Premier League Round Up

Premier League Round Up

Ancora una volta siamo giunti all'appuntamento con Gareth, che ci porterà a conoscenza delle ultime sulla Premier e ci darà delle chicche importanti sul mercato inglese. Come al solito, non mi dilungo e lascio la parola al nostro esperto...a te Gareth!

It has been quite a week in the Premier League. Last weekend Liverpool hammered Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford giving them a glimmer of hope in their bid for the title. Then this weekend the almost unthinkable happened, as United lost 2-0 away at Fulham and Liverpool comfortably saw off fifth placed Aston Villa 5-0 at Anfield to take them within a point of United. Liverpool now have a superior goal difference which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

Liverpool’s task is still not an easy one though, United still have a game in hand meaning they still need to drop points in two games for Liverpool to stand a chance of claiming their first title in 19 years. United are still the betting favourites to clinch a third consecutive league title. Chelsea blew their chances to take the title by losing 1-0 away at Tottenham Hotspur and to add to their woes top-scorer Nicolas Anelka has been ruled out for up to three weeks with a foot injury.

Villa’s loss and Arsenal’s 3-1 win away at Newcastle put some space between the two sides. Villa had been in pole position for a shock place in next season’s Champions League but it looks as if Arsenal have picked up a run of form at the right time. Andrei Arshavin has been outstanding since his move to the Emirates and for me he has made a lot of difference to an Arsenal side that looked fairly average before he joined. When Cesc Fabregas and Thomas Rosicky return from injury and Eduardo is fully fit again they will be even better and should mount a decent challenge for the title next year.

At the wrong end of the table things are getting a lot worse for Newcastle. Stoke managed a win over Middlesbrough while Newcastle lost to Arsenal meaning they slipped into the bottom three. West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers all but ended their survival hopes and they’re now seven points adrift of safety. Middlesbrough are also in real danger and sit four points away from safety, they have only won one league game in 2009. It is starting to look like it will be West Brom and Middlesbrough and any one from Newcastle, Blackburn, Stoke, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Hull and Bolton but things can always change.

The ‘English domination’ (as the British media are calling it) of European football saw four teams in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Liverpool have been paired with Chelsea for the fifth year in a row and they both have a hard task as either Barcelona or Bayern Munich await them in the semi final. Personally, I’m not sure anyone will be good enough to beat Barcelona this season and I think they should be able to win the Champions League. Of course luck is very important in cup competitions but based on quality I think Barca are better than all four English sides in the competition. Manchester United face Porto and Arsenal face Villareal in their quarter finals. I would expect both English teams to go through but I quite fancy Arsenal to overcome United in the semi-final. The Gunners will not be favourites with the sports betting odds but they do have a good record against United this season I think they could cause a minor upset.

Of the teams competing to get into the league it looks as if Wolverhampton Wanderers will be champions at the end of the season. Birmingham are in pole position to join them but Reading and Sheffield United are also close and could easily beat them too it. Promotion is decided by the top two teams going up and the next four teams compete in play-offs to decide the final promotion place. The teams currently occupying those places are Reading, Sheffield United, Burnley and Cardiff. Reading are perhaps the better side but once you get to the play-offs it is a bit of a lottery and I would be hard-pressed to pick a winner.

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Premier League news: Tight at the bottom.

Premier League news: Tight at the bottom.

Eccoci al consueto appuntamento, su Citysport, con Gareth. Il nostro esperto ci parlerà delle ultime notizie provenienti dall'Inghilterra e dalla massima serie calcistica britannica, la Premier. A te la parola, Gareth.

Before Christmas the Premier League was shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons at the top of the table for a very long time. It looked as if Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea were all going to be challenging for the title at the end of the season and Aston Villa were well placed to mount a title bid themselves. Things changed though and it now looks as if Manchester United have all but wrapped the league up, with Liverpool and Chelsea losing a lot of ground.

The bottom of the table looks a little more interesting though and there is still betting to be done on who will face the drop. West Bromwich Albion look like they’ve pretty much gone, they’re four points adrift of safety and their performances have been pretty poor to say the least. Aside from West Brom it could be any other two from a whole host of teams.

Middlesbrough have been shocking lately and I’m not convinced of the quality of their squad. I have no idea how Stewart Downing gets into the England side and he hasn’t been playing well for Boro either lately. They upset the sports betting odds this weekend though with a massive win over Liverpool (which all but ended their title aspirations) and it is results like that which can change a team’s season. Boro have a hard run in though, they face Manchester United and Arsenal in their last five games as well as a derby with Newcastle United.

Stoke City, another newly promoted team, have been grinding out results but they’re still in the thick of it. Their home form is brilliant and they’ve taken down Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Britannia Stadium but their away form is shocking. Stoke are still yet to record an away win and if they can pick up their form away from home they should be able to stay up.

Blackburn Rovers have flourished under new boss Sam Allardyce but it will still be a massive job to keep them in the league. I’ve still not been convinced by their performances but they are picking up points now and in truth their squad probably has more quality than the rest of the teams at the bottom. In Roque Santa Cruz they have one of the best strikers in the league and his goals should keep them in the division.

Hull City enjoyed a fantastic start to the season but they’re in free fall now. I just can’t see them picking up enough points to survive in their last eleven games even though they’re still three points out of the relegation places. They bought Jimmy Bullard in January but he played just 45 minutes before he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and that was a massive blow.

Portsmouth, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are still not out of it but I would be very surprised if any of these teams were relegated. At a push Sunderland are still not out of danger but with 31 points they should have enough points on the board by the end of the year to stay up. The battle for the title may have been all but decided but the relegation issue is wide open and I don’t think we’ll know who is going down until the last day of the season.

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Curiosando nel mondo del calcio: Champions, chi rischia di più?. L'esperto risponde ai lettori.

Curiosando nel mondo del calcio: Champions, chi rischia di più?. L'esperto risponde ai lettori.

Ci è arrivata in queste ore una simpatica e interessante segnalazione, la prima, che ho girato all'esperto Bruno, e che ora poniamo all'attenzione di tutti i lettori di Citysport, per coinvolgervi e stimolare i vostri pareri. E' l'avvio ufficiale della rubrica "Curiosando intorno al calcio", nata nei primi giorni di gennaio 2009. E' Lorenzo, da Roma, che ci interroga sul discorso Champions, ormai prossimo (martedì e mercoledì le gare di andata degli ottavi) e ci chiede chi rischia di più nel triplo derby italo-inglese. A te la parola Bruno.

Ecco la domanda del nostro lettore:

Salve sig. Aureli,
La champions si appresta a ripartire la prossima settimana con importanti sfide.
Secondo lei, tra le tre italiane, come stato di forma e gioco espresso in questo momento, qual'è quella che rischia di più?
Saluti
Lorenzo

Bruno: Chi rischia? be, osserviamo attentamente gli scontri:

JUVENTUS - CHELSEA: la Juventus è in un momento tutt'altro che positivo ma se ascoltiamo il numero 1 Gianluigi Buffon sembra proprio la Champions l'obiettivo principale della Juve, una squadra nata ed attrezzata per stupire in Europa, trascinata dal solito Del Piero che nelle serate di gala indossa il suo smoking e dipinge calcio. Ora spostiamoci nelle zone di Londra, in casa Chelsea; I Blues arrivano all'appuntamento con un nuovo allenatore, quel Guus Hiddink nostra vecchia conoscenza, e soprattutto con un Anelka in stato di grazia ed un Drogba che sta trovando proprio ora la forma migliore. Il risultato è in bilico ma io vedo leggermente favoriti i Blues.

ROMA - ARSENAL: Probabilmente, dopo la sconfitta di Bergamo, sarebbe facile dire che sono i Gunners i favoriti in questo match ma la Roma è una mina vagante e quindi io qui lo dico: la Roma è la squadra che può, quando gioca come sa fare, battere chiunque e soprattutto una squadra come l'Arsenal, ricca di giovani e abbordabile per la banda di mr. Spalletti. Molto dipenderà da come la Roma affronterà la sfida in casa; conosciamo tutti il pubblico giallorosso e non è facile per nessuno giocare in casa dei giallorossi.
Un'ultima constatazione è che la finale si giocherà proprio a Roma, quale migliore occasione per Totti e compagni per rifarsi della sciaugurata finale, con il Liverpool, persa ai rigori nel 1984????

INTER - MANCHESTER: si incontrano qui probabilmente le squadre più forti (insieme al Barcellona e al Liverpool) del mondo. Mourinho sempre vincente ma nn proprio convincente, dall'altra parte Sir. Alex Ferguson che stritola qualsiasi avversario mettendo in campo i titolari o le riserve. Questa partita ha un fascino d'altri tempi, una gara da nn perdere per gli amanti del calcio: da una parte la velocità e la tecnica di Cristiano Ronaldo, dall'altra l'estro e i capolavori di Ibrahimovic. Il Manchester fa stranamente della difesa il reparto forte (più di 1000 minuti senza subire goal) ma l'attacco interista fa paura soprattutto se l'imperatore Adriano è tornato veramente quello di un tempo e poi speriamo in una serata in cui Van der Sar torni quello visto a Torino...
Nonostante questo vedo però i Red Devils comunque favoriti per il passaggio ai quarti di finale.

TIrando le somme, caro Lorenzo, posso dirti che per me a passare il turno saranno le due inglesi (Chelsea e Manchester) e la Roma di Spalletti ma la speranza ovviamente è che le italiane tornino ad essere, tutte e tre, vincenti in europa e vedere una finale tutta italiana qui in italia sarebbe il sogno di chiunque.
Restando con i piedi per terra, vediamo un Barcellona-Manchester, come finale champions da disputarsi il 27 maggio prossimo all'Olimpico di Roma.
Grazie per la domanda e mi raccomando, nn esiti a chiedere....

Ora, spetta a voi dire la vostra opinione. Champions, chi rischia di più?

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Managerial changes. News from the English Premier League.

Managerial changes. News from the English Premier League.

E' venerdì e Citysport fa un salto in Ingilterra, in Premier League, per carpire le ultime notizie provenienti dalla massima serie calcistica britannica. Questa settimana, dopo aver analizzato le principali trattative riguardanti i giocatori inglesi, è tempo di parlare di allenatori. Come sempre sarà Gareth, il nostro esperto, a illustrarci le ultime scoppiettanti novità.

It has been quite a busy week in English football. Both Chelsea and Portsmouth have sacked their respective managers with Chelsea already finding a replacement in Guus Hiddink, who will continue in his capacity as Russia’s manager whilst in charge at Chelsea.

Portsmouth boss Tony Adams was the bookies favourites with their sports betting odds to be axed first but Luis Felipe Scolari just about beat him to it by a few hours. There is no doubting Scolari’s ability as a coach but it just didn’t click with him at Stamford Bridge. He has since admitted he had ‘no relationship’ with the players off the pitch and rumours circulated that he had no respect in the dressing room. The tabloid newspapers have reported that Petr Cech, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba told Roman Abramovich he should be sacked and it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened. Drogba has been frankly awful all season and he is Chelsea’s most influential player when he is on form. His lack of form is the biggest reason for Chelsea’s league position and there chances of winning the league are very slim.

Scolari’s replacement, for the time being at least, is Dutchman Guus Hiddink. Hiddink will continue as Russia’s coach and he has said he expects to stay just until the end of the season but he could stay if he achieves any kind of success at Chelsea. Candidates have already emerged as to who could take on the job full time in the summer but it looks like AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti is the favourite, with West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola another name that has been mentioned.

Tony Adams was sacked as Portsmouth manager after just 22 games in charge, he only won two of those games. To be honest I don’t think Adams was ever really management material and Portsmouth are in real danger of being relegated now. There have been a few names mentioned such as former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley but as yet they have not named Adams’ successor so you can still place a bet on who the next Pompey boss will be with your football betting.

Another big story is English football this week was David Beckham’s 108th England cap. He has now equalled the record set by Bobby Moore for the most caps for an outfield player. It is a massive achievement for Beckham and in general most of the people involved in English football seem to think it is a good thing that he is still involved in the national side. In the match itself though Spain really outclassed England and there was little Beckham or anyone else could have done to avoid that 2-0 defeat.

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Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Eccoci, con una settimana di ritardo, al consueto appuntamento con la Premier League, e i vari affari conclusi nel mercato britannico. Tutto ciò ci sarà raccontato, come è accaduto nel suo esordio su Citysport, dal nostro esperto Gareth Freeman. Allora, non dilunghiamoci troppo e lasciamo spazio a Gareth. It's up to you my friend!.

Hi readers, Hi Citysport. I try to explain what happened in this period. The transfer window proved to be a bit of an anti-climax in the Premier League this year. The window is a favourite with the football betting bookies in England as the soccer betting odds seem to change so rapidly throughout the window as new rumours surface. Manchester City were expected to make a big money move for Blackburn striker Santa Cruz but that failed to materialise. Tottenham Hotspur were this years biggest spenders and they brought back three of their ex-players back into the team.

Manchester City brought in Nigel de Jong, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge and Shay Given in January. Bellamy, Bridge and Given are all proven Premier League players but they’re not the massive names expected now City are the world’s richest club. They did move for Kaka and when that fell through there was a feeling they might make a similarly sized move for Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon but that move never surfaced.

The surprise big spenders were Tottenham Hotspur. It is the first time since being in charge that Harry Redknapp has been able to dip into the transfer market and he really took his chance. Tottenham have spent around £50million in the transfer window, the whole Premier league spent just over £120million so Spurs take up a massive chunk of that. Among Spurs transfers are Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda, all players that have played for Tottenham before but not under Harry Redknapp. Attacking midfielder Wilson Palacios have also joined from Wigan along with Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea.

Chelsea have been fairly quiet but they have added Riccardo Quaresma to their ranks. Quaresma had fallen out of favour at Inter Milan and he could be a decent buy for the Stamford Bridge side. Only time will tell if he can adapt to the Premier League but I see know reason why he would not.

Like Chelsea Arsenal conducted very little activity until the closing stages of the window when they began talks with Andrei Arshavin. The heavy snowfall in Britain forced the FA to extend the deadline if the ‘deal had been agreed in principal’ because players could not travel in the weather. The actual deal for Arshavin was not announced until a day after the deadline but it could be the best transfer of the month. Arshavin’s performances in the European Championship and the UEFA cup show his quality and he should fit into the Arsenal side well. Whether Arshavin will be enough to get Arsenal back into the Champions League places is another matter, he will add to their attack though and Arsenal have struggled for goals of late.

Manchester United added two Serbian youngsters to their squad in Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic, the latter of which has been immediately loaned back to Partizan Belgrade. These players are two for the future for United and though Tosic may play he is unlikely to feature heavily for Manchester United this season.

Elsewhere Newcastle signed Bolton captain Kevin Nolan in a £4million deal. England international Emile Heskey joined Aston Villa, while Wigan brought in Egyptian striker Mido to replace the departed Heskey. Hull City broke their transfer record by splashing out £5million on Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard. Everton eased their injury problems by signing Brazilian striker Jo on loan from Manchester City.

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Citysport & Gareth: Transfer rumblings from the Premier League.

Citysport & Gareth: Transfer rumblings from the Premier League.

                        Premier League, il logo ufficiale

Da questa settimana, una nuova partecipazione a Citysport. Il Venerdì sera ci ritroveremo per un appuntamento importante con le principali notizie provenienti dalla Premier League (mercato, gossip, scomesse ed eventi sportivi), la massima serie calcistica inglese. A fornircele è Gareth Freeman, un esperto conoscitore della materia. Un nuovo interessante spunto per tutti i lettori, ed in particolare quelli stranieri. A Te la parola Gareth:

Hi Richard. I'm happy to be here, in Citysport. I'm going to start with the news for ours readers. 
January transfer window is always one of the more interesting times in the football calendar and this year it has been no different. Premier League attracts players from all over the globe and there has been some shrewed business completed already, and some major stories to break.

Manchester City’s failed attempts to bring Kaka to the Premiership will probably remain the biggest talking point despite the fact the deal didn’t go through. I would have loved to have seen Kaka playing in England but in a way I’m it didn’t happen, it’s good too see a player with that kind of loyalty in the modern game. Man City shouldn’t be too worried though, they’ve added Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy to their ranks already and I expect them to be bringing in new faces right up until the deadline.

It is starting to look as if the well-travelled Emile Heskey will be leaving Wigan for Champions League contenders Aston Villa in a £4million deal. Heskey is perhaps a player who would not really work as well in another European league as he does in England but he is a very effective striker in the English game. He might not contribute as many goals as fans and pundits would hope for but he can hold the ball up better than anybody and allow the rest of the team to join the attack. Heskey could well prove to be the ‘missing piece’ in the Villa side and I can see the veteran forward working well with Villa youngsters Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

One of the most interesting transfers in this particular window could be Jimmy Bullard’s move from Fulham to Hull City. Bullard is a name most people outside the English game won’t recognise but the 30-year-old is a very talented midfielder. He has just broken into Fabio Capello’s England side and although that was mainly due to injuries and he didn’t play it still shows the recognition he has received. It would be a major coup for Hull boss Phil Brown if he can persuade Bullard to join and he is the type of player whose arrival could stop Hull’s slide down the table. The Tigers went on an unprecedented run at the start of the season but now their form has dipped and the relegation places are edging ever closer, Bullard’s arrival could play a massive part in ending that slump.

That’s all from me and my thoughts on transfers at the moment. I’ll probably do a big round up once the window has closed and point out the decent moves and the not so decent ones. I’m going to leave with a bit of football betting advice though. Next week there are ten midweek Premier League fixtures and a great chance to have a look at some football betting. On Tuesday I’d be tempted to go for both Manchester United and Aston Villa away from home. United face West Brom so it doesn’t really take a genius too pick that one in all honesty. Villa travel to Portsmouth, which is never an easy place to go but I expect Villa too continue their push for Champions League qualification and emerge victorious. On Wednesday I think Manchester City will beat Newcastle United in Manchester, City have fairly good home form despite their position in the league and they should be too good for Newcastle. West Ham should also beat Hull City at Upton Park, I watched West Ham against Fulham and if the Hammers can reproduce that kind of display they should easily beat Hull who are in the middle of a slump.

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