Season 24 week 18 processing ...

Welcome to week 18 of the season.

Only 5 games left now and today I will be doing some maintenance on the computer that I use to run CF. I need to replace it's hard drive unit and reinstall all the legacy software I use to run CF. Will probably take most of the day.

I have orders from Man City, Birmingham, Leicester, Plymouth, Watford, Charlton, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inverness.

Okay, that all went well and quicker than i thought so I'm now entering the orders.

Hi Paul, Nothing from me again unfortunately.... just one thing to ask, can you drop Christian Erikksen from my team as I promised Will that I wouldn't play him against Fulham.

Thanks,
Mark

Very honest that Mark, although I'm not sure Will would be that bothered anymore!

Nothing from me. Sorry.

Birmingham v Plymouth

A big week for the title favourites, Plymouth.  With the other two rivals fighting it out at Vicarage Road, at least one of them will be dropping points.  Based on that, a win is a must for the south coast side.  However, away to Rich's talented Birmingham side is one of the last fixtures I'm sure Ben will have wanted to play.  Seemingly settled back into a FAS formation, unbder the considerable skills of RVP at TM, the results have certainly returned for the men from the West Midlands.  A brief dabble with other formations didn't seem to produce the performances that were required.  Getting the best out of Van Persie has been key to Rich's recent surge up the table, although arguably the form of Nani at DY is also responsible for a few recent results.
Both teams had comfortable wins last week against two struggling teams in the bottom three, but this week will certainly be a stronger test of their players abilities.  No fresh injury news for Birmingham as far as I know, and it looks like Plymouth might be bolstered by the return of their key man Mesut Ozil.


Leicester v Chelsea

Leicester came up against the resurgent Birmingham last week, not a great time to play the Blues, but that seems to be how the season is going for Richard Medley's men.  A change in formation didn't seem to improve matters much either, although such a change will surely take time to get embedded into the players mindset.  The Leicester squad certainly has a lot of talent within it, but it just seems like a case of figuring out the best way of playing them all together.  A bold and commendable move by the manager to attack teams rather than going down with a whimper. Going down is becoming a stark possibilty however with the Foxes sitting 10 points off safety with only 5 games remaining.  The team sitting just above the dotted line?  Chelsea. 
After a turbulent season with the manager absent for most of it, the side from West London have just done enough it seems to survive in the big league.  However, a loss this week to an attack minded Leicester side, will drag them right back into it.  The points difference still might be a step too far for the chasing teams although Arsenal only sit four points behind the Blues.   Nothing but a win will do for Leicester in their maiden season in the Premier League.
No fresh injury worries for either manager, but a major headache for Rich is the suspension of Etienne Capoue, due to his red card last week.


Fulham v Newcastle

Managerless Fulham, sat comfortably in midtable might be a good team to face at the minute.  Mark is in a similar position to [email=Rich@Leicester]Rich@Leicester[/email] at the minute in that only 3 points will do.  In fact, being 12 points behind fourth bottom, there is a fair chance that Mark's side could be relegated this week.  It could, however be a bad time to face Fulham too though.  The players will want to show what they can do and changes will moist likely be at a minimum, so a settled squad could turn in a long overdue performance from the Champions.  Anything other than a win for Fulham will probably see them fall out of the title race and see their crown handed over to another team this year.  It seems the pressure of being champions has affected the players this year. After last weeks abject performance against Plymouth, Newcastle should go into this game at full strength, lets hope that the manager has time to pick his side this week, as under more of his influence this season, results would have been very different.  However, this league can be very unforgiving as we keep saying and results will ultimately show if you take your eye off the ball.  No new injury news for Fulham in this one either.  There has been some confusion in this one regarding the on-loan Christian Erikson, with the two managers having an agreement in place that he shouldn't play.  However, due to Will's departure, does the agreement still stand?  Newcastle could certainly do with his creative influence.


Spurs v Man City

Another manager with a keen eye on the results of the bottom three will be Harry Redknapp as his side are not completely clear of danger, Arsenal being their major threat.  A few more wins
and they should be safe, but if the remaining fixtures are as tough as this one it could be a long, nervous run-in for the North London outfit.  Man City are fast becoming a dangerous free-flowing attacking force once again.  Scoring for fun at the minute in their favoured ISF formation, if things get tightened up at the back then fully expect them to be up there with the title favourites next year.  This year might be a stretch too far, being ten points off the leaders, but you never know, especially with Watford v Charlton happening this week and again in a few weeks time.  It is no secret that Geoff is on the hunt for a new CB, to tighten up the defence, and when he manages to find the right one, the other teams in the league should be very afraid of what his side can do.  No new injury news for this one, both sides should be at full strength.


Arsenal v Liverpool

If this one was earmarked at the start of the season as a comfortable midtable team against a relegation threatened one, you wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it is.  However, the roles have completely been reversed.
Arsenal were the ones expected to make a title challenge and Liverpool one of the favourites for the drop.  Whilst Arsenal recently lost their manager, Kenny Dalglish has taken Liverpool from strength to strength.  Despite last weeks narrow loss to Charlton, the side from L4 sit just below last years champions in mid-table.  They might prove a good team to play this time of the year, with nothing left to play for, exactly what Arsenal need. Sitting 4 points from safety in the last relegation place, Arsenal desperately need all three points if they are to survive another year in the top league.  Relegation doesn't bear thinking about for the Emirates outfit, as with so many top earners on the wage books, it will be very difficult to maintain such a lifestyle down in the Championship.  Plus, a lot of the players will be looking for pastures new as they all want to play in the bigger competitions.

Other fixture :
Watford v Charlton

Thanks Tom for another awesome preview of this week's games as we look forward once again to some very important games.

Only change for me is big Marouane is back in for TC23, nice to have a settled side at last. Should be a great game with Ben, normally quite high scoring affairs as well.

Okay everything is now entered and we should be ready to run the games 1000 hours on wednesday as normal. Although there are reports of thunderstorms for tomorrow so we'll see.

No thunderstorms so the games will kickoff at 1000 hours this morning ( wednesday ).

Really tough fixture today, away to Watford.  Was unsure how best to line-up in the end, but decided its now or never in terms of the title race, and went with FAS.  Can't see this one being 0-0 at all, just hope all the goals aren't for the home side!!  A win for Jamie and he will be right back in the mix, but the title will probably be in Bens hands.  Very tight race and still a lot of football to be played.  Just hope my players have learnt from last years experience of being two points clear with one game to play.  They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and believe me it nearly killed me, bearing in mind who actually won it!!  I feel I can talk about it now he has left......

Whistles blow and the games are under way, good luck to everybody ...

two minutes on the clock and we have a goal already in our big game at Watford, so lets join Jonathan Agnew for an early update...

Welcome to the match of day here where both sides started a bit nervously resulting in a freekick for the home side which Wayne Rooney has dispatched superbly to make it

Watford 1 Charlton 0

after just 2 minutes.

Great start for Watford in that game but a long way to go yet.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Welcome to the match of day here where both sides started a bit nervously resulting in a freekick for the home side which Wayne Rooney has dispatched superbly to make it

Watford 1 Charlton 0

after just 2 minutes.

Nothing like a good start.... 

Nantes 1 Bordeaux 0 Kaka freekick after 2 minutes.
Napoli 1 Atalanta 0 Ramaglia.
Roma 0 Ancona 1 Totti.
Sevilla 1 Sociedad 0 Giuliano.

plenty of early goals to report with Italian league leaders Roma conceding early on having sold starman De Rossi last week to title challengers Inter Milan, who flexed their considerable financial clout in the hope of seriously damaging Roma's title push, and it seems to be working early doors.

CSKA 1 Alania 0 Rodrigo on 3 minutes.

Freiburg 0 Schalke 1 Ronaldo on 4 minutes.
Napoli 2 Atalanta 0 Hamsik freekick.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Nantes 1 Bordeaux 0 Kaka freekick after 2 minutes.
Napoli 1 Atalanta 0 Ramaglia.
Roma 0 Ancona 1 Totti.
Sevilla 1 Sociedad 0 Giuliano.

plenty of early goals to report with Italian league leaders Roma conceding early on having sold starman De Rossi last week to title challengers Inter Milan, who flexed their considerable financial clout in the hope of seriously damaging Roma's title push, and it seems to be working early doors.

Nothing like a good start.... 

I had the chance last week to speak in person to the Napoli manager and I asked him what he thought about Inter's purchase of De Rossi and I quote "Aye, canny move on his part" and then later on added "Ya woodna catch me paying sa much for an oldun. Betta he won than some reality manager".

Sheff Utd 0 Soton 1 Rodriguez on 5 minutes.
Milan 1 Sampdoria 0 Lavezzi.
Hibs 0 Celtic 1 Toja.

Napoli 3 Atalanta 0 Hamsik on 6 minutes.
Hibs 1 Celtic 1 Wotherspoon freekick.

Lightning start for unpredictable Napoli this week with 3 goals inside 6 minutes already against struggling Atalanta.

Union 0 Boca 1 Danilo on 8 minutes.
Juventus 0 Empoli 1 Paloschi freekick.

San Jose 0 Cosmos 1 Altidore on 9 minutes.