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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Everton v Chelsea: Can Everton hit Chelsea's top four hopes?

Everton put the skids on Manchester Citys title dreams last month with a 1-0 win at Goodison. Could they do the same to Chelseas aspirations to finish in the top four this Saturday? Previous meetings between these two sides have been tense and close fought affairs. Chelsea go into the game with th...

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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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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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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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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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Chelsea v Manchester United: Will Torres avenge his open goal hell against United?

Chelsea and Manchester United played out one of the most entertaining games of the season at Old Trafford in September. The match will probably be most remembered for Fernando Torres amazing miss from six yards out, but lets not forget that we had four goals and a total of 30 attempts at goal. If...

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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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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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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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Swansea City v Chelsea: Will the Blues be added to Swansea's list of scalps?

The Liberty Stadium has been a fortress for Swansea this season - only Manchester United have left Wales with maximum points - but can Chelsea follow in the champions footsteps or will the Blues suffer the same fate as Arsenal? Brendan Rodgers has won much acclaim for his sides football philosop...

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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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Norwich City v Chelsea: Can the Canaries give AVB the Blues?

Norwich have lost their last five meetings with Chelsea but Paul Lamberts men will fancy their chances against Andre Villas-Boas team this weekend. The Canaries are the highest placed promoted side in the Premier League and last weekends win at West Brom has moved them 12 points closer to the magi...

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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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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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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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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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Chelsea: Can Cahill make Chelsea feared once more?

Bolton Wanderers’ defender Gary Cahill was one of the Premier League’s most wanted men. Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs were all linked with the England international over the past 12 months but Chelsea have secured his services for £7 million. Just six months ago Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was ridi...

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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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Can Sunderland beat Chelsea at the Bridge again?

This fixture has produced 35 goals in the past seven meetings and with Chelseas defence looking ropey and Sunderland riding high under Martin ONeill I expect that tally to be even greater after the full-time whistle. Last season Sunderland produced one of the shocks of the campaign by beating th...

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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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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: 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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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: 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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Manchester United: Is Frank Lampard really on Fergie's radar?

Frank Lampard has been a great servant for Chelsea. Some questioned Claudio Ranieris decision to pay West Ham £11 million for the midfielder more than a decade ago, but his goal return at the Bridge alone has made that fee look like a bargain. Lampard has been an integral part of the Blues success o...

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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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Chelsea: Just How Important Is Europe For Them Now?

Chelsea are currently suffering with their own poor run of form: without a win in four games before a dodgy triumph over Wolves - including draws against the likes of Wigan Athletic, with Didier Drogba to leave for the African Cup Of Nations in January and a gigantic few weeks approaching for...

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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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Wolves v Chelsea: Can Wolves pile the pressure on AVB?

Aston Villa consigned Chelsea to their third home defeat of the season on New Years Eve. Today the Blues head up to the Black Country looking to making amends against a Wolves side who actually beat them this time last year. Jose Bosingwa was the villain last season as he scored an early own goa...

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Chelsea v Aston Villa: AVB tipped to end year with a win

Chelseas Champions League hopes for next season hang in the balance after three straight draws but AVB will be hoping to end the year on a high with victory over struggling Aston Villa this afternoon. After ending Manchester Citys unbeaten record this month, Chelsea looked to have re-emerged in ...

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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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