FA Cup 4th Round

Friday 25/01/08 - 7.45pm
Southend United v Barnsley

Saturday 26/01/08 - 12.30pm
Mansfield Town v Middlesbrough

Saturday 26/01/08 - 3pm
Arsenal v Newcastle Utd
Barnet v Bristol Rovers
Coventry City v Millwall
Liverpool v Havant And Waterlooville
Oldham Athletic v Huddersfield Town
Peterborough Town v West Bromwich Albion
Portsmouth v Plymouth Argyle
Derby County v Preston North End
Southampton v Bury
Watford v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Saturday 26/01/08 - 5.15pm
Wigan Athletic v Chelsea

Sunday 27/01/08 - 12.30pm
Hereford United v Cardiff City

Sunday 27/01/08 - 2pm
Manchester Utd v Tottenham Hotspur

Sunday 27/01/08 - 4pm
Sheffield United v Manchester City

Crowd Facts - Loyal Fans

The percentage of the capacity filled on average by the Premeier League teams.

Arsenal 99.4
Manchester United 99.2
Chelsea 99.1
Tottenham Hotspur 98.8
Portsmouth 98.3
West Ham United 98.0
Newcastle United 97.5
Reading 96.7
Liverpool 96.2
Aston Villa 92.5
Fulham 92.5
Everton 92.3
Derby County 90.3
Manchester City 89.1
Sunderland 87.1
Birmingham City 87.0
Bolton Wanderers 79.6
Middlesbrough 77.0
Blackburn Rovers 74.3
Wigan Athletic 73.5

Crowd Facts - Highest Attendences

Best Gates Of The Season so far for each of the Premier teams.

Manchester United 75612
Arsenal 60052
Newcastle United 50869
Liverpool 43650
Sunderland 42694
Manchester City 42496
Chelsea 41659
Aston Villa 39400
Everton 37063
Tottenham Hotspur 35858
West Ham United 34581
Derby County 32136
Middlesbrough 27022
Birmingham City 26111
Reading 23403
Blackburn Rovers 23307
Fulham 22739
Bolton Wanderers 20306
Portsmouth 19942
Wigan Athletic 18484

Premier League Transfers

Transfers involving Premier League players so far - up to 18/01/08
Coming in = Blue

18 January 2008
Callum Davenport [West Ham - Watford] Loan
Brede Hangeland [FC Copenhagen - Fulham] Undisclosed
James McFadden [Everton - Birmingham] £5m
Ryan Shawcross [Man Utd - Stoke] £1m
Andy Taylor [Blackburn - Tranmere] Undisclosed
Djimi Traore [Portsmouth - Rennes] Loan
Antonia Valencia [Villarreal-Wigan] Undisclosed

17 January 2008
Febian Brandy [Man Utd - Swansea] Loan
Lassana Diarra [Arsenal-Portsmouth] Undisclosed
Maynor Figueroa [Deportivo Olimpia-Wigan] Loan
Tobias Mikaelsson [Aston Villa - Port Vale] Loan
Matt Taylor [Portsmouth - Bolton] Undisclosed

16 January 2008
David Murphy [Hibernian - Birmingham] £1.5m
Asa Hall [Birmingham - Shrewsbury] Loan
Branislav Ivanovic [Lokomotiv Moscow - Chelsea] Undisclosed
Stephen O'Halloran [Aston Villa - Southampton] Loan
Gretar Steinsson [AZ Alkmaar - Bolton] £3.5m

15 January 2008
Dan Gosling [Plymouth - Everton] £2m
Jean-Yves Mvoto [PSG - Sunderland] Undisclosed

11 January 2008
Nicolas Anelka [Bolton - Chelsea] £15m
Manuel Fernandes [Valencia - Everton] Loan
Lee Holmes [Derby - Walsall] Loan
Mark King [Blackburn - Accrington] Free
Matthew Mills [Man City - Doncaster] Loan
Bondz Ngala [West Ham - Weymouth] Loan
Matt Oakley [Derby - Leicester] £500,000
Wilson Palacios [Deportivo Olimpia - Wigan] Undisclosed
Laurent Robert [unattached - Derby]
Martin Skrtel [Zenit St Petersburg - Liverpool] Undisclosed

10 January 2008
David Button [Tottenham - Grays] Loan
Andrew Davies [Middlesbrough - Southampton] Undisclosed
Peter Enckelman [Blackburn - Cardiff] Loan
Phil Ifil [Tottenham - Colchester] Undisclosed
Lee Martin [Man Utd - Sheff Utd] Loan

9 January 2008
Robbie Savage [Blackburn - Derby] £1.5m
John Halls [Reading - Crystal Palace] Loan
Chris Herd [Aston Villa - Port Vale] Loan
Marc Laird [Manchester City - Millwall] Free

8 January 2008
Scott Spencer [Everton - Yeovil] Loan
Rowan Vine [Birmingham - QPR] £1,000,000

7 January 2008
Ben Alnwick [Tottenham - Leicester] Loan
Danijel Subotic [Basle - Portsmouth] Undisclosed
Ben Tozer [Swindon - Newcastle] Undisclosed

4 January 2008
Ryan Bertrand [Chelsea - Norwich] Loan
Jonny Evans [Man Utd - Sunderland] Loan
Neil Kilkenny [Birmingham - Leeds] Loan
Danny Mills [Man City - Derby] Loan
Matthew Pattison [Newcastle - Norwich] Undisclosed
Stanislav Varga [Sunderland - Burnley] Loan
Emanuel Villa [UAG Tecos - Derby] £2m

3 January 2008
Michael Barnes [Man Utd - Chesterfield] Loan
Leslie Thompson [Bolton - Torquay] Loan

2 January 2008
Matthew Connolly [Arsenal - QPR] Undisclosed
Hogan Ephraim [West Ham - QPR] Undisclosed

1 January 2008
Adam Eckersley [Man Utd - Port Vale] Free
Steve Howard [Derby - Leicester] Undisclosed
Lukas Jutkiewicz [Everton - Plymouth] Loan
Kieran Lee [Man Utd - QPR] Loan
Gary Speed [Bolton - Sheffield Utd] Loan
Tamir Cohen [Maccabi Netanya - Bolton] Undisclosed
Chris Gunter [Cardiff - Tottenham] Undisclosed
Manucho [Petro Athletico - Man Utd] Undisclosed

Premier League Merit Table

Based on 14 complete Premier League seasons
1993/94 - 2006/07

Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Manchester Utd 8 3 3 0
Arsenal 3 6 0 3
Chelsea 2 2 1 2
Blackburn Rov 1 1 0 0
Liverpool 0 1 6 3
Newcastle Utd 0 1 2 2
Leeds Utd 0 0 1 2
Nottm Forest 0 0 1 0
Aston Villa 0 0 0 1
Everton 0 0 0 1

This Weeks Fixtures

Saturday 19/01/08 - 3pm
Birmingham City v Chelsea
Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough
Fulham v Arsenal
Portsmouth v Derby County
Reading v Manchester Utd
Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland

Saturday 19/01/08 - 5.15pm
Newcastle Utd v Bolton Wanderers

Sunday 20/01/08 - 1.30pm
Wigan Athletic v Everton

Sunday 20/01/08 - 4.00pm
Manchester City v West Ham Utd

Monday 21/01/08 - 8pm
Liverpool v Aston Villa

Tuesday 22/01/08 - 7.45pm - FA Cup 3rd Round Replay
Barnet v Swindon Town
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby County

Friday 25/01/08 - 7.45pm - FA Cup 4th Round
Southend United v Barnsley

This Weeks Fixtures

This Weeks Games

Saturday 12/01/08 - Premier League
Arsenal v Birmingham City
Aston Villa v Reading
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Derby County v Wigan Athletic
Everton v Manchester City
Middlesbrough v Liverpool
West Ham Utd v Fulham
Manchester Utd v Newcastle Utd

Sunday 13/01/08 - Premier League
Sunderland v Portsmouth
Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers

Tuesday 15/01/08 - FA Cup 3rd Round Replays
Barnet v Swindon Town
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Bury v Norwich City
Millwall v Walsall
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby County
West Bromwich Albion v Charlton Athletic
Liverpool v Luton Town
Reading v Tottenham Hotspur

Wednesday 16/01/08 - FA Cup 3rd Round Replays
Havant And Waterlooville v Swansea City
Hereford United v Tranmere Rovers
Newcastle Utd v Stoke City
Manchester City v West Ham Utd

FA Cup Results (Sunday)

Not an eventful day today, unlike yesterday.
Arsenal's part reserves looked comfortable while beating Burnley 2-0.
Liverpool's millionaires struggled to a draw against virtually bankrupt Luton, and predicted upsets on Fulham, Derby and Newcastle didn't happen... yet.

FA Cup Scores (with TFF info for premier teams)

Burnley v Arsenal 0-2
Goals - De Silva, Bendtner
Assists - Toure, De Silva

Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday 2-2
Goals - Miller, Barnes
Assists - Fagan
Bookings - Mills, Teale

Fulham v Bristol Rovers 2-2
Goals - Healy, Murphy
Assists - Volz, Healy
Bookings - Healy

Luton Town v Liverpool 1-1
Goals - Crouch
Own Goals - Riise
Bookings - Hyypia, Riise, Alonso

Stoke City v Newcastle Utd 0-0
Bookings - Butt
Man Of The Match - Taylor

FA Cup 3rd Round Results

Interesting day in the FA Cup with Havant and Waterlooville earning a replay at Swansea, Everton losing at home to Oldham, Blackburn getting hammered at home by Coventry, Bolton losing at home to Sheffield Utd and Birmingham losing at Huddersfield.
Chelsea scrape through against QPR with an own goal, Portsmouth go through with a win at Ipswich thanks to a dubious sending off in the first half for the home team.
Good wins for Wigan at Sunderland and an upset avoided by Middlesbrough at Bristol City, Reading's reserves perform better at Tottenham than their first team did in getting a replay and West Ham and Man City share a goaless draw and will have to do it again.
Cambridge came within 2 minutes of a draw at Wolves after leading early on, Second division Peterborough had an excellent 3-1 win away at Championship Colchester and Southend come back from being 2-1 down to hammer Dagenham 5-2.
Finally an honourable mention for cash strapped Mansfield who won at Brighton.

So far 6 premier teams are out, and 2 more will definitely go out due to all premier ties.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Derby and Fulham all face tricky lower division opposition so it could be an interesting Sunday.
Only 7 premier league teams are guaranteed places in the 4th round.

FA Cup Scores (with TFF info for premier teams)

Aston Villa v Manchester Utd 0-2
Goals - Ronaldo, Rooney
Assists - Giggs
Man Of The Match - Ferdinand

Blackburn Rovers v Coventry City 1-4
Goals - Bentley
Bookings - Khizanishvili

Bolton Wanderers v Sheffield United 0-1
Bookings - Cid, Cohen, Diouf

Bristol City v Middlesbrough 1-2
Goals - Downing, Wheater
Assists - Cattermole
Bookings - Cattermole, Arca
Man Of The Match - Downing

Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers 1-0
Goals - Own Goal
Man Of The Match - Mikel

Everton v Oldham Athletic 0-1

Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City 2-1
Goals - O'Connor
Bookings - Queudrue, Ridgewell, Jaidi

Ipswich Town v Portsmouth 0-1
Goals - Nugent
Assists - Campbell
Bookings - Hreidarsson

Sunderland v Wigan Athletic 0-3
Goals - Scharner, Cotterill
Assists - Skoko
Own Goals - McShane
Man Of The Match - Scharner

Tottenham Hotspur v Reading 2-2
Goals - Berbatov (2), Hunt (2)
Assists - Lennon, Lita
Bookings - Zokora, Jenas, Duberry, Convey
Sent Off - Huddlestone
Man Of The Match - Federici

West Ham Utd v Manchester City 0-0
Bookings - Corluka
Man Of The Match - Noble

Barnsley v Blackpool 2-1
Brighton And Hove Albion v Mansfield Town 1-2
Charlton Athletic v West Bromwich Albion 1-1
Chasetown v Cardiff City 1-3
Colchester United v Peterborough Town 1-3
Norwich City v Bury 1-1
Plymouth Argyle v Hull City 3-2
Preston North End v Scunthorpe United 1-0
Southampton v Leicester City 2-0
Southend United v Dagenham And Redbridge 5-2
Swansea City v Havant And Waterlooville 1-1
Swindon Town v Barnet 1-1
Tranmere Rovers v Hereford United 2-2
Walsall v Millwall 0-0
Watford v Crystal Palace 2-0
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Cambridge United 2-1

In Depth Review - A's

Part One of an in depth personal view of this season's Premier League Teams.

Arsenal
Top of the table at present and probably over achieving in most people's minds.
After tipping them for the title last year I was less convinced this time with the loss of Thierry Henry and the lack of signings, it didn't look too promising.
But with Fabregas coming of age and Adebeyor showing he can take chances they have suprised us all.
Lehmann's early season injury certainly helped as Almunia is less prone to the calamities that befall Lehmann, the defence has looked solid so far with Toure and Gallas looking good, new signing Sagna and Clichy finally showing why many people thought he was better than Ashley Cole.
The midfield were always skilful although the "don't use one pass when 20 will do" philosophy still applies at times, Fabregas has added goals to his repetoir although still prone to the acting bug he's always had, Hleb seems to get better all the time and Rosicky has got undoubted skill.
Flamini has emerged from Gilberto's shadow to command the enforcer role, although the jury must still be out on Eboue? I liked him last season as a attacking right back but as a right winger he lacks the skill to impose himself and his penchant for diving, moaning and bad tackles seem destined to make him one of the most unpopular players in the league.
Up front Adebeyor has been exceptional, Van Persie has spent most of the season on the sidelines but they've still managed to score without him.
Eduardo Da Silva arrived with an excellent reputation but has only recently shown why.
Theo Walcott still hasn't really broke through although he still looks promising, being the only Englishman in the set up isn't good though.
So overall things are looking rosy for Arsenal, although I still wouldn't back them to overcome Man Utd for the title.

Aston Villa
Villa always impress me with their speed on the break, although an error prone back line will probably cost them European football next year.
Martin Laursen has finally overcome his injuries to star at the back and also scores a few goals, Mellberg is dependable as is Bouma, Zat Knight is still inconsistent as he was at Fulham and Scott Carson in goal will have to show some incredible form to get back into the England squad after his howler against Croatia.
Ashley Young impresses me every time I see him, I would rate him the best crosser in the league as very few crosses miss the targets with either foot.
Nigel Reo Coker although disappointing us Hammer fans last year is one of the best defensive midfielders in the country, he picks up a lot of bookings because he makes more tackles than any other player, Gareth Barry is a top player as he showed for England in the good run we had when Lampard was out, Petrov has the ability and skill but doesn't always seem to be interested.
In attack Agbonlahor always looks dangerous although his finishing lets him down, and John Carew is always a danger in the air and suprisingly good on the ground.
Gardner, Moore, Maloney, Harewood and Davies have all impressed when included.
Overall things are on the up for Villa, always entertaining and a great manager but probably need a couple of class players to make them challengers.

Week 22 Info So Far

Week Scores - Personal Best 70 (National Best 99)

Top 10 Overall at this stage
1 Mr Husak TOOTING REVOLUTION 989
2 Mr Avern-Love THABA N'CHU 89ERS 988
3 Mr Duff UNCLE ALBERT 977
4 Mr Ridler DAMAGED GOODS 975
5 Mr Hollinshead MUN01 971
6 Mr Gibbs THE SPECIALISTS 969
7 Mr Linbourne LINBOURNE UNITED 962
8 Mr Noseda THE DONKEY 961
9 Mr Borge WHOAMITOLOUSELAUTREC 958
10Mr Brown LUFC 8 957

My best - 833 Points (5,192nd) Not doing that well :(

Could be a bad second half of the week with many Premier teams resting players, so I don't expect much improvement this week.

Week 22 Results - Part 1

01/01/08

Arsenal v West Ham - 2-0
Goals - Da Silva, Adebayor
Assists - Clichy, Fabregas
Booked - Cole, McCartney, Noble
Man Of The Match - Adebayor

Aston Villa v Tottenham - 2-1
Goals - Mellberg, Laursen, Defoe
Assists - Barry, Young, Berbatov
Booked - Malbranque, Dawson, Zokora
Man Of The Match - Laursen

Fulham v Chelsea - 1-2
Goals - Murphy, Kalou, Ballack
Assists - Alex
Booked - Stefanovic
Man Of The Match - Ballack

Manchester United v Birmingham - 1-0
Goal - Tevez
Assists - Ronaldo
Booked - Brown, Ridgewell, Queudrue, Nafti, Palacios
Man Of The Match - Ronaldo

Middlesbrough v Everton - 0-2
Goals - Johnson, McFadden
Assists - Pienaar, Johnson
Booked - Carsley
Man Of The Match - Johnson

Reading v Portsmouth - 0-2
Goals - Campbell, Utaka
Assists - Johnson
Booked - Murty, Cisse, Bikey, Hughes
Sent Off - Sonko
Missed Penalty - Kranjcar
Man Of The Match - Johnson

02/01/08

Blackburn v Sunderland - 1-0
Goal - McCarthy
Booked - Tugay, Emerton, Samba, Higginbotham, Wallace, Collins
Sent Off - Yorke
Missed Penalty - Whitehead
Saved Penalty - Friedel
Man Of The Match - McCarthy

Bolton v Derby - 1-0
Goal - Giannakopoulos
Assists - Jaaskelainen
Booked - Davies, A O'Brien, Fagan, Mears, Feilhaber
Man Of The Match - Meite

Liverpool v Wigan - 1-1
Goals - Torres, Bramble
Assists - Finnan
Booked - Mascherano, Torres, Scharner
Man Of The Match - Gerrard

Newcastle v Manchester City - 1-2
Goals - Elano, Fernandes
Assists - Vassell
Booked - Elano, Vassell, Fernandes
Man Of The Match - Hart

Predictions - Poor
Correct Score - 1
Correct Result - 4
Wrong - 5