Barrie's View

Following the sacking of Darren Ferguson, his father, Sir Alex Ferguson has demanded the return of Manchester United loanees that had been sent to Preston to help his son.

Ritchie de Laet, Josh King and Matt James had all been on loan to the side languishing at the bottom of the Championship from the side currently atop of the Premier League.

Preston are odds-on favourites to lose their position in the Championship at the end of the season, lying 5 points adrift of the division. They have a good opportunity to pick up points on new year’s day as they host out-of-form Derby County at Deepdale. The loss of these three Manchester United players will come as a big blow to the club who recently sold Richard Chaplow to Southampton.

Norwegian-born King had failed to score in any of his 7 league appearances for Preston. Former Everton defender and the highest-scoring defender in the history of the Premier League, David Unsworth takes temporary charge of the Lilywhites.

Darren Ferguson won a Premier League winners medal in the inaugural season of 1992/93, playing for his father.

At the top of the table, Queens Park Rangers are odds-on favourites to win the Championship, currently sitting 7 points clear of second-place Cardiff City after 23 games.

Since the renaming of the JJB Stadium on August 1st 2009, Arsenal have failed to win at the DW Stadium.

Last season, Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead at the DW Stadium in the final 10 minutes, to lose the game 3-2. Many consider this to be the game that ended Arsenal’s title race. This evening’s draw hasn’t ruled them out of the title race just yet, lying 2 points behind Manchester United in third place.

With this evening’s draw between Wigan and Arsenal, Manchester United’s odds dropped to 11/10 to win this season’s Premier League title.

Arsene Wenger decided to make 8 changes to his team that saw off Chelsea on Boxing Day. A suspension to Cesc Fabregas was the only forced changed. The Arsenal team that played at Wigan this evening failed to create enough chances and ultimately paid the price with a late own goal from Sebastien Squillaci; a player whom had been dropped for their victory over Chelsea.

Despite this draw, only Manchester City have picked up more points on their travels than Arsenal so far this season. 3 home defeats have been a big problem for the Gunners so far this season. 17th place Birmingham City have lost just once at home so far this season, they host Arsenal on new year’s day. Only Stoke City, Newcastle, Wolves and West Ham have lost more games at home than Arsenal.

It was dropping points on the road that is the talking point for Arsenal tonight. They have failed to take advantage of Manchester United’s late slip up at Birmingham yesterday. Defending a set piece against 10 men will be the biggest talking point from this game.  And as I have said all season, I don’t believe this Arsenal team, with this defence are good enough to win the Premier League.  I know Arsenal fans would love them to prove me wrong, but Arsenal aren’t going about it the right way with results like this.

Chelsea returned into the top 4, and are now 2 points behind Arsenal thanks to a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers this evening. Now having won their first game in 7, Chelsea entertain out-of-form Aston Villa on Sunday with a great opportunity to put back-to-back victories together for the first time since October in the Premier League.

Wolves’ odds have moved above halves to go down now following their 1-0 victory at Anfield. This result leaves them 1 point from safety and sends West Ham back to bottom of the Premier League.

Having started the month of December by throwing away leads in the second half versus both Birmingham City and an out-of-form Chelsea side, Tottenham have taken advantage over Christmas with two impressive victories that have seen them fly into the top 4. On new year’s day, Tottenham host Fulham in a game they are widely expected to win.

Top 4 was the ultimate aim for Harry Redknapp and his Tottenham side heading into this season. The acqusition of Rafael van der Vaart, arguably the signing of the season to this point have boosted their chances dramatically. The former Real Madrid player has 8 goals and 5 assists in the league already this season as Tottenham have picked up 33 points from 19 games, sitting above Chelsea in the table.

Their attacking style has been refreshing, making them one of the most exciting teams in the Premier League once again, amongst the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United. But it has come with a price. Newcastle became only the second time to fail to score against Tottenham this season, in their 2-0 defeat yesterday despite Younes Kaboul’s red card. But as long as they continue to outscore their opposition, Redknapp and his side have nothing to worry about.

Tottenham provide a lot of goal threats, despite Jermain Defoe failing to register a single goal in the league this season and Peter Crouch registering just one. Crouch has been the creator of several this season, while Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has 5 league goals without playing a full 90 minutes in a single game this season.

The vast majority of Tottenham’s goals have come from midfield. Their success comes from midfield. Gareth Bale registered his sixth of the season yesterday and is two behind top scorer van der Vaart. Aaron Lennon scored his second of the season, while both Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone have 1 each.

With Tottenham now in a position not to be a selling club, they can keep hold of their prized assists. Whereas in previous seasons, they’ve had to sell the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick and Robbie Keane. Breaking into the top 4 was a big deal for the North London club, and maintaining that position again this season would be a huge step.

With Chelsea out-of-shape at the moment, Tottenham are taking full advantage of that. But for a home game with Manchester United in mid-January, Tottenham have a good run of fixtures to pick up maximum points from. When the Champions League starts up again, it will be a further test of how strong this Tottenham team is. Tottenham lost at home to Wigan, drew with Everton and lost at Bolton earlier this season directly after Champions League games. A signing or two in January wouldn’t go amiss.

Tottenham are currently 6/4 to finish in the top 4. They are 24/1 to win the Champions League.

Here is a comparison of the transfer spend of the top 4 most successful sides in English football since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. These lists do not include the Charity Shield, Super Cups or those Intercontinental tournaments that Manchester United have featured in. These statistics do include the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Manchester United

Chelsea

Arsenal

Liverpool

Transfer fees provided by www.transferleague.co.uk.

With their 11 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League trophies amongst the 20 trophies Sir Alex Ferguson has lifted since the start of the rebranded top flight of English Football, Manchester United have been the most successful side in both the number of trophies won and the money spent to achieve this.  Every Andy Cole-price buy in the 90s equated to a trophy, while a similar fee to that of Dimitar Berbatov has resulted in a trophy during the new millennium.  For Cheslea, Arsenal and Liverpool, it has been a lot more expensive.

However, when it comes to running a business, on nett spend it is Arsenal who are performing better than the competition. Arsene Wenger has done a great job in the transfer market as Arsenal’s nett cost per trophy is as low as £3.85m. Manchester United’s nett cost per trophy is £6.28m, while Liverpool’s is sky high at £28.00m and Chelsea’s a staggering £30.87m.

Sam Allardyce today became the second Premier League manager to lose his job in the month of December following Chris Hughton’s dismissal from Newcastle last week.

Big Sam as he’s fondly known as had a reputation for playing some of the dullest football in the league, Mr Anti-Football to some. A constant moaner and abuser of referee’s, he has been one of the most unpopular managers in the division over the past decade. On a limited transfer budget and sitting 13th in the table, 1 point behind 8th place Newcastle, was he deserving of the boot, or is he just another example of how harsh the Premier League is?

The Success of the Premier League

The Premier League is the world’s most lucrative in terms of revenue and most watched football league. Over the past decade alone the popularity, ticket prices, transfer spend and changes in managers have soared.

The English Premier League

The Premier League is not just multi-national in terms of its fanbase, but everything about the league has a multi-national and worldwide feel about it. In 17 seasons, 0 English managers have one their native division. Of the 19 Premier League sides currently with a manager, only 5 of them are English.

Blackburn Rovers Takeover

On October 19th, the Rao family from India completed the takeover of Blackburn Rovers under their company name, the Venky Group. Since then, Sam Allardyce has won 4 of 10 Premier League matches, losing 5, including an embarrassing 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Manchester United, and yesterday’s 2-1 loss at rivals and 10-man Bolton Wanderers. Defeats to Chelsea and Tottenham were largely expected.

Downhill from Bolton

Having lost out to Steve McClaren for the England job in 2006, Sam Allardyce hasn’t had much luck in football since. Departing from Bolton Wanderers in 2007, where he successfully guided them into the top half of the Premier League and UEFA Cup football, playing the long ball game, he lasted less than a year in charge at Newcastle United. Dismissed when 11th in the Premier League, the Magpies would soon drop down the table and eventually out of the division for a year. Blackburn Rovers are currently 13th in the Premier League table, and you have to wonder whether their new manager will make a significant improvement to their position, given in mind that Sam Allardyce was perfectly capable of sneaking into the top half with his current side.

Not wanting to put any blame on the new owners, bearing in mind it was an English chairman that dismissed English manager Chris Hughton last week, but clubs are losing their identity with all the foreign ownerships, foreign managers and of course, squads overloaded with foreign players in the Premier League.

Foreign Investment

The Venky Group became the 9th foreign owners (not including Arsenal) of a Premier League side in October. Arsenal’s majority shareholder is American, while Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester United and Sunderland are all owned by Americans. Birmingham City are owned by Carson Yeung from China, Chelsea by Roman Abramovich, Fulham by Mohamed Al-Fayed and Manchester City owned by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 33% of Arsenal is still owned by English shareholders.

Brand of Football

The dismissal of Sam Allardyce will come as a joy to many whom don’t take to his brand of football. He has become synonymous with the long ball game. Blackburn’s league low 60% pass completion rate and season ticket prices cheaper than many teams in divisions below don’t make nice reading either. Not that Blackburn sold out more than twice in their title winning 1994/95 season anyway.

Another Foreign Manager?

Both Alan Curbishley and Chris Hughton represent England amongst the bookmakers favourites to become the next Blackburn Rovers manager, but it is Dutch man Martin Jol who is the current favourite to replace Allardyce.

What do you do when you’re the unpopular owner of the most-supported football club in the North-east of England? You sack your popular manager. That’s what happened today when Mike Ashley decided to relieve Chris Hughton of his services today at St James’ Park… or should I say SportsDirect.com @ St James’ Park Stadium?

Chris Hughton took over as caretaker manager of Newcastle United for a third time at the start of last season, following the clubs relegation from the Premier League under Alan Shearer and Iain Dowie. The club had been a sinking ship with players not playing together and generally the club looked a mess.

At the start of last season, many expected Newcastle would fail to come straight back up, some going as far as saying they were relegation contenders in the Championship. Not only did they come up, they came up as champions, 11 points ahead of second-place West Bromwich Albion and only the fourth side to be promoted from the second tier with over 100 points since the birth of the Premier League. They done it in style.

Newcastle have made a positive, if somewhat inconsistent start to the Premier League season. A victory at the Emirates, a draw with Chelsea and a 5-1 thrashing of rivals Sunderland in recent weeks. Could they have asked for any more? Should a 3-1 defeat at West Brom without his first choice central defence really be the end of the line for a manger who’s brought stability to a Newcastle team that had been missing for a few years? Hardly.

Newcastle were 11th in the Premier League at the time of Chris Hughton’s departure today – the same position they were in in January 2008 when they dismissed Sam Allardyce, the best manager they’ve had prior to Chris Hughton. It was all downhill for the after that. Who are they going to bring in to steady the ship now?

Chris Hughton had done a fantastic job with what he had been given. A defence that was terrible in their relegation season, Fabricio Coloccini in particular. The Argentine has clean sheets versus Aston Villa and Chelsea this season. Joey Barton’s career looks revived under Chris Hughton, while even getting good efforts from Kevin Nolan and Jonas Gutierrez whom looked dire in the Premier League two seasons ago. Wayne Routledge is also looking good down the right wing for the first time in his Premier League career since leaving Crystal Palace. A bargain buy from Queens Park Rangers in January. Andy Carroll is also the top English goalscorer in the Premier League this season. How these players and the rest of the squad will do under the future manager we shall see.

For Chris Hughton and how he turned Newcastle around will give him great opportunity to get another managerial job in one of the top two flights in English football. For Newcastle, Martin Jol is odds-on favourite to take over the role following his departure from Ajax by mutual consent this evening. Other managers linked to the job include the usual; Alan Pardew, Alan Curbishley and Martin O’Neill.

Newcastle’s next four Premier League fixtures are Liverpool (home), Birmingham (away), Manchester City (home) and Tottenham (away).

For the past few seasons it’s been all about one midfielder in particular at the Emirates. With rumours of a move to Barcelona never going away and this year struggling through injury, Samir Nasri has been stepping up in the absence of Cesc Fabregas.

Without doubt, Arsenal have the making of the best attacking midfield in the Premier League. On their day, they are the best midfield in the Premier League. Chelsea’s midfield looks very ordinary without Frank Lampard, Manchester United’s lacks creativity without Antonio Valencia, Manchester City’s is defensive-minded and Tottenham have recently lost Rafael van der Vaart to injury.

Arsenal’s midfield is all about attacking flair, although reliant on Alex Song to protect the back four. He himself is moulding into a Paul Ince and venturing forward more often than perhaps he should.

In his last two games, either side of helping Russia win the 2018 World Cup bid, Andrey Arshavin looks like he’s getting back to his best after what had been a slow and wasteful start to the season. The Russian playmaker is getting into the box and firing shots in, unlucky not to have registered on the scoresheet yesterday. He’s also creating opportunities for his team mates; credited with 1 assist in each of his last 4 Premier League games. Perhaps the Leningrad-born Arshavin feels at home in the sub-0 conditions of late.

Another creative midfielder amongst the Arsenal ranks in Cesc Fabregas’ absence is Jack Wilshere. A rare young Englishman to come through the ranks at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, he’s hotly tipped for a bright future should he continue to play regularly at the Emirates. But there’s one man who’s taken Arsenal to the next level this season, and to the top of the Premier League where they currently stand.

Samir Nasri upped his tally to 8 Premier League goals so far this season with his brace against Fulham yesterday; the same number he scored in both his previous seasons combined.

Great things were expected of the £12,500,000 signing from Marseille when he arrived in the summer of 2008, and made an immediate impact as he scored the only goal of the game on his debut in a victory on the opening day of the 2008/9 season against West Brom. His quick pace over a short length and his close control have been key strengths to his game, now in his third season at Arsenal. He was quiet last season, registering just 2 goals and 4 assists in the league.

This season, Samir Nasri has started whisperings as a potential candidate for world player of the year. Perhaps a little far fetched at this point, but if he maintains his current form there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be in with a shout. Although he only has 1 assist to his name, that coming in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Manchester City, a game that got everyone talking about the 23 year old Frenchman, he is very much a creative part of their midfield from the right wing. Involved in a lot of Arsenal’s chances, Nasri showed how effective his quick feet were once again yesterday as some wonderful footwork and tidy finishing from him gave Arsenal 3 points in a 2-1 victory over Fulham. A victory that I backed after 70 minutes when at 1-1.

I still have doubts over Arsenal’s title credentials. Yes, they’re top of the league despite being without 3 crucial players in Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen and the recently returning Robin van Persie. Defensively they still aren’t strong. The goal they conceded yesterday was a little harsh with both central defenders clashing heads and the referee continuing play. But they were somewhat fortunate to hold onto their lead when Fulham put a lot of pressure on their goal. Or perhaps we should give Arsenal’s defence credit for only conceding 1 goal against a Fulham side that played Diomansy Kamara as a lone striker yesterday? It’s 4 games in a row in the league without a clean sheet for the Gunners, whom are playing successfully under their score more than the opposition belief.

We’ll see how serious Arsenal’s title challenge is over the next month when play Manchester United, Stoke City, Chelsea, Birmingham City and Manchester City before their FA Cup third round match with Leeds in the new year.

Arsenal are currently 7/2 third favourites to win this seasons Premier League.