What a game in store for us this afternoon. As was said earlier this week a barometer game. A resurgent Sunderland looking to continue their very surprising run against an Arsenal team confident as a result of last week's big win.

And yet, in my opinion both appear to be skating on thin ice.

The big freeze hit Italy during midweek as four games were called off, so only six games were played over Wednesday and Thursday. Inter's 4-4 home draw with Palermo was the pick of the action where Diego Milito and Fabrizio Miccoli shared seven out of the eight goals. AC Milan slipped away at Lazio. Here are the five top goals of the week 5.

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.

Frigid temperatures and snowstorms across Europe are starting to take their toll on the soccer schedule.

Saturday's anticipated match between Roma and Inter Milan has already been postponed because of snow blanketing Rome. The Cesena-Catania match has also been called off, and that is in addition to four midweek Serie A games having to be rescheduled because of the snow.

Grayson gone! This weeks show looks at the implications of this sadly expected sacking and in true Twiggster style, looks forward to the future with hope and looks back on Grayson's tenure at our club.

The sacking overshadows an horrendous 4-1 home defeat to Birmingham in midweek and a truly abysmal January transfer window.

The phenomenal start to 2012 continued for Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, the two best American players, in a full midweek set of games in England.

Time for a rest?

Midweek Premier League match. Haven't had that in a while. Tonight, Arsenal travel to Bolton looking to capitalise on the yesterday's results. I say results when it's actually only a single result. That of Chelsea's draw away to Swansea. Effectively, they've gained a point over us, both by the result and the fact that we lost ours when we went to Liberty Stadium.

Serie A returned at the weekend after midweek Coppa Italia action and there was some compelling matches played, and goals scored. Here is our pick of the bunch. Here are the top five goals of the week 5. Alessandro Matri Juventus – Udinese A cracking winner by Matri as he scored his second goal of the game and the one that proved to be the winner.

... but he still makes millions and has won both the Euro and World Cup. (Dammit!) Strange dealing, no, in England with the Premier League in full swing in the midweek as the January transfer window comes closing down. We'll explore it more on Friday when I have a little more time to blog the night away.

Likely starters

There's a trip to Bolton looming in midweek, where we'll continue our climb up the league table in search of that Champions League spot. But first there's the matter of the FA Cup to deal with. A small matter or a big matter? Depends on the individuals. Arsene Wenger loves a bit of this competition but not over qualification to Europe's premier competition.

Kuyt was the Hero today with a 88th minute winner to put Liverpool into the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. The game ended 2-1 and the result seemed so bitter sweet for Luis Suarez who watched had to watch on from the sidelines serving his 7th match ban after the racial incident against Evra in their last encounter.

Kuyt was the Hero today with a 88th minute winner to put Liverpool into the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. The game ended 2-1 and the result seemed so bitter sweet for Luis Suarez who watched had to watch on from the sidelines serving his 7th match ban after the racial incident against Evra in their last encounter.

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes winning the Carling Cup would represent a major step forward for the club and put the Reds "back on the map".
Kenny Dalglish's team takes a 1-0 lead into Wednesday's semi-final second leg at Anfield against Manchester City, another of the ex-Germany international's sides.

Real Madrid bounced back from their midweek Copa del Rey defeat to Barcelona with a comeback 4-1 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao that kept them five points clear at the top of the Primera Division.

In-form Athletic had threatened to add to Madrid's misery following their 2-1 home loss to Barca in the first leg of their cup quarter-final tie when Fernando Llorente gave them an early lead.

OADBY TOWN 2-1 AMPTHILL TOWN
Saturday 21st January 2012
FA Vase 4th Round
Greene King Park
After what feels like a long time since I saw Oadby in action this is to be the first of two consecutive Saturday home games for the Poachers. The last time I was down here for a games was on December 3rd when they hosted Tipton Town in the last round of this competition.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher admits the team's difficulties at Anfield are damaging their hopes of a top-four finish.
Carragher, 34 later this month, has had to watch many of those struggles from the bench but started in the Premier League at home to Stoke City and, though they are currently unbeaten in 11 fixtures at Anfield, the Reds have also dropped 14 points and trail fourth-placed Chelsea.

The Arsenal v Aston Villa FA Cup tie has been moved to Sunday 29th January to accomodate the TV schedules, which has meant that Arsenal's game against Bolton the following midweek has also been moved back a day, and Arsene Wenger is not very happy with this at all! At the end of last season [...]

Once again the team news focuses on Scott Parker and there is a chance that our England international midfielder could be fit to face Wolves tomorrow.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Harry Redknapp said,

"We're hoping he's going to be okay, but it was great to see Jake Livermore come in and play like he did against Everton.

Malaga player Martín Demichelis met with the press today to talk about the midweek Copa Del Rey loss to Real Madrid and this weekend's La Liga match with Atletico Madrid (In Spanish). English Translations below:

COMMENT 1: Copa Del Rey 1st leg last 16 defeat to Real Madrid
Question: Defeat against Real?

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard could return from his two-month injury absence against Blackburn on Boxing Day.
The England international has not featured since the draw with Norwich at the end of October after sustaining an ankle infection having already missed a large chunk of the season.
Gerrard, 31, has appeared in just five matches this campaign as a result of injuries, but he is back in training and stands a chance of facing Blackburn at Anfield.

Picking up another draw in midweek against Tottenham Hotspurs widen Chelsea's gap with the current leader, Manchester City, making their quest for league title obviously gets tougher than before.

However, this situation doesn't worry the Blues' manager, Andre Villas-Boas, whose not only content with the point his team acquired against Spurs but also believes that their title shot remain strong as ever.

We picked up bad mojo somewhere. Maybe it was something I ate, I don't know. Whatever the supernatural cause, our month of weirdness rolls right along with a Jermaine Jones to-do quickly brewing over in Germany. Soccer America's Paul Kennedy gives the succinct yet full info and feel for the situation sparked by the Schalke man's midweek DFB-Pokal madness here.

A shaky performance, but we won. So, Yay?

An early pelanty goal from Robin van Persie, taking his tally to 34 goals in the calendar year, and a late goal from Yossi Benayoun (from a header, no less) secured a nervous, underperforming, but ultimately crucial midweek win at Villa Park today.

Manchester United keeps on unleashing their fury after failing in the Champions League by destroying their opponents in the league and after beating QPR last weekend, this midweek it was Fulham, who received a battering from the defending champion.

Playing in a difficult ground, Man United players surprisingly demolished the North London outfit by scoring five goals without receiving any reply from the home side.

Tottenham Hotspurs' upcoming encounter with Chelsea this midweek is not only being regarded as a big match or another London derby for Spurs' Brazilian midfielder, Sandro, but he also believes that the match can be the moment for his team to confirm their status in the league.

The former International Porto Alegre player is confident that a victory over the Blues can lift his team into a legit title winning candidates this season.

Tottenham Hotspurs' upcoming encounter with Chelsea this midweek is not only being regarded as a big match or another London derby for Spurs' Brazilian midfielder, Sandro, but he also believes that the match can be the moment for his team to confirm their status in the league.

The former International Porto Alegre player is confident that a victory over the Blues can lift his team into a legit title winning candidates this season.

"The measure of greatness is not how many you win, but how you react to defeat". Or something along those lines. In fact, AANP may have invented that just now.

Anyway, the point is that the epithet has been fairly redundant for as far back as I can remember, as we would generally fail to win in the first place, and then react to defeat with another defeat, or a two-goal lead thrown away late on, or whatever.

By Alan Duffy

Fulham 2-0 Bolton Wanderers Premier League 17th December 2011

Fulham put the disappointment of that last-gasp exit from the Europa League in midweek to register a deserved win against a directionless Bolton side at Craven Cottage.

By Alan Duffy

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Stoke City Premier League 17th December 2011

You have to hand it to Tony Pulis, you really do. For all the (often justified) criticism of his team's tactics and style of play, Stoke continue to ground out decent results season after season, never looking like getting themselves embroiled in a relegation dogfight.

Injuries and suspension at the centre of defence could force Harry Redknapp to bring back Ledley King for Sunday's game against Martin O'Neill's side. Harry reports that Ledley is struggling but we've been in this position before where the club captain makes an unexpected return to the line up.

Fulham were scoreless last weekend at Swansea losing 2-0 to the newly promoted side, and have just been knocked out of the Europa League in midweek. Not the best of times... The lack of goalscoring form is clear, and ... Continue reading →

Roberto Mancini has also spoken of Chelsea and the Premier League title race. 10 points behind Manchester City at the moment, Chelsea have it all to do if we want to get ourselves back into contention again. Mancini believes that Chelsea still could win it.
He said:

'Last year Chelsea had a big lead over Manchester United but in the end United won the title by seven or eight points.

It barely makes up for the chaotic week gone by where Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League, where Nemanja Vidic was ruled out for the season and where the author of this post dropped the last piece of his birthday cake (Belgian chocolate, thanks for asking) on the kitchen floor but the 4-1 win over Wolves goes some way in reassuring fans even those who have had to experience an endless line of shoddy birthdays (naming no names) that things aren't totally bad.

It barely makes up for the chaotic week gone by where Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League, where Nemanja Vidic was ruled out for the season and where the author of this post dropped the last piece of his birthday cake (Belgian chocolate, thanks for asking) on the kitchen floor but the 4-1 win over Wolves goes some way in reassuring fans even those who have had to experience an endless line of shoddy birthdays (naming no names) that things aren't totally bad.

By Alan Duffy

Manchester United 4-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League 10th December 2011

It may not make up for their Champions League horror-show in midweek, but by comfortably beating Wolves at Old Trafford, Manchester United at least rediscovered some of their attacking verve.

I'm going to make this quick, because it's too late to garner much attention anyway.

Tomorrow we face Everton at the Emirates. I feel like I could just copy this preview from any game they've played over the past few seasons: They're a pretty good team, but they are struggling to score goals because they don't really have a good striker.

What's this strange, unfamiliar feeling? Oh yeah... it's Barnsley winning!

Is there anything quite like the terror and horror of supporting a team who are on a losing run? Actually, yes, there is: it is the terror and horror that comes with supporting a team who are on a winning run.

Will be one of those chipping in with a contribution in Greece

This midweek sees the final round of group fixtures for the Champions League to be played. Arsenal are of course already through and will finish top of the group regardless of what happens in the Olympiakos match tomorrow. It's another chance for the manager to rest some tired legs and make full use of the squad.

Liverpool kick off December with a Monday-evening matchup against struggling London side Fulham, as Craven Cottage hosts a meeting that is sure to be fiercely contested with both teams desperate for points. The Reds are coming off an impressive Carling Cup win at Stamford Bridge, and appear to head into this game in fine form.

Picking up another defeat against Liverpool at the Carling Cup in the midweek, simply made things tougher for Chelsea especially their manager, Andre Villas-Boas, who got intensive criticism recently.

Trying to calm things down, one of the Blues' main player, David Luiz, believed that his team is not actually in crisis but simply just having a string of bad results, which they're eagerly want to end in their two upcoming matches.