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.

This will probably be my last post until Boxing Day, so its time to sign off with some pics of Babes in Arsenal Shirts to cheer everyone up over the festive season. I have featured quite a few over the season, so i have built up a good selection for you to look at, and I [...]

At look at the winners and losers of another weekend of Premier League action.

Winners
Chelsea
Chelsea is the best team in Europe at the moment. That doesn't mean that they will win the Champions League or the Premier League, it simply means that they are playing better than anyone in Europe at the moment.

Regarding Manchester United and the transfer window, there have been a few points that have consistently weighed on the mind of many a United supporter. Perhaps most notably, there is the fact that United were (by all accounts) completely played off the pitch by a Barcelona side that were missing three of their big-time players.

It's one of the most exciting days of the football calendar, partly because there is little else going on!
The fixtures are out and we open up against........................
Arsenal!
A tough one but it should be a good game, at least we are at home, I love the buzz ahead of the first game of the season.

Rushden & Diamonds are next up for Boro as they look to bounce back from their defeat last weekend to Oxford United. The 2-1 loss at the Kassam Stadium was Boro's only defeat of the season so far although the Hertfordshire club have also only won 1 match out of the 5 played. Rushden have faired slightly better recording 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in their opening 5 games.

George Gillett has had enough of Liverpool and wants out.
The final straw came for him when The Spirit Of Shankly group prevented him and Hicks from entering Anfield the other week.
That blockade was peacefully observed by SOS and it looks like it has achieved real results with the American realising that his time as Liverpool joint-owner is now up.

Troubled Liverpool face a Christmas of uncertainty with fresh claims that a Saudi prince is ready to buy the 50 per cent stake of co-owner George Gillett.
Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah announced on television that he was flying to England to attend the Barclays Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on Boxing Day as a guest of Gillett.

I hope you have something better to do on Christmas Eve than read this... Boxing Day derbies used to have more spice than a fixture against Fulham, who we face for the third year running. In the late 70s/early 80s Arsenal were the regular opponents on the 26th or 27th, followed for the next few seasons [.

Your Gameweek 19 Captain, Fernando Torres
After Boxing Day, we'll be exactly half-way through the Premier League season. Exciting stuff. We'll have 5 more months of fantasy footie, a brilliant title race brewing, a few weeks off - and then bam: South Africa! But for now - our attention is focused strictly on the league.

With Manchester United not playing until Sunday, Ryan Giggs has welcomed the first Christmas Day off in his entire career.

Since the birth of his children, Libby in 2003 and Zach in 2006, Giggs has craved some time off to spend with his family and now he finally has the chance to do so.

"Until I had kids I never got excited about Christmas," said Giggs.

Ola Futbolitas! Many of you may not know this (and a few amici still tease us about it) but last December, we interviewed Greaseano himself aka Cristiano Ronaldo via phone from Japan). And yes, he was nice and sent us his autographed book so we've been pretty mean calling him names.

No no I am not jumping the gun about the result of FA Cup Final.

But even if Everton lose on Saturday David Moyes can have the consolation of collecting a personal piece of silverware this season - The LMA Manager Of The Year Award.

It is the first time a manager has won the award three times, after the Scot received the accolade in 2003 and 2005 - even Sir Alex Ferguson hasn't done that!

If you were only allowed to attend one Wolves game next season in the Premier League, what would it be?
For me, it's the Boxing Day trip to Anfield, provoking magical memories of my trip to Liverpool in January 1984.
No-one gave us a chance, even though Liverpool were without the injured Kenny Dalglish, as the team anchored to the foot of the table arrived on Merseyside.

Stevenage's 16th consecutive season in the Blue Square Premier will kick off at home against newly promoted Tamworth on the 8th August. The opening week of the new season couldn't of been nicer for Graham Westley's side with a home fixture against a newly promoted club to start off with and then two away fixtures against two teams liklier to be at the bottom end of the table come April.

"Las Fútbolistas" Ángel Zárraga (Mexico, 1886-1946)
A friend recommended this painting to me - amazing, given the year it was painted and the commonly held view that women's football is a recent phenomenon spearheaded by post Title IX generations of American women. By chance, I happen to be just finishing Barbara Jacobs's incredible portrait of perhaps the most successful and famous side in English women's football, The Dick, Kerr's Ladies (see also this recent Guardian story).

On May 17, 1990, Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in the FA Cup Final replay to win the first silverware of Sir Alex Ferguson's 22-year reign at Old Trafford. It had taken the Scot three-and-a-half years to achieve it, but 32 trophies later the adoring Mancunian fans have no qualms about the bedding-down period Ferguson was granted.

At look at the winners and losers of another weekend of Premier League action.

Winners
Chelsea
Chelsea is the best team in Europe at the moment. That doesn't mean that they will win the Champions League or the Premier League, it simply means that they are playing better than anyone in Europe at the moment.

Liverpool have refused to release Javier Mascherano for Argentina's friendly against Catalunya later this month.
The midfielder, who is skipper of his country, was named by Diego Maradona in the squad for the showpiece match, which takes place on December 22.
But with Catalunya, who are coached by Johan Cruyff, an autonomous Spanish region and not a country, the fixture is not recognised by FIFA.

ssshhhh

Apologies to my loyal readers for the radio silence up until this point; simply put I found it pretty difficult to bring myself to writing a post about the league cup game that would have done justice to the shambles that occurred. Whilst it is now a distraction we won't have to worry about as we focus on consolidating a good position in the league, losing in such a feeble manner was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

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.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez says his side must not dwell on their defeat to Portsmouth and focus on the next game.
The Reds slumped to a 2-0 defeat on Saturday thanks to goals from Nadir Belhadj and Frederic Piquionne either side of Javier Mascherano's sending off, which led to Benitez launching a bizarre rant at referee Lee Mason.

Alberto Aquilani is in contention to play against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing day after missing the tie against Portsmouth last weekend. Aquilani has been one of the most talked about players to have barely played a game for Liverpool, yet there's a chance he will finally be given a league start against Wolves given the fact [.

Happy Holidays!

It's Christmas Eve, so I would be remiss if this week's preview didn't have a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Ashura theme.

I'm more of a Christmas kind of guy myself, so that's the direction I'll be heading in first.

It may not have come upon a midnight clear, but this is the TV schedule for the week so dear.

We're top of the league, they're third bottom and have one point from the last six games and have lost five out of their last six home games. So tomorrow's televised Boxing Day game against Sheff Wed should be a walkover, right? Aye, not likely, not when you consider the last time Newcastle won on [.

For as long as I can get away with it here at my parents house without feeling like I'm ignoring the holidays-with-the-family thing. <p><a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=da2614361e" >Boxing Day Live</a></p>

Controversy, casual defending and a lack of commitment put paid to a full three points at Hillsborough, and so our Boxing Day jinx continues, as it's now 21 years since we last recorded a win on our travels. A sluggish-looking Newcastle might as well have been back on the bus as Sheff Wed took the [.

There he is. The last of an extinct breed.

In attendance at Liverpool's 2-0 Boxing Day win over Wolves, this guy perhaps fittingly stands behind a man in a Yankees cap. Liverpool scored both their goals only after Wolverhampton's Stephen Ward was sent off in the 53rd minute.

[Photo: Reuters]

The Boxing Day features in England didn't go the way of the Americans, with only Jonathan Spector's West Ham United winning. Tim Howard was in goal for Everton, who drew 1-1 against Sunderland. Clint Dempsey went the full-ninety with Fulham drawing 0-0 with Spurs. Dempsey hit the crossbar from a freekick and had another opportunity that almost broke the deadlock.

Rafael Benítez has said that Liverpool's confidence and Champions League credentials will be under scrutiny at Villa Park tomorrow. The Spaniard is considering whether to give the midfielder Alberto Aquilani a second start in four days.
Liverpool are five points behind Aston Villa after their Boxing Day win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa's subsequent loss to Arsenal but they have not won successive league matches since September and have several injury problems.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez admits he must assess the risk of using Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani in tonight's critical Barclays Premier League clash at Aston Villa.
The £20million summer signing from Roma finally made his first league start in Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Wolves.

Wow, someone at the north pole must really like Rafa Benitez as he got everything he wished for this Christmas.

An injury time winner from Fernando Torres gave Liverpool a huge 1-0 win at Aston Villa. Combined with Liverpool's 2-0 win over Wolves on Boxing Day, Rafa's reds find themselves only four points out from the last Champions League place as we end the year.

Football and religion

Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, has criticised the Premier League for scheduling games on Easter Sunday, saying it should be a day to spend time with those we love. I like Dr Sentamu. He speaks a lot of sense, most recently suggesting that making St George's Day a national holiday could promote unity in England.

If Hull City carry their woeful form into the last two games of the Premier League season and do end up relegated, history will likely look back on their demise and pinpoint Boxing Day 2008 as the...

I forgot Freddie Sears! Which is easily done.
Freddie Sears : Appearances - 7 (15)
Awful.
Rating : 4/10
Best Performance : Middlesbrough (a)
The Manager

In our brave, new, post Curbishley world it is fair to say that most were fairly underwhelmed by the prospect of an untried, untested Italian at the helm.

Having edged into the fourth round of the Carling Cup, albeit with an ultimately monotonous performance, the Premier League returns for United on Saturday and a somewhat tricky trip to the Britannia Stadium awaits.

Stoke have started the season in a pretty decent fashion having picked up seven points already and been extremely unfortunate not to have come away with something more last weekend against Bolton and previously against Chelsea too.

by VIC CRESCIT Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Somebody at the club must have repeatedly run over a black cat in a tank. Yet again the injury curse has struck. Robin van Persie will be out, as things stand at the moment, for at least six weeks. He did his right ankle ligaments landing badly after a tackle playing for the Netherlands in their goalless draw in a friendly against Italy in the Stadio Adriatico in Pescara on Saturday.

Sometimes, managers just carry the aura of being a dead man walking. The way that they carry themselves betrays a combination of being fully aware of just how lucky they are whilst permanently looking over their shoulder as if the ides of March are due any day now. To be fair to Paul Hart, he never had a chance.

Yesterday I read something very sad. Manny Road has left the bloggy ranks. I don't know if you ever visited the site, but it was home to good writing, good jokes, and good opinions. After having complained about Megson for a very long time (haven't we all?) he has finally had enough and won't be supporting the club until Megson leaves.

Liverpool must decide whether to take on Argentina after Diego Maradona called up Javier Mascherano for a showpiece friendly next month.
The South Americans face Catalonia in the Nou Camp on December 22, while injury-hit Liverpool will be preparing for the busy Christmas period.
The match is not on a date set aside by FIFA for internationals, meaning clubs are under no obligation to release players, but Argentina captain Mascherano will no doubt want to play.