Over the next few weeks I will be looking to develop a weekend preview piece. A few games will be highlighted and there is of course the opportuntity for readers to provide comments as they see fit.
Manchester United vs. Bolton and Chelsea vs. Sheffield United.........obviously United and Chelsea start as favourites. Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo will continue to battle it out for the Player of the Year Award.
At the over end the table Manchester City faces Middlesbrough. Based on their past record things don't look good for Stuart Pearce and City. City have lost 5 straight Premiership games have not won in 7 visits to Middlesbrough with 5 losses and 2 draws. In the Premiership City have only beaten Boro once in 15 games. These games are generally low scoring with only 4 goals in their last 4 games.
Watford are the latest team to try and tame the Tottenham Hotspur scoring machine and in particular Dimitar Berbetov. Watford with a win and two draws in their last four have equaled their best run of the season. Spurs appear to have given up stopping goals going in and have reverted to scoring more than the opposition - an interesting idea. The last time Spurs earned a shut out in the Premiership was back at the end of October against Watford in a scoreless draw.
In the Championship the race for promotion continues to be tighter than a Scotsman. At the bottom of the table it is the same thing. Luton have dropped into the relegation zone and Mike Newell was fired this week. Two teams trying to save thenmselves from slipping into League One clash this weekend when Southend United plays Leeds United. Oh how the once mighty have fallen.
Schalke 04 v VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga), Lazio v Empoli (Serie A), Recreativo Huelva v Barcelona (La Liga), and Porto vs. Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) appear to be the pick of games on the continent.
Chelsea’s win over Norwich in the FA Cup 5th Round was of the routine variety. A deflected shot from Shaun Wright-Phillips just before half time set the Pensioners on their way. Didier Drogba put the game beyond Norwich with a goal early in the second half and then Essien and Shevchenko scored in injury time to give to scoreline a look that Norwich probably didn't deserve.
Now Chelsea faces a Premiership side for the first time this season although they do have home advantage once more. Tottenham provides the opposition and it is difficult to guess how Spurs reacted to the quarter final draw. On the positive side they did beat Chelsea 2-1 at White Hart Lane in November after falling behind to an early Claude Makelele goal. Conversely it was only the second time that Spurs had beaten Chelsea in their last 38 meetings.
Spurs looked to have finally got their season on track and although they continue to have trouble keeping the opposition off the score sheet the goals are flying in at the other end. Four straight wins in all competitions before the UEFA Cup match against Braga has seen Spurs score 14 goals.
The first win of this current run was 4-0 over Fulham in the FA Cup 5th round at Craven Cottage. This brought Tottenham’s goal tally in FA Cup to 11. Cardiff were beaten 4-0 in a replay (after 0-0), and other Championship side Southend went down 3-1.
Only Manchester United and Arsenal have won the FA Cup more often than Tottenham Hotspur but neither can match Spurs’ record of losing only once in the FA Cup final. Eight times Spurs have won the FA Cup (1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982 and 1991) and the first win in 1901 was while playing in the Southern League. Spurs remains the only non-league to lift the trophy since the advent of the Football League in 1888.
The only loss came in 1987 to Coventry and even then a Spurs player scored the deciding goal. Clive Allen and Dave Bennett swapped goals in the first ten minutes of the Wembley final but a Brian Kilcline own-goal just on half time sent Spurs in with a 2-1 lead. A flying header from Coventry striker Keith Houchen took the game into extra time and then Spurs centre back Gary Mabbutt’s knee gave Coventry the Cup as he deflected a cross passed his own goal keeper.
Chelsea and Tottenham met for the first time in the FA Cup nearly a century ago. In 1910 Spurs beat Chelsea 1-0 in the second round and since then Spurs have retained a slight edge with four wins, three losses and one draw. Chelsea knocked Spurs out of the FA Cup in both 1964 and 1965 but Spurs gained revenge two years later when faced each other in the Final for the only time. It was the first time that two London teams had made it to the final.
The record shows that Spurs were the much better side on the day and goals from Jimmy Robertson and Frank Saul gave them a comfortable lead even though Bobby Tambling pulled one back with five minutes to go.
The line ups read like a Legends game. Tottenham Hotspur – Jennings; Kinnear, England, MacKay, Knowles; Robertson, Mullery, Venables, Saul; Greaves and Gilzean. Chelsea – Bonetti; Harris (A), Hinton, Harris (R), McCreadie; Hollins, Cooke, Baldwin, Boyle; Tambling and Hateley.
The full quarter final draw can be found here and this is a link to the latest news from the official FA Cup website.
Past Featured Games Extra Preliminary Round Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A. 5-2 Billingham Synthonia. Preliminary Round Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A 5-4 Thackley F.C First Qualifying Round Fleetwood Town 3-0 Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A. Second Qualifying Round Fleetwood Town 4-2 Goole AFC Third Qualifying Round Fleetwood Town 2-0 Warrington Town Fourth Qualifying Round Fleetwood Town 2-0 Wisbech Town First Round Salisbury City 3-0 Fleetwood Town Second Round Salisbury City 1-1 Nottingham Forest Second Round Replay Nottingham Forest 2-0 Salisbury City Third Round Nottingham Forest 2-0 Charlton Fourth Round Chelsea 3-0 Nottingham Forest Fifth Round Chelsea 4-0 Norwich City
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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