Roberto Mancini makes his bow as Manchester City manager on Boxing Day then 24 hours later Arsenal host Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium. Elsewhere on this festive weekend of footballing action, bottom two teams West Ham United and Portsmouth go head-to-head, league leaders Chelsea make the trip to Birmingham City, out-of-form Liverpool lock horns with in-form Wolverhampton Wanderers while Fulham meet London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Sylvie van der Vaart: she works hard for the money. No, seriously. It's not just that she faced down a random penis in an elephant sock, she also posed for FHM during chemo. We bow down.
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Sergio Ramos gets cheeky with Guti
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Does this USMNT World Cup promo get you pumped?

Maybe it was the World Cup Draw bounce or a nice lift from the previous weekend's Manchester United game, but the Nielsen Ratings for last weekend's match between Portsmouth and Burnley, far from being two popular teams in America, achieved the sixth highest rating of the 2009-2010 Premier League season thus far.

Let's be honest. It was the game that almost no one wanted to watch but for those of you who did watch it because there was nothing else on or because you love football no matter who is playing, the Stoke City against Wigan Athletic match was a surprising delight.

Because both teams are not big draws, the Nielsen Ratings on ESPN2 for the game weren't too impressive (the broadcast of the game garnered a 0.

After their large spending spree in the last few transfer windows, many have expected Manchester City to challenge for a top four finish in the English Premier League. Currently, the club is in the top half of the Premiership table but the questions remains if where will they finish? It's hard to say at this point but here's a look at the season so far and a prediction of if they will earn a UEFA Champions League spot for next season.

WTF?

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Can someone please try to explain to me what is going on? Rafa Benitez bought a footballer who was suffering from a long term injury, in fact he invested £20m (albeit in installments) in said player, and yet when he finally gets himself fit and ready for action, he isn't picked!

Sylvie van der Vaart: she works hard for the money. No, seriously. It's not just that she faced down a random penis in an elephant sock, she also posed for FHM during chemo. We bow down.
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Sergio Ramos gets cheeky with Guti
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Does this USMNT World Cup promo get you pumped?

It's no secret that England's problem position is officially goalkeeper. Forget the left-sided problem. That was solved thanks to Fabio Capello's brain and Steven Gerrard/Wayne Rooney's willingness to interchange. But goalkeeper isn't a position you can solve with tactical tinkering. You've either got a good keeper or you haven't.

Tiger Woods isnt the only one to be linked with porn stars this week, Birmingham City have signed Slovakian international Jan Novak. Although the 24-year-old has scored 39 goals in 90 appearances for Kosice, including 11 this season, they are ready to cash in on a player likely to cost around £2million.

If you've watched a lot of Premier League football on television this season, you've seen plenty of matches involving Burnley and Portsmouth in addition to the Big Four and other teams. Surprisingly, the games involving Burnley and Portsmouth have done quite well in the TV ratings game as we again see from last weekend's match between Portsmouth and Liverpool, which was shown on ESPN2.

With the exception of Aston Villa fans and a handful of prognosticators, there weren't many people who could have seen Aston Villa have the type of season it is currently enjoying.

Brad Friedel and Villa is currently tied for third place in the English Premier League and can take sole possession of third with a win against Arsenal on Sunday in the weekend's top match.

Thank you all for coming out in the chilly weather to join the Soccerlens crew at the Soccerlens Match Viewing Party. The Liverpool v Arsenal game ended 1-2 with yet another away win in the Premier League this weekend.

Seems like this weekend was a good time to go play away from home in England as Birmingham City was the only team to get the three points at their home against West Ham United.

In the latest in our Thursday classic programmes series, we go back to March 1981 and two teams recently in the news taking on each other in something like their glory years. Watford would be promoted the next season to the top flight for the first time as they rose from the fourth division to the first in just five years, while in the NASL's summer 1981 season, the Whitecaps would win their division and reach the playoff semi-finals just a couple of years after their only Soccer Bowl triumph.

EPL on Setanta: Wolverhampton - Burnley at 8:30am. On FSC: West Ham - Chelsea at 11am and Everton - Birmingham City at 5pm. Serie A on FSC: Roma - Parma at 9am and Inter Milan - Lazio at 2:30pm. Bundesliga on GolTV: Hamburg - Werder Bremen at 10:30am. Ligue 1 on Setanta: Lille - Le Mans at 11am. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Espanyol - Almeria at 11am and Deportivo - Valencia at 3pm.

Due to the light schedule over the next week, this will be the final "weekly" WCR Top 25 of the season. Next week, in place of the weekly ranking will be the fiftieth Annual Rankings in which we will anoint the 2009 WCR Club of the Year. If you haven't voted (though, be warned, voting is just for fun and doesn't decide the winner), feel free to go the left side of the screen and vote.

One of the maddest weekends of footy this year? Perhaps. Definitely one of the most dramatic.

Arsenal / Hull City non-stop handbags. Fulham beating Man Utd 3-0. Mark Hughes getting the sack. Liverpool losing to Portsmouth 2-0. Frank Lampard's three-times-a-charm penalty kick.

Plus a bunch of other fantabulous stuff.

Flying high in the top half of the Premier League, does Alex McLeish even need to bother Mr. Yeung's money?

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Birmingham could be among the big spenders in January with Carson Yeung the new Birmingham City owner promising between £20 million and £40 million for Alex McLeish to spend.

>> Click Here To Watch Birmingham Vs Chelsea Live Now <<

Birmingham v Chelsea Live Streaming & Match Preview
Premier League Birmingham vs Chelsea Live Online Click Here
Saturday, 26th December 2009
Kick Off : 15:00 GMT
Venue : St Andrews, Birmingham

Birmingham will face the Chelsea Blues at St Andrew's on Saturday, 26th at 12:45 PM.

The match between Chelsea and Birmingham today not only acted as a good antidote for the after Christmas blues, but it also drew attention to the fact that Joe Hart is looking good.

In the first half Joe make a string of fantastic saves, denying Lampard and Sturridge from close range.

Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish believes that goalkeeper Joe Hart is ready to battle for a spot in England's squad for the 2010 World Cup. Six months ahead of the tournament, England boss Fabio Capello is still uncertain about his pick for the nation's number 1 jersey in South Africa. "I know .

Many soccer fans in the United States have posted here and on other sites that Nielsen Ratings for Premier League games shown on ESPN2 have flatlined. Based on the latest numbers from ESPN2, that is simply not true.

The reality is that the teams that were featured in the games shown by ESPN2 over the past two months had "flatlined" in that they featured teams that for the most part are not appealing to the mass of soccer fans in the States.

For some weeks now we've been reading about how this or that game will be a ‘turning point' in our season, only to find that the change of direction has been just a sharper decline.
The Manchester United game was chief amongst these pretenders, while encouraging performances against Lyon and Birmingham City have also been hailed as heralding an improvement in fortunes.

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!...QPR REPORT UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY!
-Also Check out the "cutting-edge" combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If your interest is constantly-updated QPR-related news; QPR nostalgia; and items on some other broader football-related isssues: QPR Report Messageboard is one such site.

05/12/2009Portsmouth - Burnley ore 13.45Arsenal - Stoke City ore 16.00Aston Villa - Hull City ore 16.00Blackburn - Liverpool ore 16.00West Ham - Manchester United ore 16.00Wigan - Birmingham City ore 16.00Wolverhampton - Bolton ore 16.00Manchester City - Chelsea ore 18.3006/12/2009Fulham - Sunderland ore 16.

Under-17's on Fox Soccer Channel: USA - Brazil at 9pm. EPL on ESPN2: Portsmouth - Burnley at 7:30am. On Setanta: West Ham United - Manchester United at 9:30am, Blackburn - Liverpool at 5pm, and Wigan - Birmingham City at 8:30pm. On Fox Soccer: Arsenal - Stoke at 10am, Manchester City - Chelsea at 12:30pm, and Aston Villa - Hull at 7pm.

The English Premier League continues on Saturday, December 5, 2009 with several matches including Wigan Athletic v Birmingham City. The match will be covered live on our other site, Free Live Sports TV, at the link below.

Wigan v Birmingham

Birmingham City battled back superbly from a goal down to beat Wigan at the DW Stadium.

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Birmingham

All Birmingham wants for X-mas is for things to continue going they way they have been recently. The new boys are quietly playing some of the best top level football in the last few months not losing a match since October 17th to Arsenal. The six game unbeaten streak is among the most impressive streaks currently running in the Premier League.

FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Soccer Channel: Atlante - Auckland City at 5pm (11am on Fox Sports en Espanol). EPL on ESPN2: Stoke City - Wigan Athletic at 7:30am. On Setanta: Chelsea - Everton at 10am, Spurs - Wolverhampton at 5pm, Birmingham City - West Ham United at 8:30am, and Hull City - Blackburn at 10:15pm.

Birmingham City continue their fine recent form with a hard fought win over West Ham with Lee Bowyer scoring against his former club.

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Alex McLeish has built the right type of squad to maintain Premier League status. After several consecutive "yoyo" seasons, the Blues appear poised to survive easily this season.

McLeish's strategy: combine veteran British footballers with one very special bargain buy from CONCACAF.

The English Premier League has several midweek fixtures including Birmingham City v Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. The match will be covered live on our other site, Free Live Sports TV, at the link below.

Birmingham City v Blackburn Rovers

Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur all failed to win after Everton, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers all claimed memorable results respectively, whilst Birmingham City's impressive form continued as they made it four straight top-flight triumphs.

This is becoming a familiar sight again in the English Premier League.How did you do this weekend? We're only halfway through the week - hence the Monday Morning Manager's reticence to say too much just yet - but there were lots of points to be had this weekend. Did you get them? I got points from Birmingham City's offense, but couldn't afford the real bonanza from their D.

Graeme Souness, as Rafael Benitez pointed out, did not have a great record as Liverpool manager. There was one season when Liverpool looked potential title winners, but that challenge quickly fizzled out and, for the most part, he filled the squad with ordinary players, and won the FA Cup.
Notice any similarities?

I have two loves outside of family and friends football and music.

In fact, you'll most likely to find me watching football or listening to my iPod if you spot me somewhere. Sometimes even doing both.

I grew up listening to music that was called 'new wave' at the time (Depeche Mode, the Cure, the Smiths, XTC) and is now the music we play at the radio station I spin records (well, play digital versions of) on the weekends.

It looks like the next Mike Ashley will, figuratively speaking, be in the form of a David Gold and David Sullivan combo. The rumour mill says the Dodgy Davids have had their offer for West Ham accepted by the club's Icelandic owners.

But what do we know about these two shifty characters: Formerly owners of Birmingham City, they have a few bob, but surely not in the oligarch category.

Manchester United beat a weakened Wolves team 3-0 at Old Trafford to move level on points with Premier League leaders Chelsea.

A Wayne Rooney penalty and a Nemanja Vidic header gave United a 2-0 halftime lead against a Wolves line-up showing 10 changes to the side that beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Saturday.

Have a friendly chat with a MLS Snob and one of the many criticisms you'll hear from them about the Premier League is that "Sure, the top teams are exciting to watch, but the bottom has teams that actually hurt your eyes to watch."

While in the past this was true, especially in the days when Derby County and Sunderland stunk up the Premier League, I truly believe the bottom half of the table has improved considerably in recent years, and most especially this season.

Aston Villa showed the mettle they're made of as they pulled off a classy 0-2 victory against Sunderland to claim the third spot in the Premier League table. Dismounting Arsenal from the position, Aston Villa, high from their weekend victory Manchester United. Sunderland, on the other hand continued their disappointing run with two victories against [.