1. Luis Suarez was a bit of a muppet. Hopefully we can now safely conclude that without the ridiculous defence arguments that have been put forward by some Liverpool fans in recent weeks since he has now apologised for his actions. 2. Suarez wasn't the only one making a poor decision to pull his hand [.

Once again, Everton knocked off a Premier League contender. This time it was Chelsea, falling 2-0 to Everton at Goodison Park. And once again, it was Americans in the Everton eleven making the difference. Tim Howard needed four saves for the shutout and Landon Donovan setup the second goal. Steven Pienaar opened the scoring in the 5th minute with Denis Stracqualursi doubling the lead in the 71st.

Chelsea lost the chance to consolidate their fourth place position in the league yesterday after they were humbled 2-0 by Everton at Goodison Park. Goals from Steven Pienaar and Denis Stracqualursi condemned Villas-Boas to his 6 loss of the season and saw Arsenal overtake them into 4th place after a 2-1 away over Sunderland.

I'm going to attempt to keep this short because, quite frankly, spitting viciously vile vitriol is not how I'd like to spend my Saturday afternoon. Virulence really isn't going to get us anywhere.

But, shit, I'm fucking pissed.

Don't worry, it got much worse.

I'm going to attempt to keep this short because, quite frankly, spitting viciously vile vitriol is not how I'd like to spend my Saturday afternoon. Virulence really isn't going to get us anywhere.

But, shit, I'm fucking pissed.

Don't worry, it got much worse.

Thierry Henry came off the bench in his last Premier League appearance for Arsenal this year and capped the occasion off in perfect style with a late stoppage time goal that wrapped up all three points for the Gunners.

In a toughly contested match at the Stadium of Light, James McLean opened the scoring for Sunderland 25 minutes into the second half, when he capitalized on Per Mertesacker's slip to guide the ball past Wojciech Szczesny from an acute angle.

A trip to Goodison Park is just the tonic needed following our recent troubles, namely a bizarre, referee-induced three-goal collapse at home against Manchester United.

Wait, what? We rarely win at Everton? Shit.

Mean muggin'

We have actually won at Goodison this season, a 2-1 victory in extra time in the League Cup.

All had been quiet on the Luka Modric front until the end of last week when Spurs midfielder and Everton loanee Steven Pienaar made comments to the press suggesting that Tottenham would have difficulty in holding on to their Croatian genius once the season comes to an end.

It's worth looking at the South African's quotes in full,

"Luka is a top player for Spurs and if he leaves it is hard to say what will happen there," Pienaar told the Sunday Mirror.

By Alan Duffy

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Everton Premier League 4th February 2012

A late Victor Anichebe goal was enough to rob perpetual strugglers Wigan of a vital and rare victory. The defeat leaves the Latics bottom of the table and looking like dead certs for the drop.

There was a lack of real excitement during the final day of the 2012 January Transfer Window, with none of the Premier League's big names on the move and a subsequent drop in spending from the same day 12 months ago means the latest transfer window closed without much of a noise.

The speculation that ran wild from Sky Sports News reporters situated at Premier League grounds became boring with attention being finally turned to actual fixtures that took place on the night.

Saturday EPL on ESPN2: Arsenal - Blackburn at 8am. Wigan - Everton 9:30am - Fox Soccer Everton goes on the road after picking up three points at the expense of Premier League leaders Manchester City. A win against Wigan could push Everton up the table from 10th. This is a different Everton, with the club active in the transfer window adding Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar.

YOU try keeping them apart. Image: AFP PHOTO/ IAN KINGTON.

Don't feel bad that you missed all the transfer news because you're such important people. We too were engaged in frantic busy work (sleeping, shopping, drinking or a horrifying and painful combination of all three) when the window slammed shut at 23.

Everton boss David Moyes was a busy man in January, signing the likes of Darron Gibson and Nikica Jelavic, loaning former Toffees Steven Pienaar and Landon Donovan, and offloading Louis Saha to Tottenham.

All that activity is seemingly about to payoff, with the traditionally slow-starting Merseysiders back in the top half of the table following last night's famous 1-0 win over league leaders Manchester City at Goodison Park.

Everton boss David Moyes was a busy man in January, signing the likes of Darron Gibson and Nikica Jelavic, loaning former Toffees Steven Pienaar and Landon Donovan, and offloading Louis Saha to Tottenham.

All that activity is seemingly about to payoff, with the traditionally slow-starting Merseysiders back in the top half of the table following last night's famous 1-0 win over league leaders Manchester City at Goodison Park.

The transfer window for English club's slammed shut last night at 11pm, with Everton grabbing former midfielder Steven Pienaar from Tottenham on-loan on the final hour.
Harry Redknapp one of the shrewdest managers in the transfer market surprisingly signed injury prone Everton striker Louis Saha, also in the final hour after losing Roman Pavlychenko for £8m to Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow .

Tottenham yesterday saw both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Steven Pienaar leave White Hart Lane for Lokomotiv Moscow and Everton respectfully. Both moves do not come as a surprise, in fact if anything, they were both overdue.

After having been linked with a move away from Tottenham for quite some time, Pavyluchenko finally made the switch to Lokomotiv for a reported £8 million.

The winter transfer window across Europe closed on Tuesday, and a number of teams -- not the usual big-spenders -- that were scrambling to fill vacancies and address needs for the second half of their respective seasons were able to add some valuable pieces to the puzzle.

Queens Park Rangers fall into that category, adding firepower in the form of former Lazio striker Djibril Cisse and Fulham forward Bobby Zamora.

The winter transfer window across Europe closed on Tuesday, and a number of teams -- not the usual big-spenders -- that were scrambling to fill vacancies and address needs for the second half of their respective seasons were able to add some valuable pieces to the puzzle.

Queens Park Rangers fall into that category, adding firepower in the form of former Lazio striker Djibril Cisse and Fulham forward Bobby Zamora.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

It is a wild day across England, with the rapid-fire closing of the transfer window being accompanied by a full slate of mid-week matches. While the transfer window doesn't figure to include any more Americans making moves to England, there could be some notable performances by U.

Following the conclusion of a loan deal to send full-back Vedran Corluka to Bayer Leverkusen for the remainder of the season, Tottenham Hotspur are set to live up to their expectations of making significant moves at the eleventh hour.

The 25-year old Corluka's work ethic has been consistently praised by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp but the Croatia international's playing time was limited this season by the emergence of youngster Kyle Walker.

With the exception of January 2011, Spurs have often thrown up a surprise at the fag end of a transfer window but it's doubtful as to whether any Tottenham fans would have woken up this morning expecting Louis Saha to be wearing a Lilywhite shirt at the end of the day.

The chain of events seems to have sparked off by Rangers' acceptance of Everton's bid for Nikica Jelavic which left Saha, who was already struggling at Goodison, surplus to requirements.

Harry Redknapp's long awaited court case starts today and while it may not be right at this stage to comment on the possible implications for Spurs, it could yet hamper any transfer activity into White Hart Lane. Although as we've seen before, the manager doesn't necessarily have to be present for any deals to be concluded, this could be seen as a sign to expect a quiet end to January.

As the curtains draw open for the AFCON tournament, attention will definitely be on a number of players who are set to retire once a winner is revealed on February 12th.

For many it will mark an end to the golden generation of some of the continent's truly brightest talents but also the beginning for a new breed of stars who will look to carry on from where their predecessors left.

Arsene Wenger said he doesn't expect to sign any new players during the rest of the January transfer window and feels it should be scrapped anyway. Which is a little odd considering we just saw Thierry Henry climb into Emirates Stadium through the window. If he sticks to his word, then Gunner fans shouldn't expect to see the cavalry arrive in the nick of time to save the season from sinking any further.

Stories have been coming through this afternoon of a confirmed approach from QPR for left sided midfielder Steven Pienaar but Harry Redknapp has stated once again that he has no desire to sell the South African

"I wouldn't want to let him go. He is a good player," Redknapp said.

"I brought him on for the last 10 minutes against Everton on Wednesday and he didn't give the ball away.

Some more transfer news today with Darron Gibson leaving Man United and joining Everton for an incredibly low fee of £1million, possibly rising to £2million based on appearances. Gibson was told that he was free to leave after Paul Scholes came out of retirement, and I feel he'll be a great addition to Everton.

By Chris Wright

Given the current penchant for the two-footed Exocet-style challenge as favoured by Glen Johnson among others, here is Pies' pick of the XI worst, shin-splintering, sinew-shredding, ligament-twanging, bone-flaking tackles to ever take place on a Premier League pitch (that we could find corresponding videos for).

The big news to come out of White Hart Lane this week surrounds Scott Parker who remains extremely doubtful for tonight's clash. Speaking yesterday at his press conference, manager Harry Redknapp said,

"Scott is struggling," said Harry. "He's doubtful, in fact, he's very doubtful.

"We've one or two injuries.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has called on his players to fight for their spots in his side. Talented players like Steven Pienaar and Niko Kranjcar have seen limited action for Spurs this season, but Redknapp insists that the second half of the season will give them ample opportunities to impress both him and fans.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has called on his players to fight for their spots in his side. Talented players like Steven Pienaar and Niko Kranjcar have seen limited action for Spurs this season, but Redknapp insists that the second half of the season will give them ample opportunities to impress both him and fans.

In truth, there have been relatively few rumours linking Spurs players into or away from the club and this has been a relatively quiet window so far. However, it seems that Harry Redknapp has spent most of his time deflecting attention away from the majority of players already in the squad.

Many of Spurs' fringe players have been linked with a move away from the club and generally speaking, rumours about possible departures for the likes of Vedran Corluka and Steven Pienaar have been met with a clear ‘no' from Harry Redknapp.

That hasn't been the case with Gio Dos Santos however and after the manager is believed to have vetoed a last minute move in the summer, it now seems that he is finally prepared to let the Mexican go.

THFC1882 returns from it's Christmas and New Year break. Whilst we were off, Tottenham Hotspur collected 7 points from Norwich, Swansea and West Brom, happy days. Today, the FA Cup 3rd round was the focus and we have a special guest reporter for you. Here's Danny Carrier from the Camden New Journal with his report:

This was the chance for Harry Redknapp's fringe players to step up to the plate and show what they could do as well as give Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon some much needed game time to get their match fitness back.

There's obviously no transfer news as yet from White Hart Lane but surprisingly, the rumour mill is also a little quiet after the Christmas break.

As far as any potential incomings are concerned, we looked at the possibility of either Christopher Samba or James Tomkins at the back while our search for a striker could see Harry secure the services of Lille's Moussa Sow.

Tottenham Hotspurs have given midfielder Steven Pienaar the green light to leave the club if Sunderland or any other club can meet their £5 million asking price. Pienaar who has not seen any league action this season due to his niggling injuries, has struggled to impose himself in Harry Redknapp's side since his £2.

Let's not beat around the bush here and let's tell it like it is. We've seen two managers, drama, controversy, speculation, excitement, frustration and find ourselves at the turn of this year in the exact same position as we did a year ago. Isn't it strange how things have turned out!
This is my review of 2011 and a year on my blog as written by me, a lifelong Chelsea fan giving you my take on everything that happened.

Crunch time. This one could not be much bigger if it were written in size 72 font, stretched in a rack and then injected with muscle-steroid-type-things by that Russian giant of a chap David Haye beat a couple of years back. It's not just the three points, which would give us a five-point platform from which to wave down at Chelski, with a game in hand.

When Aaron Lennon limped out of yesterday's action on 27 minutes, it must have been tempting for manager Harry Redknapp to look at the midfield alternatives he had waiting on the bench.

Either Niko Kranjcar or Steven Pienaar could have been a more obvious choice but Harry's positive move of putting Roman Pavlyuchenko on the pitch was to eventually pay off.

"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.

Let's get right to it:

Back at it in Candyland...

• Everton welcomes Norwich City to it's Really Goodison

The Premiership world was shocked when Everton announced that American Landon Donovan will come on loan to the Land of Toffee starting January 4th.

Okay, not shocked actually at all except for the fact that Everton actually got a quality player to help them in a battle with Father Relegation, even if only for two months.