Merry X-mas everyone!

And it is a shame that the All I Want for X-mas Series has come to its conclusion. Unfortunately, the slutty Santa ladies have all left the building and Easter and any other holiday down the road just doesn't compare to the girls X-mas apparell.

But such is life.

Offensive in too many ways to list
Yes, it's official - Landon Donovan - American's greatest ever outfield player - is moving to Everton for a 3 month loan spell.
We all know he's failed to live up to his potential in Europe in the past - a few poor stints in Germany, etc. but now he's back on our radar and let's take a quick look at Donovan from a fantasy perspective.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst Premier League bosses over the loss of players to the upcoming African Nations Cup in Angola is a sight to behold. Players were signed in full knowledge of their nationalities, and there have been the typical range of myopic comments about the competition's timing fail to take into account the impact of rainy seasons and heightened temperatures in the

Bojan and Toure are two contarsting case. One is eager to prove his talent but has no oppurtunity and the other one has showed the world his worth but still won't get a decent playing time. It wasn't a secret that Guardiola never preferred Yaya Toure as the defensive midielder in his setup.

Today Chelsea have confirmed the worst possible news for the short term, that Michael Essien will be out for three to four weeks after tearing his hamstring. This is sad news for Michael first of all with the African Nations cup on the horizon in January, but for us Chelsea fans its a major blow as we look to get our form back on track starting this weekend against Everton.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of retail therapy (actually, make that a LOT of retail therapy) so for Day 8 of our SPAOTP Advent Calendar, we're bringing you a selection of tasteful gifts that you can by direct from the online football club shop of your choice.
Of course sitting down at the table to eat copious amounts of turkey, stuffing and brussel sprouts is only half the story where Christmas Day's concerned.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is not too worried about losing Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue while they are away at the African Nations Cup, he's worried that he may lose them for the rest of the season! Arsenal never have much luck when their players go off to international matches, and he is worried that [.

Some big news that rules him out of tonight's game:

CITY defender Joleon Lescott will be out of action for several weeks after having a knee operation today. The £22m summer signing from Everton had surgery on a floating bone in his knee.
It's the latest injury blow to the City back line after Wayne Bridge was ruled out for six weeks with a knee injury.

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester City boss Mark Hughes indicated that the club clearly needs a defender in January. Hughes said,

"We've lost Joleon for six to eight weeks, that is a big loss to us and comes on the back of losing Kolo Toure for the African Nations Cup,' Hughes said.

Your Gameweek 18 Captain, James Milner
The gameweeks (and injuries) are coming fast and furious as we prepare for another Fantasy Premier League gameweek in quick succession. We may be missing the two most dominant fantasy scorers of the 2009-2010 season (Didier Drogba and Cesc Fabregas) this weekend, so we'll have to keep an eye out for some alternative selections.

Everton confirmed that Landon Donovan will join the side on a 10-week loan, starting on the first of the new year. There was interest from several European clubs to obtain Donovan for a short-term period, but Everton were always at the top of the list. Everton have three players who will be away for the African Nations Cup next month, and all of them play either forward or midfield.

Ancelotti to make clever Bundesliga purchase.

Get Chelsea Tickets at Fantastic Prices Now!

Join Our Facebook Fan Page for the Latest News/Rumours/Forums/Videos/WAGS/Funny Stuff/Features!

Chelsea could hijack West Ham's attempts to lure Luca Toni to the Premier League it was reported today.

According to The Independent, Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is interested in signing Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni. Toni is expected to leave the club in January due to a fall out with manager Louis Van Gaal.

Ancelotti might go after Toni to provide cover for Didier Drogba during the African Nations Cup.

I'm sure we're all well aware of the story of Frosty the Snowman. In case you aren't, let's refresh your memory.

Originally a song, Frosty is about some kids making a regular snowman; the three massive snowballs, the carrot nose, the coal eyes, the scarf, the tophat, the whole nine yards.

Arsenal will lose Alex Song when the Cameroon International leaves for the African Nations Cup and one man who could replace the 22-year old is Abou Diaby. Speaking to the the Official Matchday Programme, the Frenchman ...

Arsenal will lose Alex Song when the Cameroon International leaves for the African Nations Cup and one man who could replace the 22-year old is Abou Diaby. Speaking to the the Official Matchday Programme, the Frenchman ...

A very belated hello to the week from me. We're midwayish between the Hull and Villa games, a hopeless time for blogging as we're too far past the former and not near enough the latter.

What we are also is a mere eight days away from is the opening of the transfer window. The cynical amongst us so that's me then will therefore conclude that we are exactly 39 days and an awful lot of hot fax paper away from any potential signing actually putting pen to paper.

Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Manager - Unhappy about CAF in January

The African Nations Cup happens every second year in January and every time the English Premier League Managers pretend that they never saw it coming and start complaining about losing their best players.

Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Manager

Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager will see midfield duo Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue depart for Angola in January for duty with Cameroon and Ivory Coast, respectively.

Jabulani Angola

Confederation of African Football (CAF) and adidas has unveiled the Official Match Ball for next month's Africa Cup of Nations.

Like the 2010 World Cup Match Ball, the Afcon ball is called 'Jabulani Angola' and differs from the World Cup Jabulani only in colour.

How times have changed in recent weeks. A month ago we were flying high and playing well and looked formidable. A couple of niggling injuries but that was about it, and Ancelotti rotating players to keep them fresh. Now we are struggling with injuries, not playing well and to be honest in the last few games I have been saying that we will take any kind of win against sides we should be beating easily and given our form at the beginning of the season.

UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni wants to join AS Roma and is confident he will. The striker, who seems like he will definitely be sold, was linked with Chelsea earlier in the month.

Arsene Wenger is nothing if not strategic. To those who follow the professor closely, today's announcement that Nicklas Bendtner is still three weeks away was no surprise. In the next day or two, I would expect an announcement that Cesc Fabregas will need another couple of weeks to fully recover.