Saturday 16th August, 2008 ARSENAL V WEST BROM, Emirates Stadium, 12.45pm Arsene Wenger will be without much of his first team for West Brom's visit to North London. It is unlikely to make the slightest bit of difference to the outcome. Last season: N/A Prediction: Scott Carson is in goal. You do the maths. Click to continue reading...

A look at the first week of action in the English Premier League Arsenal  v  West Brom: What a welcome to the Premier League for the Baggies. Arsenal at the Emirates in the sun on a prefect playing service. Scott Carson will be busy in this one as Arsenal romp to an easy win. Bolton  v  Stoke [.. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa surprised many neutrals last season, and probably even some of their own supporters, with their 6th-place finish. In 2006-2007, the Villans checked in at a respectable 11th, a nice improvement from 16th the season before. Villa's emergence, led by manager Martin O'Neill, came with one of the smallest, if not THE smallest, first team rosters in the Premiership. Click to continue reading...

WEST BROM Notable arrivals: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Marek Cech (Porto), Roman Bednar (Hearts), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen), Kim Do-Heon. Notable departures: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City), Zoltan Gera (Fulham), Martin Albrechtsen (Derby County). Click to continue reading...

ASTON VILLA Notable arrivals: Brad Friedel (Blackburn), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (West Brom), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA). Notable departures: Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Moore (West Brom), Thomas Sorensen. Possibilities: Gareth Barry (Liverpool,. Click to continue reading...

Gareth Barry's dream of finally joining Liverpool now lies in the hands of the club's American owners.

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has given up hope of keeping the England star at his club and told Rafa Benitez that Barry is all theirs.

But the Liverpool manager is now sweating over whether joint owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks will stump up the £18m needed to clinch the drawn out deal. Click to continue reading...

After two years in the Coca-Cola Championship, West Brom returns to the top flight of English soccer as the team best primed to make a run at survival amongst their fellow promotees. Tony Mowbray's club made a surprising appearance in the FA Cup semi-finals last year before being knocked out by Portsmouth, the eventual winner of the competition. Click to continue reading...

The likelihood of Xabi Alonso leaving Liverpool this summer continues to decrease, with reports emerging that the club's American owners are preparing to top up the transfer kitty themselves.

Prior to EURO 2008 it seemed a foregone conclusion that Alonso would end his four-year spell on Merseyside to join Juventus. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Marek Cech (Porto), Roman Bednar (Hearts), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen), Kim Do-Heon. Notable departures: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City), Zoltan Gera (Fulham), Martin Albrechtsen (Derby County). Per Ciljan Skjelbred. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Brad Friedel (Blackburn), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (West Brom), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA). Notable departures: Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Moore (West Brom), Thomas Sorensen. Possibilities: Gareth Barry (Liverpool, Arsenal) So. Click to continue reading...

Gareth Barry believes his £19million move to Anfield will be finalised over the weekend once Aston Villa accept a re-structured offer.

Barry, thought to have already found a house to rent in Cheshire to be close to Liverpool's Melwood training ground, trained with Villa yesterday but did not figure in a behind closed doors friendly against Notts County. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Marek Cech (Porto), Roman Bednar (Hearts), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen), Kim Do-Heon. Notable departures: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City), Zoltan Gera (Fulham), Martin Albrechtsen (Derby County). Per Ciljan Skjelbred. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Brad Friedel (Blackburn), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (West Brom). Pending: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA). Notable departures: Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Moore (West Brom), Thomas Sorensen. Possibilities: Gareth Barry (Liverpool, Arsenal). Click to continue reading...

With Tottenham's $30 million acquisition of David Bentley yesterday from Blackburn, it would appear that the meaningful tenure of Aaron Lennon, who was a boy wonder and the next big thing in English soccer just a few years ago, at White Hart Lane is over.

At 14, Lennon signed a cleat-sponsorship contract with Adidas, becoming the youngest player in Premiership history ever to do so. Click to continue reading...

The way that the Potters are carrying on, you might be forgiven for thinking they're allowed to field two keepers between the sticks next season. Perhaps they'll need to in order to stay up! Stoke missed out on Scott Carson, who instead chose to play for West Brom, although they ... Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Marek Cech (Porto), Roman Bednar (Hearts), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen), Kim Do-Heon. Notable departures: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City), Zoltan Gera (Fulham), Martin Albrechtsen (Derby County). A bid for. Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Brad Friedel (Blackburn), Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (West Brom). Pending: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA). Notable departures: Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Moore (West Brom), Thomas Sorensen. Possibilities: Gareth Barry (Liverpool, Arsenal). Click to continue reading...

Unsettled England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has today finalized his move to Ewood park, following a drastic season, losing both his number one spots at Tottenham and England.

Robinson,28, has cost Paul Ince £3.5 million for his services on a five year deal, a transfer which sees the rookie manager make his first signing with his new club. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool are putting the finishing touches to a deal that will make Robbie Keane one of most expensive signings in the club's history.

Keane is expected to undergo a medical early next week to finalise his transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.

The fee could ultimately rise to £20m given the add-ons and incentives that have been negotiated. Click to continue reading...

Scott Carson is an ambitious young man. His move from Liverpool might have represented a backward step in his career, yet the keeper is still only 22 and has plenty of time on his side to forge a successful career in the Premier League. Indeed, he still has his sights ... Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Marek Cech (Porto), Roman Bednar (Hearts), Luke Moore (Aston Villa), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen). Notable departures: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City), Zoltan Gera (Fulham) No defender on loan Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: David Ngog (PSG), Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Andrea Dossena (Udinese), Diego Cavalieri (Palmeiras), Vincent Lucas Weijl (AZ Alkmaar) Notable departures: Harry Kewell (Galatasaray), John Arne Riise (Roma), Peter Crouch (Portsmouth), Scott Carson (West Brom), Danny Guthrie (Newcastle). Click to continue reading...

Notable arrivals: Steve Sidwell (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (West Brom). Pending: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Brad Friedel (Blackburn). Notable departures: Patrik Berger (Sparta Prague), Olof Mellberg (Juventus), Scott Carson (Liverpool). Possibilities: Gareth Barry (Liverpool, Arsenal) MON to 'Pool: ---- or get. Click to continue reading...

Tottenham Hotspur forward Robbie Keane is set to complete a transfer to Liverpool within the next 48 hours after it emerged that the Republic of Ireland captain had been left out of the north Londoners' 19-man squad that played a friendly at Hercules in Alicante last night.

Keane is expected to put pen to paper on a £18 million deal over the weekend, despite his employers at White Hart Lane having lodged a formal complaint with the Premier League over Liverpool's conduct in this whole affair, although Spurs themselves made no comment before the fixture kicked off regarding their captain's subsequent absence from the team line-up. Click to continue reading...

In one of my recent poll questions, which you can find on the left-hand side of the homepage underneath the blog archive, I asked which story you believed to be the biggest so far this summer. One of the choices was Gareth Barry and his desire to leave Aston Villa for Liverpool, and although I can't remember the exact number, it got its fair share of votes. Click to continue reading...