SoccerBlogs

Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson has targeted Liverpool's scalp ahead of tomorrow's match between the two sides at Anfield, suggesting that revenge will be on the Gunners' minds as they travel to Merseyside.

An under-strength Arsenal side suffered one of their only two home defeats of the season at the hands of the Reds in August when Kenny Dalglish's men clinically won 2-0 in a toughly contested match.

I can't quite understand it myself and most Arsenal fans are feeling pretty good this week with the news that Harry Redknapp has been sacked by Spurs. This is credit to a manager who has made our neighbours a genuine threat for the first time in what feels like forever. And yet, most Spurs fans are happy too!

Real Madrid came out on fire in the second leg of the Spanish SuperCopa Wednesday, then had to hold on as 10-man Barcelona nearly pulled off the unthinkable at Estadio Santiago Bernabeau.

Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo scored early, and Madrid were able to hold on despite a free-kick goal from Lionel Messi to defeat Barcelona 2-1 and win the SuperCopa via the away goals tiebreaker after the teams played to a 4-4 aggregate draw.

Optimism Is Sweeping Through Tottenham Hotspur - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Tottenham's end to last season was thoroughly miserable. A horrible, mean-spirited, heartbreaking ending to a season that at times had promised so much. Think of the The Elephant Man when John Merrick's happy existence is ruined by bastard circus owner Bytes.

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has urged his teammates to fight successfully for silverware every season but admits that the roller-coaster 2011-12 title race left him sweating on the final match-day.

City, who controlled their destiny going into the last game of the season at home to QPR, needed to match Manchester United's result to lift the title at the Red Devils' expense.

The hard work, the experts will tell you, has been done. Victories against Manchester United and Newcastle United have taken Manchester City to the cusp of their first English league championship in almost four and a half decades and on Sunday afternoon a win against Queens Park Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium will be enough to return the second part of the dynasty that the club's lavish owners have set their hearts upon since taking control of it in 2008.

Man City beat Man United 1-0 to gain the advantage in the title race and perhaps a bit more respect from their local rivals. Though Man United couldn't muster a single shot on target during the match, we still must ask that old question we keep coming back to: What if it continued?

97' -- Carlos Tevez stifles a maniacal laugh as his plan to get Man City as close to winning the title as possible before scoring an own goal to lose it in their final match before giving Roberto Mancini the finger and then flying back to Argentina with a jet pack he has stashed behind an advertising board nears completion.

The three matches we chose yesterday weren't the most compelling: Sunderland-Spurs the most dreary, a scoreless draw, while Lazio beat Napoli 3-1 (highlighted by a fantastic chilena goal by Mauri), and Porto beat Sporting Braga 1-0 on their home ground. � There were other interesting results in Italy, where AC Milan lost to lowly Fiorentina due to a late late goal, and later in the day Juve dispatched Palermo, thus pulling even with Milan on points at the top of the table.

Following Manchester United's exit from the Europa League last night, David de Gea has claimed now the club needs to focus on winning the title.

"It is very important for us now to try and secure the Premier League," he said. "We are first. We are the leaders. Manchester City are in good form but we have the team and the supporters to win the league.

Photo by Michael Janosz ISIphotos.com

The U.S. Under-20 men's national team's trip to Northern Ireland started off with a stumble, but the Americans recovered nicely Monday to save some face at the Milk Cup.

The U-20s followed up Saturday's 1-0 loss to Denmark with a 1-0 victory over Turkey on Monday in their second match of the tournament.

Today is the day we were meant to be lifting the trophy. After City lost 1-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates four weeks ago, we were eight points clear at the top. You'd fancy any club to go on and win the league at that stage but the fact it was United meant it was game over. I had City fans begrudgingly congratulating me on the title and whilst not celebrating too soon, for fear of jinxing us, you couldn't help but feel chuffed in anticipation for another title win.

Stretford End looks at why we capitulated.

ManUtd24 says that Rooney's goals don't make him our player of the season.

Here Is The City looks at what happened to Kleberson's career after leaving United.

Dirty Tackle looks at how Fred Done is set to lose £500k for paying out on United winning the title.

Former Manchester United hero, Mark Hughes, could be our last hope at winning the title, with QPR going to City on the final day of the season.

Fergie has turned to Hughes, who he hasn't had a great relationship with for years, to see where his praise might get him.

After City beat Sunderland in December 2009, Hughes came on to the pitch to applaud the fans, with the press having already revealed that he was going to be sacked after the game.

Manchester United are three points clear at the top of the league but Sir Alex Ferguson is very mindful that our advantage can be taken away at any time.

"We all know that football can turn around and bite you," he said. "That's why we make the point about experience. We have a small advantage, not a great advantage, and one that can change in a single game.

Having come out of retirement half way through the season, Paul Scholes claims his decision to play on in 2012-2013 was entirely dependant on what Sir Alex Ferguson wanted.

"The manager didn't have to twist my arm to play this season," said Scholes. "He just said: 'You're going to play next year, aren't you?

Manchester City fans have spent decades complaining about United receiving favourable decisions from the referee. This season, City messageboards were filled with talk of a 'conspiracy', in which the FA and Sky Sports were working against City to help United win the title. Seriously.

The debatable decisions table shows that United would have won the league by five points if the referee had always made the correct decisions in United games.

Rio Ferdinand has talked about how well he believes this current squad have done this season after losing out on the title on goal difference.

"It's a cruel way to have lost it," he said. "But you have to congratulate the other team. Any team that wins it obviously deserves it and they have played well throughout the season.

A 2-0 win against Cagliari gave undefeated Juventus their first Scudetto since being forced down to Serie B after the Calciopoli scandal in 2006. Officially, this is their 28th title (not counting the two they were stripped of),� but Juve have made it clear that they consider this to be a historic No.