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Wigan's Ben Watson and Fulham's Steve Sidwell made referee Lee Probert the meat in their sandwich as both men went for a 50/50 tackle which put Probert on the ground needing attention before jokingly brandishing a red card.

Interested in your views on how replaceable players are. I remember a few years ago, getting to White Hart Lane and finding that Hangeland was out and the much maligned Chris Baird was playing instead. The result: comfortable enough 0-0 draw.

If Hangeland were to break his leg tomorrow I would be reasonably happy that a combination of Hughes, Baird and Senderos would be more than adequate to keep us broadly where we'd have been with Hangeland.

Interested in your views on how replaceable players are. I remember a few years ago, getting to White Hart Lane and finding that Hangeland was out and the much maligned Chris Baird was playing instead. The result: comfortable enough 0-0 draw.

If Hangeland were to break his leg tomorrow I would be reasonably happy that a combination of Hughes, Baird and Senderos would be more than adequate to keep us broadly where we'd have been with Hangeland.

Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about: will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.

Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about: will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.

A brilliant Rafael Van der Vaart strike guided Tottenham Hotspur to a 1-0 win at Watford while Marouane Fellaini's decisive second-half goal saw off Fulham in Friday's all-Premier League FA Cup Fourth Round clash at Goodison Park.

Van der Vaart struck right before half-time from 30-yards out to stun Vicarage Road and give the Spurs a slender advantage that the hosts were not able to overturn.

Arsene Wenger made it clear that poor officiating has taken its toll on Arsenal's season but admitted that his own defense was 'stupid' in conceding twice at Fulham last night.

The Gunners were leading 1-0 through Laurent Koscielny's early goal but a disappointing second half performance allowed their opponents to bounce right back into the match.

Fulham vs Arsenal 2-1 2012 Highlights Video Goals Koscielny Sidwell Zamora Djourou Red card Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Will need to step up tonight

What a wonderful night of football yesterday was, if only for the one game which mattered. Nicklas Bendtner did us no favour as he squandered an early chance to put his team ahead but Sunderland won it right at the death to beat Roberto Mancini's Manchester City.

Don't look now, but Fulham are tied with Wolves for the most yellow cards in the league (37). We had 52 yellow cards all of last season, 46 in 2009-10, and 40 in 2008-09.

Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Danny Murphy, Moussa Dembele, and Steve Sidwell all have 4 yellow cards. Mark Schwarzer has one.

Chelsea vs Fulham 2011 Carling Cup Highlights Penalties 4-3 Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Yikes. A horror show from Fulham, the sort of performance that really causes fans to question the team's direction, second league game of the season or otherwise. Wolves are a handy side, of course, and were at home, but we'd expect to have given them more of a game. We'd expect to not play so carelessly, so.

With distance comes perspective, and from the very back of the Putney End the view was... well what was it? Despite my best efforts the game entirely passed me by.  There they were, 22 men in white and sky blue, back and forth, up and down, then we all went home after an hour and a half of watching them run about.

All the misery seems misplaced now. Central midfield problem? Not when the back-up back-up plan can run a game against decent opposition. Chris Baird and his messier partner, Steve Sidwell, proved once again that at a stable club no single player is indispensible, no five players even. We can lament the mislaying of Dempsey, Dembele, Murphy, Etuhu and all the other stalwarts of days of yore, but there is much to be excited about, too.

All the misery seems misplaced now. Central midfield problem? Not when the back-up back-up plan can run a game against decent opposition. Chris Baird and his messier partner, Steve Sidwell, proved once again that at a stable club no single player is indispensible, no five players even. We can lament the mislaying of Dempsey, Dembele, Murphy, Etuhu and all the other stalwarts of days of yore, but there is much to be excited about, too.

With the exception of a forced change here or there, it would not be a stretch to say Martin Jol has settled on HIS lineup as of late.

And, its interesting to note the name and age of the lineup. Especially when looking at the players who are not playing.

Below are all the players and their ages that saw at list 1 minute of playing time in the last five matches:

When crunching the numbers, our squad age in this span comes out to be:

Average: 28.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

One of the worst first half performances in memory. Newcastle were very impressive, well drilled, pressurising perfectly, timing their confrontations and ganging up on our players relentlessly. We couldn't keep the ball. They could, spraying it around and running us ragged.

The signing of Ruiz gives us an extraoardinary array of attacking talent. It means we can field a combination of Zamora, Duff, Dempsey, Dembele and Ruiz, which you'd hope would suffice for our needs. They can't all play, but even if we see three or four of them, their attacking instincts need to be covered by someone to defend.

Anton, come join us, smell the sweet, sweet smell of tax free money

David Conn's article in the Guardian focuses on Anton Zingarevich, the owner of Reading and the son of billionaire businessman Boris Zingarevich. The younger Zingarevich owns the club via Thames Sports Investment which is offshored in Gibraltar, a tax haven for owners who avoid paying capital gains taxes or stamp duty should they sell their shares for a profit in the future.