The heat is on Chelsea near the top of the table in the Premiership after Liverpool defeated West Ham United 2-1 at Upton Park thanks to a goal and an assist from Peter Crouch. Although Chelsea has one game in hand (versus Blackburn on Wednesday night), Liverpool are just two points behind the Blues and equal in goal difference.

The question is can Liverpool catch Chelsea?

Despite West Ham having the better of the first half, Liverpool took control of the match in the second half with Craig Bellamy coming close a couple of times. While Liverpool's home record remains impressive, the Reds have seemed to have fixed their away form too.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are feeling the pressure from all sides. In addition to Liverpool breathing heavy nearby, Jose Mourinho's squad is still six points away from Manchester United.

In another must-win match for Chelsea, the team faces a formidable opposition tonight against Blackburn at Stamford Bridge. Rovers are buoyed after scoring seven goals in the last two matches and conceding zero. Matt Derbyshire has scored three goals in the last three matches, while Morten Garnst Pederson shares the same honor.

Chelsea has won its last two matches, albeit against weaker opposition (Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers). It's been eleven long days since Mourinho's side lost to Liverpool 2-0, so let's see how the team performs in this tricky match.

My personal belief is that Chelsea will stumble between now and the end of the season. But, despite their strong form, Liverpool will slip a few times when you least expect it allowing Chelsea to pick up the second place slot.

At the other end of the table, only 10 points separate 18th place West Ham from 12th place Newcastle. If any of those teams in the bottom half of the table go on a bad run of form, relegation looms. An example of this is Wigan who are now precariously sitting fourth from bottom, just two points above West Ham.

Don't count Watford out yet. The bottom place team have two games in hand (one is against Manchester United tomorrow night).

Labels: Chelsea, Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool, Peter Crouch, Watford, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic

By John Nicholson

As unfashionable as it might be in these days of knee-jerk European anti-Americanism, the States are very dear to my heart. For me, as a country it still embodies much of what is desirable and noble about the human adventure, and no I don't mean the ability to eat 10,000 calories a day and survive.

There is a sense of freedom in America that I have never felt anywhere else, whether it's out on the western plains of Arizona and Nevada, rolling through the prairies of Nebraska or driving up Pacific Coast Highway, the sheer vast, scale of the country just blows my mind. I like feeling like a tiny atom is a humongous land, it gives you a sense of perspective of your importance, or rather your lack of importance.

And then there's all the down and dirty blues and rock n roll played in the roadhouses and bars up and down the land that makes life worth living. There are few better experiences in life than rolling up at a motel in Nowheresville, Anywhere, paying a few bucks for a room and then strolling down to a bar for a dozen cold beers and a few hours of top notch old school r & b played by some large bearded men and then driving another 1,000 miles in the morning listening to classic rock radio. When I've made my fortune that's how I'd like to spend my life.

But it's that vastness of geography that is working against American football from developing a unified culture. In Britain, football is so an entrenched culture by virtue of history and geography. On a weekend there are thousands of games being played out to millions of people at all levels. It's not just the 4 main English leagues, beneath those there is a massive ladder of leagues, devolving into obscure regional divisions in which teams of boilermakers and panel beaters play out 90 minutes of brutality against the miner's welfare club 11. Football is all pervasive in Britain. It's endemic throughout society and there is simply no escaping it. Culturally, it influences everyone, even those who don't like football.

By contrast, while there are many thousands of passionate devotees of the game in the States, the deeply entrenched football culture just doesn't exist. Even in the state I know best, California, where a lot of football is played, especially at youth level, the culture of football is markedly different from in the UK, not least because it has always seemed to me to be a middle-class, white collar game in the States whereas in the UK, its roots and participants are largely working class. Games lack the atmosphere of vulgarity, swearing and chanting that the British game takes for granted -- though it is starting to diminish here.

And into this different football culture walks David Beckham, a man who has grown up with the culture of football in his DNA. I'd be amazed if LA Galaxy don't put several thousand onto their attendances numbers when he's playing, but the danger is that he becomes an attraction just for those games; an isolated, if massively popular figure. For football to really expand, the community roots of the game need to grow substantially and flourish over the coming decade before American football can ever hope to permanently increase in popularity, as DB hopes his participation can help it to do.

And that isn't just about playing football, its about watching football at all levels discussing it every day of the week, having it dissected and analysed by the press and media 24 hours a day, 365 days a week year. Football culture is unrelenting. It's a restless, ever changing beast that needs feeding on an hourly basis. Football365.com, who I have written a column for the last 6 years couldn't exist at all, let alone get 1 million visitors a month without this all consuming football culture.

I would love for Beckham to be the first in a vanguard of major European players plying their trade in America. I'd love America to become a major world football force, and nationally, it's already achieved so much. But I fear the sheer size of the country will mean the football will never be a deeply entrenched widespread game, even if it grows and develops in states like California, which isn't to say that thousands of people won't continue to love and support the game.

Maybe it doesn't matter though. In fact, I rather like the way soccer is seen in the States as a kind of upper class sport in contrast to the jock culture of American football. And it's also quite good to be into something which the majority of your neighbours and work colleagues know nothing about. It's a bit like being into a band that no one has heard of, there's a pleasure in being cultish and obscure.

Either way, when I return to California this year for an extended stay, I shall be going to the Home Depot warehouse of football nirvana to see how DB's influence has changed stateside soccer.

Labels: america, david beckham, epl, football, john nicholson, major league soccer, premier league, premiership, soccer

I don't know about you, but the past week has been pretty quiet on the football front. Maybe it's all of the anticipation about last minute transfer signings before the window closes, or no Premiership matches for a week.

If you're like me and you crave good football articles, peruse through these fascinating pieces:

Veteran writer Brian Glanville takes a closer look at Vincenzo Montella, the Roma striker who's now at Fulham. Montella was also the topic of debate in this week's EPL Talk Podcast interview with Gabriele Marcotti.

Not again. But Kia Joorabchian is reported to be trying to buy another Premiership club. This time it's Fulham, where the Iranian is publicly stating that Chris Coleman has nothing to worry about in terms of losing his job? Hmm...where did we hear that before? West Ham and Alan Pardew perhaps?

The Daily Telegraph takes a fascinating look at how a group is trying to preserve the history and memorabilia of the great amateur sides from County Durham in England. Don't dismiss the amateur game before reading this article.

And lastly Henry Winter has some fun by asking Steve McClaren ten questions before the Spanish inquisition. England plays Spain in a friendly next Wednesday. I particularly was taken aback by Henry's jab at America's football landscape, calling it "hicksville." Read the article here.

The following article is one in a series posted on the EPL Talk Blog recounting my recent trip to England in search of better understanding the difference between watching Premiership matches in person compared to watching them on television. For previous articles on Goodison Park, Anfield and Ewood Park, feel free to visit the archives on this blog.

After meeting up with The Beautiful Game podcaster Chris Slegg, interviewing each other and then saying cheerio at the Arsenal tube station, I strolled down the street of Islington in search of Highbury, Arsenal's former home for such a large part of their history.

Just as with West Ham's Boleyn Ground (more commonly referred to as Upton Park), Highbury's official name is The Arsenal Stadium. Walking down Gillespie Road from the underground station, I could see that the neighborhood was exactly that. Children walking home after school with their parents in tow. People going about their everyday business and errands.

In between two terraced houses on Gillespie Road, I caught my first site of Highbury behind a metal gate. It was incredible to see how tight Highbury was nestled on all four sides by residential housing. I picked up my step, turned the corner and walked up Avenell Road with anticipation and excitement toward Highbury's historic East Stand.

What I witnessed was devastating to me. On this, my first trip to Highbury, I could see the East Stand shrouded in scaffolding, but what disappointed me more was the sight of Highbury's North Bank to my right that had the guts of the stand bellowing out of the once impressive structure. The face of the stand had been removed and all that could be seen was the innards exposed to the gloomy weather on a Monday afternoon.

Walking up Avenell Road, the East Stand came alive through the sparks from the workers welding metal together in the upper echelons of the once magnificent stand. Behind all of the scaffolding, I could see the glorious stone walls now dirty in color and the words 'ARSENAL' emblazoned on the outside. Workers stood everywhere seemingly cold and unknowing of how historic a stadium this had been throughout the history of English football.

Standing outside the East Stand's main doorway, all I could do was imagine what the marble floors looked like inside with the Gunners insignia and the bust of Herbert Chapman. the most famous Arsenal chairman. The entire ground was closed to the public.

Walking up Avenell Road to catch a view of the Clock End, I realized how shocked I was that the rebuilding of Highbury was being undertaken so drastically. In reading the articles and looking at the pictures of the luxury condominiums that will be built on the ground, I had envisioned the builders leaving Highbury more in-tact and building on top or around it. I had no idea how much they planned on destructing Highbury to reach their goal.

Unfortunately the Clock End was gone. The entire end of Highbury had been reduced to mud. Not a single trace of that famous end remained, so I soldiered up the Avenell Road hill and tried to get a good view of Highbury from the flats situated at the top. Unfortunately due to the building walls that have been erected around Highbury, it was impossible to get a good glimpse of the stadium, so I strolled down Highbury Hill to see if I could find a different vantage point.

Halfway down Highbury Hill, I came across two diggers outside the entrance to Arsenal's West Stand. Here was a tall white building sandwiched between terraced housing and with the words "Arsenal Football Club" proudly displayed down the left and right side of the structure. While the rest of Highbury was in pieces, this entranceway was completely intact and entirely beautiful. Without a doubt, it's a work of art and such a rarity to see a building like this in football of today or even yesteryear still standing.

Reaching the bottom of Highbury Hill that intersected with Gillespie Road, I realized my journey to Highbury was over. While I was disheartened by the poor state of the stadium, I felt extremely fortunate to have visited the hallowed ground in such a beautiful neighborhood of London.

It's so hard to think that the modern marvel that is the Emirates is just around the corner.

In the coming weeks, stay tuned for additional articles about the Invicta Ground, Emirates Stadium, White Hart Lane, Boleyn Ground (aka Upton Park), The Valley, Craven Cottage and Old Trafford. In the meantime, watch the photo slideshow from Highbury and view images from the other grounds that The Gaffer visited here.

According to SportBusiness.com, Setanta Sports is considering bidding on the rights to the FA Cup and England internationals which will become available next month.

The FA is hoping the TV rights will sell for approximately $800 million. Currently Sky Sports and the BBC share the rights package, but in addition to Setanta Sports, NTL, Channel Five and ITV are also interested.

If Setanta was to win the TV rights to the FA Cup and England internationals, this would be a huge blow to the BBC and Sky especially. In the United States, it would mean that starting next season, Fox Soccer Channel would probably not be carrying these matches but Setanta Sports in North America would.

Only three days remain in the January transfer window, and so far -- despite everyone's high expectations -- it's been a very quiet month. The future increase in funds from TV revenue was expected to propel clubs to use the money now. However, there have been very few huge signings.

Watch Sky Sports's "Through The Night" programme and pay attention to the "Transfer News" section. More than 75% of the transfers mentioned are for foreign players. The numbers of players being transferred from lower league clubs to the Premiership is pitifully small. Most notable were the two Rotherham players that Watford signed. Promising players such as Southend's Freddie Eastwood and Preston's David Nugent, it appears, will stay in the Championship.

Out of all of the signings in the Premiership thus far, Aston Villa and Fulham have done the best work. Villa's signing of John Carew is a coup. The 6' 4" Norwegian striker, nicknamed The Hulk, will make an immediate impact. Villa's Ashley Young will take time to adapt after moving from Watford, but has a promising future ahead of him.

Fulham's signings of Alexei Smertin and Vincenzo Montella add experience to the Craven Cottage side with Montella already having made an immediate impact with four goals.

Expect a flurry of activity in the transfer market between now and Wednesday night. Clubs that are expected to make significant signings include Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur.

Who would you like your club to sign in the transfer window? Thoughts and comments are welcome (click on comments link below).

Last week, EPL Talk asked you, the listeners of the EPL Talk Podcast, to complete a survey so we can learn more about your listening habits and to determine how to improve the podcast.

In EPL Talk's belief in full disclosure, here are the uncensored results:



83% of you ranked the EPL Talk Podcast better than average -- between "Above Average" and "Excellent," which is good to know that the content is hitting the mark.



The vast majority of you emphatically agree that Sunday night/Monday morning is the best time of the week for the podcast.



89% of you rate the caliber of guests as above average, with 33% rating it as excellent. In 2007, EPL Talk has stepped up its level of interviewees focusing on more high-profile ones than last year. While that doesn't guarantee a better interview, the number of people downloading the podcast has significantly increased so the word is slowly getting around.



It also appears that the length of time for the podcast (typically 50 minutes) works for most of the listeners.

Many of you responded to the open-ended questions about how to improve the show, so we'll be incorporating those suggestions into the show such as explaining a little bit more about who the interviewee guest is for those who don't know, trying to get a voicemail set up to allow listeners to leave feedback, comments or questions -- and focusing more on other teams than the top four (which I try to do on the blogs, but I'm guilty of not doing so on the podcast).

Thanks everyone for participating. We'll be doing more surveys like this in the future to improve your overall experience on the site. In the meantime, stay tuned to tonight's podcast to learn if you're one of the two winners from the EPL Talk Podcast survey where you can win EPL Talk prizes such as T-shirts, video games, and other footie items.

I uncovered a new feature of the BBC Sport web site today that you'll definitely be interested in. It's an example of how technology is helping to improve the experience of following football matches online.

You may be familiar with BBC's Virtual Replay feature where you can watch goals of the week in an animated form.

But now for select FA Cup matches, BBC Sport is combining its text commentary with animations so you can visually picture what's happening in the game -- albeit delayed by a couple of minutes, but still quite impressive.

So for those matches where you're unable to watch it on television, and you're not satisfied with the text commentary, you may want to watch the Virtual Replay feature. Hopefully the BBC will be able to extend this from the FA Cup to Premiership matches.

The image above, by the way, is the highlight of Didier Drogba's brilliant free kick against Nottingham Forest from earlier today. To give the live animations a test drive, go here.

The Virtual Replay technology is developed by a company named Sport Flashback.

While the race is on to see which two teams will be the first ones to play in the world-class Wembley stadium in the 2007 FA Cup Final, I'd like to take a minute and savor the Fourth Round of the FA Cup and more importantly performances from three fantastic players.

If you haven't had a chance to see Scott Sinclair's goal for Plymouth against Barnet, watch it now. The Chelsea player, who is on loan at Championship side Plymouth, dribbled in and out past three to four players before keeping his balance when knocked off the ball and poking the ball into the net against the fast approaching goalkeeper.

Without a doubt, Sinclair is definitely a player to watch for the future.

While David Nugent's exploits for Championship side Preston have been well known for some time, you have to wonder how much longer it'll be before the England u-21 international is plucked away by a Premiership side. It looks unlikely he'll go in this transfer window and will try to get Preston promoted to the Premiership instead. In the meantime, watch Nugent's fantastic goal from this past Saturday against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.

And last, but not least, remember Matt Derbyshire's name. The young Blackburn striker scored two fantastic goals against Luton yesterday. One was a brilliant shot into the top corner of the net, and the other was a perfect header. Derbyshire was even involved in an assist for Benni McCarthy's goal where the English striker risked injury just to help his team.

It looks like Rovers has found a permanent striker up front alongside McCarthy. At this rate, don't be surprised if larger Premiership clubs will come calling to Ewood Park this summer for his signature. See highlights of his goals here.

For once during a football weekend, it's refreshing to hear and read about some different names other than the Drogba, Gerrard and Henry's of the world.

I had the fortune of watching the FA Cup tie between Manchester United against Portsmouth yesterday, not on pay-per-view but on BBC1. While the match was very entertaining, especially the first half, with United's attack after attack descending on Portsmouth's goal, I walked away from the match with a few interesting observations.

It isn't that often that I have the opportunity to watch top flight English football on the BBC. Of course, that's because Sky currently owns the TV rights to the Premiership, while the BBC owns the rights to most of the FA Cup matches. What made yesterday extra special was being able to see the half-time analysis of the match by Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen, while enjoying the match commentary by John Motson and Mark Lawrenson (yes, I admit it, I enjoyed it).

To me, the FA Cup symbolizes everything about the BBC. The BBC is the FA Cup, and the FA Cup the BBC. Let me explain.

The experience of watching the FA Cup on the BBC seems antiquated. The tempo of the analysis is more moderate and subdued. The graphics and hype appear more civilized instead of unreal and inflated.

Compare that to Sky's production of the Premiership, and it's night and day. While Sky has more energy and excitement pumped into its productions, it comes at the risk as appearing as too over-the-top where the lasting feeling is one of disappointment. As they say in the business world, our expectations were not managed.

While I'm still a huge supporter of the FA Cup tournament, I found it particularly interesting that few football fans were interested in the matches being shown live on Fox Soccer Channel yesterday (Luton v Blackburn, and Spurs v Southend). I'm basing this on the barometer I use to determine how interested fans are in matches -- by observing the number of people who visit the EPL Talk Chat to watch and chat with fans in real-time.

While there was a small core audience of followers in the chat yesterday who were enthralled with the FA Cup, the number of people was far fewer than Premiership matches involving Man United and Arsenal, for example.

Just as the FA Cup has lost its sheen, so too has the BBC. While both the tournament and broadcaster are respected by many, they seem like a lifetime away from the daily ups and downs of the English Premier League. Starting Tuesday, life will return to normal.

By John Nicholson

We don't know always realise what power we have as consumers. Collectively we could bring massive institutions down with a few days. It just takes concerted action. For example, Google makes a fortune from its AdWords programme. You know how it works; Google gets money every time you click on an adword. And boy do they get a giant shed load of money.

Now, here's a radical idea. If you don't click on the Adword link, and instead cut and paste the URL shown into your browser, you'll go to the site anyway - but the advertiser won't be charged by Google for the click.

If everyone did this, within a couple of weeks, AdWords and by extension Google would crumble. Of course, it almost certainly won't happen because not enough people will choose to do it all at the same time - but even someone as massive as Google can be brought down by collective action very quickly and easily, especially in this wear of instant communication.

In football this is even truer and here's the great thing. Fans collective action - although not premeditated or concerted, is nonetheless working to bring down the cost of going to the match.

This week Blackburn Rovers announced that they would use their new TV windfall money next season to reduce ticket prices. Now, as I've been pointing out for the longest time, clubs like Blackburn are in the middle of a crisis of support - often being barely half full for a game, so it needed urgently addressing at Ewood Park.

But they are not alone. With more seats empty than occupied for the last round of the FA Cup, the majority of clubs need to realise that they are not offering enough value for money, and fans will not return until they do. A combination of lower ticket prices for all games and more exciting football, especially for mid-table clubs for whom the season is all but over, in order to get fans into the grounds, is necessary and overdue.

While the TV money will ensure a minimum of 30 million GBP next year to every EPL club, they shouldn't be complacent. TV stations will not be prepared to pay so much in the future for games with no atmosphere and acres of empty seats. It hasn't happened yet, but it sure enough will if this trend continues.

And when it does, it's not hard to imagine the top clubs making their own private TV deals in the future while the Blackburn's of the league fight it out for the scraps of cash left over. In fact, it's quite possible that such clubs will rarely be televised because it's such a poor spectacle and there is only a small audience for it.

While outside of the UK, the Premiership is increasingly popular, within the UK, we're ahead of the game - being more exposed for longer to it, and despite all the extra money being paid to televise it, it has peaked in popularity. There is little growth left in the football market on TV and much discontent about the quality of the football on offer much of the time and disgruntlement with the quality of the programmes on BBC and Sky that bring it to us. The culture of employing inarticulate and frankly boring ex-players as pundits is back-firing spectacularly and devaluing the whole brand that the broadcasters pay so handsomely to show. Real, dedicated fans are tired of the nepotism and back-scratching that seems to be behind the employment of ex-players. Clearly, they are not employed for their vision and insight or their good grammar.

So no one should be in any doubt, that as consumers of football we have the future of the game in our hands and we always have had, even though the TV companies would like us all to believe that they're the important ones.

Our TV money and our turnstile money are always up for being withdrawn and this season, we've seen that start to happen. The question now is how many clubs will realise who is really important in the game and how quickly? Time to wake up and smell the Bovril!

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

Earlier this week, The Independent newspaper in England announced that the Premiership has grown so much in popularity that it now has 160 million viewers in 202 countries. Just for the Arsenal against Man United match, the UK TV audience was up to 6 million people.

While the game is growing in popularity in the States, it's a different story back home in the UK where TV ratings are stagnant.

This goes back to my original argument made several months ago that many Americans have a bigger appetite for watching Premiership football than those fans in the UK. The league is still a novel thing to watch in the U.S., where many fans religiously get up each weekend at 4:30am PT to watch the early kick-off. Plus with ten or more live Premiership matches on TV each week in the States, Americans are watching many of these games live.

It's a different story in the UK where fewer matches are shown on TV. Plus ticket prices for matches are exorbitant. But it does make you wonder how a team like a Wigan or Middlesbrough, who feature large numbers of empty seats week after week, would fare in the U.S. and whether the seats would be packed each week if those teams were transplated in America.

Sunday's win by Arsenal over Manchester United was the best thing that could have happened to the Premiership. You can hear it in the podosphere and read it in the blogs and message forums. People are actually getting really excited about the Premier League all of a sudden.

While there have been several highlights during the season, I can count the number of classic matches on one hand. Even though Arsenal's match on Sunday wasn't a classic, it definitely made me -- for the first time in weeks -- jump out of my seat near the climatic end (and no, I'm not an Arsenal fan nor am I a Man United hater).

Sure, right now, the Premiership title is Man United's to lose. But speak to any Arsenal or Liverpool fan, and you'll hear their excitement in the voice. Many of them believe they have a fighting chance of challenging for the top two positions.

In another example of excellent investigative journalism from The Times newspaper, their chief sports reporter Owen Slot recently wrote a series of articles about the state of the football academy system in England.

While some of may not care about academies, the ramifications of the current state of them will have a profound impact on the future success of the England national team, and of the livelihood of many Premiership teams who rely on promoting youth talent through their ranks.

The series of articles brings up a host of fascinating issues that are affecting the game, and what changes are necessary.

Some of the interesting points raised in the article are:

• There's such a global market for players now that it's easier for Premiership managers to buy the "finished article" instead of promoting youth players
  
• The Premiership chairmen and chief executives have decided that rather than plough money into academy systems, it needs to go to the transfer market instead
  
• Looking at the 220 players starting in the Premiership on an average weekend, only 25-30 Englishmen aged 23 or less are playing, and
  
• Many academies are now focused on developing big, physically strong players (i.e. athletes) rather than technically gifted ones.

It's obvious that all the Premiership cares about is its own greed and success instead of improving the chances of the England national team.

Read the following articles from The Times:

Introduction:
Academies Face Closure As Clubs Seek Quicker Fix

Part One:
The Next Rooney or Richards? 'The Pool Is Shrinking Before Our Very Eyes'

Part Two:
Prospectors of Young English Talent Yearning to Establish A Golden Age

Part Three:
Big Not Always Beautiful In Obsession With Today Rather Than Tomorrow

If you're a fan of football, especially the Premiership, the above articles are required reading.

Well folks, we now have a four horse race instead of a two horse race. After Liverpool and Arsenal both upset Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, the Premiership title race has gotten a lot more interesting all of a sudden.

Looking ahead at the fixtures for the four clubs for the remainder of the season, a lot of the fate of teams hangs in the balance of Liverpool.

On March 3rd, Liverpool plays at home against arch-rival Manchester United. Just a few days later, Liverpool then takes on Barcelona at home in the Champions League. Then, on March 31st, Liverpool plays at home versus Arsenal. If Pool was to win at home against Man United and Arsenal, this would put Liverpool in an interesting position near the top of the league (depending on the results from the other clubs).

Other than Man United's away match versus Liverpool on March 3rd, Man United has to worry about their March 7th home tie against Lille in the Champions League. Other than that, there's the issue of the match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 14. If either Chelsea or Man United qualify for the FA Cup semi-final, then the Chelsea-Man U match will likely be rescheduled for May 8th or 9th -- just days before the Premiership season is scheduled to close.

That would be good news for Man United, but terrible news for Chelsea. Just a few days prior to a May 8th or 9th clash against Manchester United, Chelsea plays at the Emirates versus Arsenal. Two crucial clashes in just days could be too much for Mourinho's side.

The other important point to mention is that the second leg of the Champions League semi-final is scheduled for May 2nd. If Chelsea makes it that far in the tournament and has to play the rescheduled match against Man United in the league, it means Chelsea would have to play three of their biggest matches of the season in just one week (May 2nd through May 9th).

With Man United's current six point lead over Chelsea (and really, it's closer to seven points due to United's superior goal difference as astutely pointed out by Kevin McCarra), it's still doubtful that Sir Alex Ferguson's side will drop significant points to allow Chelsea to catch up. United's match against Liverpool on March 3rd could be a real test. If United win that one, they've only got the major match against Chelsea to worry about on May 8th or 9th.

Based on the above research, it looks more likely that Man United will win the league this season, which is ironic because the press in December kept on repeating the same concerns about Man United's schedule while overlooking Chelsea's fixtures.

Of course, we haven't even mentioned the "civil war" at Chelsea, which is undoubtedly a significant distraction for Jose Mourinho at the worst time possible.

If Chelsea progress in the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League, will they have enough to make a run for the Premiership title? If they don't, what do you think the chances are of a Liverpool or Arsenal overtaking Chelsea into the second place spot? Share your feedback via the 'comments' link below.

There's always room for improvement (just ask Keith Gillespie), so we'd like to ask for two minutes of your time to respond to a quick-and-easy survey on the topic of the EPL Talk Podcast.

Please take the survey.

The results will help us improve the podcast. We're now up to episode 49 (tonight's episode features an interview with The Guardian's Kevin McCarra), so we'd like to hear your feedback and constructive criticism!

Congratulations to Rafa Benitez and the Liverpool squad for getting the victory they deserved today. Rafa got his formation right by sticking with a 4-4-2 instead of his usual 4-5-1 against Chelsea, and the combination of Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt up front paid dividends for the Spanish manager.

Drogba must be kicking himself for missing quite a few chances. But to me, today's match was a good example of the lack of depth and passion in the Chelsea side. Being two nil down at halftime, a look at Chelsea's bench revealed only one substitute of any real worth and that was the inconsistent Shevchenko. A combination of injuries and poor transfers offered Mourinho few opportunities to make any changes.

Instead it was up to Chelsea on the pitch to make the difference, and despite having possession for most of the match, the team was unable to do anything with the ball where it mattered most -- in front of goal.

In my preview of today's Chelsea match, I mentioned how crucial it was for Jermaine Pennant to make his presence known in the match. He did it with an absolutely cracking goal which came in off the crossbar.

Tomorrow's Arsenal versus Manchester United match takes on even more importance now. If United wins, it'll be nine points ahead in the league with the title in their sight. If United loses, the gap will only be six points.

Don't count out Liverpool and Arsenal quite yet. The Reds are now just five points behind Chelsea. Arsenal, meanwhile, are definitely worthy of beating Man United at home. If that happens, it'll really open up the four horse race.

To mark the 80 year anniversary of the first football commentary, BBC Five Live Sports Extra this weekend will be conducting the commentary in the style of 1927 instead of 2007.

They'll be using four commentators. Former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson will comment on Arsenal. Musician and singer David Gray will focus on Manchester United. John Murray will be the main commentator.

But the fourth, and most interesting, commentator will be James Alexander Gordon, who's famous for reading the football results on the BBC. Gordon will be telling the listeners what grid number the ball is in.

The grid numbers was a very old form of allowing the listeners at home to picture which part of the field the ball was in.

To read more about this fascinating commentary, read the article from the BBC here.

Updated: Listen to a radio documentary about the history of football radio commentary from Alan Green and the BBC.

The Premiership announced yesterday record breaking TV rights deals around the world for the 2007/2008 through 2009/2010 seasons worth 2.7 billion GBP, which is $5.3 billion. This means more money will be spread amongst all of the teams next season with the title winner collecting at least $98 million, while the bottom place team will receive around $59 million.

Never before will so much money be pumped into the English Premier League. Now is the time, more than ever, that the money be spent wisely. The English game needs to invest more money into its football academies. With the massive amounts of TV money coming in, clubs should consider lowering ticket prices at matches to make them more affordable. And the money can be invested in video technology and improvements in the way the game is run to ensure progress is made on and off the pitch.

While it's tremendous news off the pitch for Premiership clubs, the financial success of the league is making the gap wider between the Premiership and the 72 clubs in the Football League. The situation reminds me of lyrics from one of my favorite songs by Australian rock band Midnight Oil in a song called "Read About It." The opening line to the songs goes "The rich get richer, the poor get the picture, the bombs never hit you when you're down so low."

For more insight into what the money means, read this fascinating article from The Daily Telegraph.

If you remember back to the last time Chelsea played Liverpool, the goal that separated the two sides was a wonderful twist and volley by Didier Drogba back on September 17th. Liverpool dominated most of the first half and hit the crossbar, but their finishing wasn't clinical in front of goal.

In some ways, not much has changed since that match. Chelsea's form is still way below par of what they achieved last year. Liverpool is still suffering from the same problems of not scoring when it matters.

But for Saturday's early kickoff (which you can join in on during the 7:45am ET EPL Talk Chat), this match means much more than earlier in the season. A loss for Chelsea combined with a Man United win at the Emirates could write off Chelsea's chances of winning the Premiership title three years in a row. A loss for Liverpool and a win by Arsenal against Man United would push the Reds down into fourth place and would give Arsenal the confidence to solidify their third spot over Liverpool.

The key for Liverpool this Saturday will depend on whether Jermaine Pennant will play on the right wing. And if he does, whether he can stretch Chelsea's width opening up spaces near the middle to allow Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy or Peter Crouch more room to score. If you remember from the Chelsea against Liverpool match at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, the Blues had a very difficult time closing down Pennant who was a constant threat during the first half.

Speaking of Liverpool, I don't always agree with Rafa Benitez's team selection and formation when the Reds play Chelsea. In previous matches, he's resorted to a 4-5-1 formation which stifles Chelsea's midfield but allows for few attacking options for Liverpool. I feel Liverpool would be better off playing a 4-4-2 and playing more adventurous against a Chelsea side which is feeling pretty vulnerable right now.

Chelsea could put this match out of Liverpool's reach within the first 30 minutes if they select the right formation and players. I'd prefer to see Chelsea storming out of the gates and playing the type of football they're most dangerous at -- attacking with venom and using the wings to open up defenses.

With Drogba as centre forward, Arjen Robben on the left wing and Shaun Wright-Philips on the right, this will allow Chelsea to pull apart the Liverpool defense which has looked particularly weak in matches against Arsenal and Everton (earlier in the season). Chelsea knows it must win this match to have a chance to lift the trophy this season. A more conservative formation of 4-5-1, which they've been playing for much of the season, could self-destruct against a Liverpool side.

Prediction: Liverpool 0 - 2 Chelsea

By John Nicholson

I am an optimist by nature. To me the glass is always half full, and even if it's half empty, I will have enjoyed drinking it. I don't buy into the pervading culture of cynicism that is so fashionable in some circles. Books such as "Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?" play to the worst aspects of human nature; everything is crap until proved otherwise.

The way I look at things is, you might as well have a good time while you can, and get the most of life because it might be the only chance you get. Who knows, you might be a dung beetle next time round, or worse still, a Tory politician. So, as Jim Morrison once said, "you've got to get your kicks before the whole shithouse comes down". However, if you get your kicks by supporting a Premiership club, this is increasingly hard to do because the season is virtually over as a competition already and much excitement has been extinguished.

It used to be said that you need 40 points to guarantee survival, but now, with the standard of the Premiership dropping and the superiority of the top two or three growing, this may be the first season that 30 points is enough to survive and almost certainly 33 points will be adequate. This isn't a blip; it's been going this way for the last 5 years. 35 would have kept you up last season, 34 the year before that.

And let's be clear about this, it is a terrible situation. The much vaunted "Best League In The World" is becoming a desultory, meaningless haul through 38 games, at least a third of which have no meaning.

As this trend continues, most seasons will be 'dead' after just over half the season has passed. It's mid January and we already know that Watford and Charlton are down. The Premiership as a competitive competition is rapidly losing credibility when around a third of the sides are effectively disenfranchised from the competition as early as mid January. Clubs who can't win anything but can't lose anything.

For clubs already on around 27-30 points they're almost certain to stay up but will struggle to get a European place without a massive improvement of form. Even if that happened, only a small percentage of fans are interested in UEFA cup football until the knock out stages. Blackburn, like Boro before them have been half empty for their games this year.

In other words, a UEFA cup game is not perceived by a majority of fans of most clubs as of sufficient interest to warrant turning up, and so presumably see the achievement of a high enough league position to qualify for it is as not worth the effort either.

Increasingly, once survival is all but guaranteed for a club, the rest of their season is a meaningless exercise and of course, this means fans will stay away in greater numbers because the games becomes little more than training matches with nothing riding on the result.

How long will it be before the games authorities realize that without a more even playing field and a greater degree of outcome possibilities to the league, it will very quickly become devalued, debased and defunct?

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

Without a doubt, this weekend's matches between the top four are mouthwatering. Sure, big clashes like Liverpool against Chelsea, and Arsenal versus Manchester United usually don't live up to expectations, but with so much to play for, I have a feeling that this weekend will be different.

Arsenal couldn't have picked a better time to be playing Man United. Other than their recent 0-1 loss to Sheffield United on December 30, the last time Arsenal lost a match was November 29 when they failed miserably against Fulham 1-2. But since that Fulham match, the Gunners have scored 30 goals and let in 11 during 12 matches in all competitions.

But, more importantly, Arsenal is playing sublime football at this time.

So too is Man United who had one of their best matches of the season against Aston Villa at the weekend as they passed the ball around the park beautifully with Gary Neville getting more involved than lately with his fantastic curving crosses into the box.

I believe Man United will go into this match with a gameplan of winning it, which could ultimately be their downfall. United knows that if Chelsea overcomes Liverpool at Anfield and Arsenal beats Man U, the gap at the top would be narrowed to just 3 points. A draw for United would give Sir Alex Ferguson's squad a little more comfort, but a win for United at the Emirates would be a dashing blow for Chelsea psychologically -- no matter the result at Anfield.

On the pitch, this should be a scintilating match to watch. Both teams play attractive, flowing football and - without a doubt - are two of the most entertaining sides to watch in England, if not all of Europe, right now.

This will be a match where Paul Scholes will need to have a match of the season to quell Arsenal's attacks and to shut down the midfield runs and passes by Arsenal that are often started by Fabregas. Up front for United, Rooney will need to improve, while Henrik Larsson should be able to cause Arsenal's left back Gael Clichy plenty of problems.

In the match, let's see if Thierry Henry can shrug off the accusations of him being a flat-track bully and produce a quality goal against quality opposition. Van Persie is on fire right now, so Patrice Evra will have quite a job on his hands.

My prediction: Arsenal 2-2 Manchester United

The preview of the Chelsea vs Liverpool match will be posted tomorrow.

I alluded to it during this week's EPL Talk Podcast interview with The Daily Telegraph's Henry Winter, but I believe Chelsea's record of unbeaten home matches in the league is about to end. The question, is, who will manage to beat them.

Their home matches in the league between now and the end of the season are Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, Spurs, Man United, Bolton and Everton.

While the Blues have the advantage of having easier opponents at home between now and the end of the season, the last four matches will be their hardest stretch. Spurs, who are rather inconsistent of late, beat Chelsea in the fixture at White Hart Lane. Man United should have beaten Chelsea at Old Trafford except for Mourinho's smart tactical move at half-time by reverting Essien to right back. Meanwhile Bolton and Everton should be tricky matches.

Depending on how far Chelsea gets into the Champions League will have an impact on their Premiership results. After the first tie against Porto in late February, Chelsea play away at Manchester City, so there's no concern for the weary Chelsea legs there. In the return tie against Porto in March, Chelsea faces a 10 day break before they play in the Premiership again. So again, no worries there, but it's only going to get harder if Chelsea can overcome Porto.

Looking at the home fixture list for Chelsea in the league for the remainder of this season, which club(s) do you think can beat Chelsea at home and why? Pick from Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, Spurs, Man United, Bolton and Everton.

Visiting Blackburn for their recent match against Spurs, I was intent on stepping back into history. Rovers, after all, was one of the founding members of the football league in 1888 (along with nearby clubs Accrington, Burnley and Preston).

Even on the train ride from Liverpool to Blackburn via Manchester, I found myself suddenly realizing the sense of footballing history in the region. For example, when the train stopped along its journey at Darwen, I immediately remembered that the team had played in the football league. Only later did I recall that Darwen F.C., who played in league football from 1891 to 1899, was the first club to install electric floodlights as well as employing football's first two professional players.

After arriving at Blackburn's railway station, I took the bus for the 2-3 mile trip to Ewood Park arriving a couple of hours before kick-off. The free time allowed me to stroll around Ewood Park and the area. The ground, which is situated between a busy main road and a canal, is far more modern than its drab surroundings. Jack Walker's money was well spent rebuilding Ewood Park and transforming it into an appealing ground. Three of the four sides are modern, while the one stand to remain from the past is the CIS Stand which, unfortunately, is the one that everyone sees most often when watching Blackburn on TV.

Outside the ground before the match, I walked around the stands and mingled with the supporters. As I've noted on the EPL Talk Podcast episode from Blackburn and in the pictures from Ewood Park, I was surprised at the throngs of Spurs supporters who were walking around the ground without being segregated by the police. Many of the Tottenham fans had made the long journey from London to the match.

When I walked inside Ewood Park to my seat in the Blackburn End, I was immediately impressed by the jumbotron screen in the corner of the ground. With 30 minutes to go before kickoff, the screen displayed plenty of content to keep the football fans content on a cold evening in Lancashire. In addition to player interviews, you could watch live coverage of the players in the tunnel.

To the sounds of "The Final Countdown," the Blackburn and Tottenham players walked on to the pitch. The home support was boisterous, especially in the Blackburn End where I was sitting. Sitting next to a young Lancashire lad, his voice raspy from cigarette smoking, I was soon introduced to unique Blackburn chants such as "Small Town In Europe," and the "No, Nay, Never" (which took me a while to figure out what he was singing).

The match itself was quite memorable with Phil Dowd being the center of controversy after a couple of interesting decisions (and non-decisions, especially a handball by Mido). The final result was 1-1.

What I remember most about Blackburn is the warmth of its support, the interesting characters who were proud to be northern, the quality ground and the long walk back to the railway station through the pouring rain.

To read two articles I wrote for BBC Lancashire regarding my trip, go here and here.

In the continuing series of articles about my recent trip to England's football stadia, today I reminisce about my trip to Liverpool's Anfield ground.

Unable to get a ticket to the recent Champions League match between Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven (it was harder to get one than the Man United v Chelsea match), I descended on Anfield on an early Sunday morning late in November.

Walking up Walton Breck Road, I passed by the house where by great grandparents used to live approximately a hundred years ago. From the vantage point of the house, I could see the back-end of The Kop in the distance, edging out over the road.

When I finally made it to the top of the hill, there stood Anfield ground which looked far more modern from the outside than I expected. The car park at the back of the Centenary Stand was open, so I walked there to get a different view of the ground marvelling at the port holes that were built in the brick to remind visitors of Liverpool's history as an important port.

Returning to Walton Breck Road from the Centenary Stand, I stood outside the back of The Kop and marvelled at the sheer size of the stand. Outside stood the Bill Shankly statue next to the Paisley Gates. To the right was Liverpool's megastore, which looked a little out of place next to so much history.

Walking behind the Main Stand at Anfield, I had to walk past terraced housing that were literally in the giant shadow of the ground. Here, I was surprised to see houses that were condemned. During a bright sunny morning, the sight of the houses was disturbing. I can only imagine how scary it could be on a cold, dark night in Liverpool.

After walking around the back of the Main Stand, I came out by the Anfield Road Stand, the away end, and walked past the famous Shankly Gates, which are next to the memorial for the Hillsborough Disaster with an eternal flame and names of all of the 96 people who died permanently displayed in the wall.

While the rest of the ground was quiet except for a few people walking in and out of the megastore, there were several cars outside the Hillsborough Disaster memorial as numerous fans paid their respects and placed flowers on the pavement.

While the houses behind the Main Stand looked rundown and depressing, the homes behind the Anfield Road Stand, overlooking Stanley Park, were more majestic.

And so ended my brief visit to Anfield. Moments later I caught a cab to Lime Street railway station and departed for Blackburn.

Overall, the Anfield ground was immaculate. The ground, from the outside, looked very modern and clean. Just like White Hart Lane, you're unable to see any of the pitch or seats from the outside, but the unique thing about Anfield - of course - is the Shankly Gates, the Hillsborough Disaster memorial and the Paisley Gates. Say what you want about Liverpool, but the club has a lot of class.
To see photographs of my visit to Anfield, go visit the EPL Talk Photos site at Flickr.

I've started up an EPL Talk Prediction League in conjunction with the Premier League's I Know The Score game at http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/

Even if you've signed up with the Premier League Fantasy League, you still have to register.

Then enter the following private Mini-League code in: 228e-TKYP

Ideally this should have started at the beginning of the season -- but it should be lot of fun nevertheless.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

In the topsy-turvy world of transfer dealings, sometimes you don't know if you're coming or going. But one thing is for sure and that's the end of David Beckham's career at Real Madrid. After not being named to the squad for the Spanish Cup match against Real Betis last night, all signs are pointing in the direction that David Beckham will join the L.A. Galaxy.

But, first, a word of warning. After our hopes were raised in early December that Jurgen Klinsmann would be announced as U.S. head coach, we all know that nothing is 100% until the fat lady sings.

For Beckham and U.S. soccer, the move to L.A. would be a win-win and a much needed boost for soccer in the United States which is at quite a low ebb right now after Klinsmann's U-turn and the lacklustre display by the U.S. national team in the World Cup.

But with this blog (and site) being focused on the Premiership, what type of effect will Beckham's arrival in the States have on the Premiership-watching experience for fans in America? Personally, I think it'll be a positive one. Beckham's arrival would increase the number of soccer fans in America, which will - in turn - increase the number of TV viewers to Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports. And that's only going to increase the TV ratings for the Premiership as new fans get introduced to what many consider as the best league in the world.

Editor's Note: 11:15am ET, It's official. David Beckham has agreed to join the L.A. Galaxy.

Back in September, I wrote a blog entry entitled "The Beginning of The End for Jose Mourinho," where the piece criticized Chelsea's performances at the start of the Premiership season and mentioned that they were playing more like Real Madrid of last season than Man United of this. I also forewarned that Mourinho's head "could be on the chopping block by Christmas unless the Blues can turn around their season."

While the remarks seemed quite incredulous in September (read that comments section), they now appear to be eerily close to reality.

If you get a chance, watch Jose Mourinho's interview from after the Wycombe Wanderers match that appeared on Wednesday's "Through The Night" programme from Sky (which will be replayed on Thursday). You'll see a changed man from last season. He has noticeably large dark circles under his eyes. His body language and voice is significantly much less confident than in previous seasons or even earlier this season. His appearance looks disheveled, too.

This is obviously a manager under a huge amount of stress. Look at Sir Alex Ferguson in constrast, and Fergie looks as perky and content as he has ever done. Confidence seems to exude from Ferguson, and from a body language perspective, Ferguson appears to be winning the psychological battle.

Ferguson, meanwhile, must be licking his chops that Mourinho's mind games has now turned to his Chelsea board of directors rather than being aimed at Man United. Peter Kenyon's trip to China and his meeting with Guus Hiddink has cast obvious doubt over Mourinho's position at Chelsea, and Jose must know his job is in jeopardy.

Mourinho's only saving grace is to win a Champions League trophy. That's if he and his team can make it that far. Chelsea's form on the pitch has drifted into unchartered territory for Jose (in the past 5 games, they've won 1, drawn 4 and lost none -- and two of those matches were against Macclesfield and Wycombe). The team needs to regain its winning form, and fast, in order to be mentally and physically prepared for the away match versus Porto on February 21st.

Luckily for Chelsea, their opposition between now and the Porto match includes Wigan, Liverpool, Wycombe, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn, Charlton and Middlesbrough. Chelsea needs to win all of these matches comfortably.

In the past few weeks, I've listened to seven or eight journalists saying the same thing about the title race and how United still had to visit some of the top teams away in the second half of the season, and warned what would happen to United's form if a few key players would get injured such as Ronaldo and Scholes.

Each time I heard a reporter say that, though, I cringed. That's because it doesn't matter what happens near the tail end of the season. What matters most is now. If Chelsea slips further away from United in terms of points difference, then that his severe psychological implications for Chelsea.

Sure, injuries to two or three United stars would have an impact on their team, but by the way they're playing now and with the self-belief they have, I could see Man United overcoming those obstacles.

At the end of the day, I blame Chelsea's board more so than Mourinho for Chelsea's lack of form on the pitch. Ballack and Shevchenko have been flops (and were supposedly selected by Abramovich against Mourinho's will). And now Peter Kenyon's antics in China is causing stress inside the Chelsea camp when it's the last thing the Blues need.

I don't believe the battle is over for Chelsea, but two things need to happen quickly. The board of directors needs to come clean with Jose Mourinho and iron out all of the issues as well as providing him with transfer money to spend in the January window. And Jose needs to work his magic on the sidelines with the players he has (for now) and get Chelsea back to winning ways. If either of these things don't happen, Chelsea Football Club will be in severe trouble (by their standards).

• The next leader of the Labour party in Britain, and therefore the next Prime Minister, is a huge football fan. That's right, Scottish politician Gordon Brown is a Raith Rovers supporter who sold matchday programmes at the ground when he was younger, and followed Scotland during the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

• I finally got a chance to watch the Liverpool against Arsenal FA Cup match from this past Saturday, and watched the first six minutes with interest to see how the coverage was done. Commentator Peter Brackley didn't refer to the protest at all within the first six minutes despite the fans chanting "Justice For The 96" over and over again, and the fans in The Kop holding up placards spelling out the words "The Truth."The TV cameras did pan to show glimpses of The Kop, but Brackley chose not to draw attention to the protest and instead concentrated on the football on display even when after the six minutes was over, the fans stood up around the round and let out a giant and sustained roar.
  
  
• Setanta Sports officially announced today that they've agreed a deal with Fox Soccer Channel to sublicense US TV coverage of the Premiership through the 2009/2010 season.
  
  
• England is set to launch a new home shirt on February 6. Produced by Umbro, you can see a teaser of it here. Based on the tiny portion of the shirt that you can see, it looks like England may have reverted to a V-neck design.
  

If you live near the Indianapolis area and you're interested in being an EPL Talk Correspondent for the day, hobnobbing with the celebrities and attending the biggest annual soccer event in the U.S. with a press pass strapped around your neck, let me know.

Learn more about the biggest soccer convention of the year here.

The event in question is this Thursday night and is entitled Center Circle at the NSCAA Convention, where experts in the game debate the future of soccer in America. In addition to Bobby McMahon and Max Bretos, the guests are Don Garber, Christopher Sullivan, Christian Miles and Michelle Lissel.

EPL Talk is looking for a reporter who's interested in writing up his or her observations from the event, taking photographs and/or conducting a brief interview (if possible).

If you're interested, e-mail me at thegaffer[replacethiswithanatsign]epltalk.com

EPL Talk would like to welcome its newest sponsor, 777.com.

Check out the advertiser's banner ad on the homepage of EPLtalk.com. Be a part of the online gambling community with 777.com, the Internet's leading gambling guide.

Many of you may think that new logos aren't a big deal. But when you watch as much football on TV as you and I do, we want to make sure that the image that's burned on our retina is a decent one!

So today Setanta Sports unveiled their new logo (pictured right). It's drastically different than their previous incarnation (see here).

What does the new logo say to me? My first impression was that the colors are almost identical to Fox Soccer Channel's logo (see here). While I'm positive this isn't intentional, they could have picked colors to differentiate themselves from the competition.

The logo, to me, also communicates technology and youth. The font used reminds me of video games and a brand new dawn for the company. It also hints at a strong technology play with broadband. All of these things combined creates a feeling of youth.

What are your thoughts and do you care?

The People newspaper is reporting that Setanta Sports has offered football commentator Martin Tyler at least double his current Sky salary to move to Setanta in the summer.

While the reported offer may be difficult to turn down, it may be a difficult decision for Tyler. Does he leave Sky, where he's undoubtedly the number football commentator, to move to Setanta to launch their Premiership coverage in the UK?

What it does say about Setanta is that they're serious about having a quality product to offer UK residents starting next season. If the Irish company is able to acquire Tyler, this will go down as a massive coup. Is there a more famous football commentator in the world right now?

The latest episode of the EPL Talk Podcast has been published, which features an exclusive interview with one of the top Premiership football commentators, Steve Banyard.

Among other things, Banyard discusses his most memorable match he's ever commentated, what a week is like preparing for an EPL match, his viewpoints on whether video technology should be used in matches, and his input on how commentating his changed over the years. Banyard also talks about his web site, soccercommentator.com.

During the interview, Banyard mentions some of the football commentator greats he listened to as a youngster, one of which was the late Peter Jones. To listen to an excerpt of Jones and his calm and steady voice (in comparison to his over-excited co-commentator), go here.

By John Nicholson

The romance of the cup is an old cliche, but the FA Cup is very important in English football. It connects all levels of the league structure together for one big competition. The clubs with all the money and power in the game are forced to have to engage with the roots of the game. It's very healthy and democratic and is needed now more than ever as the upper echelons get richer and more distant from rest.

However, the notion of the romance of the cup is based largely around the competitions traditions of giant killing, of the mighty being humbled or at the very least being given a tough time. This is a very resilient tradition and it goes deep in English football culture but it's increasingly based on very thin ice because it happens less and less.

And I can tell you now who is likely to win the cup. It will be Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea.

I'm not a mystic in being able to tell you this, just look at the record books. Only Everton in 1995 have won it outside of this trio plus Liverpool since 1991. 16 years, only 5 winners. That's quite amazing in a knock-out tournament, more amazing still when you look further back because only 9 clubs have won it since 1980; that's 27 years. It wasn't always like this; in the 1970s 9 clubs won it in 10 years.

There are very few genuine upsets in the cup any more and when they do occur such as Swansea beating Sheffield United this weekend, it's because the Premiership club has fielded a weak side, almost to get knocked out so as to be able to put all effort into the league campaign.

The increasing predictability of the cup is leading to some calling for changes in the tournament, Paddy Barclay thinks there should be overseas clubs invited to take part – such as Real Madrid or Milan, to increase the interest and glamour. It's an interesting idea but stops it being a domestic contest and turns it into a European cup and the domestic nature of the competition is one of its great assets.

But something needs to happen because fans are starting to stay away from what in previous years were big cup games. Birmingham had 11,000 empty seats for their home game against Newcastle -- despite Newcastle selling all their tickets and being a division higher than the blues.

The competition needs freshening up. Let's make it a UK cup from the very starts, form the qualifying rounds and bring in the Scottish and League of Wales and Northern Irish clubs too. Lower league clubs should get a bigger cut of the gate money when they play a team higher in the league structure so as to promote their financial health and to give their fans a reason to turn up.

To increase the possibility of top flight sides being knocked out -- which is where a lot of the excitement resides, replays should be abandoned in favour of 90 minutes, extra time and penalties. It's possible for a lower league side to draw a one off game and win it in extra time or on penalties, it's almost impossible to draw one game then win the next, especially if it's away from home. As long as the lower league club is picking up the lions share of the gate money, this would compensate them for the loss of replay finances.

There is already too much predictability in football. We know who is going to win the Premiership at the start of every season within 2 or 3 teams; it's the same in most countries. Virtually, the same teams play in the Champions League every season. The F.A. Cup is the last remnant of the romance, hopes and dreams that have sustained and nurtured the football community these past 130 years. It shouldn't wither on vine and become just another two or three horse race. Its essential democracy and wild card nature needs to be preserved and enhanced otherwise it will continue to be another cakewalk to an ever less worthy trophy every season for the usual suspects.

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

If you're looking for live commentary of Manchester United v Aston Villa on the internet, go here. The third-round FA Cup match kicks off at 9am ET. The audio is courtesy of Eat Sleep Sport (thanks for the tip BCjohn).

EPL Talk has published the U.S. TV listings for matches involving Premiership sides (i.e. the EPL and Champions League) for now through April. The only place to find this exhaustive list is on the Forums at the EPL Talk Community site. It only takes a couple of minutes to register and you're in.

We're proud to announce that the next scheduled EPL Talk Podcast interview will be with Henry Winter, the esteemed football journalist from The Daily Telegraph newspaper. If there are any questions you'd like for me to ask him, just post them here (by clicking the 'Comments' link below).

In the meantime, stay tuned to the EPL Talk Podcast on Sunday night (January 7) when we feature an interview with Premiership football commentator Steve Banyard.

EPL Talk T-shirts are now available for $14.95 (free shipping for U.S.). If you're interested in purchasing one to support EPL Talk, visit the EPL Talk Store today.

Liverpool fans marked today's FA Cup third round match against Arsenal by protesting against Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun newspaper, who blamed Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough Disaster in a cover story entitled 'The Truth' that was published in his tabloid the Wednesday after the Hillsborough Tragedy in April, 1989.

To make matters worse, MacKenzie was recently reported to have said that "I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now" for the paper's infamous coverage of the Hillsborough disaster where it reported that some Liverpool fans had pickpocketed victims, urinated on cops trying to rescue fans, and beat up a police officer giving someone the kiss of life. However, it seemed that the police had fabricated these lies and fed them to the press.

Liverpool fans were also upset at the BBC for trying to air a show by Kelvin MacKenzie on BBC Radio Five Live on Christmas Day. But after receiving a petition containing more than 11,000 signatures, the BBC dropped the show.

Before Liverpool's match today against Arsenal, the fans in The Kop held up colored placards to spell out the words "The Truth" in protest against MacKenzie's recent refusal to apologize for what his newspaper published.

The display of placards lasted six minutes into the game -- precisely the same amount of time that police failed to do anything to help the fans trapped inside the pens at Hillsborough until the time the 1989 FA Cup semi-final was abandoned.

As soon as the six minutes were up, the Anfield roar was reportedly deafening.

For football fans in America, you can watch the tape-delayed highlights of the match on Fox Soccer Channel on Tuesday at 3pm ET and 11pm ET.

As the English Premier League continues to grow in popularity around the world, so too does the theme song that's played before every Premiership match as the teams line up.

Surprisingly, very little is known about the song and finding a copy of it is near impossible. Fortunately, EPL Talk has the answers and the audio you need.

The song's official title is the "Premier League Theme," and was originally recorded in 2004 and played from the start of the 2004/2005 Premiership season than began in August.

In 2005, Judge Jules, one of the most popular professional DJs in England and a mad Arsenal fan, remixed the anthem, and this is the version that you now hear on the English Premier League Review and English Premier League Preview shows.

Judge Jules and the story behind the remixed Premier League Theme song was profiled on the English Premier League Preview show in August, 2005.

To hear the original version of the Premier League Theme, listen to it here. And you can listen to the remixed versions of the EPL anthem here.

If you're new to EPL Talk, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the site. EPL Talk was created to enrich your experience of watching Premiership matches on TV. In addition to the EPL Talk Blog, visit the EPL Talk Podcast (the only Premiership soccer interview show on the Internet), and tons of other Premiership-related content (including a free weekly email newsletter) at EPLTalk.com.

Labels: dj judge jules, epl

Fox Sports World Report, the popular nightly news and highlights show on Fox Soccer Channel, will be rebranded as Fox Soccer Report starting Monday, January 8.

The more aptly titled show began by covering numerous sports including rugby and cricket, but is now focused on soccer.

You can listen to interviews with host Jeremy St. Louis or football expert Bobby McMahon on the EPL Talk Podcast.

When was the last time you remember having a weekend where all of the live soccer action was on Fox Soccer Channel, while Setanta didn't have any?

I love the F.A. Cup just as much as anyone, but it does add a wrinkle to the TV watching experience in America. While this past Saturday and Monday, we experienced 13 live or slightly delayed Premiership matches, this weekend we'll get to see just two live FA Cup matches (Nottingham Forest v Charlton, Sat., 10am ET, and Cardiff City v Tottenham Hotspur, Sun., 11am ET).

The third match, Tamworth v Norwich, which is arguably the most intriguing tie of the weekend -- will be shown tape delayed. The match kicks off at 7:30am ET, but won't be shown until Noon ET on Saturday (the match, fyi, will be broadcast live for viewers in the UK on BBC 1).

For the football purists who eat up live soccer on TV, this is a disgrace.

Also, the two biggest FA Cup matches of the weekend are only available on Pay-Per-View (or down at your local pub). Those are Liverpool versus Arsenal and Manchester United against Aston Villa.

I can presume that this trend will happen in later rounds of the FA Cup too where Fox will decide to make the biggest matches available on PPV only.

In contrast, Setanta Sports is showing the semi-finals of the League Cup on Tuesday and Wednesday on their regular network. Both matches will be shown live and not on PPV.

I'm curious. How many of you would be willing to pay to watch the two biggest FA Cup matches this weekend (Liverpool v Arsenal and Man United against Aston Villa)? Or will you try to experience the match in other ways (internet radio or other means), or will you just miss out on those two matches altogether and watch the highlights?

Setanta's tactic, this weekend, is to offer replays of several classic matches including Liverpool against AC Milan in the Champions League final, and Barcelona versus Arsenal from last year's "Big Cup."

So what are soccer fans to do about this weekend? Personally I recommend that we experience the FA Cup "the old-fashioned way" (i.e. enjoying it live as it's meant to be, which means watching the Forest v Charlton match at 10am ET on Fox, and listening to the audio on Talksport to hear the reports as the goals go in around the grounds, while keeping another eye on the live ticker to see reports of all of the major incidents).

Other ties of interest that will be played at the same time as the Forest v Charlton match at 10am ET on Saturday include:

Chelsea v Macclesfield
Birmingham v Newcastle
Doncaster v Bolton (in Doncaster's brand-new stadium)
Hull v Middlesbrough
Leicester v Fulham
Reading v Burnley
Sheffield United v Swansea
Torquay v Southampton
Watford v Stockport
West Ham v Brighton
And many others.

Out of these matches, what upsets do you think will happen? Reply below by clicking the 'Comments' link.

Feel free to join the EPL Talk fans from around the world in the EPL Talk Chat room this Saturday starting at 10am ET.

While it's been common knowledge for a couple of weeks, Fox Soccer Channel officially announced today via press release that it has renewed the U.S. TV rights for the English Premier League through the 2009-2010 season.

What's interesting is that Fox will license the Spanish language rights in the U.S. to its sister channel Fox Sports en Espanol, illustrating the popularity of the league in this country.

What's not mentioned in the press release is that Fox has sublicensed some of the Premiership matches to Setanta Sports (as it has been doing this season).

According to journalist Jamie Trecker, Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta "ponied up $57 million for [the rights] through 2010."

The agreement guarantees three more seasons of exceptional Premiership coverage from Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta. Now all they have to do is find a way to make a profit.

Earlier this morning, EPL Talk released its first podcast episode of 2007 featuring an interview with The Sunday Telegraph's Patrick Barclay.

The experienced football correspondent is often a guest on the BBC Sportsweek radio show with Garry Richardson. Plus Barclay is regularly featured on Sky Sports (view clip).

In case you missed it, Barclay published two very interesting articles at the tail end of 2006. The first, "Rich Get Richer As The Game Rots," discusses the amount of greed in the game and in society and how football sounds more like big business than ever before. The second article (entitled "Issues Facing The Game As 2006 Ends") is self-explanatory, but offers critique and ideas about the game that are refreshingly insightful.

Be sure to listen to the podcast episode and read the above articles. They're all required reading/listening.

Coming up on EPL Talk Blog during the next five days:

• The Gaffer recounts his visit to Liverpool's Anfield stadium
• Article about the English Premier League theme song or anthem
  
• What the Ewood Park experience is like for Blackburn supporters
• A look at ticket prices in the Premiership

Don't forget that we're giving away a different prize each day this week on the EPL Talk Community site. Win soccer-related videos, t-shirts, books, magazines and more.

By John Nicholson

There's a strange cultural phenomenon in Britain. No not the wonky yellow teeth and the fondness for warm beer and homosexuality, I'm talking about our attitude to winners.

To put it simply, we don't really like them. I exclude myself from this because I am not normal, indeed I am barely even human, but it is a common trait in British society. This goes some way to explain why we hardly ever win anything as a nation. Better to be an honourable loser than a crowing victor is still a view many have.

If you want an illustration of what I mean, just look at the sheer levels of vitriol directed towards Jose Mourinho by many fans and newspapers. His off hand comment at his first press conference in England, in let's not forget his second or third language said he though he was 'a special one.'

This could easily have been a mis-chosen word in the middle of a high pressure press conference but regardless it has been rammed back down his throat by all and sundry every time Chelsea display any fallibility. It seems to have been stored up to be used against him at very chance. People think it shows massive ego and arrogance.

But even if we assume that Jose does think he is special, then he's got every right to think so given his track record to date. If anyone is a special manager, he is. So why does that offend his critics so much?

I have a feeling that in America this kind of comment would be a non event because people expect top performers to have confidence bordering on arrogance. It's seen as a vital ingredient if you're going to be successful in any areas of society. And in truth, if you're going to be successful in your sport, you can't go about it without a fearless ego and self belief.

Yet in Britain we seem to breed that out of a lot of people. Perhaps its because we live on a small crowded island, maybe it's guilt about the empire, maybe its the class system or a generation of liberalism in education, I really don't know, but time and again you'll see people sneering at success, looking to pick flaws in people, looking to bring them down, often after putting them on an unreasonably high pedestal. If it was a sport, we'd be world champions.

In Australia it's called the tall poppy syndrome. Get too tall and you get cut down. That must have been exported from the UK. Too often in Britain we rejoice in people's fall from grace, we're quick to criticise rather than praise and we're keen to see problems not solutions.

And if that isn't bad enough, in football we have a media which is quick to over rate and over inflate players' talents. Good players are lauded as great players when they're not and too many fans follow this opinion without question.

The bitter twist to this culture is we then expect our football teams to go out and be world beaters and we viciously berate them when they are not - wallowing in the failure and misery of it all. It's a cruel Catch 22.

So this week when Mourinho came out and said, with remarkable honesty that maybe Chelsea think they're better than they are, and maybe he thinks he's a better manager than he really is, after a couple of poor performances, his words have been leaped upon as a sign that he's human after all. It's welcomed because self doubt seems to chime with the British character and because it gives his critics a chance to say 'I told you so.'

If he wants to leave Chelsea at the end of this season, and I think there's a better than even chance that he will, and if he wants to be remembered fondly in Britain, he should just keep on losing and keep on looking weary and bemused at his teams failure. After a period of mockery and rubbing his nose in his failure, attitudes to him will soften and he'll be thought of far more highly. It's perverse but it's true.

It seems we are less tolerant of the characteristics that make people single minded enough to be a winner than we have ever been, probably because of the extra focus the 24 hour media gives to everything. The slightest flaw in the fabric of someone's character is ripped wide open. The smallest indiscretion is magnified into a major crime. Any weakness is dwelt on and obsessed over in slow motion, on the hour every hour.

It's often said that Winston Churchill would never have become Prime Minister these days because he was a morbidly obese old alcoholic who suffered terribly from black dog depressions and all of this would have been exposed in the tabloid press and dwelt upon in depth and he would have been torn to shreds for all these weaknesses. But clearly this would have been wrong.

I'm not sure if Britain is exceptional in its suspicion of self confidant, single-minded, successful people or if it's a trait in all contemporary western cultures but when I see Australian cricketers, I see men who are talented, bullish, self confident to the point of arrogance and they don't care who knows it.

I'd like a bit of that in British sport because without it, I fear we're condemned to dressing up mediocrity as acceptable.

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

For many of us who watch Premiership soccer on TV, we hear the same football commentators more often than we see some teams play. No matter who plays on a weekend, it's comforting to hear the familiar voices.

But who are the men behind the mic responsible for painting the picture of the Premiership for us?

Here's the EPL Talk guide to TWI commentators (and Sky Sports talent):

Main Commentators:

Alan Parry. For many football fans, he's the second most popular commentator behind Martin Tyler. He's distinctive voice has been a staple of British football since 1973 when he joined the BBC. In that time, he's worked for the Beeb, ITV and Sky. Rumors are circulating that he may be on his way to Setanta Sports in the summertime.

Steve Banyard. A familiar voice to football fans each weekend. He's often teamed with football analyst Paul Walsh, and has been quietly been flying under the radar despite commentating on matches since the 1991 in Sheffield and, prior to that in Kent.

Ian Darke. In some circles, he's more famous as a boxing commentator than a football one, but Darke has been plying his football trade for quite some time. He even worked in the States for a while (if my memory is correct, it could have been the 1994 World Cup).

Martin Tyler. For many, Martin Tyler has ascended to the top of the ranks as legendary, and since departed, Brian Moore (pictured above) did. His unmistakeable voice and confident manner is the perfect combination of professionalism mixed with excitement when appropriate. A modern day legend who has commented on matches since 1974.

Rob Hawthorne. The former BBC Five Live commentator has been working with Sky Sports since the Premiership began in 1992.

Jon Champion. Yet another commentator with an unmistakeable voice. Champion has been commentating football matches on TV since 1995 and is also a former BBC Five Live radio commentator.

Tim Caple. Sounding like a more serious version of Stuart Hall, he most recently commented on the Manchester City match against Everton from January 1, 2007. A sample of his voice can be heard here.

Peter Drury. Another in a long list of legendary English football commentators, Drury has been commentating football on TV since he started with ITV in 1998.

Gary Taphouse. More familiar as the commentator for Chelsea's CFCnet coverage, Taphouse also finds time to commentate EPL matches.


Co-Commentators (aka color commentators):

Andy Gray. Former Everton star and the leading football expert on TV.
Andy Townsend. Former Aston Villa midfielder.
Chris Kamara. Former hard man defender played with 10 different clubs in England including Leeds United.
Robbie Earle. Former Wimbledon striker and scorer of Jamaica's first ever World Cup goal.
Brian Marwood. Former Arsenal winger.
Alan Smith. Former Arsenal striker.
Tony Gale. Former West Ham player.
David Pleat. Former Spurs manager.
Paul Walsh. Former Spurs centre forward.
Efan Ekoku. Former Norwich City striker.
Trevor Francis. Former Nottingham Forest striker who was the first million pound signing ever when he joined the club from Birmingham City.
Garry Birtles. Former Nottingham Forest forward.

Out of all of the football commentators who cover the Premiership on TV for your viewing pleasure, who are your favorites and who do you love to hate the most? And who did I miss (BBC, ITV, Setanta, radio and Channel 4 are not included on purpose).

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Maybe it's those tired legs or managers realizing that they have to score goals in order to win matches. Or maybe it's the leaky defenses? Whatever it is, it's working. In the Premiership from December 23rd 2006 until January 1, 2007, we've seen 109 goals which is an average of 2.94 goals per match. Take that Bill Edgar!

Earlier in the season, the average had been 2.14 goals per match compared with 2.75 in the Bundesliga and 2.5 in Serie A.

After Tuesday's Arsenal v Charlton and Aston Villa v Chelsea matches end, the season of holiday fixtures for the Premiership is over and what an entertaining one it has been.

I've already commented on how entertaining Saturday's matches were (and how about the level of noise generated by the Sheffield United supporters at Bramall Lane after that huge win against Arsenal?).

But the matches on New Year's Day were also extremely entertaining. Liverpool's match against Bolton could have gone either way until Peter Crouch's brilliance made the difference (how much longer will he be wearing a Liverpool shirt?). The Portsmouth against Spurs match on Setanta Sports was pretty thrilling at times with a draw being a fair result for both sides.

And David Edgar from Kitchener, Ontario becomes an overnight superstar by scoring Newcastle's shocking equalizer against Manchester United to settle the match at 2-2. Man United will be kicking themselves for not increasing the score when they were 2-1 up and were controlling Newcastle.

At 2-1 to Man United, the Red Devils were on the brink of being nine points ahead of Chelsea. Now after the draw, the gap is seven points and if Chelsea can beat Villa tomorrow, we'll be back to a four point gap again. Some are predicting that Villa can beat Chelsea, but I'm anticipating seeing Chelsea be victorious in this match after getting their backsides kicked in public by Jose Mourinho.