Season 25 Week 13 processing...

Just doing the system reset in prep for this week's games.

Spurs v Man City
With their talisman, Modric, gone to replace the Michael Jackson statue at the Cottage Spurs have about as much midfield guile as a school yard kick about with a tennis ball. Clint Dempsey alone is not enough! And so the Citizens travel to London, searching for revenge after last week's slip up at home to Fulham. Geoff is struggling with the demands the ISF formation is putting on his DY's. Frankie Lampard may not be fat any more but at the grand old age of 76 the box to box work required is taking a toll on his Zimmer frame. Even the steel lunged James Milner is turning to his Yorkshire roots and looks like a mixture between Geoff Boycott and Compo from Last of the Summer Wine. Rotation and rest are required to maintain City's title challenge. That being said quality should shine through .... but it's a funny old game. Ignore that, it's a banker, 3-0 to City.

Watford v Birmingham
Tie of the week. The Hornet Galacticos versus Birmingham's other team (it what happens when the Villa manager writes this). Jamie's all stars have had a rough couple of weeks with draws against United and Liverpool, neither of whom are stand out teams for any of the right reasons. This week they face the Premier League dark horses who have a very solid and effective team in place. Brum boast silky skills in Nani and RVP but also a physical presence with Afroman in midfield. Added to that the cutting edge that Danny Welbeck may or may not add and this is a huge game for both teams. If Negredo, Eriksen, Pogba, Superman, Costa, Rooney, Jesus, Bony, Kompany, Lloris, Obama, Spider-Man, Debuchy, Ings, McCarthy and Clyne turn it on then Watford could be back on track but another off day and Rich will be waiting to pounce. Unfortunately he'll still only be managing Birmingham's second greatest team.

Everton v Man United
I could say a lot about this game but there's not much point. These are both mediocre teams who struggle to entertain. Both score less than a goal a game and in Everton's case have the second worst defence in the League after Liverpool. It'll be tense and 3 points for either team will go a long way to securing Premier League football next season. Form says 0-0 or 1-0 to United so it'll probably end up 5-4. Not one for those who love football.

Charlton v Liverpool
Is this the most heartbreaking thing that can happen to the Charlton manager? A win for the Addicks and if Fulham win the West London Derby it will leave a virtually impossible 10 point gap between Liverpool and safety. Well ........ who cares (my wife's family are all Evertonians). Charlton need the 3 points and to be honest Liverpool have no chance of stopping them taking them. Tom's talented forwards and midfielders are working things out and will be too strong for a poor Pool who will be in The Championship next season. Tom might shed a tear but it'll be in the knowledge his Addicks have secured 3 more points. Just getting on a plane in Zurich, more when I land.

Plymouth v Blackburn
A huge opportunity for The Pilgrims to make a move in terms of League positioning. Ben's star studded line up faces Roque Santa Cruz and 10 other random blokes who make up the numbers. Last time out Roque nearly pulled off an upset against Charlton only to fall to a late Sturridge winner. This time around I can't see Ben's men slipping up especially at home. Things are starting to click for Ozil and his strikers so I can't look past a comfortable home win and the potential to move into the top 2.

Fulham v Chelsea
A North London derby with a lot riding on it. Phil's Fulham hover just above the relegation zone and are one point ahead of the Special One's Chelsea. The difference is that Fulham have gained massive draws against City and Watford recently while Chelsea only have 3 points from their last 6 games. Fulham have the talent and Phil has the credentials to make this work. However it's a scrap for points at the bottom and the desperation make not make for pretty football. Chelsea have their own stars particularly in midfield so with all the talent on show I predict a scrappy 1-0 to somebody.

Great read Rob, thanks.

Villa?

Tom@Charlton wrote:: Great read Rob, thanks.

Villa?

Ditto mate, brilliant read, thanks.

Have a couple more to add. Lots of travel last week and this so been up to my eyes. Couple more previews to come.

Villa v Norwich
And so on to the best thing to come out of Birmingham since the Cadbury's factory kicked off the UK's obesity challenge. On paper this game should be a 1-0 win for Villa with Cabaye scoring from a freekick and no other Villa player getting a look in. This week could prove to be an upset though as Villa have some disruption with Schneiderlin, Hughes and Kane coming into the starting 11. Added to the fact that Norwich are on a high after their 3-0 thrashing of Coventry then it could be a good afternoon for Nolan, van Damme, Ruddy and co. Norwich are settled, solid and can rely on the high pitched, slightly slurred support of Delia Smith. A home win would move Villa closer to automatic promotion and a win for Norwich could not only lift them out of the bottom 3 but put them into playoff contention in what is a very tight division. All 36 of the Holte End faithful have their singing voices ready for what is fast being a Villa anthem so let's hope that they're all singing, "one nil to the Villa" after this week's game.

And Italy .......

Torino v Ancona
With more stars than a rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle' Jamie's Italian based Galacticos or The B Team as they're known face an interesting trip to Turin and a Torino side that just can't decide if they're good or not. Relying on an attacking 253 FAS structure and having the skilful Cigarini and Paonessa pulling the strings Torino have an ability to challenge that doesn't always get the results they deserve. Jamie's wide men, Cuadrado and Shaqiri backed up by attacking full backs Bale and Lichtsteiner will look to create overlaps out wide behind the Torino wingbacks and provide the ammunition for league top scorer Ciro Immobile and diminutive Seb Giovinco. This could be a solid win on the road and a happy trip to Turin for Ancona.

Inter v Juventus
Turin's other team the Old Lady of Italian football visit Inter for the so called Derby D'Italia. Inter have a settled squad and are fielding first choice midfield trio of De Rossi, Vidal and Khedira for this league game. Silva is in great form and does what I believe the very best TM's should do which is create chances as well as scoring goals. Juve are an enigma, they possess a wealth of talent from Buffon to Gago to Balotelli. They score a lot of goals, with 9 in their last 5 games but they also concede at surprising times. They are a team that can beat Ancona 2-1 and win away at Napoli by the same margin but then slip up to draw at Lazio or lose to Milan. A clash of 2 good defences ..... who'll blink first?

League matches will kickoff at 1000 hours tomorrow ( Wednesday ), good luck to everybody.

There has been a slight delay, as the system is still running the Cup competitions, so kickoff will be put back slightly, will now be between 10 and 12.

okay cup games have finished, took forever to run, so the league games will kickoff soon.

FA Cup Third Round results

Man City 4 Liverpool 0
Villa 0 Chelsea 0 aet pens 3-1
Everton 0 Arsenal 2
Burnley 2 Hull 1
Blackburn 1 Westham 0
Palace 1 Man Utd 0
Plymouth 2 Birmingham 1
Watford 2 Soton 0

Copa Italia Third round results

Milan 4 Udinese 0
Inter 7 Atalanta 0
Roma 3 Palermo 0
Ancona 8 Bari 0
Cagliari 1 Parma 0
Napoli 3 Lazio 0
Juventus 3 Foggia 0
Fiorentina 4 Brescia 0

Scottish Cup Third Round results

St Johnstone 5 St Mirren 1
Dunfermline 1 Dundee 0
Inverness 2 Stirling 0
Alloa 0 Hearts 1
Hibs 2 Falkirk 0
Aberdeen 1 Motherwell 0
Rangers 1 Kilmarnock 0
Celtic 4 Arbroath 1

Spanish Cup Third round results

Sevilla 2 Extremadura 0
Real 8 Vallecano 1
Deportivo 2 lleida 0
Valencia 3 Villareal 0
Bilbao 3 Compestela 0
Sociedad 1 Barcelona 4
Atletico 2 Espanol 2 aet pens 4-2
Santander 3 Hercules 0

Copa Brasileiro Third round results

Palmeiras 1 Fluminense 0
Corinthians 0 Bahia 2
Gremio 0 Recife 0 aet pens 2-3
Sao Paulo 3 Novo 1
Portuguesa 3 Coritiba 3 aet pens 2-1
Cruzeiro 0 Santos 5
Flamengo 5 Branco 1
Vasco 2 Guarani 0

French Cup Third round results

St Etienne 3 Bastia 0
Lyon 2 Strasbourg 0
Nantes 1 Rennais 0
Paris 1 Caen 0
Lille 2 Lens 0
Monaco 1 Nice 0
Montpellier 1 Guingamp 2
Marseille 1 Le Havre 0

Pokal Cup Third round results

Rostock 0 Wolfsburg 0
Stuttgart 3 Hannover 0
Schalke 1 Mannheim 0
Gladbach 3 Bochum 1
Berlin 2 Munich1860 0
Cologne 0 Hamburg 1
Dortmund 1 Karlsruhe 0
St Pauli 1 Freiburg 0

Dutch Cup Third round results

Alkmaar 3 Roda 1
PSV 3 Emmen 0
Spakenburg 3 Go Ahead 3 aet pens 3-2
Sittard 3 Heracles 0
Twente 3 Breda 0
Maastricht 3 Almere 1
Akax 3 Groningen 0
Feyenoord 3 Vitesse 0

the league games will kickoff at 1115 hours...

the whistle blows and we're underway...

Torino 0 Ancona 1 Montolivo on 2 minutes.
Milan 1 Cremonese 0 Lavezzi freekick.
Morton 1 Brechin 0 Pepper.
Osasuna 0 Valencia 1 Jonas.

Nantes 1 Lille 0 Destro on 3 minutes.
Gladbach 1 Stuttgart 0 Almeida.
Miami 0 Cosmos 1 Lisandro.

Kalloni 0 Olympiacos 1 Christos on 5 minutes.
Inverness 1 Rangers 0 Tachtsidis freekick.
Morton 2 Brechin 0 Doran in the mud and snow at Greenock.

Sao Joao 0 Gremio 1 Benatia header on 6 minutes.
Stabaek 0 Viking 1 Ewerthon.

Plymouth 1 Balckburn 0 Aguero on 7 minutes.

Luton 0 Banstead 1 Ball header on 8 minutes.
Kalloni 0 Olympiacos 2 Geraldo.
Feyenoord 1 PSV 0 Gaitan.

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