Toyota Football Fever Show 16

What the UK papers said this week?

1) Pards out, Curbs In at Upton Park

ALAN PARDEW has been sacked by new West Ham chief Eggert Magnusson, after a poor run of form that culminated in the 4-0 loss at the Reebok Stadium to Bolton last weekend.

Magnusson had previously stated that Pardew was the man to lead the club forward, but seems to have had an abrupt change of heart.

Alan Curbishley has been appointed as the new manager in his place, and Curbishley who was Charlton boss for 15 years revealed that he had been urged to join the Hammers by none other than Sir Alex Ferguson.

2) Sir Alex: “Becks not World class”

ALEX FERGUSON has hailed only six Manchester United players he regards as world class during his reign.

The list from his 20 years in charge does NOT include David Beckham, with whom he had an acrimonious split.

Becks came runner-up in the competition for World Player of the Year during his time at United. But he did not get a mention in Fergie’s elite list — although the Old Trafford boss predicts Cristiano Ronaldo will become No 7.

3) Gerrard seal of approval for Sheikh

STEVEN GERRARD knows Liverpool’s future is bright — after meeting the men behind the Anfield takeover.

The Reds’ inspirational skipper insists the Kop kings are in safe hands after enjoying a face-to-face chat with Sheikh Mohammed’s business group.
Dubai International Capital, who are in talks over a proposed £450million takeover of the club, are moving ever closer to buying the Red half of Merseyside.

England ace Gerro revealed he was delighted with the situation. He said: “I think the future is bright.

"I’m very excited. They assured me and the rest of the players that the club is going to be in safe hands and that the future is going to be really bright.

4) Toffees in Reo-Coker raid

EVERTON will give Alan Curbishley an immediate headache with a swoop for Nigel Reo-Coker.

Boss David Moyes is determined to lure the £10million-rated West Ham skipper to Goodison Park next month.

And new Hammers boss Curbishley faces a battle to keep wantaway Reo-Coker, who has been accused by Upton Park fans of being the main culprit behind Alan Pardew’s sacking on Monday.

5) Pardy Time

DRUNK West Ham players mocked ex-boss Alan Pardew, romped with scantily-clad girls and scuffled at their Christmas party to shatter claims of being devastated by his sacking

The jibe at Pardew came as the club DJ grabbed the microphone from defender Anton Ferdinand and proposed a toast to the departed Upton Park boss.

Ferdinand, Reo-Coker, Carlton Cole, and old team-mate Elliot Ward all responded by booing and jeering loudly, then rolling around laughing. They then threw themselves on to the dance floor, pushing and shoving each other playfully to their favourite song 'Pow!', by rap star Lethal Bizzle.

Things turned nasty at around 1am, however, when midfielder Hayden Mullins was caught up in a scuffle and was bundled out of an emergency exit by security guards before being told not to come back.

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Quotes of the Week

“If you buy a Ferrari, from the first day it goes well - unless it's a Russian who buys it and it breaks in two” Arsene Wenger takes a not so subtle swipe at Chelsea.

"England did nothing in the World Cup, so why were they bringing books out? 'We got beat in the quarter-finals. I played like s**t. Here's my book.' Who wants to read that? I don't.” Man City midfielder Joey Barton, who doesn’t seem to care if his international teammates hate him.

"We must focus on the next game, and then the one after that. We can put together a good run of results now and then our league position will be better" Rafa Benitez makes football look easy…

"It is unbelievable that we never lost a game at the World Cup, yet went out on penalties in the quarter-finals." England boss Steve McLaren, who fails to mention that he never lost a game to Ecuador, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

"If you ask me if I'd rather see Chelsea or Man Utd win the title then I will answer Arsenal." Arsene Wenger again, who obviously doesn’t quite grasp the question asked to him.

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Last Weeks Premiership Results

Man Utd 3	Man City 1
Rooney (6) Saha (45) Ronaldo (84)	Trabelsi (72)

Report: Manchester City's 32-year wait for an Old Trafford win goes on as United moved another step closer in their quest to end a three-year title drought with a 3-1 derby triumph. Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal ensured the Red Devils marched nine points clear of Chelsea at the Premiership summit.

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Blackburn 1	Newcastle 3
Pedersen (47)	Martins (31, 90) Taylor (35)

Report: Newcastle maintained their recent revival with a third successive Premiership victory to haul themselves five points clear of the relegation zone. Two goals in four first-half minutes from striker Obafemi Martins and centre-back Steven Taylor set the Magpies on their way to a 3-1 success against Blackburn, who had Stephane Henchoz sent off just before the break.

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Liverpool 4	Fulham 0
Gerrard (54) Carragher (61) Luis Garcia (66) Gonzalez (90)

Report: Liverpool's Scouse heart of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher scored two of the four goals which finally accounted for a resilient Fulham 4-0 at Anfield. After dominating a goalless first half, the Reds finally made the breakthrough when Gerrard followed in his saved 53rd-minute penalty after Ian Pearce's handball.

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Middlesbrough 1	Wigan 1
Yakubu (67)	Camara (pen 24)

Report: Aiyegbeni Yakubu's fifth goal of the season spared Middlesbrough a third successive Barclays Premiership defeat as Wigan left Teesside with a 1-1 draw. The Nigerian struck on 66 minutes, converting a James Morrison cross to give his side some reward for a vastly-improved second-half display following a first-half horror show.

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Portsmouth 2	Everton 0
Taylor (14) Kanu (26)

Report: Matt Taylor's spectacular 45-yard special followed by a perfect blast from nine-goal Nwankwo Kanu sent Portsmouth up to third in the Barclays Premiership as injury-hit Everton were left stunned by a 2-0 loss at Fratton Park.

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Tottenham 5	Charlton 1
Berbatov (31, 66) Tainio (33) Malbranque (55) Defoe (63)	Dawson (o.g. 43)

Report: Dimitar Berbatov scored the first and last goals as Tottenham opened the floodgates to thrash relegation-threatened Charlton 5-1 at White Hart Lane. Teemu Tainio, Steed Malbranque and Jermain Defoe also scored for Spurs, who extended their run of wins at home to nine and revived hopes of challenging for a Champions League place.

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Watford 0	Reading 0

Report: Watford stumbled to their fifth goalless draw in the Barclays Premiership this season to leave their prospects of survival looking even bleaker. This match against Reading was the ninth time in 16 league matches Adrian Boothroyd's team have failed to score, and they are heading for an immediate return to the Coca-Cola Championship if that ratio does not improve dramatically.

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Bolton 4	West Ham 0
Davies (17, 52) Diouf (77) Anelka (78)

Report: Gary Speed marked a record 500th Premier League appearance by having a hand in three of Bolton's goals as they crushed West Ham 4-0. The 37-year-old veteran was rightly given a standing ovation when he came off with two minutes to go after a midfield master class.

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Chelsea 1	Arsenal 1
Essien (84)	Flamini (74)

Report: A stunning goal by Michael Essien preserved Chelsea's unbeaten league record under Jose Mourinho and cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the Barclays Premiership to eight points with a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

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Sheff Utd 2	Aston Villa 2
Quinn (50) Webber (64)	Petrov (2) Baros (64)

Report: Milan Baros ended an eight-month goal drought for Aston Villa as Martin O'Neill's side denied Sheffield United a third successive Premiership victory.

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Chelsea 1	Newcastle 0
Drogba (74)

Report: Didier Drogba climbed off the substitutes' bench to score the only goal of the game for Chelsea against Newcastle and cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the Barclays Premiership to five points.

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Wigan 0	Arsenal 1
	Adebayor (88)

Report: Emmanuel Adebayor scored his fifth goal of the season with a late winner at Wigan to lift Arsenal up to third in the Barclays Premiership. Togo striker Adebayor struck the only goal of the game in the 88th minute to continue Wigan's misery against the top-flight's big guns

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Team of the Week - Newcastle United

There has been much doom and gloom this season at St. James’ Park, with a poor start to the season, and almost the entire first team squad injured at some point or another. Despite this, Glenn Roeder’s side have started to find their feet in the last few weeks, and their away victory at Blackburn was an important win for them. They then followed this up with a determined performance against Champions Chelsea, only losing out to a late Drogba goal. With the Transfer window opening soon, and players returning from injury, a push to Europe is now on the cards.

Player of the Week - Gary Speed

The first player to play 500 games in the Premiership, 37 year old Speed has played for Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton, and he capped his landmark appearance this week with a wonderful performance in his sides 4-0 win over West Ham, having a hand in three of the goals.

Donkey of the Week - Bernardo Corradi

If you’re going to dive, perhaps best not to do it in front of 70,000 watching people in a live television game, and also probably best not to fall to ground so ridiculously that even a naïve child wouldn’t have been convinced.

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Upcoming Premiership Games

Arsenal v Portsmouth
Suspensions
Injuries ARS - Henry, Diaby, Lauren, (Gallas), (Rosicky)
POR - Lua-Lua, Stefanovic, Cole
Prediction 3-1

Reason: Arsenal need to start playing well, and getting results soon if they want to have any chance at an outside run for the title. Last weeks results were a good start, but they must win this game against former captain Sol Campbell’s new club Portsmouth – and I think they will.

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Aston Villa v Bolton
Suspensions BOL - Diouf
Injuries AST - Sorensen, Laursen, Moore, Delaney
BOL - Fortune, O’Brien
Prediction 1-2

Reason: Aston Villa fans will be hoping for something other than a draw here, as Villa have managed a stalemate in ten of their seventeen games so far. Bolton should be confident after their thumping of West Ham, and I feel that the Trotters will take all three points.

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Charlton v Liverpool
Suspensions
Injuries CHA - Lisbie, (Traore), (Thomas)
LIV - Zenden, Sissoko, Kewell, (Warnock)
Prediction 0-3

Reason: Liverpool’s away form has been dreadful this season, but some big scores in recent games will have lifted their confidence, and against a poor Charlton side, the Reds should continue to improve that record.

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Newcastle v Watford
Suspensions NEW - Babayaro
Injuries NEW - Duff, Moore, Harper, Bramble, Krul, Ameobi, Owen, Bernard, Carr, N’Zogbia, (Dyer), (Parker)
WAT - Foster, King, (Carlisle)
Prediction 2-1

Reason: Despite having an entire team of players injured, Newcastle’s recent form has been good. With home advantage against relegation-battling Watford, they should manage to take all three points here.

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Reading v Blackburn
Suspensions BLA - Henchoz
Injuries REA - Convey, Cox, Mate, Kitson, Brown, (Murty), (Seoul)
BLA - Emerton, Roberts, Reid, Enckelman, Nelson, (Khizanishvili)
Prediction 2-1

Reason: Blackburn have slipped to within one place of the relegation zone and results need to improve for Mark Hughes’ boys. Reading at home though have been playing some great football, and should pile more misery on the Rovers.

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Wigan v Sheff Utd
Suspensions
Injuries WIG - Valencia, Filan, Teale, Taylor, (de Zeeuw)
SHF - NONE
Prediction 1-1

Reason: Sheffield United have picked up their results after a poor start to the season, and they are battling hard to stay in the division. Wigan have had a topsy-turvy season so far, so I can see a draw at the JJB.

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Everton v Chelsea
Suspensions
Injuries EVE - Turner, Cahill, Pistone, (Hibbert), (Arteta), (Osman), (McFadden), (Neville)
CHE - Cole, Cech, (Cudicini)
Prediction 0-2

Reason: With all their players fit, Everton would have a struggle on their hands to take anything from this fixture, and with almost their entire first choice midfield on the physio’s couch, there shouldn’t be another hiccup for Jose Mourinho.

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Man City v Tottenham
Suspensions MAC - Corradi, Thatcher
TOT - Zokora, Dawson
Injuries MAC - Mills, Logan, Jihai, (Weaver), (Hamann)
TOT - Tainio, Jenas, Keane, Mido, (Defoe), (Gardner)
Prediction 3-1

Reason: Despite last weeks derby loss, City have looked in better form of late, and have an impressive home record. Spurs also have an impressive home record, but have been poor on their travels, so a home win is the most likely result here.

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West Ham v Man Utd
Suspensions
Injuries WHM - Gabbidon, Ashton
MAN - NONE
Prediction 1-2

Reason: New Hammers boss Alan Curbishley could not have started with a harder fixture, and he will be hoping for his new players to be focused on proving why they should be part of his plans. I feel this will be an open, close game, but United should win through.

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Fulham v Middlesbrough
Suspensions MID - Pogatetz
Injuries FUL - Niemi, Bullard, Elrich, Pembridge, Elliott, (Quedrue)
MID - Huth, McMahon
Prediction 2-0

Reason: Middlesbrough have not won away from home yet this season, and tend to play more defensively outside the Riverside. Fulham are a tough team to play at Craven Cottage, and so should manage all three points here.

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Barclays Premiership Top Scorers

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