Ah, it's that time of the year again and I simply love it. No, not Christmas, but the end of the year lists that all end up being about the same everywhere you look. Seriously, I think every music magazine has awarded album of the year to Kanye West, but that's a topic for another article.

The what: FA Charity Shield – Chelsea v. Manchester United
The where: Wembley Stadium (90,000)
The when: August 8, 3pm local time (10am EST)
The how: Fox Soccer Channel (DirecTV 619, Dish Network 149)
The why: Because we desperately well, maybe not desperately need a positive result.

Chelsea have made approximately 50 signings since the take-over of Roman Abramovich. About £470 million (and William Gallas) has been spent on these players – that averages out at just over £9 million (and one of Gallas' hands) per player.

Compiling a list of the best 10 signings in this time is not a simple task and there will, no doubt, be objections.

Now they're both injured.Chelsea's miserable week has taken another turn for the worse with Branislav Ivanovic ruled out for a month, leaving them without both first-choice right backs.After crashing out of the Champions League and drawing with Blackburn, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti could have done without another headache — but Ivanovic has torn a knee ligament.

The long walk.

I don't want to write this. For several reasons.

One, it's a loss to Arsenal. Fucking Arsenal. Nothing stings quite like a loss to that wretched lot. Much of that stems from the fact that we just don't lose to sides helmed by Arsene Wenger it was two losses in 18 matches prior to Monday's dissection at the Emirates.

Frank Arok, Australian national coach between 1983-89, believes Australia's potentially decisive 2010 World Cup match against his home country, Serbia, will be decided by set pieces, and has warned Pim Verbeek to pay special attention to defenders Nemanja Vidic and Branislav Ivanovic. Arok, 78, spent 24 years in Australia before returning to .

By Ollie Irish

This is the PFA Premier League Team of the Year (in what looks like a 4-4-2 formation): Joe Hart, Branislav Ivanovic, Thomas Vermaelen, Richard Dunne, Patrice Evra, Cesc Fabregas, James Milner, Darren Fletcher, Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba.

What the papers are saying ahead of the final day of the Premier League season.

• Carlo Ancelotti prepares Chelsea for victory at Bridge of highs The Times

As much as Chelsea's statistical dominance, it is the style with which the points have been accumulated that has been impressive.

Hats off to these top performers from White Hart Lane, Eastlands, Stamford Bridge, Craven Cottage and beyond!

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

GK Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham)

What a transformation. The bungling Brazilian must have been considering his future at White Hart Lane after a series of high profile gaffs but Harry Redknapp worked his man management magic on the former PSV man who turned in great performance after great performance.

It's that time of year again and the PFA team of the year results are in:

The team is as follows:

Joe Hart (Birmingham City) (GK)
Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)

Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)

Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal)

Patrice Evra (Manchester United)

Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)

Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)

James Milner (Aston Villa)

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

After last years travesty when half the starting X1 consisted of Man Utd players, the selectors have come to their senses and produced a more cosmopolitan line-up.

• Iron Man 2 and Mother's Day
• Champions FC

Football played second fiddle this weekend to Mother's Day and Robert Downey Jr. & Co. running around saving the world from a Russian villain. Quite the opposite event played out across England as another Russian, this time Roman Abramovich and not Mickey Rourke, emerged from the rubble and ashes of 38 Premier League matches as victor.

Serbia World Cup 2010 Preview #16 (Group D) is a post from: Just Football

Serbia

Appearances at World Cup finals: As Yugoslavia 9. As Serbia and Montenegro 1. As Serbia, this is their debut.

Best ever performance: 4th place in both 1950 and 1962, as Yugoslavia.

Las listas de los 736 convocados a la Copa del Mundo Sudáfrica 2010 deja lugar al análisis de las ligas y los clubes de donde provienen. Un ejercicio de curiosidad periodística que arroja números, comparaciones y curiosidades para repasar.
Barcelona es el equipo que tiene más futbolistas (14) en las diferentes selecciones que disputan el Mundial: el argentino Lionel Messi, el mexicano Rafael Márquez, los franceses Eric Abidal y Thierry Henry, el brasileño Daniel Alves, el marfileño Yaya Touré y los españoles Víctor Valdés, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Pedro Rodríguez y David Villa.

Germany Will Face Ghana In a Must Win Match on Wednesday.

After a shock 1-0 loss to Serbia, Germany are on the brink of an early World Cup exit. With only 3 points, anything dropped against the Black Stars on Wednesday night means that Serbia, should they defeat Australia, will advance ahead of Germany into the round fo 16.

Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic has returned for Chelsea at the right-back position as the only change from the side that defeated West Bromwich Albion 6-0 last weekend.

Paulo Ferreira had started that fixture for Carlo Ancelotti's Blues but with Ivanovic returning to full fitness, the Portuguese international slides to the bench for the clash against Wigan.

This afternoon at 5pm all the Premier League clubs had to submit their 25-man squads for the season (or at least up till January's transfer window) and Chelsea have only submitted a 19-man squad.
The new rules state that each club has to include a minimum of eight "home grown" players who have trained for three years with any English or Welsh club before the age of 21 if the full 25 player quota is used.

With the International Break finally over and regular domestic football set to return to its rightful place in the media, chances are you're going to have to make some changes to your side thanks to injuries. Managers bemoan the international interruptions and this past break will be no different.

Nice Sunday morning match available on Fox Soccer Channel Chelsea host Arsenal, 10 am.

Arsenal have achieved just two wins from the previous 17 meetings a run which has included defeats in the 2007 Carling Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in 2009. Indeed, Carlo Ancelotti's men easily beat Arsenal both home and away last season, with Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba taking his personal tally to 12 goals in 10 games against Wenger's team.

I am worried for my team. Chelsea were ripped to pieces as Sunderland produced the performance of their season, and credit must go to the Black Cats because they were irresistible. But how do you defend a title with no defence?

While Branislav Ivanovic is a rampaging thoroughbred of a full-back, he is far nervier and uncertain, almost clumsy, when moved to the centre.

Not today Drog

If you're wondering about the title, it is a reference to my yesterday's preview on why Arsenal need to beat Chelsea. Nothing about maintaining the gap to Manchester United, nothing about overcoming our recent bout of dire results against them and certainly nothing about shutting John Terry up.

Three different leaders in the space of a few weeks; Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United have all topped the table and they are all going to face each other in the near future. Of course, Arsenal play United this weekend.

Good time to assess the big three. Yes, the big three. We are leaving Spurs out.

Chelsea have suffered another injury blow with the news that Jose Bosingwa will need a further operation on the knee injury that has kept him out for most of the season.
Bosingwa has been out of action since October and the news of further surgery required will mean he will also miss the this summers World Cup in South Africa for Portugal.

Is anyone in better form than Wayne Rooney at the moment? Image: MikeEgerton/Empics

The saying goes that ‘form is temporary but class is permanent' and on many levels this holds true, however such a huge part of professional sport is the mental aspect of the game, which at the highest level can be just as, if not more important than the physical aspect.

Didier...

All in all, the 2009/2010 title race will come down to some hugely important individual battles over the course of the final 3 games. Having looked in Part I of this analysis at form and fixtures, let's now dip our toes into the tactical battles and key men that will decide the destiny of the Premier League crown:

The key battles

Chelsea

Against the midfield tenacity of Stoke, and indeed at Anfield should Rafa Benitez plays his first team and include Javier Mascherano, Chelsea will miss the tigerish driving force that is Michael Essien, as they have for large chunks of the season.

Sunday was awards night in England and Wayne Rooney was named PFA Player of the Year while Aston Villa's James Milner was named PFA Young Player of the Year, beating Rooney, Cesc Fabregas and Joe Hart.

Rooney becomes the fourth Man United player in a row to win the player of the year award, with Ryan Giggs being named PFA Player of the Year last season, and Cristiano Ronaldo the two seasons before that.

Professional Footballers Association think outside the box for once!

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Now usually the PFA team of the year is fairly predictable but this term it seems that things are different. Its good to see Joe Hart get a nod and the underrated full back Branislav Ivanovic deserves his nod as well, on a side note John Terry and Frank Lampard have not appeared in the team of the year since 2006, does this mean they are just not very popular?

Firing a coach just days before a crucial cup match seems like poor timing, but Hamburg wasn't about to wait after suffering an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Hoffenheim.

Hamburg fired head coach Bruno Labbadia on Monday, just a day after his team suffered a 5-1 defeat against Hoffenheim, and just three days before Hamburg will travel to London to face Fulham in the second leg of their Europa League semifinal series.

El Chelsea con un impresionante 8 a 0 sobre Wigan se ha coronado Campeón de la Premier League, soportando la presión durante toda la temporada, y algo que definitivamente marcó el campeonatos fueron los 2 triunfos que Chelsea le sacó al Manchester.
Al final solo 1 puntos los separó de este logro, el Chelsea finalizó con 27 triunfos, 5 empates y 6 derrotas, 103 goles a favor y 32 en contra, para cosechar 86 puntos.

My faithful readers. You, my friends, are what make Chelsea Offside what it is. If it is anything at all. I hope it is. I digress.

The 2009-10 season has come to an end. Tear. It was historic. Now is a time to reflect on what was, a time to honor those worthy of honorization.

O técnico da seleção da Sérvia, Radomir Antic, divulgou nesta sexta-feira o nome dos 24 jogadores que defenderão o país na Copa do Mundo da África do Sul. O treinador ainda irá cortar um goleiro da lista até o dia 1º junho.
A Sérvia está no Grupo D do Mundial, ao lado de Alemanha, Austrália e Gana.

That's right people. Didier Drogba, our resurrected assassin, has been named the Chelsea Offside readers' player of the season. And, as predicted, it was an incredibly tight vote.

Readers' player of the season voting results (2009-10):
Total votes: 222
1.

That's right people. Didier Drogba, our resurrected assassin, has been named the Chelsea Offside readers' player of the season. And, as predicted, it was an incredibly tight vote.

Readers' player of the season voting results (2009-10):
Total votes: 222
1.

International Friendly: Serbia vs. New Zealand
Date: Saturday 29th May 16:15 (GMT)
Venue: Hypo Group Arena, Austria
Capacity 32,000

The All Whites take on Serbia this Saturday, 400 meters above sea level in the Austrian city of Klagenfurt.

La Serbia, nata dalla ex Jugoslavia ufficialmente nel giugno 2006, è una delle possibili sorprese dei prossimi Mondiali.
Combatta e ben assortita, grintosa e determinata, la nazionale di Radomir Antic è composta da ottimi giocatori, tra i quali il fresco campione d'Europa e d'Italia Dejan Stankovic, l'esterno mancino laziale Kolarov e il talentuoso Milos Krasic, stella del Cska Mosca.

Stankovic Will Run Serbia's Midfield Come This Summer's World Cup.

Serbia, who have been nicknamed The White Eagles by their fans, will be Germany's fiercest opponents in the group stage of this summer's upcoming World Cup.

Serbia's qualification was a great success and a bit of a shock as well.

Sunday, June 13th, 15:00 GMT, Loftus Versfeld Stadium

For Ghana, life in the FIFA World Cup 2010 became really tough as soon as it was confirmed that talismanic midfielder Michael Essien would miss the tournament through injury. For Serbia, life was always going to be difficult in a group that also features Australia and beaten Euro 2008 finalists Germany.

Serbia had stars like Milos Krasic, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Vidic, Nenad Milijas and Dejan Stankovic. They have the tallest striker of the World Cup, Nikola Zigic. Ghana lined up with a massively powerful eleven players. Kevin-Prince Boateng, John Mensah and Gyan makes up a physically strong Ghanaian side, capable of competing against Serbia.

Sami Khedira, Phillip Lahm, Miroslav Klose (2 yellow cards = red), Aleksandar Kolarov, and Branislav Ivanovic are all flirting with disaster with the Spanish referee.

So are Nikola Zigic and Zdravko Kuzmanović already cautioned in the match against Ghana. One more and they miss the next match.

Serbia had a stuttering start to their World Cup, but they will prove too strong for Australia in Group D on Wednesday.

Serbia had been many world cup round of 16 betting pundits' tips to be the tournaments dark horses, but they looked anything but contenders in their opening 1-0 defeat to Ghana.

Despite their reputation as big spenders Chelsea have been relatively quiet on the transfer front for three seasons now. Just this summer the likes of Michael Ballack and Joe Cole have been ushered out whilst Deco appears to be leaving too. Only Yossi Benayoun has been brought in. It appears the team that won the Premiership in the last campaign, and was so close in the previous three seasons to that, is going to be trusted again.