(Davy expects African sides to edge traditional Latin and Continental powers, but fancies England for the Cup. Below he discusses the likely England squad, highlighting what he expects to be the historic contribution of England's black players.)
To be King in Africa, a useful prerequisite is to be a Black Prince.

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I do like looking at statistics, so maybe you do too. With Michael Owen wanting emphasis to be put on his performances as well as the goals he scored, I thought it would be interesting to see how Owen compares to the top strikers in the league.

These stats are never going to give you like for like because Owen is our third choice striker therefore gets fewer opportunities but they're interesting enough to look at.

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Maybe it was because it looked and felt like Autumn had truly arrived in England (i.e. blame it on the weather), but Saturday's Premier League matches were the first boring day of the season thus far in my opinion. Let's hope Sunday's crop of games will raise the bar a little because Saturday's matches left an unsatisfying taste.

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The English Premier League began its Saturday with the early match of Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa. Here's a recap of the Saturday, October 24, 2009 match along with video highlights.

Aston Villa draws with Wolverhampton 1-1 Video Highlights

The match began with both teams getting chances and some open play.

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Goal videos from the Wolverhampton Wanderers ( Wolves) vs Aston Villa game on Saturday, October 24, 2009. Lunch time kickoff- 12.45 UK time. 99th meeting between these two teams. Final score :- Wolves 1-1 Aston Villa ( Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 83′ pen/ Gabriel Agbonlahor 79′) Aston Villa become the first Premier League team to get to 200 draws [. Click to continue reading...

Jogaram em Londres, no estádio de Wembley, para um público de 76.897 pessoas, jogaram as seleções da Inglaterra (7º no ranking da FIFA) e Belarus (73º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
15-10-2008 - Belarus 1x3 Inglaterra
O quarteto de arbitragem foi assim definido:
Árbitro: Lucilo Cardoso BAPTISTA-POR
Primeiro Assistente: Joao SANTOS_POR
Segundo Assistente: Venancio RAPOSO-POR
Quarto Árbitro: Paulo COSTA-POR
Aos 4 minutos do primeiro tempo, o camisa 9, Peter CROUCH abriu o placar para a seleção da Inglaterra. Click to continue reading...

There's something afoot in the court of Chelsea. After a start to the season that carried on the way that last season ended (high octane football mixed with the arrogance of the club that knows that it is amongst the best in Europe), they have started to look just a little bit ropey of late.

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Time to get back to work.

The international break is finally over congratulations, by the way, to Ghana for becoming the first African nation to win a major competition with a dramatic penalty shootout triumph over Brazil in the U-20 World Cup and Chelsea open the Premier League slate this weekend at Aston Villa.

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You can watch Aston Villa v Chelsea Live online by signing up with us here on Live Sport Network, the leading source to watch live football on the web.

Aston Villa welcome Chelsea at Villa Park in an early Premier League kickoff on Saturday 17 October 2009 as both teams try to build upon their good starts to the season.

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Fabio Capello is not one to give too much away, his demeanour surly enough for ITV's Clive Tyldsley to describe the Italian as "old poker face" during last night's dead-rubber win over Belarus at Wembley. But prior to the game, the England manager had given the story-writers plenty to work with by suggesting that his squad for next summer's World Cup had "seven or eight" spots available.

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Peter Crouch showed Emile Heskey the way to goal but Gabriel Agbonlahor will struggle to make the World Cup squad. Click to continue reading...

Who will make that plane? (I.e who should be in the squad for the World Cup Finals as opposed to who will construct the airplane itself.)

With England firmly through to the World Cup Finals next summer we can look forward to long balmy nights in and outside pubs/bars enjoying the festivities and also having a team to support, hopefully Ireland will also make it through the play-offs as well.

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Fabio will be looking for a good performance to end a great World Cup qualifying campaign.

Watch England vs Belarus Live Online!

England manager Fabio Capello will start with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Peter Crouch for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Belarus at Wembley.

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It doesn't look as though Peter Crouch's lack of games for Tottenham is affecting his World Cup chances an awful lot. Capello is starting the big man against Belarus tonight alongside Gabriel Agbonlahor in the absence of Wayne Rooney.

I've always expected Crouch to be in Capello's World Cup squad because he gives the Italian options.

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Gabriel Agbonlahor could be about to find out if he got the biggest call of his career right. As a teenager, the Aston Villa striker had the option of playing international football for either Nigeria, the land of his doctor father, or Scotland, from where his mother hails. Instead, he backed himself . Click to continue reading...

Even though England have already qualified for the World Cup, Fabio Capello picked the strongest available squad at the moment for the final World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus. This means the boss has already started preparations for the final tournament in South Africa and he wants his top players available at all times.

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Fabio Capello has named his 24 man roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Belarus. There are no real surprises in Capello's squad, but Ben Foster will be ruing the fact that his chance has come and gone. Meanwhile, David Beckham will be delighted at his inclusion once again, and Aaron Lennon's fine form is rewarded.

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Capello chose to leave out Darren Bent - currently the top English scorer in the Premier League - of his England squad for the final two World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine (away) and Belarus (home).

Ben Foster misses out through an unspecified injury, while Walcott was deemed unfit despite recently returning from injury for Arsenal.

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After making some big mistakes over recent matches, you wouldn't have been surprised if Ben Foster was left out of the England squad. Right now he has no confidence and he doesn't need to damage it anymore.
Foster has been left out of the England squad but he has been left out due to injury. Click to continue reading...

Toon Army complete loan deal for Dolphin lookalike.

Newcastle United have completed a loan deal for Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood, BBC Newcastle reports.
The 30-year-old will go into the Magpies squad for the trip to Ipswich Town in the Championship on Saturday.

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Rooney/Owen

For many years these two names have been mentioned in the same sentence, but never before in Premier League play as members of the same team.� The former national teammates both scored a goal against Manchester City and Rooney currently sits a top the leader board in goals scored.

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A Gabriel Agbonlahor goal sealed the win for Aston Villa over a hard working Cardiff City side.

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Martin O'Neill has backed on-form striker Gabriel Agbonlahor to shoot himself into Fabio Capello's England squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year. The Villa forward is currently on the fringes of his national team and missed out on the squads for the recent matches against Slovenia and . Click to continue reading...

Top 5 teams in the English Premier League Table: Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Man City, Aston Villa. Sounds familiar right? It seems the few surprises that we got in the start of the season, were just that, surprises.
This weeks most impressing win was took by Arsenal, after 2 weaker games, team resumed to their level and took 4-0 over Wigan. Click to continue reading...

Here are the fixtures:
Burnley v Sunderland
Arsenal v Wigan
Aston Villa v Portsmouth
Bolton v Stoke City
Hull City v Birmingham
West Ham v Liverpool
Man Utd v Man City
Wolves v Fulham
Everton v Blackburn
Chelsea v Tottenham
Again there are two very interesting soccer matches this gameweek as the Manchester teams go against each other and Chelsea welcomes Tottenham. Click to continue reading...

. Image via Wikipedia Aston Villa have won the Midlands derby 1-0 against Birmingham at St Andrews. It turned out to be a quiet game with both sides looking like they didn't want to make a mistake. The game lacked clear cut chances. Villa keeper Brad Friedel and opposite number Joe Hart were not troubled until [. Click to continue reading...

The English Premier League wrapped up its weekend of matches with two on Sunday. The matches on Sunday were Aston Villa traveling to play Birmingham City and Fulham hosting Everton. Here's a recap of both matches along with video highlights on Sunday, September 13, 2009.

English Premier League Recap Saturday, September 13, 2009

Fulham defeated Everton on two second half goals while Aston Villa got a late goal to beat Birmingham City.

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A late Gabriel Agbonlahor goal was the only thing separating these two sides in the Birmingham derby.

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Last week coach� Fabio Capello revealed� England's national squad roster for the upcoming September 6th friendly against Slovenia, followed by the September 9th World Cup Qualifier against Crotia.� There were a few surprises on the roster additions, but what might have been most surprising was a� few of the names left off of the list.

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A Paintsil own goal and a second from Gabriel Agbonlahor was enough to give Martin O'Neill's side a comfortable victory over Fulham.

1-0 Paintsil Own Goal

2-0 Agbonlahor

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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Liverpool slumped to their second Premier League defeat in nine days to put their title credentials firmly on the line.
Aston Villa produced a defiant, organised display and deserved their first win at Anfield since 2001.
The result also ended Liverpool's 31-match unbeaten home league record stretching back to December 2007, when Manchester United were the last winners at Anfield. Click to continue reading...

The unfortunate downside of modern technology means that any armchair fan can now comment on any team without actually seeing the game. As I type this, I'm listening to Radio 5 and Liverpool "fans" are calling for the head of Benitez. "The worst display I've ever seen from a Liverpool team" shouts one fan who obviously missed the F.

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Ever wondered who is the fastest player in the top tier, well wonder no more!

THEO WALCOTT is the Premier League's answer to sprint superstar Usain Bolt.
Manchester United fan Bolt hit a top speed of 24.04mph as he won two golds at the World Championships in Berlin.

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Did everyone enjoy Usain Bolt taking the previous world record out back and doing it Old Yeller style over the weekend? (In case you missed it, that's him above sans final stretch boasting.) Given the important parallel between sprinting and football (that whole running thing), this leads to an important question: who is the fastest of [. Click to continue reading...

With the Premier League about to spark into life this weekend, COS reporter Adam Hennessey casts his eye over the players he feels will have an impact this coming season, but players who readers may not know much about.

Aston Villa are known for having a highly productive youth setup. In recent years, the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Craig Gardner forcing their way into the Villa senior set up, and now the latest product of the Villa academy is ready to make a name for himself.

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