A genial head-nod to all Arselings out there. Things are usually pretty quiet on the disquiet front after a win, and it has expectedly been all shush-and-silence in the wake of us playing Blackburn like a set of drums last week. But just like the draw at Bolton didn't mean that the team was on a one-way trip to Hades, a rout over ten-man relegation fodder doesn't a summer make.

Me and the machines

First of 2 trips to Wearside, starting with the league match tonight and the FA Cup the following week. Beginning of a very important 7 days for Arsenal Football Club according to Arsene Wenger. 3 matches that will decide our season. An European cup tie against AC Milan sandwiched in between 2 meetings with Martin O'Neill's Sunderland.

It's now official, Thierry Henry will not be staying with Arsenal longer than Feb 15th. In fact the New York Red Bulls striker is expected back in the United States just two days later

There was hope that the veteran Arsenal player would stay with Arsenal until at least the end of the month but according to New York Red Bulls boss, Hans Backe, Henry is bent on returning to to the MLS side on 17th.

Where has the filling gone for Home United "sandwich" ??"Two pieces of toasts without fillings in the middle" as what it sums up Home United performance in their season curtain-raiser against defending S.League champions Tampines Rovers in the Charity Shield match at JBS.
The void left by Valery Hiek was clearly illustrated in the goal conceded in less than five minute how the once stout brick-like Protectors' defense was fully exploited by Stags' new signing Davor Piskor with not follow up from Lionel Lewis' narrowing of angle from near distance.

Bet 365 - Click here for £200 of Free Bets now Manchester United are set to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in what has become a very important Premier League fixture in recent seasons, largely thanks to the self-indulgence of Roman Abramovich. The champions are currently three points behind Manchester City, and Ferguson will want to keep the pressure on the league leaders.

I was surprised when i learnt that Milan had signed Ghanaian Sulley Muntari on loan from cross town rivals Inter considering his form the past couple of seasons. Muntari who is on international duty with Ghana in the African Cup of Nations, will be with the Rossoneri until the end of the season when his current contract with Inter is set to expire.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has dismissed suggestions that the club approached Manchester City over the weekend with a proposal to swap Andy Carroll for exiled Argentine Carlos Tevez.

Carroll, who has struggled continuously with form and fitness since his £35 million move from Newcastle United in last year's January transfer window, recently spoke about his determination to make a mark at Anfield.

Chelsea's succes in overcoming Queens Park Rangers on Saturday apparently brought some negativity for them as one of their important players, Ramires, was forced to leave the pitch with what looked to be a knee injury.

This situation is apparently worrying for the Blues' manager, Andre Villas-Boas, who tried to be optimistic with his Brazilian midfielder's condition, hoping that it won't be a very serious knee problem for the ex-Benfica man.

Italian champions AC Milan have stated that they will be making a decision on signing Carlos Tevez today. Tevez who has been making headlines since he infamously snubbed Roberto Mancini's request to come on as a substitute in their Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich last September, remains AWOL in his native Argentina.

My earliest memory of Manchester United was the 4-5 home defeat on 1st February 1958 which I watched from my usual position on the corner to the right of the North Bank. At the time it was called the best game ever seen in an English League fixture. It was the last game that United played in England before the fateful Munich disaster, only five days later, in which twenty three passengers and crew were either killed or died later from injuries sustained in the crash, among them were eleven United players and staff.

Alan Pardew acknowledges that Newcastle United's 5-2 defeat at the hands of Fulham has left him frustrated but defended his players, insisting that they have a lot to be proud of for their overall showing this season.

Clint Dempsey's famous hat-trick and two second-half penalties from Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora condemned the Magpies to an emphatic loss despite Danny Guthrie's stunning opening goal at Craven Cottage.

In recent years gone by matches between Arsenal vs Manchester United was the outstanding Premier League fixture and has duly served up some classic encounters at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United: Premier League, Dec, 2006 It is fair to say that Arsenal have yet to truly leave a mark at the Emirates Stadium [.

Owen Coyle has left his side with a lot to do as they strive to get out of the relegation zone...Liverpool make the trip to Bolton on Saturday for another Premier League fixture. After a disappointing draw against Stoke at Anfield, the Reds will be looking to put that behind them and take all three points from a struggling Bolton side.

With Christmas now a distant memory, United travel to Stoke City's training facility and Academy centre for their second Premier Academy League fixture of 2012 hoping to distance the memory of a poor last performance. Last weekend saw United held to 3-3 draw in an exciting but error packed game against bottom of the league [.

After receiving reduced allocation at Anfield for the league game, reports today suggest that United will get a proper allocation of around 6,000 for our FA Cup game against Liverpool at the end of this month.

"We have taken into account the improvement of the Manchester United supporters at the most recent Premier League fixture relating to the blocking of gangways and aisles," said Stephen Clare, Liverpool City Council's principal licensing officer.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Headlines in England following the draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup will be centered on the Liverpool vs. Manchester United battle and a possible QPR vs. Chelsea meeting, as rematches of racism-marred Premier League games take center stage. For American fans, though, there's a much more tasty fixture to be found.

Alan Connell celebrates his goal in Swindon Town's 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic with a gentle smooch of team mate Paul Caddis. How nice. Image: Scott Heavey/Getty Images Europe.

If you haven't been paying much attention to our editorial guidelines, we tend to wade in the lower league pools of English football pretty during cup competitions only.

• Kop That: Liverpool v Newcastle United: Andy Carroll, the sleeping giant, still struggling under weight of expectation http://t.co/N8rBtqFa 23:55:47, 2011-12-29
• Kop That: Top sport stories of 2011 http://t.co/5J7oUfdc 23:41:38, 2011-12-29
• Kop That: Sportsmail review of 2011: November http://t.

Liverpool v Newcastle: The Premier League fixture that always delivers

Ahead of the Christmas clash between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield on Friday night, Sportsmail takes a look back at some classic encounter's between two of the top flight's stalwarts.

I am a big fan of Huntelaar and i still cannot understand why Milan let him go! Despite rescuing Milan on a number of occasions in the 2009/2010 season, Huntelaar was regularly used a substitute for the Rossoneri something that eventually led to his move to the Bundesliga.

The Dutch international has gone onto establish himself as a goal scoring machine for Schalke this season scoring 15 goals in 16 appearances for the German club.

Luis Suárez banned for eight matches for racial abuse of Patrice Evra

• Liverpool striker fined £40,000 • Verdict allows for appeal The Liverpool striker Luis Suárez has been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 after being found guilty of misconduct, regarding "using insulting words towards" Patrice Evra of Manchester United.

Tomorrow in the later kick off Chelsea take on Wigan in our next Premier League fixture buzzing off the back of another win on the spin against Manchester City last Monday night. Chelsea have David Luiz back after suspension and no new injury concerns so it makes for an interesting team selection by AVB.

Luis Suárez has been granted more time by the Football Association to respond to a charge of improper conduct for an alleged obscene gesture to Fulham fans following Liverpool's defeat at Craven Cottage last week.
And while it is not expected to influence any defence against the improper conduct charge, the emergence of photos in Holland showing Suárez allegedly making the same gesture to Feyenoord supporters while playing for Ajax in January 2010 is likely to be an embarrassing development for the Uruguay forward.

Arsenal are set to mark their 125th anniversary by unveiling statues of club heroes Thierry Henry, Tony Adams and Herbert Chapman today. The North London club have an amazing history that has seen them relegated only once in their entire history. It isn't any wonder why then they are one of the most supported clubs in the world.

Video- Jay Spearing red card vs Fulham 2011 December Sent off Moussa Dembele challenge is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Video- Jay Spearing red card vs Fulham 2011 December Sent off Moussa Dembele challenge is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This Jay Spearing red card vs Fulham ( see video below) saw Liverpool reduced to ten men in their Premier League fixture against Fulham on 5 December, 2011.

Dates fixed for LFC's Carling Cup semi-final games

THE dates for the semi-finals of the Carling Cup have been announced and Liverpool will play both legs of their tie with Manchester City on Wednesday nights, both with 7:45pm kick-offs. The first leg, in Manchester, is on January 11th and will be shown live on BBC1.

André Villas-Boas says Chelsea's form has made Stamford Bridge anxious

• Manager concerned by crowd's tension during home games • December's games are key to season, says Portuguese André Villas-Boas admitted that Chelsea had lost their way at Stamford Bridge and become anxious when they play there, after they slumped to a third home defeat in four matches and were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Liverpool.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is still confident that his side can win the English Premier League. Chelsea who were 3-0 winners over Wolves yesterday, registered their first win in their last 4 outings with goals from Terry, Sturridge and Mata easing the pressure on Villas-Boas.

With Man United and Arsenal both drawing, the EPL table looks slightly different after Tottenham's 3-1 win over West Brom that saw them into position 3 on the table.

We've talked before about the FA's unfortunate scheduling of Liverpool's next two matches to satisfy Sky Sports, giving them the week's biggest game on Sunday for their prime slot and leaving both Liverpool and Manchester City to play their League Cup quarter final draws two days later later on Tuesday evening.

Images: REUTERS/David W Cerny, via tumblr.

A minute's silence was held prior to Melbourne Victory's league fixture vs. Perth Glory this weekend, after it was announced that Luca Jones, son of Socceroo's goalkeeper Brad Jones (above), had passed away.

Luca, who was five-years-old, had been battling leukaemia for eighteen months.

Just a few days ago, Brazilian club Santos FC revealed that they were keen on resigning their former player Robinho. It seems like the comment from their president has sparked rumours that the AC Milan star could move back to his native Brazil.

Robinho who scored a brilliant goal (which was voted goal of the week) against Catania has come out to say that he intends to finish his career with the Italian giants.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Galaxy may boast a star-studded lineup, but it's who is not going to be on the field that may prove the difference for the Galaxy come MLS Cup.

Despite FIFA'S campaign to ensure fair play is maintained in the sport, the ugly face of racism still rears itself over and over again. FIFA president Sepp Blatter who had earlier stated that racism between players should be settled by a handshake, reiterated that his comments were taken out of context.

Past Managers: Volume 3 Bob Paisley

Whenever somebody utters the name of Liverpool Football Club, it's synonymous with great managers and great players. Over the years Bill Shankly has become an icon but many people forget the achievements of his successor, Shankly began the dream, but it was none other than Bob Paisley who ensured it continued.

Whenever somebody utters the name of Liverpool Football Club, it's synonymous with great managers and great players. Over the years Bill Shankly has become an icon but many people forget the achievements of his successor, Shankly began the dream, but it was none other than Bob Paisley who ensured it continued.

Steve Staunton has backed Kenny Dalglish's criticism of Liverpool's upcoming schedule.
The Reds face Manchester City in an important Premier League fixture at the end of the month, followed by Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-finals just 48 hours later.
Dalglish claimed on Thursday: "It is disgraceful in this day and age that players are being asked to play a league game and then a quarter-final just 48 hours later.

Tottenham's Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes could be on his way out of the club after he had a ugly altercation with coach Harry Redknapp. Apparently, this latest burst up comes as a result of built up tensions between the player and the coach dating back to Tottenham's opening league fixture against United in August.

We can look at this international break in a couple of ways. The typical way is to curse and swear and moan that all our world class players Robin van Persie is away with their national squads to play football and get injured, while Arsenal pay the wages and have to endure weeks without the player due to injury and/or fatigue.

High flying Manchester City survived a scare yesterday to see off a determined Queens Park Rangers 3-2. However, the night belonged to Ivorian Yaya Toure who scored City's final goal as well as his third for the club in his last 2 matches.

Toure's touring header in the 74th minute was enough to ensure City bagged all 3 points on offer and continue their dominance of the league.

Liverpool is embroiled in a furious row with the Football League after being ordered to play their Carling Cup quarter-final against Chelsea just 48 hours after a key Premier League fixture.
The Merseyside club is unhappy they must travel to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, Nov 29, two days after they face Manchester City at Anfield.