Five things we learned from the Boxing Day football | Jonathan Wilson

Dimitar Berbatov has still got it but Ashley Cole appears to be losing it and Andy Carroll is just unlucky Berbatov's still got it One of the sadnesses of modern football and the prevalence of large squads is the talent that does not get to play.

In English football history two teams have in the past gone unbeaten throughout a league season. The team in most recent memory is the Arsenal side of 2003/04.

That Arsenal side registered 26 wins and 12 draws for the campaign and played almost double the games the previous invincible side (Preston North End 1888/89) had played.

The derogatory chanting aimed at Manchester United and Manchester City following their Europa League 'qualification' not least by Ashley Cole could be taken as an insult by the broadcaster. Instead they wisely decided to treat it as free advertising. Presenters Jim Rosenthal and Stan Collymore enjoyed a singalong of the song over a [.

There has been some talk of late about Jose Enrique, and in particular there have been questions asked as to whether his form has dipped after a flying start to the season that saw him make a strong case for being the league's best left back—and possibly even its best fullback. Previously we looked at his numbers for the club after the first eight games and felt that as he was the only player to be clearly amongst the top three in both attack and defense, the numbers appeared to fully support the idea that he was the best in the league.

Yesterday, we took Twitter by storm with our #PreemptiveChelseaStatement hashtag as we pondered what might happen if Chelsea put out a statement to defend John Terry in a similar vein to Liverpool's Luis Suarez statement. 1. Some of John Terry's favourite mistresses are black. 2. John Terry once co-refereed a football match with Uriah Rennie.

By Alan Duffy

Tottenham Hotspur Chelsea Premier League 22nd December 2011

A clash between third and fourth in the table, this heavyweight London derby lived up to its billing, with both sides getting something from a superb game of football.

Bale and Rooney on FIFA world XI shortlist

Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard also made the list, which was dominated by La Liga

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-01 11:36:11 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Alan Duffy

Turning their attention away from silly little issues like racism, the international footballing authorities have announced their 55-man shortlist for the FIFPRO World XI 2011. (FIFPRO is the Federation Internationale des Associations de Footballers Professionnels, by the way)

Six players from good old Blighty have made the list, with Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale worthy of their places in the elite list.

England internationals Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Frank Lampard nominated for Fifa World XI side

Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand complete the line-up while the Premier League has 18 players nominated in the 55-man short-list, however La Liga leads the way with 22 players chosen

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-01 16:11:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Canada Drugs

Now that England are safely through to the Euro2012 Tournament Finals in Poland and Ukraine next summer, and that their Group opponents have already been finalised, I thought it timely to decide who might be in the squad for the June kick off against France in Donetsk.

Ashley Cole and his glamorous assistant Carlton make a few notes prior to kick-off. Images via EnglandFootballersFoundation.com.

Ashley Cole, Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole, Dion Dublin and Ian Walker were among players who appeared at the London Soccer Dome last night in support of the England Footballers Foundation's inaugral 'EFF Charity Cup'.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Europ-ing for a fight Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole reportedly sparked a clash in the tunnel following his side's win over Manchester City by mocking their recent Champions League exit. City boss Roberto Mancini had already laid the blame for the bust-up with Cole, but said he wasn't sure what he had said to cause the [.

The derogatory chanting aimed at Manchester United and Manchester City following their Europa League 'qualification' not least by Ashley Cole could be taken as an insult by the broadcaster. Instead they wisely decided to treat it as free advertising. Presenters Jim Rosenthal and Stan Collymore enjoyed a singalong of the song over a [.

By Chris Wright

In which, coming back from an advert break at half-time during Fulham's game against Odense, Jim and Stan get 'caught' signing a rousing, tongue-in-cheek rendition of 'Thursday Nights, Channel Five!' the new wave football chant used to mock big clubs that suffer untimely Champions League exits and which, depending on who you choose to believe, may be the song that got Ashley Cole a slapping after he sung it in the tunnel when Chelsea beat Man City on Monday.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The greatest ever British full-back: Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Phil Neal or Gary Stevens? talkSPORT listeners decide

A vote to see who is king of the flanks

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-11 08:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Just like I said yesterday, AVB has come out and rejected claims made by the media the other night that Chelsea were prepared to listen to offers of around £20m for Fernando Torres.
He said:

"It's not true, he is not available at any price.
Everybody wants to be involved all the time but Fernando is pushing for a place with Didier Drogba.

We need a win. This man needs a game.

Team news and the like from 12:15pm EDT

Team sheets
Wigan Athletic
TBA

Chelsea
TBA

Streaming:
My P2P
FirstRow Sports
Sport Lemon

By Alan Duffy

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Chelsea Premier League 17th December 2011

After excellent wins against Valencia in the Champions League and Manchester City in the Premier League, Chelsea were brought back down to earth with a bump at the DW Stadium against a Wigan side who fully deserved a share of the points.

Chelsea's recent winning streak was halted by a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic, Jordi Gómez capitalising on a horrible mistake from Petr Čech to equalise two minutes from time.

The Blues were on course for a fourth consecutive Premier League win when Daniel Sturridge collected a long, diagonal ball from Ashley Cole and drilled a shot across Ali Al-Habsi after 59 minutes.

It seems that even if AVB tells the board that he wants us to meet the minimum fee release clause in Alvaro Pereira's contract, Porto are determined to hold onto him.
The Porto president, Pinto Da Costa has told Chelsea to simply forget about making any moves for the player as he won't be sold.

What we learned this week...Mario Balotelli-bothering Micah Richards should wear a dart-proof vest

The Premier League leaders finally came unstuck, much to the amusement of a surprisingly funny Ashley Cole, while Nicklas Bendtner was a berk and Fitz Hall made us hurl

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-16 07:37:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Of all the issues that's been plaguing this club for years (age, changing of managers, the Michael Jackson statue) one that has been overlooked, or brought up and then seemingly forgotten whenever we go after the next shiny new transfer acquisition, is lack of speed from the wings.

Now, that's different from creativity from the wings.

Yesterday, we took Twitter by storm with our #PreemptiveChelseaStatement hashtag as we pondered what might happen if Chelsea put out a statement to defend John Terry in a similar vein to Liverpool's Luis Suarez statement. 1. Some of John Terry's favourite mistresses are black. 2. John Terry once co-refereed a football match with Uriah Rennie.

By Chris Wright

"Well hello there young lady"

I watched the Tottenham-Chelsea game in the boozer last night so, praise be to Allah, there's another drunken and completely verbatim match report heading your way...

◊ John Terry wearing WHITE boots.

This isn't going to be overly analytical of the game, THFC1882 is about to go on it's Christmas holidays! Before that though we take a brief look at Tottenham Hotspur versus Chelsea from The Lane.

On the balance of play both sides will have been satisfied with a point.

The Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, recently accosted the Manchester City player Wayne Bridge for, apparently, seeming to be happy and content at being nothing more than a paid squad member at the Manchester club. Wayne Bridge never features, is rarely even on the bench, and is not highly valued by his coach.

By Alan Duffy

Chelsea 1-1 Fulham Premier League 26th December 2011

Chelsea's hopes of launching an assault on the Premier Legaue title in the second half of the season were dealt another blow after the Blues struggled against local rivals Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

Easy goal?

Only because Clint made another fantastic run. There were 20 other players on the pitch who could've got themselves into the area there, but Dempsey again made the right moves at the right time to get where he had to get.

I haven't got time to frame-by-frame this one, but look at the goal here.

Easy goal?

Only because Clint made another fantastic run. There were 20 other players on the pitch who could've got themselves into the area there, but Dempsey again made the right moves at the right time to get where he had to get.

I haven't got time to frame-by-frame this one, but look at the goal here.

A genuinely poor performance it was not. It was, however, a rather terrible result.

A myriad of culpable parties

Chelsea again surrender a lead despite being in a position to record a comfortable win. First Wigan, and now Fulham. What the hell. More bemusing, the fact that this latest setback arrived just days after we put in an excellent shift at White Hart Lane in a game we easily could have won.

IT'S A BOXING DAY WRAP!

Nothing like receiving a brand new Cabbage Patch doll under your tree, eh Ashley Cole?! Jokes aside (or not, depending on who you support!), Boxing Day might as well have named itself 'The Day Of Draws' because five out of seven games ended in dead heat.

No player named Lucas will be on the pitch for Liverpool by the end of January. Though by this time next year there could be two Lucases (Luci? Lucai?) regularly in the starting eleven. And maybe even one Luis Suarez, assuming the English FA doesn't manage to drive him and Liverpool Football Club into the Irish Sea like some unwanted nation state by then.

Tottenham failed to close the gap on the top two after a thrilling 1-1 draw with Chelsea at White Hart Lane.
Both sides were chasing victory to keep pace with the runaway leaders, but cancelled each other out in a free-flowing encounter.
Controversial Chelsea skipper John Terry played 24 hours after discovering he was being charged with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.