the final against Chelsea.
After an uneventful first half people may have been forgiven for predicting the same for the rest of the match. However the second half started well and Aston Villa won a penalty after 50 minutes, which was dispatched by Graham Burke. 1-0
The Portugese side came right back and Villa failed to hold onto their lead. Sporting got their equaliser through Stojanovic. 1-1
Into extra time, but only just, as in the first minute of it, Grealish managed to take down a cross from the left before lashing Villa back in front. 2-1
Then late on in first half extra time stoppage time. Samir Carruthers curled an impressive shot from the edge of the area past the keeper to inevitably send Aton Villa marching on. 3-1 FULL TIME
Aston Villa now face Chelsea in mondays Final

Aston Villa celebrate getting through to the final

FINAL LIVE: On Eurosport
                        Monday 1st April 18:00

NEXT GEN SERIES (part 1)

The semi final matches for the next Generation series were played today, (What is Next Gen Series?) with three out of the four semi finalists being English clubs.

Arsenal V Chelsea: The first of the two matches was a London derby played near sunny Lake Como, Italy.
Arsenal were one up at half time through a Akpom goal. The ball was rolled to him and it would have been more difficult to miss. 1-0
 Chelsea came out much more determined in the second half, and equalised after a saved Baker penalty was met by the inrushing Feruz. The Arsenal players fell asleep after the penalty save and Feruz simply reacted quicker than anyone else. 1-1
 Chelsea then went infront for the first time. Baker didn't seem affected by the penalty miss and took aim from around 35 yards out. The keeper expected the ball to bounce higher than it did, and it went under his embarrassed arms. 1-2
Boga made it 3-1 to Chelsea when he met Kiwomya's cross at the back post after 64 minutes and Chelsea looked set for the final. 1-3
But then a remarkable comeback was ignited. With three minutes to go Akpom was once agin found with a cross from the right. He managed to bundle home his second from 6 yards out. 2-3
Arsenal then made it all square with a minute or so left. Gnabry, who has had a few first team apperances for the Gunners, produced a moment of individual brilliance. He skipped past his marker before firing low in the far corner. The margin for error in the finish was very close to zero. 3-3
Into extra time, and only one goal was needed for Chelsea to hold on to victory this time. Swift picked up the ball and went past is man on the by-line with a nice bit of skill, before squaring it to captain Baker who scored his second, with what proved to be the winner. 3-4 FULL TIME
 Chelsea move on into Mondays final.

International Team of the Week

While the international break was not as good as we all know the Premier League would have been, the players who really performed for their country over the past week should still be noticed.

THE INTERNATIONAL BREAK TEAM OF THE WEEK

BUFFON: Started his week conceding two against Brazil. There was not much he could have done about the goals, but he did make a good save against Neymar. His real performance was on Tuesday when Italy faced Malta. He was truly professional other than the moment he gave away a penalty, but being the outstanding keeper he is, he saved it.

Janmaat: Decent against Romania, but set up two out of the three goals against Estonia and almost had another one.

Varane: Made his debut for France against Georgia and looked very comfortable. He also featured against Spain and once again played well, but his only regret will be a missed header at the far stick from a corner.

Sergio Ramos: A highlight of the Madrid defender's career came against Finland, where he made his 100th Spain cap, and on the momentous day he managed a goal from a corner. Also played well against France and kept teammate Benzema quiet.

Lahm: Played well enough against Kazakhstan the first time. He supported Muller fairly well going forward. When Germany faced Kazakhstan days later he was much more impressive. playing more as a winger than a wing back, and after an amazing run set up Gotze for the second goal.

Gago: Against Venezuela he was fantastic, both defensively and when playing with a more attacking mentality. It was the more attacking mentality that meant he split the defence with a couple of fantastic passes.

Van der Vaart: Even as a sub he was the man to spark the Dutch victory over Estonia when he scored the opener early in the second half. Against Romania he was taken off early in the second half, but not before he scored the early opener.

Young: Was the star man against the formidable San Marino, and also scored the pick of the 8 goals, with a right-footed belter. Came on as a sub against Montenegro, however didn't really do much, but it was for his San Marino performance that he got in this team.

Reus: Didn't feature in the first of the two Germany Kazakhstan matches, but in the second he scored two of the 4 goals and was a threat throughout the game.

Balotelli: Was very lively and had a handful of chances from start to finish against Brazil, would have scored more than the one he did if it wasn't for some decent saves from Brazil and QPR keeper Julio Cesar. When Italy travelled to Malta Balotelli was incredible - the man of the match and a million miles ahead of the rest. Two goals, but that's not even half of the story - was amazing throughout.

Van Persie: Poor first half against Estonia. Missed a sitter in the second but did manage to get his name on the score sheet. After mixed reviews against Estonia he was the man of the match against Romania, with the assist for the first and the second and third he scored himself, meaning he has now surpassed Cryuff for Netherland goals with 34.


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: BALOTELLI - was fantastic in both of his appearances. Three goals in 2 sounds pretty good but that doesn't even come close to saying how good he was, especially against Malta.

International Boredom OVER

Unfortunately for fans of club football, a break for international qualifiers has meant that a Saturday without proper football ensued. However, there is no need to fret as the Premier League and Championship restart this weekend. So lets take a look.

Man U seem to have already wrapped up the League title, and for around 2 hours or so they can extended their lead at the top to 18 points with a win away at Sunderland during the early kick off.

Rooney scores only goal last time out against Reading

Wigan will attempt to continue their revival when Norwich come to the DW, and with the 3 teams above them playing against very difficult inform sides, it is a perfect opportunity for them to leapfrog Aston Villa before they play Liverpool on Sunday, and if other results go their way they could be out if the relegation and only 1 point behing Southampton and Sunderland.

Kone controversial winner in controversial match

The race for top four will heat up as Chelsea are set to play 4 times from this Saturday to the following Sunday. And on Saturday they face Southampton and with victory they could go 1 point behind 2nd place Man City. Tottenham have now lost 2 in a row and now face a difficult trip to Wales to face Swansea, however the Swans have themselves lost their last two. Arsenal face Reading whose Premier League struggle saw them sack Brian McDermott, and replace him with ex Southampton manager Nigel Adkins and the match this weekend will be his first in charge of the Royals. This match should also be the one to watch this weekend, with the last two meetings between these clubs ending 5-2 and 7-5 both Arsenal victories. Arsenal need a victory to keep up their top four challenge. Everton still have an outside shot at getting a Champions League spot come the end of the season, but to keep up any hope they will need to beat an out of sorts Stoke.

race for top four

To the predictions for the matches this weekend:

SATURDAY

1230 Sunderland V ManU: 0-3

1500 Arsenal V  Reading: 4-3

1500 ManC V Newcastle: 1-1

 1500 Southampton V Chelsea: 1-3

1500 Swansea V Tottenham: 1-2

1500 WestHam V WestBrom: 0-2

1500 Wigan V Norwich: 2-0

1730 Everton V Stoke: 3-0

SUNDAY

1330 Aston Villa V Liverpool: 1-2

MONDAY
2000 Fulham V QPR: 1-1

PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

Transfer Gossip

TRANSFER GOSSIP

With not much over a Month left of this Summers Transfer Window, rumours and gossip plague sport websites. This will round up those rumours, judge the completion of the deal and the talent of the player.

MODRIC: Modric has been one of the Jewels in Totteham's Crown, but the wide spread rumours say that the Playmaker might need a "change of scenery"it is likely that he will swap the White shirt of Tottenham for the White of Madrid the lure of the Spanish Champions, The Mourinho Factor and Champions League Football might all be to much. Man U have interest in the Croatian however Modric wants Real. The London Club has fined Modric for missing training amid the Transfer Speculation. Modric is not in the States with the rest of the squad for their Pre-Season tour however has returned to the Tottenham  training pitch alone. Modric's heart seems set on Madrid but Villas Boas needs to keep his stars to have a chance of Champions League Football.

Player Rating:9/10

Completion Rating:8/10

OSCAR: The young Internacional Midfielder has been linked with Chelsea for weeks now, a few days ago his agent claimed that the deal was off, however the the Internacional President, Giovanni Luigi, says that the deal is very close to completion. A medical is set to take place and with Oscar in London for the Olympic Football representing his nation Brazil it could be done very soon.

Player Rating: 8.5/10

Completion Rating:9.5/10

BARTON: The controversial Midfielder was the centre of some very unpleasant attention at the end of last season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7TJJf1agk this is the incident for those of you who haven't seen the Sending Off. The Elbow, Kick, Headbutt combo got some of Joey Barton's extreme haters to say he should be fired by QPR and never allowed to play again, what happened was a fine by QPR but a lengthy 12 match ban from the FA. In other words, no football for Joey Barton in a QPR shirt until November. Now it has been confirmed that he will train with the Fleetwood boys until the end of his suspension, but the newly promoted League 2 side are also looking to have him at the club on loan until January so he can play and train.

Player Rating:7/10

Completion Rating: 7/10

VAN PERSIE: Lastly RVP has been all around the papers even before the season ended. With his contract running out at the end of next season and  Van Persie  saying he will not sign a new one, Arsenal have 2 choices: 1) Keep an unhappy Van Persie on the hope he can recreate the magic he produced last season. Or the far more likely 2) Sell him for around 20m to Man U, Man C or Italian Champions Juventus. Wenger is keen to keep him and has set a deadline for the Dutch Talisman's Transfer. He has also rejected offers from United due to the Price, 8m to be exact. RVP wants to leave but the reluctance from Wenger means the deal although likely to happen at some point is a long way of completion.

Could it be??

Player Rating:9/10

Completion Rating:4.5/10

Wolves managerial hunt.

Wolves sacked ex-manager Mick McCarthy last Premier League weekend, after what can only be described as an embarrassing defeat at the hands of bitter rivals, West Brom. Ever since then Wolves have been on the look out for their new manager, but it hasn't gone so well.

The Wolves board came our saying that they wanted to resolve this quickly. They did act quickly by interviewing, recently sacked manager, Bruce. He was thrown off the "managerial merry-go-round" by Sunderland and was replaced by O'neill. The interview happened and as of yet nothing more has come out about Steve Bruce. He is still the bookies favourites at a stunning 2/1

Under pressure at Sunderland. Not anymore

Alan Curbishley is another one of the men Wolves seek. An original interview was followed by the ex-Charlton man ruling himself out of the running. It didn't stop the persistent Wolves offering again, but alas...still no! However the bookies have him at a strong 7/1 or 4th favourite. Other strong candidates include Lee Clark, Roy Keane and Gus Poyet at 5/1, 6/1, 7/1 respectively. Outsiders, includes some crazy managerial ideas, like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at 40/1. How about Slaven Bilic at 50/1. Even Sven Goran Erisson at the furthest outside, 66/1. Whoever the next manger is..........they will probably still be relegated.
Can they prove me wrong?
I don't think so.

COULD IT BE???????????????????????