Here are some highlights from the press conferences on Friday of Sir Alex Ferguson and Andre Villas-Boas ahead of the massive game on Sunday at Stamford Bridge:

Sir Alex Ferguson on Cleverly return, squad and more

AVB On Chelsea Team news v Manchester United

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.

Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.

Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.

With the return of Luis Suarez to the Liverpool on Monday night, having served his mammoth ban from football, reports are that Manager Kenny Dalglish will opt to unleash the talismatic Uraguyan striker from the bench.
Monday night's game from Anfield will see Liverpool pit their wits against 3rd-placed Spurs who are something like 12 points ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League.

February kicks off for Liverpool on Monday, with Spurs set to visit Anfield in the first match of another important month. Liverpool will look to carry their momentum from the domestic cup triumphs and a comfortable 3-0 win at Wolves into the match, which hopefully signals a turnaround from a disappointing league stretch to open 2012 that had seen them winless until the final day of January.

Help me, I'm having nightmares. More, after the jump:

Cold as ice

I'm not even sure this match is as important as what's transpiring around the orbit of England's Once Brave (Twice-Removed) John Terry- henceforth known as EOBTRJT. Jack cooked up some brilliance on the matter, as always, which I recommend you all read at once.

By Alan Duffy

Manchester City 3-0 Fulham Premier League 4th February 2012

Manchester City put the disappointment of that midweek defeat against Everton behind them at a snowy Etiahd Stadium on Saturday, coasting to victory against a Fulham side who rarely threatened Jose Hart's goal.

Arsene Wenger was allegedly seen loading briefcase after briefcase of unmarked bills into each of the Blackburn players' cars at precisely noon today in every time zone.

The 7-1 home exhibition match between Arsenal and Blackburn in the early kickoff Saturday contained everything anyone could ask for in a match.

Arsenal FC ended its four match English Premier League winless streak with a 7-1 thumping of relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Gunners captain Robin Van Persie...

Arsenal FC ended its four match English Premier League winless streak with a 7-1 thumping of relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Gunners captain Robin Van Persie...

04.02.2012 - Con goles de Robin Van Persie (´2, ´38 y ´62), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (´40 y ´54), Mikel Arteta (´51) y Thierry Henry (´90), Arsenal venció (7-1) al Blackburn Rovers (Pedersen ´31) en el Emirates Stadium por la 24º jornada de la Premier League.

Starting today, the Premier League added a watermark in the bottom right corner of many of its TV and Internet broadcasts (see above example). Adding the Premier League logo is certainly a move by the league to protect its copyright ...
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Newcastle came away with all 3 points on Wednesday evening at Blackburn, and a second successive win in the Premier League tomorrow against Aston Villa would see the lads flying high. If Newcastle can win tomorrow against a decent Aston Villa side, then Newcastle would have 42 points from 24 games and the side would remain [.

Clint Dempsey will try to keep his torrid hot streak in the English Premier League going against a Manchester City side looking to hold on to first place in one of today's best matches.

The Cottagers are in need of points to move further away from the relegation zone, but earning any in Manchester against a City side coming off a loss to Everton won't be easy.

THFC1882 brings another new guest writer. Football blogger and Spurs fan (obviously) Anthony Lombardi previews Tottenham Hotspur's visit to Liverpool:

Liverpool v Tottenham: The Fab Four and Beyond.

This Monday Totteham Hotspur faces Liverpool at Anfield in a clash that is set to have far reaching effects across the top of the Premier League.

There's something in the air at The Emirates Stadium. Arsenal Football Club has had a difficult 2012 so far, and patience for some, at least is starting to wear thin, leading to a protest that has brought puzzled expressions from elsewhere. At this lunchtime's match against Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League, a group of supporters plans to place black bin bags on seats at the ground prior to the match.

We're back with another Premier League Saturday. I, for one, am glad that we can talk about English football again. I'm getting a bit sick of non-soccer related stories that are monopolizing the coverage of the Premier League. Yes, they're ...
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AVB hasn't exactly had it easy since he has come to Chelsea has he?. He came into the club as a breath of fresh air speaking of motivation, fine tuning the team and with his technical staff getting the best out of everyone.
Chelsea sit fourth just ahead of the likes of Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal and a whopping 12 points behind United and Man City and more importantly seven points and four goals behind Spurs.

I am asking the question to you the football fan reading this because I will be honest, I just don't know how to feel about the game tomorrow.
Being honest with you, this is the first time that I can remember in a long time that Chelsea are about to take on United and I don't feel confident at all!

It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold. If temperature is a guide to the revenge due then Blackburn are going to get roasted.

Our game at Ewood was a seriously depressing affair and one of the low points of this (and any) season. To concede 4 goals from 3 Blackburn shots and to lose from being 2 up after 20 mins was desperate for fans just recovering from the MU mauling.

Henry to start?

Horrible is the word to describe our last meeting against Blackburn Rovers. Steve Kean's side only had two shots on goal and still managed to beat us 4-3. That was a dark day in our season but nothing compared to the run of form we are in now. The draw at Bolton was the first league point we picked up this season and we're now facing an uphill battle to find our way back into Champions League spots.

Chelsea's manager, Andre Villas-Boas, revealed an interesting statement regarding his current managerial experience at Stamford Bridge, stating that he is actually not really stamping his authority in the dressing room.

Villas-Boas revealed that unlike some manager who can be a sort of dictator with his players, the former Fc Porto tactician admitted that he is having a different path by becoming more of democratic person.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I like to pick out a video on YouTube now and again to showcase some of the work being done by fantastic people on there. In the last few days my Torres post which had over 10,000 hits alone featured work put together on the video channel.
Here I present to you yet another one to have a watch.

Last time out George got 4 results right and no perfect score.
Saturday 4 February 2012
Arsenal 1 Blackburn 0
Norwich 1 Bolton 1
QPR 2 Wolves 0
Stoke 2 Sunderland 2
West Brom 1 Swansea 1
Wigan 1 Everton 2
Man City 3 Fulham 1
Sunday 5 Febuary 2012
Newcastle 2 Aston Villa 1
Chelsea 0 v Manchester United 0
Monday 6 February 2012
Liverpool 1 Tottenham 1
Last week's Premier League predictions
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Premiership football predictions

Bryan Gerzicich and Kiryat Shmona will look to keep a firm grip on first place in the Israeli Premier League on Sunday when they host perennial powers Maccabi Haifa.

Clearly, every game is a very tough one for Arsenal on current form. Will the team get its first League win of 2012? Doesn't seem like it if we look at the manner in which Arsenal have dropped points in recent games, or the way Blackburn came from behind to win at home earlier this season, or the fact that Steve Kean is yet to lose against Wenger or Ferguson in the Premiership (2W, 2D)!

I hate to start these things on a down note, but today I feel I have too. As most know, Wednesday in Port Said Egypt a riot broke out at a Egyptian Premier League match. At the least 74 people lost their lives midweek and hundreds were injured after a match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly.

Former USMNT boss and current Egyptian National Team coach Bob Bradley watched the events unfold on TV as he was getting ready to attend another match that day.

This might be a touch simplistic and naive, but...

Shouldn't DVDs on 'how to tackle' be handed out to the youth teams of Premiership clubs, rather than the guys getting six figures a week to go in at some poor man's ankles?

But the higher ups at the FA in England have deemed it a necessary act.

For the second time, Chelsea's John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy. The English Football Association confirmed that Terry was informed of the decision by FA chairman David Bernstein in a phone call Friday morning.

Terry is due to stand trial in July over racial abuse allegations after an incident with QPR's Anton Ferdinand and there has been mounting pressure within England to remove Terry as England's captain ahead of this summer's Euro 2012 competition

The FA released a statement on their web site which read:

Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to July, The Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved.

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has publicly spoken of his side's recent struggles after the Gunners could only muster a 0-0 draw against Bolton earlier this week. Arsenal have been in a poor run of form of late, prompting many media outlets to question the future of Arsene Wenger.

"We had a lot of chances to win the game at Bolton, but once again we've not been good enough to take them," said Arsenal's Spanish midfielder.

Manchester United's best chance of beating Chelsea - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

With the Manchester clubs tied on points at the top of the table and only Tottenham with an outside chance at the title, this year's Premier League is almost guaranteed to be Manchester-bound.

But it's not an easy road Manchester United still have City, Tottenham and Chelsea (this weekend) away, plus Liverpool home.

In our last poll, we asked whether the club needed to sign a striker, winger, attacking midfielder, or holding midfielder in the transfer window to shore up one of the areas of weakness that had become apparent over the course of the 2011-12 season. An overwhelming majority of nearly 70% said that what the club needed more than anything was a striker, while 17% said winger, 8% said attacking midfielder, and only 5% said holding midfielder.

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has praised his side for their recent form, and is confident about their chances in the coming weeks. The impressive Magpies have been boosted by the return of Senegal striker Demba Ba, and is thrilled with his side's performance during the African Cup of Nations.

Saturday EPL on ESPN2: Arsenal - Blackburn at 8am. Wigan - Everton 9:30am - Fox Soccer Everton goes on the road after picking up three points at the expense of Premier League leaders Manchester City. A win against Wigan could push Everton up the table from 10th. This is a different Everton, with the club active in the transfer window adding Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar.

YOU try keeping them apart. Image: AFP PHOTO/ IAN KINGTON.

Don't feel bad that you missed all the transfer news because you're such important people. We too were engaged in frantic busy work (sleeping, shopping, drinking or a horrifying and painful combination of all three) when the window slammed shut at 23.

It was all just an excuse to see R.R. Drenthe's hair up close, I swear to ya! January transfer madness came and went in England and it was ... as mild as a game of "Marble Madness." (insert groan here.) Unless you're a person who spends 99 percent of his waking hours playing "Football Manager," it's tough to get revved up for David Pizzaro moving on loan from Roma to Manchester City.

Queens Park Rangers boss Mark Hughes has slammed the decision to delay John Terry's racism hearing until July. Terry was involved in an alleged racially-motivated clash with QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, and Hughes is upset that the trial will interrupt his side's preseason plans.

"They've made a decision that impacts on one of my players, they've given a date which is slap bang in the middle of pre-season," Hughes said.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 3, 2012) US Soccer Players -- Manchester City enter the weekend schedule still top of England's Premier League. Unfortunately for the next super club, that lead is only through a superior goal differential to Manchester United. City are coming of a loss to an Everton team that was going through the disruption of the transfer window closing, and once again it's City facing nagging questions about value for.

It happens to the best of us.

Well, not us personally, but it does occur nonetheless.

The gradual decline of attractiveness is a peculiar one, and we have to admit we've felt it happening to one of our former beloved 'ballers, Wayne Bridge.

Sure, his career has been nothing short of sinking ship, playing for three teams in as many years since parting ways with Chelsea FC.

The Philadelphia Union are working on solidifying their 2012 friendly schedule by talking to Newcastle United about playing in Philadelphia during the summer, according to a report.

"I Wish I Was A Geordie," an American Newcastle blog, is reporting that Newcastle and the Union are discussing the two clubs playing an international friendly this year.