It has been a great weekend for both Manchester United and Arsenal who were lagging behind a bit in the race for the Premier League title but Manchester United beat Manchester City, Arsenal beat Chelsea and last night Liverpool drew at home to West Ham and now the title race is between the four teams again.

As a Manchester United fan I have been worried a bit lately with the lack goals and the dropped points but we are better in the second half of the season and we still have a game in hand.

Arsenal haven’t had the best of weeks what with them having a problem with former captain William Gallas and loosing five matches so far but their win over Chelsea gives them a massive boost.

Liverpool had a fantastic chance last night to go three points ahead of Chelsea but they only managed a goalless draw at Anfield which took them only one point ahead of Chelsea.

Over the past few seasons Chelsea have been formidable at home (Stamford Bridge) but this season they have lost twice already against Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League and that has been their problem so far.

I can see this title race going the distance and hopefully in May it will be Man United at the top of the table. I am fully expecting a close race to the finish and an exciting second part to the season.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Have you ever seen a goal that shouldn’t have been? Have you ever seen a penalty box foul not given? There seems to be a talking-point such as this in most games.

But, no more, say the FA.

Currently being trialled in Scotland the utilisation of two extra officials standing by the goals at either ends of the pitch. I guess they’d be called goal line assistants?

Goal line assistants will come most in handy on any penalty box incidents and communicate with the referee by headset.

The idea has been favoured instead of anything like the Hawkeye video interpretation you get in Tennis – it has always been believed this would interfere and slow the game down. Also UEFA General secretary David Taylor explains that “we are not interested in a television game. This is a game for people and to be managed and refereed by people.”

This must be the problem though. You can get as many officials as you want to get but there will always be human error involved. And if you get too many officials, conference between officials will slow the game down anyway.

As its being trialled apparently pushing and shoving in the box has practically disappeared but I still remain doubtful. Some of these penalty box incidents are simply undecipherable unless replayed several times from different angles. A goal line assistant can only reduce the margin of error.

Perhaps errors are doomed to plague football.

This I don’t mind though. I quite like scandalous goals in football; it keeps the game feisty and gives something to talk about down the pub. Come on, we all love nothing more to see two teams of players fighting over a decision. Just how the most interesting part of F1is a crash.

And video technology is boring, look at tennis now – how could you have a character like John McEnroe to liven things up when every decision is confirmed?

Unlawful goals are fun. To sound like a stuffy traditionalist, keep it how it is!

But what do you think, would this system work in the Premier League?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Heres another of the latest Adidas viral videos for you to take a look at, although it is pretty tame when compared to other Adidas/Nike adverts. We will bring you the remaining two in the next few days, please contain your excitement until then

Popularity: 1% [?]

Arsene Wenger broke out into a big smile when asked if his team won ugly at the end. ‘Yes, a little bit’ he responded and laughed.

Ah, now we haven’t seen that kind of contentment from Wenger for a while. After beating Chelsea he truly looked like a relieved man.

And you can’t blame him – Arsenal, of late, have had a tough time of it. Everyone’s been talking – the fans, the critics, the pundits, even their own players – so to finally get a win at Stamford Bridge must be like going from Hell to Heaven all in a couple of sweet Van Persie strikes.

…click here to read more →

Popularity: 1% [?]

Poor, poor Sunderland. A surprising amount of folks fancied them against Bolton, including footy pundit Mark Lawrenson.

And then just look what happened.

It was an embarrassing display that forced some sad Sunderland fans out the stadium five minutes after half-time.

…click here to read more →

Popularity: 1% [?]

Ahead of Man City’s derby against United both teams have been talking in strong words.

Fergie is back to his old self, after praising the ref mid-week, and he scoffed at the suggestion City are a threat to Man U (which seems a little forgetful considering Man City beat them both home and away in the league last season). Rooney also mentioned he is not bothered by local rivals whilst they still are hanging at mid-table.

Hughes understands it’s still early in City’s progression as the super club, but believes that, with confidence high, they couldn’t be in a better shape to face United this weekend and will expect a home win.

…click here to read more →

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wigan boss Steve Bruce has called for changes in the disciplinary system after Emmerson Boyce was unjustly sent-off recently.

Boyce was dismissed for two yellow cards in the draw at Newcastle. There was little argument about the first, but the second was a mistake by referee Andre Mariner as Boyce quite clearly got the ball and not the man.

Bruce was livid about the decision as Wigan had been leading at the time and ended up only just scraping a draw and almost immediately after the game Mariner admitted he got the decision wrong and apologised to the Wigan boss.

“I admire Andre for admitting his error but what good does it do us? The rules are ridiculous. Referees have a really difficult job and it’s far too often that we are talking about them after games,” said Bruce.

Boyce served a one-match ban and Wigan are powerless to do anything even though the referee admitted making a mistake because the laws do not allow teams to appeal bookings.

It prompted Bruce to call for the introduction of video technology, but with the FA unlikely to upset the football odds and do that, the least they can do is alter the current rules.

In special circumstances, where the referee has admitted an error, clubs should be able to appeal yellow cards and not be wrongly punished twice.

By Phil Tomlinson

Popularity: 1% [?]

Chelsea boss Big Phil Scolari has put his job on the line when he said last night that if Chelsea don’t qualify for the next round of the Champion’s League then he would be better off to go back to Brazil.

This could either be a really clever thing to say or a really stupid thing to say but either way I think it was a joke and even if Chelsea don’t qualify then he will stay.

Chelsea drew against Bordeaux last night which means that they have to win their final match which is against CFR Cluj at Stamford Bridge to go through.

Scolari said: “If we don’t qualify it would be better for me to go back to Brazil.”

“We need to win against Cluj. If I think my team didn’t have the quality to beat them at home, it would be better for me to go home to Brazil and stay.

“We’ve lost qualification two times now. We need to think about this.

“Qualification is in our hands and we need to win the next game.

“But Chelsea with these players have a 75 per cent chance of beating Cluj. In my view we are not first in the group.”

Chelsea are the only British club in the Champion’s League who don’t know their fate- Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal are through to the knockout rounds whilst Celtic have been knocked out of Europe all together.

Apparently Chelsea have already booked a hotel for the Champion’s League Final so they better go through or they will look like complete idiots.

Popularity: 1% [?]