David N'Gog won a controversial penalty that spared under-pressure Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez a humiliating home defeat to Birmingham in a 2-2 draw at Anfield. The draw means Liverpool, with only one win in nine matches, are seventh but 11 points behind leaders Chelsea. Birmingham stay 15th, two points above the drop zone.

Click to continue reading...

What did UE Engordany of Andorra, FK Milano Kumanovo of Macedonia, Ankaraspor of Turkey and Grenoble of France had in common before last Sunday? They were all teams from European top divisions, who hadn't picked up a single point so far this season. And yes, there actually is a football league in Andorra.

Click to continue reading...

Guingamp travel to Laval on Friday night in an attempt to revive their season and pull themselves clear of relegation.

EAG and now just one place and one point above the drop zone and a defeat tomorrow night could see them drop into the relegation zone for the first time this season.

Laval have only managed one win in their last five games, that was a 2-0 win away at Havre AC.

Click to continue reading...

The third C-word to consider is choking. Can you have both 'choking' and 'complacency' in one game. I believe you can. Hello, Gooners wherever in the world you are reading this. As promised this is my second preview-ish post to the game against West Ham. Why two posts BEFORE a game? Special games need special focus.

Click to continue reading...

So far the Premiership old boys are showing their class, occupying the top 3 places. After paying out £2 million compensation to Keegan Newcastle failed to score for the first time this season against Bristol City. Fans can only hope that any takeover, made more likely by the compensation pay out, causes minimum disruption.

Click to continue reading...

Jon-Paul Pittman will hope to help Wycombe escape the drop zone while Jemal Johnson will do his best to get the Dons back to their winning ways. Click to continue reading...

http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/

For the past two years, I have had the pleasure of being a member of MyFootballClub, the world's first web community owned club. We own Ebbsfleet United Football Club, a professional team in the Blue Square Premier League, the 5th division of English football.

Click to continue reading...

Got to show some love for my fellow Israeli Yossi Benayoun, who netted a hat-trick in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Burnley last weekend.
In other EPL news, Tim Howard and Everton stay in the drop zone, but Clint Dempsey's Fulham scored a big win thanks to a turn-back-the-clock day for Damien Duff. Click to continue reading...

What does 4 matches played, 1 win, 3 losses, a -6 goal differential get you?
19th position in the English Premier League table.
When you're Everton and you finished 5th last season, this isn't exactly where you'd expect to be and I suppose panic might be an appropriate response, but it really isn't. Click to continue reading...

At the end of last season news filtered out of Italy the Serie A was following the lead of the English Premier League by voting to split away from Serie B. This move was officially approved today and Serie A will now operate as its own separate entity, no longer having to share revenue with Serie B. Click to continue reading...

Finally.

The 2009-2010 English Premier League season is less than 24 hours away and, for the next few hours, everybody is in a Champions League spot.

Of course, a pessimist would point out that everyone is also in the drop zone.

Whatever.

Let's get into some previews for week one, shall we?

Click to continue reading...

Steve Bruce has been announced as new Sunderland manager after the North East club finally agreed a compensation package with Wigan and personal terms with Bruce himself.

The delay in concluding the deal was attributable to Bruce's demand for a profitable ‘Image Rights' package, it is rumoured.

Click to continue reading...

With Persipura long crowned champions who will be anointed runner's up? Last season it was PSMS who were beaten by Sriwijaya in the grand final. Now we have a two horse race between Persib and Persiwa.
The Bandung side are three points clear and have a game in hand. But their last three games are all away from home and they could go into their final game, against Persija, needing something. Click to continue reading...

The media has painted a bulls eye on Phil Brown as he tries to keep a leaky Hull afloat. He has banded together a motley alliance of detractors from Stoke City to Arsenal, who have even created a Facebook page "for all those who hate the orange-faced, goatee-bearded moron".

When he gets someone who fights in his corner, it makes news.

Click to continue reading...

There hasn't been a great deal of business done that has impressed me in the Premier League this season. Stoke boss Tony Pulis deserves a mention though, he has picked up some great bargains. Here are my thoughts on the best buys of the Premier League season 2008/09.

Abdoulaye Faye, Stoke City

Man-mountain Abdoulaye Faye has been immense for Stoke this season and they absolute rock in their defence.

Click to continue reading...

While Sunderland and Hull are currently sitting above the relegation zone, Newcastle and Middlesbrough are occupying the final two relegation spots. Here's how things stack up for the two sides:

18. Newcastle United

Newcastle appeared to be out of trouble a few weeks ago following Hull's bad turn in form, but the Magpies are once again in the drop zone.

Click to continue reading...

Venue: KC Stadium Date: Sunday, 24 May Kick-off: 1600 BST

Hull City vs Man Utd

The fact that Manchester United may field a weakened side actually could make the battle to stay in the Premier League a great spectacle.

Click to continue reading...

Benny Feilhaber is likely to get his second start in three games as Aarhus try to put a stop to Brondby's title chase while Michael Parkhurst and Nordsjaelland will do their best to keep Horsens from climbing out of the drop zone. Click to continue reading...

Is Roy Keane smirking right now? Is he rolling his eyes? Both?

For two years Sunderland was Roy Keane's baby. He took the struggling side, nurtured it back to health and delivered it from the relegation zone of the Championship and back to the top flight. In every transfer window he made moves to improve the squad.

Click to continue reading...

The Soccer Source Top 25 was not going to change much this week, so instead of going through the labor-intensive process of putting a whole list together, we offer the following highlights from the world of top club soccer:
Congratulations to FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Inter Milan, all of whom clinched their domestic league titles over the weekend. Click to continue reading...

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o is hoping his team can successfully complete phase two of their treble bid by wrapping up the Primera Division title this weekend.

The Catalan outfit clinched the first silverware of the Pep Guardiola era with a 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final at the Mestalla last night and face Manchester United in the Champions League final in Rome on May 27.

Click to continue reading...

When it all comes down to it, it doesn't matter how they did it.

There wasn't all that much football on display in Borussia Mönchengladbach's last two matches against Schalke and Cottbus, which of course wasn't Gladbach's fault alone. Schalke can control a game and dominate possession, but they can't really score goals or come up with a minimum of creativity and incentive.

Click to continue reading...

It's time - yet again - for a whole team to get some recognition. All season long we haven't been seeing teams capitalize on opportunities presented to them. That all changed on Monday when the proverbial golden egg fell into Newcastle's lap, and they actually took advantage of it! With a late match on Monday night at home against fellow relegation candidates Middlesbrough, Newcastle was forced to sit tight and watch while the rest of the Premier League battled for position on the table.

Click to continue reading...

As the battle at the top appears to be entirely in favour of one big club from Manchester, let us take a deep breath and examine the bottom of the table. Only two games remain until the axe comes down on the unlucky three, as six teams still fight to retain their place in the top flight.

Newcastle United celebrated their second win in eighteen league games to finally drag themselves out of the dreaded drop zone, as Hull City slipped into eighteenth place for the first time this season.

Click to continue reading...

Boing boing Baggies...........

It seems to be quite apt as far as West Brom are concerned; up and down more times than a yo-yo, they were the favourites early on to be relegated from the Premier League. They have failed to disappoint, having formed a rather strong attachment with 20th place.

Click to continue reading...

Michael Bradley and the Foals pulled free of the drop zone for the first time in 2009 while an impressive defensive performance by Luis Robles gave Kaiserslautern new hope for a final promotion push. Click to continue reading...

Results, once again, went the right way for Middlesbrough this weekend keeping our hopes of survival alive. For weeks now we have needed help from other teams, losses to Arsenal and Manchester United could have seen us cast adrift but the teams around us were not able to take advantage of the situation leaving us with everything to play for with 3 games remaining.

Click to continue reading...

Pies dusts off the old crystal ball... SATURDAY Blackburn v Portsmouth: Both teams are in a decent position to avoid relegation (Rovers are six points off the drop zone, while Pompey have a seven-point cushion), so a draw here will...

Click to continue reading...

Seasons are culminating all over the world. Over the next few weeks, champions will be crowned. In most leagues, though, the champ is decided in the weeks prior. It's kinda anti-climactic... like finally turning 21 when you had been drinking all along.
I've always found the relegation battles more compelling. Click to continue reading...

It's that time of yearagain, where nerves are shredded, nails are bitten and the relegation trapdoor gets ever closer.

But for those fans of teams at the bottom of the EPL there is hope.

I had a dig round the archives and have found some examples of teams who looked dead and buried, but somehow found Premier League salvation.

Click to continue reading...

The weekend misery for all the drop zone clubs continued with Hull losing to Villa after John Carew scored his 10th Premiership goal.

Phil Brown's club is in huge trouble after their brilliantly bright start to the season. They were in third place after 9 weeks and in sixth after 18 weeks before beginning their steep descent into relegation horror.

Click to continue reading...

With just four games remaining in many of the top leagues in Europe, we thought we'd give you a regular round-up of what's happening around the continent as the 2008/09 comes to an end.
As you'll be aware by now, the latest Bundesliga action is summarised in Duffman's Bundesbag report every Tuesday or Wednesday here at SPAOTP, so for the purpose of these updates we'll concentrate on the top flight elsewhere. Click to continue reading...

Michael Bradley and Borussia Monchengladbach fell deeper into the relegation hole against Bayern, while David Yelldell and Koblenz now find themselves inching dangerously closer to the 2. Bundesliga's drop zone. Click to continue reading...

The upper echelon had its way with the lower echelon. There were no spoilers this weekend. It got bleaker for all the drop zone candidates.

Sunderland went down to Everton tamely, 0-2.

The relegation dogfight also saw Stoke, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, West Brom, Newcastle, and Portsmouth going down.

Click to continue reading...

Its been all bad news for drop zone clubs this weekend.

Stoke started it off by losing to the Hammers, the Baggies lost to Spurs, Portsmouth came a cropper to the young guns of Arsenal, Boro did not dent Man Utd's title hopes, Newcastle's misery continued with a loss to Liverpool.

The Sunderland - Everton match is tied 0-0 at half time and Hull meet Villa tomorrow.

Click to continue reading...