More Britannia Stadium top-lip action Last week we picked out the marvellous moustache of Jon Walters for special praise. This week, as the facial hair fund-raising month of Movember draws to a close, we are showcasing Robert Huth's wonderful effort. For starters, it is a brave German who sports a moustache under any circumstances.

Clint Dempsey scored Fulham's second goal in their 3-2 loss to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, playing the unlikely role of super sub. Dempsey came on in the 54th-minute for Bobby Zamora, who had to be subbed off with an injury. That ended Fulham manager Roy Hodgson's plans to rest Dempsey, needing help to turnaround Stokes' three first-half goals.

Tony Pulis pulls off very experienced signing.

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Portsmouth and England goalkeeper David James is poised to join Stoke on loan for the rest of the season, subject to passing a medical, reports BBC Stoke.

By Ollie Irish

Whisper it, but now that Arsenal have more than a sniff of the Premier League title, I don't think Arsene Wenger will be too dismayed to be out of the FA Cup. He won't be dancing a jig either, but his selection of a less-than-full-strength starting XI for this match showed clearly where his priorities lie: with the Prem and the Champions League.

Stoke City had a rough start to the season losing their first three matches and were still searching for their first point of the season heading into their second home match of the year against Aston Villa on Monday night.

In a strange twist neither side's appointed manager would be present at the start of the match, the Potters manager Tony Pulis would miss the first half due to the death of his mother early in the day.

Manchester United have finally won their first away game of this season, with a 2-1 win over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. Mexican striker Javier Hernandez scored twice to insure United left...
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If you need to be caught up, the last several days can be summed up in the following sentences:

My, what a week!

Wayne Rooney is a) money-hungry, b) a sniveling Scouser, c) a traitor, d) absolutely right, depending on who you ask.

We had a match yesterday?!

We won away from home in the Premier League?

There was one fixture on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 in the English Premier League has Stoke City hosted Fulham. The match was a chance for Stoke to move up in the table while Fulham are looking to earn a spot in Europe once again. So, who won the match and what happened? Here's a recap of the EPL match along with video highlights for Tuesday, January 5, 2010.

Liverpool have completed the signing of Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer, the club has confirmed on their official website.
The 29-year-old Argentine winger has signed a three-and-a-half year contract at the club after completing a medical on Merseyside today, and the move will be confirmed subject to international clearance.

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has called on his team-mates not to dwell on the injuries to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
Rafa Benitez's star duo face a combined eight weeks' absence as Liverpool's season of woe continues to plumb new depths, with Saturday's opponents Stoke preparing to add to it.

After last weekend's drama at the Britannia Stadium where a battling display by the Reds resulted in a draw against Stoke, we face a crunch match at Anfield against high-flying Tottenham Hotspur.
Tonight's match against Harry Redknapp's Spurs represents a difficult match against a team currently above us in fourth in the League.

20 years old Mexican Carlos Vela will be in the starting line-up for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal side, when the Gunners heading to the Britannia Stadium for a battle with Stoke City in the 4th Round of this years FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Vela will probably start on the left hand side or maybe in the central forward position, but it is up to the Arsenal Manager which team he picks to shut down a motivated Stoke City side.

Hubris. That's all it can be labeled.

How many of us saw the "Sparsenal" team Arsene Wenger fielded Sunday versus Stoke, and said to ourselves, "Aw come ON." I mean, most of us tune in to Arsenal games to watch the beautiful game be beautiful, and looking at the line-up Wenger started, it was instantly obvious that the Gunners were in for a tough match.

Arsenal players, manager and fans seem to have joined forces in wanting to win the Premiership title for Aaron Ramsey, who suffered a horrible injury last Saturday, at the Britannia Stadium, against Stoke City. The ...

As if we're not already up to our necks in injuries, we've been brought the news that Jermain Defoe has a hamstring injury that will keep him out for up to a month. If it wasn't for the fact that I was on an incredible high from the earlier news that Arsenal had drawn Barcelona, I may have broken down and wept.

We've got another vintage documentary for you as this week's "Video For The Week". Produced as part of the "Jaywalking" series of local interest documentaries for the Midlands commercial television station ATV in 1975, "Shouts For City!" follows local television stalwart Sue Jay as she spends some time with local club Stoke City.

By Chris Wright

Sum up a man in one picture

According to the Daily Mail, Stoke City are set to offer Aston Villa flop Emile Heskey an escape route out of Villa Park by lodging a £2 million bid for the perennially misfiring 'striker', if manager Tony Pulis can successfully offload two of his surplus forwards James Beattie and Dave Kitson.

Squad Profiles are available for each of the twenty clubs currently playing in the Premier League. They are an overview of each club and specifically denote players to highly consider selecting for your side. Others have been ear-marked to watch out for as they may be new to the Premiership or returning from injury.

If asked, you can rest assured that Manchester United Brazilian midfielder Anderson will be the first to admit that he's a very a lucky man. Instead of preparing for the new season with his team...
Continue to the full story

Barring this evening's late kick-off between Wigan and Chelsea, another Saturday's Premier League action is in the books already. It goes without saying, this has been yet another eventful round of fixtures with different clubs experiencing different emotions around the country.

The emotions were certainly running high at the Emirates, where an early sending off for Blackpool's Ian Evatt opened the floodgates for Arsenal.

Stoke City V Tottenham Hotspur – 21-08-10

A tough away game at Stoke is never one to look forward to and with memories of 2008 still
lingering around the Spurs dressing room, they knew today would be no easy ride. Considering the long list of injuries for Spurs, the team was completely revamped and Stoke were without record signing Jones, who of course was once a Spurs target.

Less than six days before Ireland's crucial Euro 2012 qualifier against Russia, Richard Dunne has provided a welcome boost for manager Giovanni Trapattoni after playing the full 90 minutes for Aston Villa against Spurs today.
But there may well be concern among Trapattoni's management team over Damien Duff, who picked up an injury during Fulham's 1-1 draw at West Ham.

By Alan Duffy

With the pitches of the Premier League starting resemble the battlefields of Europe in the First World War, with the bruised and broken bodies of young men strewn across the landscape, one young star injured in action some time ago looks set to finally make his comeback.

Manchester United finally ends their away win drought in the Premier League this week after defeating their opponent Stoke City 2-1 at Britannia Stadium this Sunday.

Still playing without their headline stealer striker, Wayne Rooney, the away team need to thanks their new signing, Javier 'Chicarito' Hernandez who scored all United's goals on that game proving his worth to all of that doubting his quality.

More Britannia Stadium top-lip action Last week we picked out the marvellous moustache of Jon Walters for special praise. This week, as the facial hair fund-raising month of Movember draws to a close, we are showcasing Robert Huth's wonderful effort. For starters, it is a brave German who sports a moustache under any circumstances.

Someone is sniffing an upset:

The fourth-round FA Cup tie against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park will be played on Sunday, January 24, kick off 4pm, and televised live by ITV.
The Barclays Premier League match against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday, January 26, will now be played 24 hours later on Wednesday, January 27.

STOKE CITY remain confident at this stage that this evening's Barclays Premier League match against Fulham will go ahead at the Britannia Stadium.The Club have conducted a review of the situation with match referee Mark Clattenburg and the Police at lunchtime which confirmed that the pitch itself and the footprint of the Britannia Stadium are in good condition for the game tonight (7.

This was a stonking midweek game of two halves to warm all our frozen hearts.

The undoubted highlight was Deuce Dempsey's wonder volley with five minutes left (see clip, above), which gave Fulham some hope of salvaging a draw. But Stoke hung on to claim a much-needed win (they had been 3-0 up after 37 minutes), their first in six games.

Potters make ambitious move for Real Madrid star.

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Stoke City have enquired about the availability of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, according to the club's chairman Peter Coates.

Liverpool goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri has targeted a top-four finish and victory in the Europa League as the Reds recover from their FA Cup exit at the hands of Reading.
The Brazilian is already looking ahead to the weekend's game against Stoke City and insists that it is vital Rafa Benitez's men win at the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has defended under-fire Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez as he prepared for a Reds backlash.
Liverpool's shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Reading on Wednesday night has placed Benitez firmly in the firing line of his critics, who are demanding he be sacked.
Ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, the scenario for Benitez could not be worse after losing influential skipper Steven Gerard, star striker Fernando Torres and key midfielder Yossi Benayoun to injury following the game with the Royals.

Rafael Benitez is hopeful of having Pepe Reina available for selection at Stoke City on Saturday.
The Liverpool goalkeeper missed the midweek Cup defeat to Reading with a back injury, but trained with his teammates on Friday.
"Pepe did some light training today and we will make a decision tomorrow," said Benitez.

The matches to watch after you realize Manchester United assistant Mike Phelan was trying to look like a member of Oasis with his fur-lined coat last weekend. And that the Bundesliga is finally back from its 600-day Christmas break.

Saturday

Stoke City v Liverpool at Britannia Stadium What could possibly go wrong for Liverpool next?

The Liverpool team to face Soke City at the Britannia Stadium. Maxi Rodriguez starts on the bench: Reina Aurelio Kyrgiakos Insua Carragher 27 Degen Skrtel Mascherano Lucas Kuyt Ngog Substitutes Cavaliery Darby Aquilani Riera Maxi Spearing Pacheco

Rafael Benitez was denied a victory to lift the intense pressure on him when Stoke grabbed a last-ditch equaliser at the Britannia Stadium.
It was never pretty, but this much-derided Liverpool outfit stood up to be counted in a physical showdown.
And they went ahead when Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos scrambled home his first goal for the club early in the second period of a bitterly contested battle.

Rafa Benitez felt Liverpool were given a rough ride by the match officials during their 1-1 draw with Stoke.
The Reds were desperate to take maximum points from their trip to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, having crashed out of the FA Cup to Reading in midweek.
Their season now rests on their ability to secure a top four finish in the Premier League, and they know they cannot afford to drop points unnecessarily.

Oh my gosh, what a mish-mosh of Premier League football we saw on television on Saturday. I've still making my way through the matches I've recorded, but we've seen one of the scrappiest games in the league featuring Stoke City against Liverpool, followed by an unconvincing display by Manchester United in their tense match with Burnley, and a match that was so one-sided that it looked more like an exhibition friendly between Chelsea and Sunderland.

Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano thinks his team are cursed following their draw against Stoke on Saturday.
The Reds were undone by a late equaliser from Robert Huth at the Britannia Stadium, having taken the lead through Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos in the 57th minute.
In a week when they also crashed out of the FA Cup after a home defeat to Reading, Mascherano is beginning to feel like there is a spell on the Anfield club.

Fabio Aurelio feels referee Lee Mason was partially responsible for costing Liverpool two points at Stoke.
The Reds were held to a 1-1 draw by the Potters at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, piling yet more pressure on under-fire coach Rafa Benitez.
A lacklustre display did little to suggest that Liverpool are capable of rescuing their season and securing a top four finish in the Premier League, with few opportunities created by both sides during a disappointing contest.

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