This evening Everton travel to Old Trafford to take on Premier League Champion's Man United. The Toffee's won their last game against West Ham 2-1 whilst Man United had a very disappointing 1-0 loss to Chelsea.
Both teams have injury problems but this game comes after a two-week International break. Click to continue reading...

If you haven't heard by now, Sir Alex Ferguson has received a 2 match ban (and a 20,000 pound fine) for comments made about Alan Wiley, the official for our 2-2 draw with Sunderland. Sir Alex may have implied that Wiley was "fat", simply by stating that he was not "fit" to officiate the match.

Now we all know that officiating is a very hard job.

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West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola was over the moon after Zavon Hines' last-gasp strike earned his Hammers their first win since the opening day of the season. England Under-21 striker Hines was the toast of Upton Park after he netted the winner in the fourth minute of injury time.

Zola said:

"This could be the turning point for us.

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Mike Jones wasn't the only ref to have a bad week.Graham Poll (gleefully?) points out that a collection of game officials had a controversial merry go round kind of experience at the Chelsea - Aston Villa game.These have been named as being Steve Bennett,Paul Rejer,Kevin Friend and Nigel Marriott.

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After the two-week international break, it was refreshing to see the return of the Premier League. Within minutes I could see why I had missed it so much. Vocal crowds singing songs, the fast pace of the football and the entertaining open style of play.

The four takeaways I had from this game were:

1. Is Aston Villa the reverse of a flat track bully?

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Early and Late Goals Secure 3 Points

• Saturday, September 26, 2009
• Venue: St Andrews Stadium
• Attendance: 28,671
• Referee: Steve Bennett

• Tamir Cohen [10]
• Roger Johnson [64]
• Stephen Carr [75]
• Jlloyd Samuel [78]
• Kevin Phillips [84]
• Chung-Yong Lee [86]

Yesterday's trip to Saint Andrew's Stadium was to be a veritable walk in the park compared with the fixures The Wanderers have lined up next month.

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Man United Re-Ignited

United's 5-0 destruction of Wigan did much to reassure their fans all is well within Old Trafford. However, by all accounts they were ropey in the first half and Wigan's spirit was broken after conceding. Berbatov and Rooney looked good together yes, and Owen got on the scoresheet - but it was never the worry that United would struggle to break down the likes of Wigan.

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Sunday morning, 26th of July:

On five hours of sleep, I pull myself from my bedroom, cross the hall to the living room and land on the couch. It's a journey of maybe 20 feet, but it feels like Stage 20 of the Tour de France. I am a zombie on NyQuil dragging bags of concrete behind me.

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When Keith Hackett, warts n'all, retires from his stewardship of the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) next summer, he will be replaced by a current referee - either Mike Riley, Steve Bennett or Pete Walton.
This is a major decision for the future of the English game at its highest levels. Click to continue reading...

Guest editorial by Tom Mallows

Don't let David Moyes' conspiracy theories fool you - his side are ready for Manchester United.

It has made an amusing sub-plot in the build up to this weekend's FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Manchester United.

Steve Bennett, the official originally chosen to take charge of the match, had to pull out due to illness and Mike Riley was picked by the FA to replace him.

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12:30pm, live in the US on FSCbr /br /bLast 4 head-to-head:/bbr /0-0 (h) 11.22.08br /2-0 Liverpool (a) 04.19.08br /2-0 Liverpool (h) 11.10.07br /0-1 Fulham (a) 05.05.07br /br /bLast 3 matches:/bbr /iLiverpool: /i5-0 Villa (h); 4-1 United (a); 4-0 Real (h)br /iFulham: /i2-0 United (h); 3-1 Bolton (a); 1-2 Blackburn (h)br /br /bGoalscorers (league):/bbr /iLiverpool: /iGerrard 13; Torres 9; Kuyt 8; Alonso, Benayoun, Riera 3; Aurelio, Babel 2; Arbeloa, Carragher, Dossena, Hyypia, Ngog 1br /iFulham: /iJohnson 7; Dempsey 5; Murphy 4; Davies, Gera, Nevland, Zamora 2; Hangeland, Kamara, Konchesky, Seol 1br /br /bReferee:/b Steve Bennett. Click to continue reading...

You've probably read about the Steve Bennett scandal in the News of the World by now. Basically an undercover NotW (for non-UK readers, that's the Sunday version of The Sun) reporter recorded English Premier League ref Steve Bennett spilling some secret beans about how certain players deliberately get themselves booked in order to miss games they [. Click to continue reading...

The Great Disciplinary Swindle Steve Bennett will be asked to explain himself to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited after telling a News of the World undercover reporter that top players deliberately get booked or sent-off to ensure that they are suspended when they have booked family holidays. Click to continue reading...

I wonder if Steve Bennett will be more careful with who he talk to in regards to his job. Now I'll be honest with everyone. When Jeffrey Hash linked me to this story earlier Sunday morning, I simply went "It's the News of the World...why should I care?" What I read woke me up. His revelations that [. Click to continue reading...

I wonder if Steve Bennett will be more careful with who he talk to in regards to his job. Now I'll be honest with everyone. When Jeffrey Hash linked me to this story earlier Sunday morning, I simply went "It's the News of the World...why should I care?" What I read woke me up. His revelations that [. Click to continue reading...

We should've known. This season has been no different to any of the seasons before it. Sooner or later, the age-old football technology debate becomes a central feature of pub discussions and television sensation. Every year the pro-technology side of the argument seems to be getting more and more frustrated as other walks of life embrace [. Click to continue reading...

For the second week in a row Man United are gifted the opening goal of the game due to a poor refereeing decision, this time by Steve Bennett. A clear foul on the Blackburn goal keeper. var iamInit = function() {try{initIamServingHandler(320,206,154623,"http://pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Css/css2. Click to continue reading...

Howard Webb is the referee for today's game at Anfield, hopefully there will be no repeat of Steve Bennett's antics from last year.

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Referee
Matches Points Average Points
Mike Dean
1 5 5 Howard Webb
1 5 5 Chris Foy
1 5 5 Steve Bennett
1 5 5 Phil Dowd
1 5 5 Peter Walton
1 5 5 Andre Marriner
1 4 4 Martin Atkinson
1 4 4 Mike Riley
1 3 3 Alan Wiley
1 3 3 Keith Stroud
0 0 0 Mark Halsey
0 0 0 Uriah Rennie
0 0 0 Lee Probert
0 0 0 Lee Mason
0 0 0 Rob Styles
0 0 0 Steve Tanner
0 0 0 Mark Clattenburg
0 0 0
The comprehensive guide to the Premier League's Referees. Click to continue reading...

They're the men in black that you love to hate, but someone has to do the job. Here's EPL Talk's guide to the Premier League referees for the 2008/2009 season (click on the referee's name to view his photograph): Martin Atkinson. Premier League ref since 2005. Age 37. On August 13, 2006 he took charge of [. Click to continue reading...

There has already been much written and much said about the sending off of Liverpool's Javier Mascherano yesterday in the 'Grand Slam Sunday' game against Manchester United. He was dismissed for two yellow cards and with his departure went any hopes Liverpool had of getting something from the game and any outside hopes they had [. Click to continue reading...

I don't want to hear Liverpool fans criticize referee Steve Bennett for dismissing Javier Mascherano late in the first half today. I just don't want to hear it, simple as that.
It's about time that a referee stood up for himself and didn't take any BS. I've complained all year long about the referees and how they're too weak and inconsistent to punish players for dissent. Click to continue reading...