These wins aren't to be underestimated. Stoke are a handful and we rarely thrive against them, but today, despite withstanding a lot of second half pressure, Fulham stood firm and deserved their points.

New players are traditionally given a time to adjust when signing for a new club, but today Pavel Pogrebnyak was thrown straight into the deep end.

Police were forced to step in and separate both Manchester United and Liverpool players at half-time after Patrice Evra confronted Luis Suarez in the tunnel. Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand prior to kick-off as tension between the pair continue to simmer in the wake of Suarez's eight-match ban after racially abusing the French defender.

Sir Alex Ferguson had identified a weakness in his team. Could this be the man to solve the problem?

The tension between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra continued after Suarez refused to shake the hand of Evra prior to Manchester United's league clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford The pair met for the first time since the race row at Anfield which led to Luis Suarez being given an eight match ban and with [.

The tension between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra continued after Suarez refused to shake the hand of Evra prior to Manchester United's league clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford The pair met for the first time since the race row at Anfield which led to Luis Suarez being given an eight match ban and with [.

Amid the controversy surrounding the Jose Moreno fiasco, an interesting piece of news came to light on Thursday. After he was waived - rather surprisingly - by DC United on February 3rd, second-year forward Blake Brettschneider tweeted today that he would be joining the New England Revolution for a trial on Sunday.

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 [.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. – The Colorado Rapids squeaked past Chivas USA, 1-0, in a physical preseason scrimmage between the two sides on Tuesday.

Second-half substitute Quincy Amarikwa put the Rapids ahead in the 85th minute.

The transfer window might be over but that is not stopping a number of clubs from actively pursuing summer targets. After an amazing 7-1 victory over Blackburn on Saturday, Arsenal manager has immediately turned his attention back to weightier issues stating that his interest for Lille player Eden Hazard has not waned.

"We don't think he should ever have been away but we are delighted to get him back," Kenny Dalglish said when asked about the return of Luis Suarez following Monday's match against Tottenham. The response from the papers was immediate—and exactly what one would have guessed it would be.

"Kenny Dalglish has risked infuriating Manchester United ahead of Luis Suarez's appearance at Old Trafford next weekend," began the always understated Daily Mail.

By Alan Duffy

In the past 12 months or so, the global nature of football has become all the more apparent, as the UAE, India and China have suddenly become legitimate destinations for some of the game's bigger (and mostly older) stars.

Here's a depressing statistics for Chelsea fans: based on his strike rate with the Blues, it would take Fernando Torres around 20 years to score 100 goals. Potential transfer target Neymar, on the other hand, yesterday completed a career century on his 20th birthday, five games into his fourth top-flight season.

Josh Gatt is not a player many American soccer fans have seen play, but he is already considered one of the best young Americans playing in Europe.

The speedy Michigan native has enjoyed an outstanding start to his professional career, going from 18-year-old newcomer to 20-year-old transfer target, having already made one upward move from Austrian club SCR Rheindorf Altach to Norwegian champions Molde.

Well, we kind of had an idea that Arsenal were playing well but not getting the results. It was a matter of details according to Arteta, Wenger, and others. It all came good in this one as Blackburn were the hapless victims of a rampant Arsenal side.

Chance conversion was another issue which was put to bed, at least temporarily, with 7 out of 8 shot on target registering on the scoreboard.

Zambia cruised past Sudan, 3-0 to the semi-finals of the ACN, the first time since 1996. Sudan made things difficult for themselves after Ali Saif Eldin was sent off for his second violation when he brought down Rainford Kalaba in the 63rd minute. By that time the Chipolopolos (The Copper Miners) were already a goal up from Sunzu Stoppila.

Match Report Video By the numbers

I think we can safely say this morning that's just what the doctor ordered.

Three points, a good performance, and a day which brought no controversy, animosity, angst or worry. For a moment it looked a bit shaky, when Pedersen equalised with Blackburn's first attempt on target, but instead of setting us back it sparked us back into life and withing a couple of minutes we were two goals to the good.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.

Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.

Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.

Henry to start?

Horrible is the word to describe our last meeting against Blackburn Rovers. Steve Kean's side only had two shots on goal and still managed to beat us 4-3. That was a dark day in our season but nothing compared to the run of form we are in now. The draw at Bolton was the first league point we picked up this season and we're now facing an uphill battle to find our way back into Champions League spots.

Football is a funny game. When you predict like a master pundit (read-Carlton Palmer) every thing goes topsy turvy and it actually ends up even more interesting. The past week was no exception and it had everything, I mean everything. For a guy like me the premier league is the only source of joy in what can be called an uneventful life (Yes, what can you do when you are an engineer with a long and winding road ahead).

Soler Swag for days

After what can only be described as a highly disappointing season in 2011, the Red Bulls, and more importantly their front office, certainly had their work cut out for them. A roster filled with so much talent but woefully underachieved had to be revamped somehow. And it was Erik Soler's job to fit together the right pieces to assert New York as a top team once again.

Zamora and Cissé Can they keep QPR in the Premier League? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Mark Hughes was very active on transfer deadline day, signing ex-Liverpool front man Djibril Cissé from Lazio and re-uniting himself with Bobby Zamora from Fulham. Castrol EDGE Performance analysis shows that with an impressive shooting accuracy of 57% and the ability to create a chance for his teammates every 40 mins, Zamora looks set to play an important role in QPR's battle to avoid relegation.

Bolton 0 Arsenal 0
(Premiership)

Last night's clash at the Reebok was a classic example of a football match not being an isolated occasion, and not judged as such, but rather an act in a bigger play, with interpretations not purely taken from the ninety minutes of action, but from the wider context of both clubs.

I was not happy after Villa Why? Cos minus 2 penalties and a fluke goal, we played average at best. We rarely created any real goalscoring opportunities from open play. I am never over enthused with Arsenal when we don't actually play Wengerball.

When we get those slick passing triangles going, opening up a host of chances.

Newcastle United are up to fifth in the Premier League after they beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0, while Arsenal's poor run of form continues as they were held 0-0 at Bolton.

Newcastle are now just three points behind Chelsea and a UEFA Champions League place as the Magpies leapfrog both Liverpool and Arsenal with the win.

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35 Years Ago Today: League Cup Semi-Final First Leg QPR vs Aston Villa (Result 0;0)
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The Los Angeles Lakers need a new point guard. While Derek Fisher is a champion and can still provide great moments, he's no longer a starting quality point guard in the NBA. The Lakers admitted that when they attempted to trade for Chris Paul.

The Lakers are rumored to have another target in mind: Ramon Sessions of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Barcelona have been the scourge of Manchester United in Europe over recent campaigns but now the Spanish giants will not have the chance to scupper the Red Devils' chances of bring home silverware from the continent.
United fans will be disappointed their side failed to make the knockout stages of the Champions League but based on their performances in the group stage, the Premier League title holders did not really deserve to get through.

Yesterday we looked at the possibility of new arrivals at White Hart Lane and the general consensus was that we were due for a quiet day. Later in the evening, reports suggested that Vedran Corluka was a target for Bayer Leverkusen and they seem to be gaining momentum this morning.

At the start of the month, Harry said that the Croatian would definitely not be leaving but after omitting him from the cup games where much of the fringe side appear, it may well be that Charlie is on his way.

Chelsea have completed the signing of 20 year old Kevin De Bruyne from Belgian side FC Genk. A 5 year, £6.7 million deal has been agreed by both parties after which Bruyne will be loaned back to Genk for the rest of the season.

De Bruyne who underwent a medical yesterday at Chelsea's training grounds becomes Chelsea's second signing in this transfer window after Gary Cahill completed his move from Bolton earlier this month.

Former New England Revolution star Clint Dempsey could be changing teams before England's January transfer window comes to a close at 6PM ET on Tuesday. The current Fulham FC midfielder has been lighting it up in the Barclays Premier League with 15 goals through all competitions and could see a dream move to one of the top clubs in the league before Tuesday's deadline.

Anyone who reads this site and is on Twitter probably knows that Brad Evans is probably the Seattle Sounders top personality there. Not only does he interact with fans, he's also quite funny. On Monday, he decided to "interview" new roommate Michael Gspurning.

Evans solicited his followers for questions to ask his new teammate.

The Portland Timbers were looking for a strong target forward to help fill the role that Kenny Cooper never could quite fill, and they have turned to a proven goal-scorer to do the job.

The Timbers have signed Scottish striker Kris Boyd as a Designated Player, the team announced on Monday.

Just days after selling Tim Ream to Bolton, the New York Red Bulls have secured the services of his replacement, signing Colombian centerback Wilman Conde after making a trade with the Chicago Fire.

The Red Bulls dealt allocation money (which one source put at $150,000) to the Fire for the chance to sign Conde, who returns to MLS after spending 2011 in Mexico with Atlas.

Written by fatgingergooner

With 3 defeats in the last 4 games and an unconvincing win against Leeds in the last round of the FA Cup, Arsenal fans were feeling far from optimistic ahead of this 4th round clash against Aston Villa.

Rumour had it that the Gunners injury list was starting to ease, and so it proved with Sagna, Henry and Arteta all named on the bench and also the young Frenchman Coquelin was deputising at right back.

Written by fatgingergooner

With 3 defeats in the last 4 games and an unconvincing win against Leeds in the last round of the FA Cup, Arsenal fans were feeling far from optimistic ahead of this 4th round clash against Aston Villa.

Rumour had it that the Gunners injury list was starting to ease, and so it proved with Sagna, Henry and Arteta all named on the bench and also the young Frenchman Coquelin was deputising at right back.

Benvenuto amici! Here's a perfect photo demonstrating the unglamorous side of football when you're on the pitch and it starts to rain. Believe us, it's absolutely horrible. Poor Claudio Ranieri had to stay on and watch as his Inter boys fought and sunk 0-1 to lowly Lecce at the Via del Mare stadium last night.

Through the first four games of Olympic qualifying, the United States silenced each of its powerless opponents. On Sunday, it was Canada's time.

The U.S. defense pitched its fifth shutout of the tournament while Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach each netted a pair of goals to give the Americans a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver.

With the January camp behind us we take a look at the 21 players on the roster and give you our winners, losers, and those that maintained the status quo.

Forwards

Agudelo, Juan
Agudelo injured his right ankle during a scrimmage on Jan 13 and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks.

Despite what a quote attributed to Owen Coyle in Sporting Life says, Sebastien Le Toux is still a transfer target for Bolton Wanderers, if the money is available.

Alan Nixon, of The People and Mirror Football, is reporting that Bolton is focusing mostly upon wingers, but that Le Toux is still on the team's mind.