The Centre Circle

Man United – It is reported that United are unable to afford the £40 million asking price for David Villa because of the large debt that the club have and will only consider to buy him if the price is reduced (Guardian). Man Utd are also looking at James Milner of Aston Villa, the Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris and Karim Benzema at Real Madrid who signed for Real Madrid only last summer from Lyon is looking for more regular football which he may get at the Red Devils as they intensify their search for a striker (Mirror)

Juventus/Liverpool – Rafa Benitez will be given “significant” sums of money to rebuild the Juventus team if he becomes manager of the Old Lady this summer. Juventus are reported not to have interest in Torres, Mascherano or Gerrard as part of their rebuilding plans (Footylatest)

Man City – A couple of Manchester City rumours today. Depending on what newspaper you read, Man City are interested in signing Ivica Olic (Daily Mail) at Bayern Munich & Angel di Maria at Benfica (Mirror).

Arsenal – Marouane Chamakh will soon be signing a £12 million 4 yr deal with the Gunners (Various). It is reported Arsene Wenger has sent out scouts to look at Valencia’s David Silva (Footylatest). Robin Van Persie is also starting full training with Johan Djourou and Kieran Gibbs not far behind (Various). Speculation is that Stan Kroenke could soon made a takeover bid early in May, with a pot of cash entering his bank account on Monday as he is expected to sell his 40% share in the Los Angeles Rams American Football team (Independent)

Birmingham – Sebastian Larsson could be heading north. Both Sunderland and newly promoted Newcastle are interested in the Swedish midfielder – the reported asking price at around £2 million (Mirror)

Aston Villa – As well as the story for Milner (above), another one of their stars is causing interest from foreign shores. Barcelona it is said are looking into the possibility of signing Ashley Young, if a bid for Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery is rejected(imscouting.com)

Tottenham – Spurs are looking at 33 year old Guti at Real Madrid who may be available on a free transfer this summer (Daily Mail)

Chelsea – Sporting Lisbon are keen to recruit Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario, who has been dropped down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge to third choice (Daily Mail).

Burnley – Brian Laws could be sacked as Burnley manager if his team loses at Hull City this weekend (Various)

Looking ahead to this coming Saturday, instead of concentrating on the battle for the title, I thought I would look at the battle at the bottom and as crucial a game as there has been all season. Both Hull & Burney have really struggled in past weeks and themselves in the bottom three of the division, Burnley four points adrift of safety and Hull just one point. A win tomorrow for either team is absolutely crucial.

Both teams have changed their coaches in recent times and both new appointments raised eyebrows. Iain Dowie came into Hull recently on March 17th as a “Football Management Consultant” (whatever that is) and the current manager Phil Brown was put on gardening leave until the end of the season. So far he has had mixed success, the one notable win being two weeks ago when his Hull side convincingly beat Fulham 2-0. Dowie is known in footballing circles as a great motivator, and Adam Pearson, Hull’s chairman is hoping that these skills can inspire the Tigers to enough wins to ensure survival. Brian Laws at Burnley arrived on 17th January to replace Owen Coyle who moved to Bolton Wanderers. The club confirmed that the surprise choice Laws had been chosen after Deloitte and Touche had done a study into delivering success at Championship level compared to financial outlay. Sounds like they were trying to stay up on the cheap to me. Only thing is, in the Premiership experience has proven that unless you spend some considerable money, or you are some sort of managerial genius, you only go one way – down. Quite predictably, he has struggled to make an impact with only one win in 14 games and speculation is rife that defeat this weekend could see the end for Laws.

Last week Burnley were humiliated 6-1 at home to Manchester City with one of their substituted Burnley players Kevin McDonald watching the second half of the game down a local pub. Maybe he needed a stiff drink after the abysmal first half performance by his team. I understand manager Laws was not amused by his actions and he will not be considered for selection this week! Steven Caldwell returns after a 3 month absence with a groin problem and their only real doubt is defender Stephen Jordan with a knee injury.

Hull will hope that their midfield general George Boateng will be able to play after being carried off in last week’s loss to Stoke suffering from concussion. Stephen Hunt is also a doubt with a foot injury.

I expect home advantage to count tomorrow and for Hull to pick up all three points. Burnley’s away form all season has been truly dismal, no wins and just one draw in sixteen away games, conceding 47 goals at almost three a game, and I don’t see this trend changing. Hull have a little bit of quality and drive from the irrepressible Jimmy Bullard, and fantastic work-rate from Hunt and Boateng (if one or both are fit). Bullard when he has been available has proved head and shoulders Hull’s best player this year, and their home form has been surprisingly good – just one loss in 2010 and that was in the last minute to Arsenal. 

Almost certainly the loser of this particular contest will be relegated, the winner will give themselves an almighty chance of staying up; Hull may pull themselves out of the bottom three win a win. In truth, a draw in all truth is no good to either team. The scene is set at the KC stadium for a tense encounter, and those going may not expect to see an afternoon of quality football, however for sure there will be no shortage of fingernail biting tension.

Sir Alex Ferguson should have learnt from the Arsenal experience the week before. If you gamble on injured players, it rarely pays off. Wenger risked everything playing Fabregas and Gallas, and lost both player with re-occurrences of injuries past for the rest of the season. Sir Alex sent on Wayne Rooney from the start of the game and after 20 minutes the England forward was hobbling effectively a passenger until he limped off early in the second half. He also gambled on youth ahead of experience with Rafael playing for Gary Neville. The youngster was booked early for petulantly reacting to a Van Bommel foul and then was sent off for a second yellow for pulling back Ribery. Just like putting all your chips on red, and seeing the the little ball in the roulette wheel land on black.

United were cruising at 3-0 after 40 minutes and the game at that point should have been dead and buried. Gibson had put United ahead with a right foot shot from the edge of the box after just 3 minutes. Then Nani scored twice, the first a little flick from a Valencia cross to make it 2-0 after 7 minutes and his second and United’s third came via the same two players, Valencia to the Portuguese who finished high into the net.

Maybe United went to sleep for a minute and lost their concentration, and it was a vital slip. Muller headed on for Olic who finished from a tight angle past Van de Sar. The Germans were now within a goal of knocking United out and went into half time with renewed hope.

Early into the second half and Ribery showed his experience and Rafael his lack of it. Ribery seemed to be away on his way to goal but realising Rafael was challenging him on a yellow card almost waited for the young Brazilian to pull him to draw the foul. The young full back took the bait and referee Rizzoli had no option but to send him off. The Germans now had their tails up, even more so when Rooney was replaced by John O’Shea. The Old Trafford fans were trying to encourage their team and Nani nearly put the game safe when he broke clear but his effort was saved at his post by Butt. However, their worst fears were realised when a corner was played out directly to Arjen Robben on the edge of the box and his left foot volley crashed into the corner of the net. Try as they might, United were never going to pull back the tie with only 10 men, and the final whistle was met with wild celebrations from the 4000 visiting fans.

We wait to see what damage Wayne Rooney has sustained. The gamble on him may not have only cost United in the Champions League, it might just cost them a 19th league title too.

As for Bayern Munich, they move through to the semi-final where they will take on Lyon.

Man Utd 3-2 Bayern Munich (4-4)  - Bayern progress on the away goals rule.

Wayne Rooney has been selected to start against Bayern Munich tonight in what must be seen a bit of a gamble. Rooney, who was injured in the first leg in Munich, was expected to miss two to three weeks.

Either he has made a remarkable recovery, or Sir Alex Ferguson is taking a big risk with his star player; one he may think is necessary after the ineffectual performance of Dimitar Berbatov against Chelsea on Saturday. Full-back Rafael also comes in for Gary Neville who struggled against Chelsea at the weekend.

The whole country and all Manchester United fans will hope that Rooney has not returned too early.

The biggest game in club football comes up this weekend. El Classico, Real Madrid host Barcelona in the crunch game in La Liga, both teams separated by just one goal in goal difference in what has turned into a two horse race for the title. Valencia sit in third, a distant 21 points adrift! Real Madrid sit on top after an incredible run of 12 consecutive victories; their last defeat was on 16th January when they lost 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Since that day, Manuel Luis Pellegrini’s side has averaged around 3 goals per game, and the run may have saved the Real coach’s job, for now that is, after being dumped out of the Champion’s League by Lyon. The acid test comes this week at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and any defeat will just not be tolerated, especially the 6-2 mauling that Barcelona inflicted on Madrid last season in the same fixture.

In an attempt to close the yawning gap between the two deadly rivals, Real went on an unprecedented spending spree in the off-season, spending in excess of £200 million, Albiol, Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema, Alonso & Arbeloa all joining and in the second half of the season it has appeared that the expensively assembled team has finally started to gel, at least in domestic competition. Funnily enough, the spearhead for Madrid’s charge up the league has not just been the “golden boy” Christiano Ronaldo (pictured above) but, also Argentinean striker Gonzalo Higuaín, who has plundered 24 goals so far this season. El Pipita has slowly been honing his skills over the past few years after signing from River Plate in 2006, no doubt learning a great deal from the senior member of the Real Madrid squad, Raul, and he has finally broke onto the scene to become one of the top strikers in La Liga.

Real’s striking ability has never been in doubt, but wether they have the defensive nous to cope with a Barcelona team who themselves are in rampant form is another matter entirely. Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Albiol and the rest of Madrid’s defensive unit will be tested to the full, it could be a busy night for them. If the likes of Diarra and Alonso can cut the supply to Messi and Bojan, then maybe Madrid have a chance to grab a famous and long overdue win against the Catalan side, but personally I doubt it.

After their super show on Tuesday night and despite the fact that Real will be going into the derby as the fresher side after not playing midweek, I still take Barcelona to do the double over Los Merengues after their narrow 1-0 win earlier in the season. My prediction, for what it is worth, is for a Barcelona 3-1 win, and for Messi & Co to continue their dominance of La Liga and Europe.

What do you think and predict will happen? Please make your comments below…

I will be straight up. Cut me in half and I bleed red and white, but sometimes you have to hold you hands up and admit that the better team won. Barcelona were magnificent over both the two legs. Not only that but tonight, I saw the performance of the best player I have seen in two decades. I am not old enough to have seen Pele live, I saw Diego Maradona cut England and then the rest of the world to ribbons, through gritted teeth in 1986. I enjoyed watching Zidane and Henry in their pomp, however Leo Messi in the form he is right now is truly imperious. As good as I have ever seen, and that is high praise indeed.

Back to the game for what it’s worth. Arsenal dared to dream after 10 minutes,  Diaby robbed Busquets in midfield and played in Walcott. He squared it to Bendtner who at the second attempt poked it home. Two minutes later, a wonder goal. The ball rebounded to Messi on the edge of the box from Silvestre and the little Argentinean lashed an unstoppable shot which flashed past Almunia like a tracer bullet. Stunning. The second goal was started and finished by the little genius. Messi played the ball out to Abidal who was marauding down the left. His cut back was half cleared by Vermaelen, but it fell to Pedro who played in Messi who lifted the ball over the Arsenal keeper.

Two soon became three. Vermaelen lost the ball in midfield and Keita headed the ball through to Messi who bore down on the Arsenal goal before sending a delicious chip over the stranded Almunia for a 21 minute hat-trick – actually (20 mins 56 secs). His fourth and the coup de grace came with a couple of minutes to go in the game. He picked the ball up 40 yards out from Xavi, skipped past Vermaelen, hit a shot that Almunia blocked then smashed the ball under the Arsenal keeper second time out. Game over and the Barcelona fans began to celebrate in reverence to their little hero.

Barcelona now face Mourinho’s Inter Milan in the Semi Final.

All goal highlights below – sorry it’s not in English… 

A full, very noisy crowd awaited both teams in the Luhzniki Stadium in Moscow as Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan travelled to Russia to play CSKA. The first chance of the contest came to Honda, CSKA’s bleach blond Japanese international although his well struck low drive flashed wide of Julio Cesar’s left hand post. Inter effectively killed the tie as a contest after just 5 mins, Wesley Schneider took a free kick from around 25 yards on the right hand side. He struck the ball below the jumping wall, wrong footing Akinfeev in the CSKA goal. CSKA would now have to score three times to go through, no chance against an Italian side managed by the master that is Jose Mourinho. After 22 mins following a good passing move, the ball found it’s way to Necid, who’s shot shaved the far post. Shchennikov than went on a darting run which was blocked off by the Inter defence but the ball fell to Mamaev who’s curling effort was easily taken by the keeper. At least CSKA were having a go and after 32 mins, a fast break from the Russians ended with Mamaev getting free on the left hand side but he scuffed his shot. Inter countered straight away and Melito was left one on one with the keeper but he couldn’t finish.

Early into the second half the contest was left meaningless as Odiah, who had already been booked in the first half, slid in way too late on Samuel Eto’o sending the Inter forward flying, and the French referee had no option but to brandish the obligatory red card. The game was meandering now to a inevitable conclusion. The Chilean Gonzalez had a couple of speculative efforts from range for the Russian team and Melito had Inter’s best chance; a second one on one with the CSKA keeper, but Akinfeev held his ground & made a good save. As easier game, Jose Mourinho’s men could never have asked for.

Inter progress to the semi final to face the winner of the Barcelona and Arsenal tie.

CSKA 0-1 Inter Milan (0-2)

Already 2-1 up on aggregate and with top players returning, Bayern Munich are a real threat to Sir Alex Ferguson and his team as the Munich side travel to Old Trafford for the Champions League 2nd leg. Despite going behind after just one minute to a Wayne Rooney goal last week in the Allianz Arena, Bayern dominated most of the rest of the game, and it was no surprise that the Germans turned the game around in dramatic style with goals from Ribery and Ivica Olic in stoppage time.

Whereas the Red Devils will be more than likely missing Wayne Rooney who has been so instrumental in the best that United have offered this season, the Bavarians will welcome back the often infuriating but sometimes brilliant Arjen Robben and their central midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger who was suspended for the first leg.

Defending is not usually in the vocabulary of Louis Van Gaal and his team, and I think they will attack to try to grab an early away goal, especially as United looked very ineffective at the weekend against Chelsea. They are also very dangerous on the counter-attack away from home, proved by their stunning 4-1 win in Turin against Juventus in qualifying for the knock-out stages of this season’s Champions League. It is in wide areas that the Germans can hurt United, as they have true quality on both flanks. I think Robben and Ribery will severely test whoever Ferguson picks at fullback, be it Neville, Evra or the Da Silva twins. With either Olic or Miroslav Klose at centre forward, the Germans possess a genuine international proven goalscorer who will trouble Ferdinand and Vidic. They enter this game in good spirits having won at the weekend 2-1 away against Schalke 04, their nearest rivals for the Bundesliga.

United in contrast will need to radically improve after an insipid display on Saturday. Many people, including myself were unimpressed with Berbatov as Rooney’s replacement in the Chelsea defeat, and the team did not seem have the legs or energy to respond once they went behind. Maybe the aging legs of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville are “catching up” with them. Michael Carrick will most probably return to provide a steadying influence in midfield and Nani and Valencia will need to have effective games if United will have success in opening up the German defence.

I see a very tricky night ahead for Manchester United, this one could go to the wire, continue right into extra time and even to penalty kicks. If so, and if I was a United fan (which I’m not), I’d be worried. We all know that the Germans never lose in penalty shoot out.

For Arsene Wenger’s young and injury ravaged team, tonight will be surely it’s toughest test. Tonight Arsenal enter into the lion’s den in front of 100,000 Catalan fans who except nothing less than a ritual execution, the fate the often befalls teams that enter the cauldron that is the Nou Camp. Arsenal are bereft of some of their brightest talent, Fabregas, Arshavin, Song, Gallas, Van Persie and yet despite all the odds, I believe that the Gunners have a chance, albeit a small one, of pulling an amazing result out of the hat.

The football that Barcelona served up last week at the Emirates was spellbinding stuff, however, at the end of the night, they were guilty of the same type of complacency (or even naivety) that Arsenal teams of times past have been accused of. At 2-2 the tie is still finely balanced with the Blaugranes just the ascendancy due to their brace of away goals.

So why do I give Arsenal a chance? Over the years, Arsene Wenger’s team has played to a specific system and no matter which players are selected, they always seem to slot in to keep the machine ticking along. It is no coincidence that despite Arsenal losing a number of important players throughout the season, they have continued to score goals and win games with a relative amount of ease. I think that Samir Nasri will fill into Fabregas’ role with ease, with either Walcott, Eboue or Rosicky (if he is fit) fitting into the normal 4-3-3 shape.

Barcelona have their own problems especially in  central defence. Abidal will almost certainly return for Maxwell who had a torrid time against Theo Walcott. I suspect Gabriel Milito will come into central defence possibly alongside Marquez for the suspended pairing of Puyol and Pique. I expect Bojan Krkic to replace Ibrahimovic up front.

The second reason I give Arsenal a chance is that this time Arsenal will not be overawed by the task facing them. They know very well after the first leg that if you stand off Barcelona, they will kill you. Once they realised this last week, Barcelona were on the back foot for the last half an hour of the game. The Gunners have to score and with Barcelona’s weakness clearly in defence I think Wenger will go all out to do to Barcelona what Barcelona did to Arsenal.

Thirdly, pace and fitness. Once Arsenal brought on Walcott and upped the tempo, Barcelona looked very uneasy. As well as that, Arsenal have scored a ton of goals late on in games, and I thought that Barcelona began to fall off the pace the longer the game went on. Guardiola will know that the threat facing them can last the full 90 minutes, is young, and is hungry to cause an upset. I am convinced that Barcelona will not be able to top their performance last week; indeed I think they will find it much harder at home in front of their very demanding fans, especially if the game stays deadlocked going into the second half. I don’t underestimate the threat carried by Xavi & Messi, but I think the loss of Ibrahimovic who, by occupying defenders creates a lot of the space that Messi exploits, will be big miss for the home team.

I could be completely wrong, but I base my ideas on recent history. In away games against the European super powers of continental club football, Arsenal have had a superb record. Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Roma have all been humbled in their own stadia by Arsene Wenger and his team. I think Arsenal will score tonight, and if they get the first goal, it could be a very interesting night.

Howay the lads! Congratulations to the Toon! Newcastle are back in the Premiership after an absence of just one season. They were promoted after Nottingham Forest could only draw 0-0 with Cardiff City this afternoon. It means that there will be a party atmosphere tonight at St James Park where the Magpies entertain Sheffield United. It is also a vindication of the ability of much maligned Chris Hughton as a manager; not everyone’s first choice to lead the North East club after they so many problems last season and also a relief for controversial owner Mike Ashley who has a less than cordial relationship with the fans.

Just for the record Newcastle won 2-1 on the night. Richard Cresswell threatened to dampen the celebratory mood when the visitors took a 1-0 lead after 22 minutes, but a penalty from Peter Lovenkrands on the stroke of half time and a spectacular scissor-kick volley from Kevin Nolan 17 minutes from the end meant that Newcastle could go up in style with a victory.

Newcastle no doubt will be a welcome addition to the Premier league and it will be interesting to see how much the club spend in the summer to try and cement a permanent spot in the top flight for years to come.

How many fit players will there actually be for tomorrow's Barcelona v Arsenal clash at the Nou Camp? The latest victim of the injury plague that has hit both teams is Alex Song who reportedly complained about his knee yesterday in training. After a scan he was found to have an inflamed cartilage which will require at the very least a period of rest. “He is definitely out of the game in Barcelona” confirmed manager Arsene Wenger.

Song joins a lengthening injury list; Arshavin, Gallas, Fabregas and Van Persie are all important figures in the Arsenal squad who are either ruled out for the season or struggling to return before the end of it.

The Titanic was registered in Liverpool. It set off on it’s maiden voyage in 1912. The builders and owners said it was a mechanical marvel of the world, it was “unsinkable” they said, “nothing could go wrong”. We all know the rest of the tragic story.  

Benitez is as stubborn individual like the makers, the owners and the crew of the Titanic all those years ago. “We will make fourth spot” he said. We all know the story of Liverpool’s season since he uttered those words. The obstinacy of Benitez shines through all the time. You know it as soon as you see him interviewed. He will only ever answer the questions if they show him and his team in a good light, otherwise he stonewalls the interviewer. This stubbornness also extends to the field of play and to the people who work with him. On the pitch, he seems loathed to try things, to experiment. We all know of the weaknesses of his zonal marking system in defending corners and free kicks, yet he sticks rigidly to his way of defending. He always seems to play with two holding midfielders. Other managers know that the likelihood of threat to goal coming from a deep position is almost non-existent with Liverpool, there are rarely midfield runners going beyond the strikers and so the element of surprise is taken away and thus they are easier to defend against. Last season, Liverpool only got away with it as Alonso was master of threading a ball through the eye of a needle. Look back how many times he provided the killer pass to Torres or Gerrard for them to score? Alonso is now gone, and so much of the creativity of last year has also disappeared. On the rare occasions that Liverpool have actually attacked this year, the prime example being against Portsmouth and recently against Sunderland, when he did sacrifice his principles and Lucas and Aquilani were allowed to bomb forward, they destroyed the opposition in double quick time. Why hasn’t he gambled if this approach works? Because Benitez is afraid of defeat, too stubborn and obstinate to change his way of thinking in the pursuit of winning a football match, unless he knows the opposition is incredibly weak or out of form. People like this only learn to adapt one way; the hard way; when they have gone beyond the point of no return.

Let’s move forward to last weekend. As manager of any football club, from Sunday League division 6 on a muddy park pitch to the very pinnacle of the national game at Premier league level, what is the one task you face each week when your player cross the white line and enter the field of play? It is to organize and motivate your team to make sure it has the very best chance of winning the game. Liverpool at 1-1 desperately needed three points to give them even the slimmest chance of keeping up with Tottenham and Manchester City. So what did he do after 65 minutes? He substituted his top striker, possibly the best in the world, the only realistic hope that Liverpool had of getting a positive result out of the game and replaced him with David Ngog, who is, let’s be frank, still finding his feet in top level football. Why? The reason was that “I thought he was tired” was the incredulous reply. Why didn’t he take off a defensive midfielder and play with two strikers to go for the win? It is because Rafa Benitez is too stubborn to change his principles and too afraid to take a chance. I think that when Benitez substituted Fernando Torres against Birmingham yesterday, he failed in his obligations to the players, officials of Liverpool Football Club & to the thousands of fans that follow the Reds all over England and Europe. He may well have just held up the white flag and surrendered any hope his team had of getting three points, against one of the more miserly defences in the league. The look of disbelief and disappointment on Fernando Torres’ face and on that of Liverpool’s talisman Stephen Gerrard was plain to see.

Liverpool I fear this season and for the next couple of seasons, have now gone beyond that point of no return. I see no way back for them in their pursuit of Champions League football, and the resulting lack of finance for next season and in the future, as their star players leave for clubs chasing bigger dreams, will almost certainly, bring an age of mediocrity to a proud football club. A crisis of large magnitude is coming, the iceberg is appearing into view. For Gerrard, Mascherano and Torres, it may be time to man the lifeboats…

This is a topic for debate that I hope will grow as I think something needs to be done to kerb the amount of injuries that modern day players are suffering. I only decided to write on this subject after looking at the recent spate of injuries to top players recently. Just in the past week looking at the Barcelona v Arsenal game tomorrow, both team in the past couple of weeks have lost vital players to muscle injuries. Iniesta (thigh) and Ibrahimovic (Calf) for Barcelona, Gallas (Calf), Arshavin (Calf) and now Song (Knee) for the Gunners. Is it me, are do there seem to be more players suffering with groin strains, thigh strains, hamstring strains, calf, ankle, knee and achillies injuries then there ever were in years before?

I take you back to 2005 and the injury crisis that Newcastle United went through. I seem to remember that they had a spate of muscle injuries which afflicted amongst others Michael Owen. Having 6-7 players out with similar injuries, the then manager Graham Souness decided to relocate daily training from their state of the art multi million pound training pitches at Darsley Park to the site where the academy players trained. At Arsenal I know that the composition of the pitches at London Colney are exactly the same as that at the Emirates stadium. American football many years ago started to phase out artificial turf pitches because of the hardness, not only leg muscle injuries were affecting the top stars, but also impact injuries landing on hard surfaces after being tackled, despite all the padding they have in that sport.

Herein lies as I see it the problem. My theory, for what is worth is bases on the hardness of football pitches these days. Modern day pitches have a sand base, some of them also have water pumps and irrigation systems under them too so that excess moisture can be sucked out, or drains away very easily. As such on modern hi-tech pitches, there is very little give in the ground when you run on it. Combine this with the speed of the game today alongside a lack of give in the playing surfaces and the player’s body is being jarred all day, every day. All this wear and tear will eventually have a deteriorating effect and any minor problem will be magnified over a long period of time. I think we are starting to see the effects of this.

At the end of a long season, we are seeing a number of players being affected by injuries that could affect not only their club’s chances of picking up silverware, but also their country’s chances too in the upcoming World Cup. I have no way of knowing if I am even partially correct, but I think there should be some investigations made into these ideas, for no football fans that I know want to see the best players continually hampered by injuries. We want to see them performing their skills week in week out on the pitch. 

Any comments on this particular topic? I’d be interested to hear them…

At Goodison Park, West Ham, who desperately need to break their run of six defeats in a row, had to make a late change as Valron Behrami was injured in the warm-up and he was replaced by Junior Stanislas. The Hammers had the first chance of the game as Parker’s effort went wide. The hard working midfielder was then booked after 20 minutes, his 10th of the season meaning a two match ban beginning next week. Then Everton opened the scoring. Baines’ cross was not cleared by Spector and Cahill’s clever header was met by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov who nodded home. More misery and rank bad defending for West Ham. However, 35 mins referee Howard Webb awarded a penalty to West Ham, Carlton Cole, who played in by Scott Parker, was brought down by Distin. The Egyptian international Mido stepped up to take the spot kick, but his weak effort was saved at full stretch by Howard. Nothing seemed to be going right for the team in claret & blue. Then twice in two minutes two almost identical chances for Everton. Cahill passed to Bilyaletdinov who both times hit his shot over the bar from around 25 yards out. As half time approached, the Hammers goal was under severe pressure, but they survived to go into the break only one goal down.

Early into the second half and West Ham improved beyond recognition & Mark Noble was was terribly unlucky as he hit the crossbar with a looping effort. West Ham were now pressing forward, and from a corner a minute later, the ball fell to Manuel Da Costa, who somehow managed to poke home an equaliser. West Ham were now flying and a rapid break from Stanislas who’s slide-rule pass fed Carlton Cole who fired his low shot narrowly wide. Now it was Everton’s turn to shout for a penalty. As Louis Saha appeared to win the ball in the box, he was challenged by the West Ham goalscorer Da Costa, who brought the Everton forward down.  Despite vehement protestations from the Everton players, Howard Webb waved on play to the disgust of the Goodison Park crowd. The game was being played a frantic pace & West Ham were battling for their lives with Scott Parker outstanding as usual. Then calamity for the Hammers with just 10 minutes to go. Spector’s clearance was blocked and the ball found its way out to Leighton Baines who’s cross found Yakubu unmarked in the middle of the box and his header flew emphatically into the net. West Ham were down but not out. Almost immediately, they broke on the right hand side and a fabulous cross from Faubert found Ilan, the Brazilian substitute on for Mido,  who’s bullet diving header screamed into the net. What a finale and salvation for Zola’s men. Both teams were now straining for a late winner, but the whistle finally blew ending a pulsating second half.

West Ham now move one point clear of the bottom three. It’s going to be a tense, tense finish to the end of the season for the men from East London.

It was a sunny bright Easter Sunday at St Andrews where Birmingham entertained Liverpool. It appeared that both teams were too busy enjoying the sunshine as the action was very sluggish for the first half hour with hardly an attempt of note on or off target. Finally, both teams showed signs of life, Torres shooting high & wide & Maxi Rodriguez was very unlucky as his effort from Torres’ centre was touched onto the bar by Joe Hart. Then Reina misjudged a Birmingham corner and the ball deflected off McFadden’s shoulder onto the roof of the net.

Immediately at the start of the second half Liverpool took the lead, Gerrard received the ball from a corner, he cut back inside Bowyer and unleashed a shot past Hart into the far corner. However Birmingham have been a tough nut to crack this season and they soon levelled, through some non-existent Liverpool defending. McFadden’s cutback was met by an unmarked Ridgewell at the far post and he bundled the ball home. Then, to the disbelief from the Liverpool fans, Fernando Torres was replaced by Ngog to a chorus of boos from those from those who travelled down from Merseyside. Surely Benitez wasn’t holding Torres back for the upcoming Benfica game, was he? The action was now end to end as Torres’ replacement  headed narrowly past the post, then Bowyer volleyed wide when he should have done better. Minutes later, Ngog missed again, shooting wide from nine yards. Liverpool kept trying for a winner; a late effort from Gerrard didn’t dip enough to go in and Rodriguez’s volley whizzed over. Birmingham had the last chance of the match but Kevin Phillip’s shot was held by Pepe Reina. So only a draw for Liverpool, just not good enough for Benitez and his team in their forlorn chase for 4th place in the league.

At Craven Cottage there was another quiet start between Fulham & Wigan, although it was Wigan doing more of the pressing and it was the visitors who deservedly got the breakthrough after 35 minutes. Mario Melchiot’s cross was headed back by Moreno and Jason Scotland’s effort beat Schwartzer in the Fulham goal at the near post, his first ever Premiership goal after a difficult first season in the top division. Just before the half-time whistle Fulham nearly equalised, Damian Duff’s cross defected of Figueroa and Kirkland did well to keep the ball out of the net.

As at St Andrews, there was an early goal at the start of the second half. Gera nicked the ball off Scharner and his cross was met by substitute Okaka who’s shot found the Wigan net. Ten minutes later, Fulham completed a turnaround in the match as Brede Hangeland headed in off the post from six yards out from a Duff corner. At the other end Aaron Hughes conceded a corner From a Wigan corner Moses nodded narrowly over. It was to be their last realistic chance. Fulham had a late shout for a penalty when Dempsey went down in a challenge from Bramble, but the Fulham fans need not have worried that the referee Mark Clattenburg did not award one. The whistle soon went for the end of the game, and three points were in the bag for a Fulham side who continue to win against all comers at home.