So in the past two weeks Robbie Findley and Edson Buddle have been linked to every English side that is not part of "the Big Four" or owned by an American. According to various U.K. media outlets (which by nature are very* trustworthy) these two have Everton, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton, Stoke City, Nottingham Forest, and Bolton all up on their collective jock right now.

A shocking display by the Birmingham City fans after their win over Aston Villa. Lots of banning orders to be issued out after this one. To start the supporters looked to just rush the pitch in celebration. Soon after taunting of the Villa fans was the mindset.

By Chris Wright

Last night's Carling Cup tie between second city rivals Birmingham and Aston Villa was always going to be a tasty affair hence the considerable hoik in police presence and, during the game, the two sets of supporters provided a magnificent bristling alchemy of noise that married perfectly with the exciting, fractious football on display.

The big freeze and the dismal failure of England's 2018 World Cup bid will not stop the Premier League from rolling on. Its game week 16, time to forget the disappointment, put the heating on and enjoy another weekend of Football.

Spurs enjoyed a much needed rest midweek and will be hoping to capitalise on any signs of a Birmingham hangover following their Carling Cup exploits.

The big freeze may have cost Manchester United it's place at the top of the table simply because Blackpool's 110 year old Bloomfield Road Stadium is the only one in the Premier League not equipped...
Continue to the full story

With Rio Ferdinand out for the early part of the season, Jonny Evans was counted on to partner Nemanja Vidic in the center of United's defense. After the experienced he earned over the previous few seasons, you would think that the Northern Ireland international would be up to the task.

However, it's been a severe struggle from the word go for the 22-year-old.

For the second time in three games the Barclay's Premier League picked two Wolves players in their Team Of The Week. This time the praise and honour went to a midfielder and a striker who were directly involved in the goal against Birmingham City. Stephen Hunt tireless grafter all over the pitch aswell as [.

After only minor action in stage one of the fandangled MLS Re-Entry Draft, all hell broke loose in da next episode.The best bits: the L.A. Galaxy grab Juan Pablo Angel (just as Edson Buddle starts a Birmingham City trial, no less), Jeff Cunningham goes back to the Crew, Josh Wolff heads to D.C. United and four name veteran defenders get new homes.

A busy weekend of Premier League action sees title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United lock horns on Sunday, among a number of other intriguing fixtures. Sunderland and Bolton contest the first top-flight game of the weekend at the Stadium of Light, there is a Midlands derby as West Brom host Wolves, while managerless Blackburn take on struggling West Ham and Roy Hodgson faces his former side when Fulham travel to Liverpool.

Not much going on this weekend except for the English Premier League and a few other matches on television. Okay, only one other live one and that one is from Australia, which barely counts. Among the EPL matches, though, there are a few good ones and one great one. The great one of course is (Wayne Gretzky) the match on Monday between Chelsea and Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Monday.

It is no secret that Robbie Keane wants out of Tottenham so that he can begin play football again.

Keane has started only 2 Premier League games for Spurs this season Harry Redknapp is ready to let Keane move on:

"Robbie would like to move and he wants to play—he is a boy who has played all his career.

With Christmas in the rearview mirror, and a day without live soccer behind us, soccer fans hungry for some on-field action will get their gifts today as Boxing Day clashes make up today's light schedule.

Bad weather has already led to cancellations of two matches (Blackpool-Liverpool and Everton-Birmingham City), but there is still action to watch throughout the day.

Much has been said of Birmingham City's dramatic equalizer against Manchester United this evening. Sir Alex Ferguson has already weighed in on the topic, criticizing the officials for missing more than one infraction on the goal. The United boss believed that not only did Nikola Zigic foul Rio Ferdinand, but the Scot said the hand ball was clear.

Birmingham City 1-1 Manchester United: Observations

"We're still in a good position when you look at the bigger picture. We haven't lost, we're in good form we played well at times tonight, controlling the game and so we go into the next game looking to keep the momentum up.

Manchester United regained top spot in the Premier League on Tuesday but there were no celebrations from Alex Ferguson after his team gave up another late goal in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City. Earlier Mario Balotelli hit a hat-trick, including two penalties, to help Manchester City beat Aston Villa 4-0 and briefly occupy top spot.

By Eric Beard, writing from Boston

As Florent Malouda rushed to the Chelsea bench after scoring what would be the winner for the Blues as they defeated the ever-resilient Bolton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge, there was nothing but a hint of desperation in the air.

Once again, it's the English Premier League with most of our weekend options, though La Liga also returns on Sunday. Saturday ESPN2 has WBA - Manchester United at 7:30am. On Fox Soccer Channel, Manchester City - Blackburn is at 10am, Birmingham City - Arsenal starts at 12:30pm, and Spurs hosts the Americans at Fulham at 2:30pm.

Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane is set to renew hostilities with Arsene Wenger — but this time as manager of Ipswich Town.

The Gunners have been drawn to play the Tractor Boys in the semi-final of the League Cup, with the first leg to be played at Portman Road.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

Arsenal hasn't won a trophy since it hoisted FA Cup in 2005, but the Gunners have a golden opportunity to end their trophy drought in this season's Carling Cup. Arsenal will face Championship side Ipswitch Town in on of the competition's two-legged semifinals next month, with a berth in the Feb.

David Beckham has insisted he will not be joining Everton on loan this winter and who can blame him. This was supposed to be the season Everton really pushed for the top 4, something which was heavily advocated in the summer by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. But as other teams have improved, Everton seem to have gone backwards.

Judging by the considerable hike in both steward and police presence at St. Andrews (over 500 West Midlands officers were drafted in for the occasion), it's pretty clear that the relevant authorities were envisaging a bit of a feisty affair between second city rivals Birmingham and Aston Villa in the Carling Cup last night although the ugly tension that swarmed after the final whistle could, in these supposedly enlightened times, hardly have been preempted.

By Ollie Irish

A very bad Influence... Airport departure lounge carpet, anyone?

The keeper's kit was just as bad. Take it away, Sir Les Sealey:

Horrific.

Bonus points for anyone who can identify the outfield players pictured above.

Today's video features Birmingham City's win over Aston Villa being marred by violence.

Here's the links:

• Carling Cup violence [Mail]
• Keane against the snood [Dirty Tackle]
• Balotelli scores twice [Mail]
• A man against the EPL [Four Four Two]
• The own goal club [FIFA]
• Week 16 fantasy tips [FPLT]
• Rio with Snoop Dogg [Vital Football]
• Spurs of the moment [Farlie On Footie]
• Schwarzer extends Fulham stay [Goal]
• Hodgson on Cole [Football Fan Cast]
• Win a signed Rooney boot [Four Four Two]
• World Cup host announcement [FIFA]

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know if you'd like to suggest an article, video or photo for inclusion on the Premier League Links Of The Day.

In the Dec 2nd, 2010 edition of The Soccer Daily, crowd trouble in the Carling Cup and Real Salt Lake tries to build up the CONCACAF Champions League. With J Hutcherson -- Last night a section of Birmingham City's support decided to remind English soccer that their leagues can experience crowd control problems.

Birmingham, the second city, a city of culture, diversity and one of the meanest defences in the premier league. As a football team, they'll almost the opposite to us, a complete negative if you will. We play open, attractive football, trying to score as many as we can and often conceding at will, while Alex McLeish's men spend their time making sure the opposition doesn't score and hope to grab one at the other end.

Arsenal host Fulham, Blackpool welcome Manchester United, Spurs go to Birmingham City, Bolton go to Manchester City, Chelsea host Everton, Wolves visit Blackburn, Wigan welcome Stoke, West Brom and Newcastle clash and Sunderland host West Ham.
Preview
Team News
Jon Carter Previews Chelsea vs.

An odd time to be a Birmingham City fan. The euphoria of gazumping their neighbours in a cup quarter-final was met with some rather stern faces in the nation's media yesterday. Instead of the glowing reports they might've received on any normal evening, they're being partly blamed for the failure of the World Cup bid.

An odd time to be a Birmingham City fan. The euphoria of gazumping their neighbours in a cup quarter-final was met with some rather stern faces in the nation's media yesterday. Instead of the glowing reports they might've received on any normal evening, they're being partly blamed for the failure of the World Cup bid.

Let me start by saying this write up of Saturday's game would've been the same had we managed to win 1-0. As I stood there in the freezing cold, watching what can only be described as the ultimate long ball game with the odd pass and move thrown in for good measure, all the below thoughts were being formulated prior to their equaliser and the final whistle.

Curses. There has been some debate across various corners of the interweb, but here at AANP Towers we had rather been enjoying the exalted status of title dark-horses, and accordingly mark this down as two points lost. No catastrophe, but if we can win at the Emirates we should be able to win just about anywhere, especially after giving the opposition a one-goal first-half thrashing, if such a thing there be.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy knows his side's fans need a boost in the midst of a relegation battle, and he has his hopes pinned on a derby day victory to put smiles on their faces.
The Molineux outfit are second bottom of the Premier League and on a run of ten defeats in their last 13 matches.

It wasn't too long ago when Tottenham would have been considered an underdog against Chelsea, but things have changed a bit over the past month. Chelsea is mired in a slump that erased a once healthy lead atop the Premier League while Tottenham comes in having won its Champions League group and having pulled within four points of Chelsea.

Birmingham City midfielder Sebastian Larsson admits his future at the club is still up in the air.
The 25-year-old winger has forced his way into the Sweden set-up this year with a string of impressive performances at St Andrews, including scoring a penalty in Blues' Carling Cup triumph over Aston Villa.

Angel: The one that got away?

The second stage of the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft came and went Wednesday afternoon and once again Interim-ish TFC Director Earl Cochrane and his "braintrust" passed on any available players. In fairness to Cochrane, many teams passed on the whole draft process and for the most part, the available players came with potentially hefty wages and mostly hefty ages.

With the January transfer window approaching fast, one of the MLS players who may be making a move overseas is LA Galaxy forward Edson Buddle who is now on trial at Birmingham City of the English Premier League.

Doesn't that sound like a box snack?I'm still waiting on comment from L.A. boss Bruce Arena for my MLSS report on Edson Buddle's Birmingham City trial, but the Brums media guy was nice enough to transcribe today's full exchange on the matter between Brums manager Ally McLeish and beat writers. It'll turn up in UK reports soon enough, but here ya go in advance:Edson Buddle on trial with you?

It has taken longer than some would have first expected, but Charlie Davies believes he is ready to return to first team action with FC Sochaux.

Davies has stated that he is 90 percent recovered from injuries sustained in a deadly car crash more than a year ago, and he believes he will be ably to play for Sochaux against Bordeaux on Saturday.

The goal scoring exploits of the Galaxy's U.S. international forward Edson Buddle have caught the attention of EPL club Birmingham City (AFP/Getty Images).

Maybe there's more to the Galaxy's selection of Juan Pablo Angel than meets the eye:

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- Galaxy striker Edson Buddle is trying out with Premier League club Birmingham during the Major League Soccer offseason.

Newcastle head to St Andrews on Saturday afternoon where they will come up against a tough Birmingham City side. Newcastle will have to be at their very best of they are to beat a side that doesn't generally give much away, especially on their own turf. Birmingham are a physical side who work hard for each other.

Weekend Six Pack 6 solid reasons for 1-1 at St Andrews, Christmas goals galore is a post from: Just Football

Each week our betting columnist Rob Hartnett will bring you six bets from the weekend football action. Rob is the public face of leading In Play betting specialists 188BET.com and appears regularly on the Bolton, Wigan, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Everton websites doing betting previews.