The great irony here being that if it was Peter Crouch, it 100% would have gone inFootball, the great reducing force in all our lives. If Jermain Defoe had stretched for that Bale cross just a millisecond earlier, we'd all be headed to work this morning without that overbearing sense of melancholy that you're probably still feeling.

The record-breaking Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie is refusing to talk about any contract extension at the Emirates until next summer, and up until now Wenger has merely commented that he is sure the Dutch international will re-sign in the end. But now he has revealed that Van Persie won't sign unless Arsenal show ambition, [.

The Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny believes that the narrow defeat by Man City on Sunday showed that the gap between the top four teams is very little indeed, and there are still four teams capable of winning the title. Although City have a lead at the moment, Szczesny is certain that there will be many [.

Arsenal's young hotshot Jack Wilshere might be back for the Gunners sooner than expected judging by the way his recovery is going. The midfielder had to undergo ankle surgery, and was expected to return to the pitch somewhere in February, but the English International announced that he might be ready to play sooner.

Arsene Wenger still thinks that Arsenal are way behind Man City in the title race right now, but there is still a long season ahead and the Gunners simply have to keep winning to put themselves back in the title race. Wigan may be bottom of the League, but Wenger knows that Arsenal have not [...]

Everyone in the world is rightly focusing on the brilliant form of Robin Van Persie in the Arsenal attack, but the Arsenal legend Bob Wilson believes that the continuing excellence of the young Pole Wojciech Szczesny is just as important if Arsenal are going to go on to challenge for the Premiership title.

If you ever thought about placing a special bet on your favourites this might probably be about the perfect time to do so. You can place this bet at any other time, but you won't probably find a better moment than this. Arsenal started the season very poorly and after only a few games they [...]

There is a massive wave of optimism at Liverpool Football Club since the return of Kenny Dalglish as manager. It's almost as if King Kenny has returned the pride back into the club. When he took over from Roy Hodgson the club were a in a complete mess.

He managed to transform the team and help the club from relegation zone to European berth challengers.

The newest young Arsenal star Jack Wilshere believes that Arsene Wenger needs to bring in a "few more faces" to give the Gunners the push they need to challenge for the Premiership title this coming season. "We are not a spending club but we still managed to stay up there with the top teams," he [...

Manchester United Season Review 2010/11: How the Premier League was won - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Manchester United secured their 19th league title recently. James, Chief MUFC Writer for writtenoffside.com, chronicles the highs and the lows of a another memorable season.

BERLIN, Germany — German-born Turkish international Nuri Sahin, who is leaving Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid, has been voted Bundesliga player of the 2010-11 season by his peers, Kicker magazine said Monday. The 22-year-old midfielder was voted best outfield player with 46.1 percent of the vote, the magazine's survey of 298 players showed, followed in [.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands Ajax have completed their swoop for FC Twente ace Theo Janssen in a reported €3million (£2.6m) deal. The 29-year-old, a key performer for Twente this term, has joined the Eredivisie champions on a two-year contract, with the option for a third year. Janssen, voted player of the season by Dutch newspaper De [.

ROME — Brazil forward Alexandre Pato will miss the Copa America after injuring his right shoulder in AC Milan's final match of the Serie A season. Pato was carried off on a stretcher in the 71st minute of Sunday's 0-0 draw with Udinese. Milan physician Maurizio Gevi told Italy's Sky TV that Pato will be [.

ISTANBUL, Turkey Fenerbahce clinched their 18th Turkish league title with a 4-3 win over Sivasspor on Sunday, moving ahead of the 17 won by arch-rivals Galatasaray. Trabzonspor, the Istanbul club's only challengers, won 4-0 away to Karabukspor to also finish on 82 points but Fenerbahce became champions due to a superior record in matches [.

LONDON, England Sir Alex Ferguson has been named Barclays Manager of the Season, with Nemanja Vidic taking the player's prize. Manchester United clinched the Premier League title with last weekend's draw at Blackburn and will receive the trophy at Old Trafford on Sunday. The Red Devils have also made it through to the final [.

The city of Catalunya was in festive mood on Friday as Barcelona had an open-top bus parade commemorating their 21st La Liga crown.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The best team ever?

Barcelona secured the 2010/2011 La Liga after a 1-1 draw away to Levante sealed their third consecutive La Liga title under coach Pep Guardiola.

Needing only a point to ensure a third successive Primera Division title and with thousands of Catalan fans duly watching on in expectation, Pep Guardiola's men took a 27th minute lead thanks to midfielder Seydou Keita's impressive header.

Peter was unimpressed with the new mirrored roof over White Hart LaneAnother game, another goal-shy display. Our failure to stick a single effort in the onion bag in the last two games against some fairly modest defences has exacerbated the fact that should we fail to reach the top four again this season, it will be a direct result of our failure to reinforce our striking options in either transfer window.

This seaon has been the best chance for Arsenal to win the Premier League Title for a couple of years. Behind Man United and Chelsea, Arsenal and consistently been the team to have chased and fallen near the end to the third spot. This is an achievement in itself when so many have predicted the downfall of Arsenal and their removal from title contendership.

ROME, Italy — Roma have named youth coach Vincenzo Montella as their new manager, 24 hours after the resignation of Claudio Ranieri, the Serie A club announced on Monday. Ranieri resigned on Sunday in the aftermath of the Italian capital side's 4-3 loss at Genoa, despite having led 3-0, for Roma's fourth straight loss.

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt want a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa during March postponed until mid-year because of recent political upheaval that led to President Hosni Mubarak being toppled. The record seven-time winners of the premier Pan-African national team competition are scheduled to play the Group G leaders at an unannounced [.

SANDY, Utah — Real Salt Lake unveiled its updated logo to the media on Thursday, which includes a star above the shield signifying the club's 2009 MLS Cup championship. The logo will be featured on this year's uniforms beginning next Tuesday when RSL travels to Columbus to take on the Crew in a CONCACAF Champions [.

Frank Lampard reckons the Champions League should be Chelsea's number one aspiration for this season. The England midfielder knows Chelsea are seemingly out of the Premier League title race after some poor form that has seen them drop to fifth and sit 12 points behind leaders Manchester United. Anyone looking to bet on Champions League [.

MANCHESTER, England — Neil Young, a striker in Manchester City's trophy winning teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s, has died aged 66 from cancer, the English Premier League club announced Thursday. Young, who scored the winning goal in the 1969 FA Cup final, was also a member of the City side that [.

Chelsea may not have fully overcome the chinks in their armour that threatened to derail their assault on multiple trophies and titles this season, with defensive lapses still a feature of their game against Sunderland earlier this week, but the signs are that the Blues' slump is coming to a timely end.

The Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has gradually adapted well to the Premier League this season, and his contribution in scoring against Everton went some way to repaying the £10m that Arsene Wenger invested in him in the summer. And now he thinks that the Gunners are definitely able to go all the way this season [.

BERNE, Switzerland Japan moved into the top 20 of the FIFA world rankings on Wednesday after winning the Asian Cup last month while world champions Spain stayed in first place. Japan's record fourth Asian title which they won in Qatar lifted them 12 places to 17th, making them the Asian confederation's highest-ranked side.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan Miroslav Beranek, who guided his native Czech Republic to a surprise European Under-21 title triumph in 2002, was named Kazakhstan coach on Monday. Beranek, 53, takes charge of a Kazakh team who are rooted to the bottom of Euro 2012 qualifying Group A. The Kazakhstan job had been vacant since October following [.

Very few managers have found a way of upsetting the media, club hierarchy, and just about everyone else except the fans and players in the same way that Jose Mourinho has, a feature of his personality that has left the outspoken Portuguese in a perilous position just half-way through his first season at Real Madrid.

Manchester United have been very guarded about how they view rivals City, so it s good to see Ryan Giggs finally coming out and admitting Roberto Mancini's side are genuine title rivals, something that has been reflected in the odds for Premier League winner for a while now. The Blue half of Manchester have made [.

The Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner finally got a full 90 minutes of football from Arsene Wenger this weekend in the disastrous 1-1 draw with Leeds United at the Emirates, and is hoping that his performance will persuade Wenger to play him more regularly (I doubt it!). But now that he has been demoted to being a [.

DOHA, Qatar — Saudi Arabian football chiefs sacked coach Jose Peseiro on Sunday immediately after his demoralised side slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of unfancied Asian Cup outsiders Syria. The 2007 finalists and three-time champions announced that Nasser Al Johar will take over from the 50-year-old Portuguese for the remainder of the [.

COLUMBUS, Ohio Columbus Crew signed forward Tom Heinemann to a multi-year contract Friday. Heinemann joins the Crew after spending the last two years with the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer Leagues and Carolina RailHawks of the NASL. He trained with the Crew briefly early in the 2009 preseason.

So I'm doing my daily scout of footballing news and I come across this: Chelsea can still win title says boss Ancelotti - I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this Carlo, but no, it's just not going to happen...

After Chelsea drew at home to Aston Villa 3-3 Carlo mentioned in his post match interview that Chelsea had a chance:

"It's not over because we are improving and I think we can still have a say on the season," said Ancelotti.