Article by: Matthew Wood
For years a fight for fourth place wasn’t even considered a possibility, as it was always assumed these places would be taken by, the “top four.” However with more investment coming for the middle table clubs, each year, the gap has been closing, and this year could be the year when David finally beat’s goliath.
As I write this article, Aston Villa stands in 4th place, while Arsenal are 5th.  Villa currently have 7 more points than Arsenal, recently beating Blackburn. Arsenal however had a 0-0 draw against Spurs this weekend; this wouldn’t be so bad if Arsenal hadn’t drawn their last 4 games. Not the form of a team challenging for a Champions League space.
Many have been spectating why Arsenal have been the host of bad form this year, some blame the injuries, some blame the lack of experience and a captain, and some have blamed Arsenals reluctance to spend money. Those who blame injuries have a fair argument as Cesc Fabregas, arguably Arsenal’s best player, has been injured for a good period of the season. Those who blame Arsenals lack of experience also have a point because in one particular match Arsenal had an average age of just 19. The idea that Arsenal don’t have enough experience also ties in with their reluctance to spend money. Boss, Wenger, though has seemed to realise that they need a leader with some experience, and has taken moves to try and sign, Andrei Arshavin, who has been linked with all sort of high ranking clubs throughout the globe. The 27 year old first got clubs interest after stunning performances at Euro 2008. However, is this the man to get Arsenal where they want to be, or has the damage, already been done?

It’s not just the decline of Arsenal that has been leading up to this, for a long time clubs like Everton, Man City and Aston Villa have been putting more and more investment in to  transfers.  Aston Villa have been making smart buys such as Ashley young, Sidwell and Friedel. Not big name signing but each had qualities that complement each other. Martin O’Neil should take credit for this as he has done wonders for Villa.
Aston Villa does have some hard fixtures coming up though, including Vs Chelsea. When Arsenal have some games they really should be winning such as West Brom and Stoke. If Arsenal want to get in to fourth they will have to do it within the next few game unless Aston Villa mess up later on in the season. However, being a club of Arsenals stature and pinning hopes on other teams tripping up is not a good game plan. Wenger is a good manager, and hopefully he will make the signings he needs on the last day of the transfer window to get their season back on track. 

It’s not going to be an easy task getting rid of Villa though, they are in a good position, and wont let go easily, I look forward to seeing how this pans out at the end of the season.

Since being appointed in June 2008 Scolari has been sacked suddenly by the Chelsea board.

Ray Wilkins will take up the managerial position for now until a Abramovich finds Phil’s successor 

The Chelsea Board said on their Website , ”He was sacked in order to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for”.

“Luiz Felipe Scolari has been dismissed as manager of Chelsea Football Club with immediate effect,” read the statement. “The Chelsea board would like to place on record our gratitude for his time as manager.

“Felipe has brought many positives to the club since he joined and we all feel a sense of sadness that our relationship has ended so soon.

“Unfortunately the results and performances of the team appeared to be deteriorating at a key time in the season.

“In order to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for we felt the only option was to make the change now.

“The search for a new manager has already started and we hope to have someone in place as soon as possible.”"The search for a new manager has already started and we hope to have someone in place as soon as possible.”

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Article by deej3005

Arsenal

In-Andrei Arshavin-Zenit St.Petersburg

Arshavin will be one of the Gunners’ key players this season.  This transfer alone is unlikely to save Arsenal’s season, but the fact that Arshavin has joined may spur Arsenal on to finishing in the top four and achieving something in the Champions League. 

Transfer Rating: 4.5/5

Out-Jay Simpson-West Brom-loan

Out-Gavin Hoyte-Watford-loan

Out-Paul Rodgers-Northampton-loan

Out-Rui Fonte-Crystal Palace-loan

Out-Henri Lansbury-Scunthorpe-loan

Aston Villa

In-Emile Heskey-Wigan-£3.5M

The big England striker joined O’Neill’s side for a bargain 3.5m. With Carew and Agbonlahor already available, Heskey may not play every game, but he is very good at holding up the ball, bringing others into play and playing alongside a smaller, speedier forward such as Agbonlahor. He’s already got his Villa career off to a good start with a goal on his debut, this is an excellent coup by O’Neill.

Transfer rating: 5/5

Out-Wayne Routledge-QPR-loan

The little winger simply wasn’t playing at Villa, and had to go somewhere to get his career back on track. From villa’s point of view, this loan move is not a bad thing, as Routledge might be able to get into some form and show us all some of the potential that he displayed at Crystal Palace.

Transfer rating: 4/5

Out-Sam Williams-Walsall-loan

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One of the most talked-about transfer sagas finally ended a week ago with Kaka refusing to move to Man City. Its hardly surprising really, in this writers humble opinion.

First of all, why would anyone in their right mind want to freeze his preverbials off in the North of England?. I know Robinho made the transition but he wasn’t really happy at Real Madrid and I’m guessing the mad amount of money that he was offered was too good to be true. Kaka is still a massive part of the Milan team and to lose him would be disasterous for the Rossoneri. I have my own thoughts on how this possibly went down when Garry Cook went to Milan.

I think he went there with complete arrogance and his ‘We’re Man City and we have so much cash you can’t refuse’ obviously fell on deaf Italian ears. Either that or they just laughed at him. Anyway, City claimed Milan ‘bottled it’ but, in reality, is that such a bad thing? I really don’t think Milan would want to get rid of their best player and, lets be honest, one of the best players of our modern game. I don’t ever think Milan wanted to let him go but thought they’d humour City into thinking they could get him. And the moral of this story is? Money can’t buy you everything, there are some things that are untouchable. Kaka is definately one of them.

Even though City have got all this cash, it still feels ludicrous that they’re being linked with everything with a pulse. Its things like this that are ruining the Premiership. Its like cheating at Footy Manager and giving Gloucester City £100bn. We’ve all done it at some stage and its fun, but when it happens in real life we’re up in arms at this. City need to be wary about how much they spend on these players. They’ve already splashed an absolute fortune on Robinho, Kompany, Jo, Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy. Sorry but those last two make me laugh something awful. Wayne Bridge used to be a footballer and how he commands a double figure sum is beyond me. Same goes for Bellamy. What has he ACTUALLY done in his career to get a £12m move to City? He’s skillful but in no way is he worth more than £4m. Its signings like this that could ruin City. Its signings like this that prove they have no ambition and the highest they’ll finish is probably 8th. They can’t just buy their way into the top 4. It takes hard work, a squad thats compatible with each other and a manager that knows what he’s doing. Anyway, with this neverending Credit Crunch affecting the World, should City really be throwing about all this cash? And will it lead to success? I really don’t think so. Chelsea, for all their billions have struggled since Lord Jose legged it. They’re just not the force they once were and splashing out money on disasters like Malouda, Pizarro and Cashley Cole have shown that they really were tactically solid under Jose and since then they’ve been poor. Not terrible, but you get the idea. City are a far cry worse than Chelsea and I really don’t think Sparky is up to this job. He just isn’t a top manager. He did alright at Blackburn but he didn’t win anything. Again, money came in as a major factor here. He’s being found out though and soon enough he’ll be booted in place of someone like Ancelotti or Guus Hiddink.

Back to Kaka though, the man is a different kind of footballer that you don’t really see these days. He’s caring and a man of God. Although I don’t really buy into this religious nonsense, I think what he does is pretty inspiring. He works for charities and I’ve also heard that he gives a substantial amount of his wages to help poor kids or other charities. OK, you see players going to hospitals for pictures with the sick kids but thats an obligation and I bet they really don’t want to be there. These Premiership players wouldn’t even donate money to nurses to help their wages!. They just do it to up their image and reputation as a ‘caring member of the community’. Kaka actually means these things and its with this that I raise the most important point of why he didn’t go to City.

Its not about money.

The £500k A WEEK he was reported to get didn’t even phase him. If anything it was a deterent. He really doesn’t care about the money and I think the fact that City were willing to thrown millions at him showed that he was sticking to his principles. Good on him I say. Again, offer that to the likes of Cashley Cole and he wouldn’t just swerve off the road, he’d be wrapped around a tree.

City need to learn that they can’t just throw money at someone and they’ll come running. There is no ‘i’ in team and there certainly isn’t a ‘Kaka’ in that team either. 

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More To follow …

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