Following their defeat to Chelsea, I read a couple of articles writing off Manchester United's title hopes. This feels absurdly early to me, so ahead of this weekend's Premiership matches here are 4 reasons why I reckon Manchester United will be lifting the Premier League title in May 2010.

A short and fun interview with Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown, courtesy of talksport.

Did you know that Wes Brown was playing for United back in 1999? The lad gets very little credit for all the hard work he puts in.

So where do you see Rio in 6 months?

There is no doubt that this season Manchester United have not yet played to the heights that have become expected of them. They haven't scored as many goals and don't look as fluent. Sometimes I think they miss Tevez, but then I see him play for Manchester City. He fitted perfectly with Rooney and his work rate made him a fan's favourite.

So the last international break of the noughties has been and gone, we know who will be lining up in South Africa next summer, and we know that Robin Van Persie's ligaments will soon be enjoying the sweet, sweet smell of placenta fluid as he looks to regain the momentum lost in another meaningless friendly.

In the wake of Ireland's heartbreaking aggregate defeat to France, where Thierry Henry's handballed assist for William Gallas to score an equaliser in extra time denied a team who had performed magnificently to haul themselves level, we pay tribute to five of the greatest footballing heartbreakers in recent memory.

France qualified for the World Cup in South Africa in the summer thanks to a William Gallas header against Ireland in Paris. With French supporters everywhere celebrating, replays showed in the build-up to the goal, Thierry Henry hand-balling the ball onto his foot to cross. Of course, that is against the rules and it is very unfortunate that he should have done that however, would we be complaining if Kevin Doyle had done it for Richard Dunne to score?

Adrian Clarke and Iain Spragg are in fine form on Episode 29 of the world famous Soccerlens Podcast.Â

There's a host of juicy topics to get stuck into this week and the duo's heated debate centres on Thierry Henry's lack of sportsmanship, the miracle powers of horse placenta and the prospects for manager-less Scotland.

After years of waiting for a promising young player to develop, Wales have perhaps discovered that young players, just like buses, often come all at once. Their 3-0 victory over Scotland was ample demonstration of the burgeoning potential of players coming through for the Welsh, and while there is a long way to go, as with any journey, the hope must be that Saturday can be a starting point for something special.

Nine months, 456 matches, and controversy aplenty. And it all comes down to to one game, one high-octane head-to-head for the title.

The fourteenth season of Major League Soccer is nearing its end and, while Seattle Sounders have skewed an otherwise worrying attendance picture, the action on the field has impressed.

...Or at least if you had just read the reactions from the fans and trigger-happy journalists, you'd think this is what Henry had actually done:

On a serious note, the 'victims' the Irish team have been refreshingly objective about the situation and have laid the blame squarely on the horrible refereeing and to a much lesser extent on their own poor finishing as the real reasons why the French and not the Irish are headed to South Africa.

Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie headed to Serbia earlier this week to get 'special' treatment for the torn ligaments in his ankle.

We didn't actually follow RVP all the way over, but our Eastern European correspondent (Croatian if you must ask) insists that this is exactly how Serbian witchdoctors administer placenta treatments to patients.

Benfica midfielder Angel di Maria has been the subject of much transfer speculation recently, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all linked with the Argentine international. A ridiculous fee of £36million has been mentioned for the 21 year old, although somewhere around £10-15million is more likely.

The Brazillians have long been regarded as the Kings of football, widely considered the most stylish, attractive and best football team in the world.

The samba stars have produced a long line of brilliant individuals: Pele, Zico, Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, the list goes on.

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

England's second-string lost to Brazil on Saturday in Doha, an event that was expected but led to the expected round of national team bashing by the English press.

19-year-old Norwegian starlet Jo Inge Berget is contracted to Udinese Calcio, but would rather be anywhere else than in Udine.

After a loan spell at his home club in Norway, the striker was expected by Norwegian media to get a call-up to the senior national team in November, alongside players such as Aston Villas John Carew and Le Mans Club's Thorstein Helstad.