We were in our places a few minutes earlier than usual, standing not sitting, hopping around not so much to stave off the bitter cold, more in excited anticipation. Even the veterans haven't seen anything like this.

The players had a prematch kickabout, the mascot's nervous pride shone through as they found a hero to play with, but all eyes were on the tunnel.

I am going to assume the Prem will have no choice but to change the scoring on Fulham's winner today, giving Clint Dempsey another dazzling goal to count. His shot is clearly tipped onto the bar by the keeper, which makes it a shot on goal, which makes it a scorer's goal. If that's an own goal, my name is Lord Rupus Schmendrake IV.

2-1 wins for United over Liverpool and Arsenal over Sunderland - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Here's a look at the weekend's biggest Premier League fixtures and the best bets to place this weekend.

Manchester United v Liverpool

All eyes will be on Old Trafford this weekend when arch rivals Man United and Liverpool face off in what promises to be a fiery encounter (12.

It will be a hostile atmosphere when United take on arch rivals Liverpool this weekend, and Sir Alex's side are slightly odds-on at 1.91 with Paddy Power to come out on top in what promises to be a real hard fought battle.

The game sees Patrice Evra come face to face with Luis Suarez for the first time since the Liverpool striker was banned for eight games after racially abusing the United defender and the role of referee Phil Dowd will be crucial.

The Ivory Coast reached the final of the African Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win over Mali on Wednesday night. Cheick Tiote - reaches final of African Cup of Nations The scorer of the only goal of the game was Arsenal's Gervinho, who scored after 45 minutes and he was a target of Newcastle last summer, before he eventually joined the [.

Well hello there.

I see you've caught me in your office, bearing the gift of my presence and my musky, Vin Diesel-like scent. ... Who am I? Judging by my decidedly unsexy lack of playing time, I thought you might have forgotten. I am Dimitar. Dimitar Berbatov. Or, as all the Berba-babes call me: "What Are You Doing Under My Sink?

The best player for Newcastle on Sunday afternoon against Aston Villa was Danny Guthrie. Danny Guthrie proving he' s very good player for Newcastle Danny got 47% of the vote for Man of the Match, followed by 17% for Tim Krul and 11% for debut boy and scorer of that wonder goal Papiss Cisse - and then James Perch is on [.

Scorer:
Darren Gibson (Ever) 60′

Martin Jol is set to end his month-long pursuit of a striker as the Fulham boss is on the verge of unveiling Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak from the German Bundesliga's VfB Stuttgart.

The 28-year old Pogrebnyak has been capped 30 times by his country, scoring eight goals on the international stage while also scoring 15 times in 64 league appearances for Stuttgart.

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.

German forward Lukas Podolski, who has been linked consistently with Arsenal in recent weeks, has chosen to focus on his future in the Bundesliga rather than talking up a move to the English top flight.

The 26-year old Podolski appeared on Arsenal's radar in this month's transfer window after disagreements with FC Cologne's management late last year.

Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey has made it clear that he would like his long-term future to be at a club with Champions League aspirations, alerting many potential suitors to make a move for the U.S. international.

Dempsey has scored nine goals in 22 matches so far this season, with his most recent accomplishment being a remarkable hat-trick the first for an American in the Premier League against Newcastle United.

Without a "Group of Death," and without 5 of the top 8 ranked African countries (Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa all failed to qualify), the opening stages of the African Cup of Nations lacks a bit in the tasty fixtures department. For perspective, Tunisia, the participating country with the fourth-highest FIFA ranking is still behind tiny Cape Verde Islands (who also did not qualify).

PASL Player of the Week:
Aaron Byrd, Detroit Waza
Byrd's dramatic goal capped off a career night. Byrd got his second seven-point game of the season and the first five goal game of his career. The 30-year old has become Detroit's hottest scorer with 21 points in his last four games.

The real issue with Mario Balotelli isn't his 'swag', abrasive nature or arrogance for that matter. The real issue with Mario these days is that he's turning into the Lady Gaga of football. Of course, the issue of kicking Scott Parker in the head yesterday (in City's 3-2 defeat of Spurs) isn't something that should surprise you at all.

Sporting KC were not the only local team to announce a new signing today. The Missouri Comets also added a new player today, as they announced the signing of former Chicago Riot forward, Bato Radoncic. He's spent time in the US minor leagues and indoor games, mainly around the Milwaukee and Chicago area during his time here.

szólj hozzá: Chelsea v Sunderland 1:0 MOTD

Scorer:
Lampard 13′ (Chel)

By Alan Duffy

Manchester United 3-0 Bolton Wanderers Premier League 14th January 2012

Starting for the first time since his surprise emergence from retirement, Paul Scholes made it 18 Premier League seasons (out of 18) in which he's scored after netting the opener against Bolton, with the goal coming just before the break.

szólj hozzá: T1-0W

Scorer:
Defoe (Tot)

A genuinely poor performance it was not. It was, however, a rather terrible result.

A myriad of culpable parties

Chelsea again surrender a lead despite being in a position to record a comfortable win. First Wigan, and now Fulham. What the hell. More bemusing, the fact that this latest setback arrived just days after we put in an excellent shift at White Hart Lane in a game we easily could have won.

Liverpool sign Wycombe boy-wonder Ibe

Wanderers' youngest ever player and scorer joins Dalglish's men

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-20 17:17:19 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Wally meets... Mike Walters chats to Brian Deane, scorer of the first goal in Premier league history

Salad days in the summer of 1992 included Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell bringing home the bullion from the Barcelona Olympics.­ The Daily Mirror blew the whistle on Pakistan's ball-tampering cheats, Gary Lineker took the final curtain and English football gave birth to a monster which has since made Frankenstein­ look like a cuddly toy.

Borussia Dortmund and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski is back in the frame again with Liverpool his most likely destination. Liverpool have been linked with many strikers with the transfer period looming on the horizon as Dalglish looks to conquer his attacking headaches.
Liverpool haven't been clinical enough in front of goal this campaign notching up 18 goals in 15 Premier League games.

• Kop That: Andy Dunn's Big Match Verdict: Controversial Suarez so key for King Kenny http://t.co/OzOZJYL8 23:11:42, 2011-12-10
• Kop That: New England generation to see benefit of new coaching http://t.co/RlEXAm8p 23:11:28, 2011-12-10
• Kop That: Warnock hails Liverpool hero Suarez http://t.

An Arsenal Christmas gifts for Arsenal fans - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Holiday season is approaching and it's time to get presents for your loved ones. To get you a head-start in the decision to buy present for a Gunners fan, lets get you through some of the Arsenal merchandise:

Personally Signed Merchandise

Our friends at ICONS.

The present is very important for us. We are in the middle of a season where every point is important now... we are in a position where we just want to collect points because the pace of the Premier League is dictated by the teams in front of us. And it is a tremendous one.

Wenger has hit the nail on the head there.

The present is very important for us. We are in the middle of a season where every point is important now... we are in a position where we just want to collect points because the pace of the Premier League is dictated by the teams in front of us. And it is a tremendous one.

Wenger has hit the nail on the head there.

Clint Dempsey scored the only goal in Fulham's 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Craven Cottage last night, breaking Brian McBride's record to become the top American scorer in EPL history. His former club, New England Revolution, tweeted their congratulations to the USMNT player after the goal, which takes his EPL tally to 37.

May have seen this on a FOF post a few weeks back, but worth re-sharing in light of Saturday's draw:

Fulham have conceded a joint-league high 33% of their goals in the final 15 minutes of games this season.

Not sure who we were tied with, but we're probably #1 after Saturday as so far this season we've conceded 6 goals in the final 15 minutes of games.

Kelantan are building for an exciting season including AFC Cup action, will they be able to play their home games in Kota Bahru, and are taking advantage of new rules that allow them to sign foreigners.
In has come Lebanese striker Mohamed Ghaddar for example. He has proved a regular scorer for his national team, 26 goals in 46 games according to Wiki.

In what was an historic year for U.S. Women's Soccer, the Americans finished at 13-3-4 while scoring 41 goals and allowing 17.
The U.S. team started and finished the year ranked #1 in the world.
Abby Wambach led the USA in scoring (surprise!) with eight goals and four assists, but Carli Lloyd (6 goals) and Lauren Cheney (5) also had quality goal scoring years.

By Chris Wright

Not that it really mattered, but England broke a 43-year hoodoo by beating Sweden for the first time in 13 games at a sparsely-populated Wembley last night, with the narrow victory also affording them their first defeat-less calendar year since 1994.

I have just been to the Surfing Seadog forum and came across this post from Retford United striker Carl Haslam scorer of their goal yesterday against us.I don't think Carl is happy at our view of the game, I personally think it is great when players from opposing teams get involved in this way.


Carl's post:
i havent come on here to argue or cause a fight but after reading some of ur posts i aint going 2 sit back and let you say the things u are.

Newcastle resident Ronan Quinn on one of the eleven that may start versus the States

Cabaye's made a splash already this year by the Tyneside...

TSG's USA vs. France Preview

With the likes of Andy Carroll, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and José Enrique all sold since January, many worried about Newcastle's prospects of survival in the Premier League.

If you're team is bottom you aren't usually happy - and few neutrals would ever tune into watch the bottom teams in England, Scotland, Spain or Germany.
In Australia it's different - the Melbourne Heart and Adelaide United Dutch Coached teams are bottom of the A-League but both play good football, or aim to.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has hailed on fire Arsenal skipper as the "perfect captain" after the Dutchman bagged a hat-trick against Chelsea on Saturday.

Van Persie has been instrumental in Arsenal's resurgence after their worst start in the Premier League under Wenger, and has found the net a remarkable 28 times in his last 27 games to prompt football betting experts to back them for a Champions League spot come the end of the season.

Manchester City are ready to offer Wycombe starlet Jordan Ibe a multi-million pound package, in a bid to beat Premier League rivals Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to his signature.
The 15-year-old shot to fame with a superb goal against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, in his first professional start, following a series of impressive substitute appearances.

Liverpool is close to making an official bid for Borussia Dortmund 23 year old Polish International striker Robert Lewandowski according to reports in Germany.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is still looking to strengthen his front line despite spending tens of Millions on strikers in the summer and has apparently identified Lewandowski has just the sort of player he wants and likes.

No more games in hand, no more disparity between games played at home and on the road, no more asterisks denoting games that didn't really count because the opposition was bad. With the regular season over and playoffs under way, we can finally look back on the MLS regular season and compare statistics through 34 games, where every team played every other team twice.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can take away from the sheer, singular brilliance of Suarez's swirling strike, but I wanted to highlight the contributions of those involved in the build-up, specifically three off-the-ball runs and two cross-field passes. Mostly to ensure they don't get lost in the utter majesty of the finish.