The Wigan - Bolton match being frozen off at the end of gameweek 18 brings home a reminder of the importance of having a bench with players who are capable of contributing points if they become needed. With some notable injuries to a few marque players (ala Fabregas) having a solid line up of quality substitute players becomes even more pressing.

Free £20 Bet on Olympiacos v Arsenal for Soccerlens readers 11/4 for an Arsenal win, 12/1 for Theo Walcott to score 1st goal. Bet now on Olympiacos v Arsenal.

Guaranteed top spot in the group and with a squad crippled by injuries, Arsenal have flown out a very inexperienced side to Athens for their final group game with a number of their starting lineup rested for the big weekend game against Liverpool.

Tim Howard has revealed his delight at captaining Everton for the first time. The American goalkeeper was filling in for injured captain Phil Neville, and Howard's personal milestone was capped off by an inspired performance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Everton fought hard to earn a 3-3 draw against league leaders Chelsea, and Howard couldn't conceal his delight with the result and his temporary captaincy.

Has it really been 15 gameweeks already...Yes it has, and the Fantasy Premier League has already shown many tops and flops... Let's see who have been playing a great first half of the season.
TOPS
The number one goalkeeper is Stoke City's Sorensen with 71 points. Goalkeeper has been on fire the last three matches, and has saved 2 penalties and kept 2 clean sheets.

While Blackburn may be struggling to score goals at the other end of the field, they continue to compensate for this by remaining tight across the back line. Blackburn have kept four clean sheets in their last five games and Sam Allardyce has emphasised the need for this to continue in order to achieve a climb up the table.

In this monthly segment, we attempt to answer the question, "Who should we take to South Africa?" Rather than taking the standard approach (doing our best to guess who Bob will take to South Africa), we focus on who we think Bradley should take.

Despite an empty international schedule and the termination of the MLS season since the last edition of Bradley's Babes, there have been a number of developments both positive and negative on the National Team front.

Glen Johnson is adamant Liverpool earned their derby day luck – but accepts they now have to make the most of it.
Despite being outplayed for much of the game, Rafael Benitez's side earned a 2-0 victory in the 212th Merseyside derby at Goodison on Sunday.
It was the Anfield outfit's first Premier League triumph in more than a month and moved them up to fifth place, two points off the Champions League qualification places.

With all this talk about the Merseyside derby being the "real start to Liverpool's season," I started to get concerned that I'd have to write a season preview. In December. Because the rest of the league will certainly comply with selective amnesia. "All on zero points? Good then. Hey, we beat Everton, now we're tied on points at the top of the table!

Rafael Benitez has vowed to take Liverpool back into the Champions League as they prepare for the embarrassment of a dead rubber against Fiorentina on Wednesday.
Liverpool are already out of this season's competition having failed to finish in the top two in Group E, a humiliating experience for the five-time European Cup winners.

With the end of the decade upon us and lists popping up everywhere, I thought it might be fun to have a series of polls for us to determine Arsenal's all-decade team.

Today, we start with goalkeepers. Arsenal really haven't had that many # 1 keepers this decade, so our options are limited.

A solid away win keeps Tottenham Hotspur in contention and more importantly perhaps, that's two clean sheets in a row for the first time this season, as well as our first away victory for two months. Our passing game spluttered fitfully but we rose to the occasion in the second half when hard graft enabled [.

The match between Chelsea and Birmingham today not only acted as a good antidote for the after Christmas blues, but it also drew attention to the fact that Joe Hart is looking good.

In the first half Joe make a string of fantastic saves, denying Lampard and Sturridge from close range.

Fernando Torres scored an injury-time winner for Liverpool in the snow at Villa Park tonight.The game was heading for the a 0-0 draw until the Spaniard latched onto a loose ball in the box to rifle the ball into the corner of the net past Brad Friedal.Liverpool have now won two games on the trot and are slowly regaining some of last season's form.

Since Gary Megson works in HR, did he break the news to himself?
Only a few months ago, Bolton were putting together a nice run of form under Toby Flenderson look-alike Gary Megson, but after a miserable 2-2 home draw with Hull, the under fire manager has been sacked.
Megson was never the most popular gaffer in the Premier League, not even popular amongst his own fans, and definitely not a charismatic guy when it came to PR, so sitting in the relegation zone as we head into the New Year, it makes sense that he got the boot.

Another week, another manager under-fire. This week it is Arsene Wenger's turn to assume what has recently become known as "The Rafa Benitez" position in front of the media's firing squad. Back-to-back league defeats, coupled with a League Cup exit, have led to some uneducated souls calling for the Frenchman's head.

Back to league action as we host leaders - and concensus Champions elect - Chelsea, who constrastly to ourselves come into the game on the back of a Carling Cup defeat.
Whilst our victory gave a much needed boost following recent struggles, I doubt whether Chelsea's defeat at the hands of Blackburn derails their league form any, and they have been the impressive side in the league so far during 2009/10.

Going into this weekend's Indonesia Super League games this is how the top of the table looks.
1 – Persiba 8 4 2 2 0 13-7 14
2 – Arema 6 4 2 0 6-1 14
3 – Persiwa 4 1 2 18-10 13
4 – Persela 5 4 1 0 5-1 13
The big match is undoubtedly 2nd against 3rd in Malang between Arema and Persiwa.

It uses a different methodolog than I do (only counts 11 v 11, no extra penalty for Own Goals), but it does it for all 15 teams in League play. He provides the counting and rate stat, as well as adjusting for the team to reduce the impact of being on a great team.

Most notabaly different player due to methodology is Seb Le Toux.

Portsmouth

All Portsmouth wants for X-mas is a briefcase full of money and no questions asked. It is just like all the Coen brothers movies (Fargo, No Country for Old Men, the Big Lebowski) where a person desperate for money discovers a bag full of stacked one hundred dollar bills in a place nobody would expect.

Has it really been 15 gameweeks already...Yes it has, and the Fantasy Premier League has already shown many tops and flops... Let's see who have been playing a great first half of the season.
TOPS
The number one goalkeeper is Stoke City's Sorensen with 71 points. Goalkeeper has been on fire the last three matches, and has saved 2 penalties and kept 2 clean sheets.

After beating Drebecen and Everton in away games, we could only 'manage' to hold Blackburn to a 0-0 draw at their turf. The last fixture was a disappointing game for Liverpool fans because clearly we could have won that game if only lady luck had decided to throw even a wee bit of the Mona Lisa smile towards us.

Stats Top Goalscorers in All Competitions: Torres- 10 Benayoun- 6 Ngog- 5 Kuyt- 5 Gerrard- 4 Babel- 3 Johnson- 2 Insua- 1 Skrtel- 1 Mascherano- 1 Biggest Win: (away) 2-0 over Everton (home) 6-1 over Hull City Biggest Loss: (away) 1-3 @ Fulham (home) 1-3 v. Aston Villa Games Played/Won/Clean Sheets/etc.

Another crucial six-pointer awaits West Ham before the busy football period of Christmas and New Year's Eve. Birmingham and Bolton is next and the Hammers must bust a gut to beat these two teams. Could we get all six points against two sides who does not have the quality and ability that West Ham has?

Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool will find their way into the top four by the end of the season - if they can keep people fit.
The Anfield skipper, speaking ahead of Sunday's crucial home clash with Arsenal, is determined to raise spirits after the club's disastrous plunge out of the Champions League.

It was another busy weekend of fixtures in Europe as several American were in action in the top leagues. Michael Bradley scored the match winner in Germany for Borussia Monchengladbach while Brad Friedel earned a clean sheet in England for Aston Villa against Manchester United. Other Americans in action include Jay DeMerit for Watford, Clint Dempsey with Fulham, Jozy Altidore for Hull City, Marcus Hahnemann for Wolverhampton, Steve Cherundolo for Hannover 96 and Tim Howard for Everton.

Petr Cech has had a rough few weeks. After a poor display against Manchester City weeks ago, manager Carlo Ancelotti didn't hesitate to openly criticize his goalkeeper. Now, after a disappointing 3-3 draw against Everton, Petr Cech has openly questioned the Chelsea faithful that boo'ed him during their most recent home match.

Before the weekend, Chelsea had beaten United, Spurs, Liverpool, Blackburn, Hull, Burnley and Wolves at home this season. They had scored 20 goals and conceded just 1. They were top of the league, two points clear.

On Saturday they dropped points at home for the first time this season, drawing 3-3 with Everton.

West Ham faces Chelsea in a Premiership London derby this Sunday, and there is no reason to be optimistic. Therefore the only thing for Zola and the Hammer fans to hope for is that the team plays with pride and fight. If there is anything that Everton's draw has shown, it is that Chelsea's rhythm must be disrupted and its players must not have time on the ball.

Stats Top Goalscorers in All Competitions: Torres- 11 Benayoun- 6 Kuyt- 6 Ngog- 6 Gerrard- 4 Babel- 3 Johnson- 2 Insua- 1 Skrtel- 1 Mascherano- 1 Biggest Win: (away) 2-0 over Everton (home) 6-1 over Hull City Biggest Loss: (away) 0-2 @ Portsmouth. Yes. Portsmouth. (home) 1-3 v. Aston Villa Games Played/Won/Clean Sheets/etc.

There is an irony attached to Rafa Benitez's signing of Glen Johnson, if you are willing to believe the chatter in some parts.
It goes like this. The manager who is more preoccupied with defending and making sure the back of his team is in order actually weakened his rearguard by selling a player who could occupy a number of positions for someone who struggles to do his main job.

Clean sheets aren't something you would normally associate with Persik Kediri who have made a name for themselves as a carefree attacking side where defenders were ususally reluctant at best and wholly out of position ar worse.
But not anymore it seems. As we enter the festive season, and as Indonesians discover Ebeneezer Scrooge for the first time, the two time champions have developed a defensive stability that you would more associate with George Graham era Arsenal sides.

Keeping clean sheets has proved a task beyond Bolton Wanderers so far this season. But despite being the only top flight club yet to hold their opponenets scoreless home or away, Reebok regulars can't argue there haven't been goals. Gary Megson's side average a staggering 2 goals against per game.

So, let's start with some good news to warm you on this fecking freezing day. It's injury-related (shocker) but Cesc seems confident of being back for the Christmas Cracker that is Arsenal v Villa.
Super stuff. Not that I believe it for a minute.
It's good to see the Daily Mail describing our injury crisis which has dwarfed, or should that be pygmied, Man U's for the entire season, as the 'loss of several key players.

Maddy's Note: Today was one of those days. A day when all Arsenal fans reached for the jersey that they all own and lovingly kissed the crest. A day when fans of every other team in Europe wished the Magician who is Francesc Fabregas Soler was a part of their squad sheet.

The Fantasy Stuff Legends Are Made Of
For brevity's sake, I'm going to skip the game previews and discuss Studs and Duds as well as a predicted Gameweek 20 Best Eleven... It's that "in between" period in the holiday season, and we all have family / extracurricular / etc. obligations so let's go brief for these midweek fixtures.

No idea what the official stats are, but as we go into our final fixture of 2009 I suspect that a League table based on this calendar year would make for fairly pleasant reading. Vacuous admittedly, but nevertheless it is indicative of our progress, and back within the realms of the real world the more meaningful statistics have us well-placed for a top-four push with the season now in its second half.

Stats Top Goalscorers in All Competitions: Torres- 12 Benayoun- 7 Kuyt- 6 Ngog- 6 Gerrard- 5 Babel- 3 Johnson- 2 Insua- 1 Skrtel- 1 Mascherano- 1 Biggest Win: (away) 2-0 over Everton (home) 6-1 over Hull City Biggest Loss: (away) 0-2 @ Portsmouth. Yes. Portsmouth. (home) 1-3 v. Aston Villa Games Played/Won/Clean Sheets/etc.

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QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- Check out the cutting-edge/continually-updated/football-only, quasi-blog/quasi-board QPR Report Messageboard! (Also: Feel free to check out the recently-created, general football blog Football Observer)
- VIDEO "HIGHLIGHTS" - Ipswich vs QPR
- Brian Glanville on QPR, Briatore and Hart
- Who's Watching QPR: QPR Attendance Figures Year-by-Year
- QPR Points Comparison: QPR at Year's End and End of the Season
- PFA Championship Player of the Month Nominees: George Boyd-Peterborough:
Darren Pratley- Swansea; Billy Sharp - Doncaster: Alan Smith-Newcastle
- Arsenal and Raheem Sterling
- Briefly re QPR Scout: Les O'Neil
QPR Official Site
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For the third successive year, I figured I'd do a midseason comparison to previous league campaigns. This ought to temper the good feelings after yesterday's match. I'm running late; the totals don't include yesterday's win at Villa, just the first 19 games. Which, as you may remember, haven't been that stellar.