Houston Dynamo star Stuart Holden has attracted interest from several clubs in the UK and the latest news is that Burnley of the English Premier League is ready to make a move. Manager Owen Coyle has stated his intention to have talks with Holden when his contract expires with the Dynamo at the end of December.

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.

Arsene Wenger played a team with the average age of 21-years-old for Arsenal's last game of the Champions League group stages against current Greek champions, Olympiacos. Wenger sensibly looked to the weekend and rested his best players with the hope of picking up three points in their next league game.

This weeks predictions: Arsenal v Stoke 2-0 Aston Villa v Hull 2-0 Blackburn v Liverpool 1-1 Man City v Chelsea 1-2 Portsmouth v Burnley 0-1 West Ham v Man Utd 0-2 Wigan v Birmingham 1-0 Wolverhampton v Bolton 1-0 Everton v Tottenham 1-3 Fulham v Sunderland 2-1

"I can shake hands with who I want."
Arsene Wenger defends his decision not to touch gloves with Mark Hughes following Arsenal's 3-0 League Cup defeat to Manchester City.

"Bobby Moore was a national hero...they are all legends and that's what we would emulate. If we did.

Wolves fans are said to be angry at Mick McCarthy's decision to make ten changes from the team that beat Spurs at the weekend for the trip last night to Old Trafford. Manchester United won the game 3-0 but Wolves fans are said to be unhappy on the reserve team selection for the game after [...]

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.

Without a doubt, the third round of the FA Cup is one of the highlights of the calendar year for football supporters. It's a golden opportunity to see the giants of football compete against amateur teams made up of people with ordinary professions such as postmen, labourers, accountants and policemen, etc.

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.

‘It's a mad league' said Wayne Rooney after his side's hard-fought 3-1 victory of Hull at the KC stadium, ‘There are a lot of teams dropping points and it's really close.'The EPL has garnered an unpredictability in the 2009/10 season that seems to allude to the halcyon days of football when money was not the sine que non of its existence.

It has been a pretty disastrous three months for Liverpool in league so far, but on a game-by-game basis, how do this season's result compare to last season's?
Below is a side-by side comparison of all results from this season and last season:
NCF = No Corresponding Fixture

This Season

Last Season

Points +/1

Tottenham v LFC

L 2-1

L 2 -1

0

LFC v Stoke City

W 4-0

D 0-0

+ 2

LFC v Aston Villa

L 1-3

W 5-0

-3

Bolton v LFC

W 2-3

W 2 – 0

0

LFC v Burnley

W 4-0

NCF

-

West Ham v LFC

W 2-3

W 3–0

0

LFC v Hull City

W 6-1

D 2–2

+2

Chelsea v LFC

L 2-0

W 1–0

-3

Sunderland v LFC

L 1-0

W 0–1

-3

LFC v Man United

W 2-0

W 2-1

0

Fulham v LFC

L 3-1

W 1-0

-3

LFC v Birmingham

D 2-2

NCF

-

LFC v Man City

D 2-2

D 1-1

-

ANALYSIS

This season

Last season

Won

5

7

Lost

5

1

Draw

1

3

Goals Scored

23

20

Goals conceded

19

5

Points gained (total: W+D)

16

24

Points dropped (D+L)

17

9

Overall point differential

-8 ( i.

Avram Grant guided Pompey to a crucial win over Burnley who continue to struggle away from home.

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Enjoy our round-up of the best pictures from another action-packed weekend in the Premier League:

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Portsmouth's Tal Ben-Haim is challenged by Burnley's Robbie Blake

So sorry for Jimmy Bullard, who had only just returned from a very long lay-off.

If you are looking for a cheaper midfielder for the next month or so, Tamir Cohen is a central midfielder with Bolton who may be worth considering. He is involved in the double gameweek in GW20, and compared to cheapie favorite Bowyer, has a more favourable run. Boltons forthcoming fixture list reads:
- Man City (h)
- West Ham (h)
- Wigan (a)
- Burnley (a)
- Hull City (h) Arsenal (a)
- Sunderland (a)
- Arsenal (h)
- Burnley (h)
Some of these teams present rather leaky defenses, and (at time of writing) at £4.

At the risk of speaking too soon... Bobby Zamora seems finally to be coming of age in a Fulham shirt. Last season's story was one of hit-and-miss showings but continued team selection due to the fact that he gave us something no-one else could. This year he has added consistency, turning in decent performances on an almost weekly basis.

Very much a game of two halves yesterday. As the first ended I can't say I felt particularly confident that we'd get anything from the game. A goal down, as poor a performance as we've had all season, our record in big games not very good at all either, so there were reasons to doubt.

Arsene said we played with fear in the first half.

The English Premier League has a full set of midweek matches on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 and Wednesday, December 16, 2009. Chelsea's lead the top of the table is at three points over Man U but Arsenal is now within six (with a game in hand). Aston Villa has now moved into the top four but only five points separates 4th through 9th.

Just a quick news round-up before my formal preview of the Burnley match coming later this afternoon. First, the bad news is that Denilson is out of the Burnley match with a back injury. You'll recall that he just returned from being out for 10 weeks with a back injury. Hopefully this isn't a serious recurrence Wenger seems not to think so, indicating that he'll probably be back for Hull on Saturday.

On a game-by-game basis, how do league results from this season compare to last season? (We'll be tracking these figures for every league game this season).
Below is a side-by side comparison of all results from this season and last season, up to and including the Arsenal game on Sunday 13th December 2009:

This Season

Last Season

Points +/1

1

Tottenham v LFC

L 2-1

L 2 -1

0

2

LFC v Stoke City

W 4-0

D 0-0

+ 2

3

LFC v Aston Villa

L 1-3

W 5-0

-3

4

Bolton v LFC

W 2-3

W 2 – 0

0

5

LFC v Burnley

W 4-0

NCF

-

6

West Ham v LFC

W 2-3

W 3–0

0

7

LFC v Hull City

W 6-1

D 2–2

+2

8

Chelsea v LFC

L 2-0

W 1–0

-3

9

Sunderland v LFC

L 1-0

W 0–1

-3

10

LFC v Man United

W 2-0

W 2-1

0

11

Fulham v LFC

L 3-1

W 1-0

-3

12

LFC v Birmingham

D 2-2

NCF

-

13

LFC v Man City

D 2-2

D 1-1

-

14

Everton v LFC

W 0-2

W 0-2

-

15

Blackburn v LFC

D 0-0

W 1-3

-2

16

LFC v Arsenal

L 1-2

D 4-4

-2

Analysis

This season

Last season

Won

6

9

Lost

6

1

Draw

2

4

Goals Scored

28

29

Goals conceded

20

11

Ave goals conceded per game

1.

The offending team sheet

Mick McCarthy fielded a weakened XI at Old Trafford last night, resting some ten first-team players. Man Yoo played quite poorly but won easily. Therefore McCarthy has been found guilty by the kneejerk media, at least - of bringing the game into disrepute (there's plenty of disrepute in journalism also, disrepute fans), of disrespecting the Premier League, of being Satan's little helper, of being a BA cabin-crew member; you name it.

After the wonderful exploits in the second half the Liverpool match to fight back from a goal down to win, to lose tonight away to Burnley would just make the earlier go to waste. Having claw our way back into the championship battle with potentially just 3 points separating us from the top spot, anything [.

Tonight Avram Grant returns to Stamford Bridge since his sacking from Chelsea after the Champions League final. It will be his first chance to come to the Bridge to try and claim some sort of revenge or to show Chelsea that he wasn't a flash in the pan and deserved to stay on as Manager. He said before tonights game:
"I thought I needed to continue because the team was on the way up.

Kindly find below links for websites providing streaming services for the Burnley vs Arsenal Premiership game. These links will be updated before and during the match so make sure to refresh the page if one ...

... and the supporters feel the pain. There is no easy way to talk about the game as Arsenal were shocking at Turf Moor in what was our worst performance in the league so far. If we get outthought, out fought, and completely outplayed by a Burnley team with a midfield consisting of defenders like Bikey and Alexander, there needs to be a serious inquisition and consequences.

Video evidence of Liverpool beating Wigan 2 -1

resumé liverpool VS wigan
by ilanis
Meanwhile Chelsea went back to the top of the pinnacle by beating Portsmouth by a similar margin whereas Arsenal stumbled yet again managing only a 1-1 draw against lowly Burnley.

With the rest of the challengers winning their games on yesterday and Tuesday, the draw effectively cancelled out whatever advantage Arsenal had after the weekend's fixtures. The gap has now returned back to 8 points, though we still have the game in hand. It wasn't hard to see why Burnley have picked up 18 of [.

On a game-by-game basis, how do league results from this season compare to last season? (We'll be tracking these figures for every league game this season).
Below is a side-by side comparison of all results from this season and last season, up to and including the Arsenal game on Sunday 13th December 2009:
NCF = No corresponding fixture

This Season

Last Season

Points +/1

1

Tottenham v LFC

L 2-1

L 2 -1

0

2

LFC v Stoke City

W 4-0

D 0-0

+ 2

3

LFC v Aston Villa

L 1-3

W 5-0

-3

4

Bolton v LFC

W 2-3

W 2 – 0

0

5

LFC v Burnley

W 4-0

NCF

-

6

West Ham v LFC

W 2-3

W 3–0

0

7

LFC v Hull City

W 6-1

D 2–2

+2

8

Chelsea v LFC

L 2-0

W 1–0

-3

9

Sunderland v LFC

L 1-0

W 0–1

-3

10

LFC v Man United

W 2-0

W 2-1

0

11

Fulham v LFC

L 3-1

W 1-0

-3

12

LFC v Birmingham

D 2-2

NCF

-

13

LFC v Man City

D 2-2

D 1-1

-

14

Everton v LFC

W 0-2

W 0-2

-

15

Blackburn v LFC

D 0-0

W 1-3

-2

16

LFC v Arsenal

L 1-2

D 4-4

-2

17

LFC v Wigan

W 2-0

W 3-2

-

Analysis

This season

Last season

+/-

Won

6

9

-3

Lost

6

1

+5

Draw

2

4

-2

Goals Scored

30

32

-2

Goals conceded

20

13

+7

Ave goals conceded per game

1.

These last two away games against Liverpool and Burnley left many Arsenal supporters asking the same old questions, such as why the team doesn't put the required effort for the whole 90 minutes, ...

The English Premier League has another full set of fixtures this weekend as the season nears the half-way point. Chelsea maintains their lead 3 point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table while Arsenal and Aston Villa are third and fourth with 32 points each. On the other end, Portsmouth remains in last place followed by West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Didnt get a chance to do some predictions last time around, so here's what I think is going to happen this weekend Arsenal v Hull 2-0 Aston Villa v Stoke 2-1 Blackburn v Tottenham 1-0 Fulham v Man Utd 1-3 Man City v Sunderland 2-1 Portsmouth v Liverpool 0-1 Everton v Birmingham 1-2 West Ham v Chelsea 0-2 Wolverhampton v Burnley 2-1 Wigan v Bolton [.

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.

I must say the starting line up had me a little worried. Looking at Song, Denilson and Diaby in the middle, it was difficult to imagine where the creativity would come from. The initial few minutes were worrisome as Hull went about hassling our players and it was clear that the ref was going to be lenient about it, once again.

McCarthy takes the mickey. With the majority of football fans (including ourselves) haranguing Mick McCarthy for his unsportsmanlike decision to field a weakened side against Man United last week in preparation for their match against Burnley, it seems McCarthy's had the last laugh.

At the age of 17, Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is wanted by Premiership side Burnley on loan. Speaking on a possible loan move, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that he is ready to let the youngster ...

by TRAVIS CLARK

Landon Donovan's Everton journey has yet to begin, but the last piece of the puzzle fell into place today. The final hang up in the process was a work permit allowing Donovan to secure the 10-week loan agreement with the Liverpool-based club.

Why are you celebrating? You lack pace and are prone to senseless bookings
Cheap, cheap, and in great form. And well, cheap.
That was the story with Sunderland studs throughout most of the fall and the first few months of the Premier League season.
Darren Bent was a no-brainer from the start of the season (moving over from Tottenham with the price tag of a 4th choice striker), Michael Turner looked irresistible (moving over from Hull with a low price tag), and Andy Reid lost a bunch of weight.

Treinador francês anunciou nesta quarta-feira os jogadores que disputarão a Copa das Nações Africanas O técnico do camarões, o francês Paul Le Guen, anunciou nesta quarta-feira o elenco que irá disputar a Copa das Nações Africanas, em janeiro, em Angola.
O maior artilheiro do torneio, Samuel Etoo, da Internazionale, participará pela sexta vez da competição, enquanto Rigobert Song quebrará a marca recorde ao integrar o time na sua oitava participação, no time que tem sete estreantes.

Houston Dynamo and U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Ricardo Clark appears headed for the British isles. The 26-year old, whose Major League Soccer contract expires Dec. 31, is being sought by Burnley and Celtic, according to a report out of the U.K.
Read the full story at ASN's 'Over There' page