Is the Premier League really the best league in the world?

The Premier League is a carefully tuned beast. It is not only a fine example of football (and I do genuinely believe that), but it is also a mass-money producing behemoth that attracts billions of viewers around the four corners of the world. Especially since ‘the day when football began’ back ...

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Sunderland v Arsenal: Can the Gunners tame the Black Cats?

Arsenal enjoyed a confidence boosting 7-1 win over Blackburn at home last weekend but this Saturday will be an altogether different test for Arsene Wengers Gunners as they take on the Premier Leagues in-form side Sunderland. The Black Cats have lost just twice since Martin ONeill arrived on Wearsi...

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Shearer, Henry, Fowler, Cantona, Phillips or Le Tissier: Who are the two greatest strikers in Premier League history?

The success of the Premier League has been built on goals, and boy have we seen some ace marksman over the past 20 years. From Arsenal legend Thierry Henry to Newcastles local boy done good Alan Shearer, the top flight in England has seen the back of the net bulge on a regular basis. But who are the...

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England: Who will replace Capello as England boss?

Fabio Capello rocked the football world by walking out on England last night. The fiery Italian was always on a crash course with the FA following their decision to axe John Terry without his permission, but nobody thought the former Milan and Real Madrid boss would quit his £6 million a year job, e...

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FA Cup: Is Tottenham’s name on the trophy or can Arsenal end their trophy drought?

While the FA Cup holders Manchester City and Premier League champions Manchester United have been knocked out of the world’s most-loved cup competition, Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur have breezed through to the fifth round of the FA Cup. They saw off Cheltenham 3-0 at the Lane before just edgin...

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Predict the Premier League: Norwich on top as Villa, Everton and Liverpool climb the table

Norwich City bounced back from their defeat at Sunderland with a 2-0 home win over struggling Bolton on Saturday and it was a double celebration in Sue Reads home as the Canaries fan was the top pundit in the Predict the Premier League table. Sue picked up 19 points from matchdays 22 and 23, sendin...

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Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle or Sunderland: Who will win the battle for fourth?

The Champions League is the competition that clubs want to take part in for many reasons. The drama, the prestige, the money one receives for being involved in it. It’s such a sought-after competition and this term the race for the Champions League is even more complex than previous ones, with cer...

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Predict the Premier League: Norwich are up to second but Stoke are still the team to beat

Stoke City boss Tony Pulis felt his side had been conned out of a result at the snowy Britannia on Saturday following Robert Huths controversial red card, but there were no such problems for Potters fan Phil Eccleston when it came to the Predict the Premier League. Our long-time leader extended his...

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Squarefootball's Team of the Week and Weekend Wonders - Week 24

Manchester City kept their title hopes on track with a cool win over Fulham, while Arsenal cruised to three points against a battered and bruised Blackburn, but it was Manchester United’s heroic comeback at Chelsea which was the stand out game of the weekend. Yes it was another action-packed weeken...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: Serious lessons to learn from Fashanu’s footballing family

I’m fairly certain we can all agree that football has its fair share of problems. If it is not the shady transfer dealings of murky agent types skulking around the bins at Tottenham’s training ground, it is the ignorant grunts of ill-informed morons as they boo a man purely for being the brother of ...

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The England captaincy saga: Did the FA make the right decision? Who will take the armband?

The breaking news last Friday was that John Terry will not be England captain at Euro 2012. After allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, with the case earmarked for July, the FA made the contentious decision to strip the armband from the defender. Evidently, there are several important poin...

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A Scott to be England captain . . . Why Parker is the right man for Fabio

So its official, John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy AGAIN! After previously having the armband removed as a result of his alleged affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend, his latest dethroning comes as a result of the on-going race scandal involving Anton Ferdinand. Stripping T...

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Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers: Can the Gunners avenge their Ewood Park defeat?

Arsenal failed to beat Bolton in midweek and their Champions League hopes for next season are looking slimmer by the week. This weekend they host a Blackburn side that has slipped back into the bottom three and has only tasted success once on the road all season - however that was at Old Trafford. ...

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Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard or Cahill: Who has been the Premier League's greatest attacking midfielder?

The Premier League has been blessed with so many great attacking midfielders since its inception in 1992, but who has been the greatest? Steve Coulter has narrowed down his options to four; Liverpools Steven Gerrard, Manchester Uniteds Paul Scholes, Chelseas Frank Lampard and Evertons Tim Cahill, bu...

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Bolton v Arsenal: Can Bolton end Arsenal's Champions League hopes?

Arsenal used their get out of jail card against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Sunday, but how will they get on tonight against a resurgent Bolton side? The Wanderers are on a high after disposing of Liverpool 3-1 in the league and Swansea in the FA Cup. They have moved outside of the bottom three a...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: A prosperous week for Liverpool in the cups but off the field is a different story

The days leading up to the weekend’s FA Cup Fourth Round ties were not particularly pleasant for many football fans, a week in which the unseemly and murky face of football was glaringly apparent. Many column inches were devoted to the tax-evasion trial of Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, as well as th...

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Predict the Premier League: Baggies boing boing to the top

The past weekend in the Premier League proved to be a great one for Baggies fans around the world. After years of going down to their bogey side, Roy Hodgson finally guided the Albion to victory over Stoke City. And to make matters even better for the Albion, Baggies fan Andy Wakeman scorched the o...

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Predict the Premier League: Blackpool's lead is coming under real scrutiny

A few weeks ago it looked as though Blackpools Phil Trow was going to erase last seasons heartache of just missing out on the Predict the Premier League title by having this one wrapped up by Christmas. The Seasider had stormed to the top of the pile and nobody ever looked like catching him. Howeve...

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Predict the Premier League: Poor week for the experts

There were 30 points up for grabs this past weekend in the Predictions League but not even one single pundit could muster even a quarter of that figure. Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham and West Brom were the biggest coupon busters as the Blues drew a blank at Norwich, Liverpool were thrashed by Bolton,...

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Predict the Premier League: Stoke extend lead at the top to 25

Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom denied the majority of our pundits picking up a bundle of points last weekend but it didnt prevent our leader, Stoke fan Phil Eccleston, from extending his lead at the top to 25 points. Mr Eccleston could only manage seven points last weekend, courtesy of th...

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Keane, Vieira, Makelele, Parker or Mascherano: Who has been the greatest defensive midfielder in the Premier League?

Some of the best midfielders in the world have graced the Premier League over the past 20 years but who has been the best defensive midfielder the top flight in England has ever seen in that period? Manchester Uniteds Roy Keane was an absolute beast of a player. He had it all, but then so did Arsen...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: Confusion reigns at City as Coleman fluffs his lines

Have you played Football Manager 2012? You may wonder how a game brimming with data, facts and incalculable statistics comes to contain such a dearth of information. Well, in the early stages of the games development, some spotty oik is charged with the task of finding someone close to each of the 7...

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Team of the Week and Weekend Wonders: Week 22

What a weekend! I dont think anyone could have predicted such drama and excitement in the Premier League fixtures we were treated to. There are certainly many talking points and we will be covering them all! There was a staggering 35 goals in the Premier League this weekend, and that includes the sc...

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Arsenal v Manchester United: Can Wenger gain revenge for that Old Trafford nightmare?

Arsenal suffered one of the Premier League most humiliating defeats at the hands of Manchester United in August. The Red Devils cut the Gunners open eight times in a game that asked some serious questions about the quality in Arsene Wengers squad. They have since bounced back to form but will Unite...

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Who would be in your Arsenal/Manchester United dream team?

This Sunday comes the clash of two titans – or at least Arsenal used to be titans – as the London side take on Manchester United. While Arsenal and Wenger in particular will be reeling from losing goals to a slick, impressive Swansea side, Manchester United will be on a roll after they compounded th...

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Premier League: Who would make up your ultimate 18-man squad?

We here at Squarefootball like to provoke debate and one question that has had us all thinking is one regarding an ultimate team. That is, who would make up the best possible 18-man squad? The rules are simple: our writers were tasked to create a squad of 18 players from the 20 sides in the Premier...

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Beckham, Ljungberg, McManaman, Waddle or Kanchelskis: Who has been the best right winger in the Premier League?

The Premier League is 20 years old this year and were gatecrashing the party early to try and assemble the greatest set of players to have ever played in the top flight. Today its the turn of the right wingers. Steve Coulter has narrowed his search down to just five; David Beckham, Freddie Ljungbe...

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Predict the Premier League: Birmingham and West Ham toast successful week

Birmingham and West Ham United are riding high in the Championship and Steve Coulter and Mitch Waddon have done their teams proud by recording the joint highest scores of the week. Blues fans Steve got his points tally courtesy of four perfect score predictions and three correct outcomes - the same...

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Predict the Premier League: Fulham and Norwich flying high

While Norwich were beating West Brom at the Hawthorns, Fulham were losing to 10-men Blackburn, but both Canaries supporter Sue Read and Fulham fan Neil Springate had good reason to celebrate at the weekend as they topped the Predictions table. Sue and Neil topped the weekly chart with 12 points eac...

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Predict the Premier League: Birmingham and Portsmouth close in on leaders Blackpool

Blackpool have led the Predict the Premier League Experts section for most of the season, but is the pressure of leading the title race starting to get to Seasider Phil Trow? The Tangerines have seen their lead at the top cut to just three points, as Birminghams Steve Coulter and Portsmouths Peter...

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Predict the Premier League: Stoke remain the team to beat

No team ever wins silverware in January, but Stoke Citys Phil Eccleston certainly has one hand on our Predict the Premier League trophy. The passionate Potter is now 23 points clear of his nearest rival, Manchester Uniteds Peter Lee, and shows no sign of buckling under the pressure. His eight-poin...

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Arsenal: Time To Give It A Rest, Arsene

The most predictable headline on Mondays sports pages? Wenger angered by penalty award stands out a mile. So many football fans leaf open the paper or turn on the radio these days after an Arsenal game expecting to hear theGunners manager explain why his team were robbed. As soon as I heard that Swa...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: An incident-packed week at the BBC leaves Savage short of support and Lineker lost for words

They say a week in football is a long time and it can certainly be said that there was enough controversy, incident and wonder crammed into the last seven days of football to keep Joey Barton’s Twitter account going for years. The fallout from the Manchester derby, the return of Scholes and Henry, t...

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Team of the Week and Weekend Wonders: Week 21

And were back. I hope you didnt miss me too much these past couple of weeks, what with the busy festive period and then the magic of the FA cup taking over last weekend. However, here I am once again and we are ready to go with the Team of the Week and the Weekend Wonders. It was another engaging...

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Swansea City v Arsenal: Will Henry be the hero again?

Meetings between Swansea and Arsenal have been rarer than a Fernando Torres goal for Chelsea, but if the Swans keep playing the way they have been under Brendan Rodgers this could be a Premier League fixture for years to come. Swansea have made the top flight their home and have no plans to go bac...

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How can the FA and League Cups regain their magic?

I am not sure who had the worst week, Manchester City or the two English cup competitions. A comparatively modest crowd of 36,017 witnessed City’s defeat in the first leg of Carling Cup semi-final. The low turn out even drew comment from BBC pundit and former England striker Alan Shearer. After a w...

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Premier League referees: Does Professional Really Mean Better?

Occasionally you feel like writing a piece and then realise that what youre about to say makes you sound like a dinosaur - and after seeing Sundays Manchester cup tie thats what happened to me. Not many people will agree with what follows but in football theres nothing like a debate about referees t...

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Giggs, Robben, Ginola, Overmars or Barnes: Who has been the greatest left winger in the Premier League?

Manchester Uniteds Ryan Giggs has played in every single season of the Premier League, broken countless records and won multiple trophies, but is he really the best left winger to have graced the Premier League? On longevity, you cant argue with Giggs contribution to the game. But should we judge g...

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Arsenal: Why Wayne Bridge is not the answer to Arsenal’s defensive problems

Arsene Wenger has seen his defence ravaged with injuries this season. So much so that the liability that is Sebastien Squillaci managed to bag himself an appearance bonus against Fulham, and cost the Gunners a result. Rumours in the Press recently have suggested that Arsene Wenger could be willing...

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Racism is in the spotlight but what is being done to tackle homophobia?

The FA stamped down on Luis Suarez’s racism towards Patrice Evra. And it’s quite right that they did, isn’t it? For when we look back into the past, and certainly in football’s past, we see things that are shockingly vile. In the seventies and part of the eighties, black footballers were subjected ...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: Manchester disunited but the magic of the FA Cup is alive and well

The much talked about magic of the FA Cup was present in abundance this Sunday during the huge third round Manchester showdown, in fact there was more magic contained in the 90 minutes than during a Paul Daniels swingers party. Chris Foy’s card tricks, a disappearing City captain and most mystifying...

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Robin Van Persie’s top bet to beat Aguero, Ba and Rooney to the Golden Boot

Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie enjoyed the year of his life in 2011. He stayed out of the treatment room, became club captain and broke Thierry Henry’s record of 34 goals in a calendar year. But can he end the 2011/12 season as the Premier League’s most prolific marksman? The Flying Dutchman got his 35...

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Predict the Premier League: Blackpool are top but Portsmouth are closing in

The festive period produced shocks galore in the Premier League with the leaders Manchester City, the champions Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all losing games they would have expected to have won. Trying to predict the outcome of the games from Boxing Day up to January 5 was as tricky as t...

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Predict the Premier League: Portsmouth and Fulham lead the way

The Christmas and New Year period may now be a distance memory as we get back to work but its a period that Portsmouths Peter Rendle and Fulhams Russell Goldman wont forget in a hurry. Our Portsmouth pundit from the land down under came out on top following a great festive period with a score of 23...

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Predict the Premier League: Stoke start 2012 at the top

Stoke Citys Phil Eccelston has led the way in the Predict the Premier League table for most of the season and he cemented his place at the top with a great period over Christmas and New Year. The passionate Potter scored a fantastic total of 26 to extend his lead in the title race to 22 points, but...

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Adams, Pallister, Toure, Carragher or Terry: Who have been the best two defenders in the Premier League?

The Premier League celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, but who have been the best two central defenders to have graced the league? Steve Coulter is continuing his quest to assemble the greatest starting XI the Premier League has ever seen and this week he has turned his attentions to the cen...

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Square Football's Festive Best - Team of the party season

Happy new year to all! Welcome to 2012 and to our holiday themed team of the week and weekend wonders! What a way for this years football to begin! Theres been some Christmas crackers in December and now were left to sort through the left overs and pick out the plums that reallty impressed us at ...

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Outside the Box – Football on TV: A football overkill but Fabregas’ Barcelona adventure keeps us watching

At the top of this article you will see, if you can get past the crass, self-congratulatory overuse of my own name, that the tagline for this column mentions that there isn’t enough football on the TV. Obviously this pithy line is actually nonsense as there is in fact far too much football clogging ...

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Fulham v Arsenal: Can the Gunners cement their place in the top four?

Arsenal start 2012 in the top four and Arsene Wenger will be hoping the return of Thierry Henry will keep them there until the end of the season. First it was Sol Campbell, then it was Jens Lehmann, now its Thierry Henry. I understand Ian Wright and Charlie George are currently polishing their bo...

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Mad Mario, Sensational Szczesny and Bargain Ba: Chris Pettitt's review of 2011

Over the past week our esteemed writers have shared their views on the highs and lows of the past 12 months. Today, the final day of 2011, we give our regular TV critic Chris Pettitt the platform and, as always, he doesnt mince his words. Who has been your player of the year? Manchester Citys Mar...

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