#7-Chelsea set-up Red Devils Meeting

After last night, we now have the full quarter-final line-up for the FA Cup as eight teams battle it out for a place at Wembley. One tie that is specifically eye-catching is Chelsea's visit to Old Trafford. The Blues' 5th round game Middlesbrough is the focus of this post aswell as the other FA Cup game played this week, Everton vs Oldham. I will also preview this weekend's full fixture list of Premier League games, including a non doubt feisty North London derby.

Middlesbrough and Chelsea faced off at the Riverside for the last place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. The Blues were of course the favourites, but no-one was writing Middlesbrough off as Chelsea weren't in the best of form. The tie was still completely open after a goaless first half in which Oscar and Scott McDonald came close for each side. The deadlock was eventually broken though on 51 minutes, Ramires giving Chelsea the lead after the Brazilian's 25 yard effort flew past Steele via a Torres deflection. 22 minutes later, after some grear play by Eden Hazard, Victor Moses was left with a tap in that only the club's no.9 could miss. The goal all but sealed the Yorkshire club's fait and Chelsea were through fairly comfortably. The win set up an enticing visit to Manchester United, a club which they haven't had the best results against lately...

Last 5 games

• Chelsea 5-4 Manchester United (aet) - 31/10/12
• Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United - 28/10/12
• Chelsea 3-3 Manchester United - 05/02/12
• Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea - 18/19/11
• Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea - 08/05/11

But who will come out on top in their first meeting of the year?

24 hours earlier, Everton overcame Oldham in their FA Cup Replay at Goodison Park. The Latics' hero in the first game Matt Smith, surprisingly started on the bench and the League 1 side looked uninspired. Kevin Mirallas got on the end of a superb Darron Gibson cross to put Everton ahead in the 15th minute and Leighton Baines scored a penalty to make it 2-0 at half-time. Oldham had chances to equaliser beforehand when former Everton youngster Jose Baxter struck the post snd the visitors had their own penalty claim turned down when the ball supposedly hit Gibson's arm in the area. Matt Smith came on 10 minutes after the break and his impact showed straight away as Oldham, looked noticebly better. However Leon Osman scored against the run of play to make it 3-0 in the 62nd minute, putting the result in no doubt. Just two minutes later though, the lead was back to two, substitute Smith scoring his 4th of the competition. But 3-1 was how it stayed until the final whistle, meaning Everton will host Wigan for a place at Wembley.

Premier League preview

• Chelsea host West Brom in an attempt to gain back 3rd place. Interestingly, Robert di Matteo's and Andre Villas-Boas' last league games in charge of Chelsea were against the Baggies. Will Benitez be next? I predict: Chelsea 3-1 West Brom
• Reading got their first win of the season against Everton back in November and after being thrashed by Wigan last weekend, they'll hope that they can recover by beating the Toffees again. I predict: Reading 1-2 Everton
• Everton were beaten in the last minute by Norwich last week and the Canaries will want to beat another side above them, Manchester United. It will probably be a tougher test but can the Norfolk's side resilience see them through? I predict: Manchester United 4-1 Norwich
• QPR have a great chance of getting something against Southampton, who are slowly slipping into the relegation battle. Harry Redknapp persists QPR still have a chance of survival, but defeat on Saturday may lead him to change his views. I predict: Southampton 2-2 QPR
• Stoke will be without Robert Huth when they host West Ham. The German defender has been banned for violent conduct and the Potter's defence will look shaky without him. Just 3 points seperate the two sides. I predict: Stoke 1-0 West Ham
• Two sides expected to finish around mid-table, Sunderland and Fulham play each other to try and get 3 points to help their top 10 push. I predict: Sunderland 1-1 Fulham
• Fresh from winning the Capital One Cup on Sunday, Swansea return their attention to the league where they host Newcastle, 7 points below them. The Magpies, looking for 3 more points to push them further away from the dropzone. Swansea 3-3 Newcastle
• Wigan also want to move further from the bottom 3 after last wek's thrashing of Reading. The Latics play host to Liverpool, who didn't play last week but 2 weeks ago completed a thrashing of their own, beating Swansea 5-0. I predict: Wigan 0-2
• In the battle for 4th place, deadly rivals Tottenham and Arsenal face off in the North London derby that always throws up fireworks. Spurs sit in 3rd with 51 points and Arsenal in 5th with 47. It couldn't be much closer.
• In this week's Monday night fixture, Man City, fresh from beating Chelsea 2-0, visit Villa Park to play an Aston Villa side back in the bottom three after last week's loss to Arsenal. You don't get a much tougher pair of fixtures. I predict: Aston Villa 0-4 Manchester City

Next week it's some of the Champions League second-leg fixtures including Manchester United vs Real Madrid at Old Trafford. As always I will review the weekend's games which no doubt will produce some incredible moments.

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: OllyAllen1998

#6-A WELSH team winning an ENGLISH trophy?

First of all, apologies for not posting yesterday as promised but I was stuck ill in bed all day so was not able to log on. However, the post that was going to be yesterday is now today, meaning I can also talk about Gareth Bale's incredible scoring run that continued last night as he scored two against West Ham. But first, Sunday's big headline, no, not the Oscars, Swansea's Capital One Cup final thrashing of Bradford.

Matt’s red ’n buried - The Sun
Epic Journey ends in stroll for Swansea - The Independent
Swansea blitz Bradford for five in historic cup final win - The Mirror

Those just 3 of yesterday's paper headlines from Wembley after Bradford couldn't end their dream run by beating Swansea as they were beaten heavily 5-0 by the Swans. After Nathan Dyer scored the first in the 16th minute, Bradford's aim was to keep it at that until half-time. That plan was ruined by bargain buy Michu, scoring his 19th of the season, 5 minutes before the break. Phil Parkinson brought Andrew Davies on at half-time in an attempt to sure up the League 2 side's defence. But it only got worse for the Bantams. Just 2 minutes after the restart, Nathan Dyer got his second after a fabulous run and only 10 minutes later Bradford were in deeper trouble. Goalkeeper Matt Duke, who I named as the club's star man in my last post, was shown a straight red for tripping Jonathan de Guzmán in the box, resulting in a penalty to Swansea. The Dutchman himself stepped up to take it and slotted home past Bradford's back-up keeper Jon McLaughlin. He tucked it away cooler, but there was definitely one man who didn't want him to take it. Winger Nathan Dyer, who had scored two already in the game, had the chance to complete a dream hat-trick at Wembley. The Welsh side had not been given a penalty all season so had no first choice taker. But de Guzmán clung on to the ball and as previously mentioned slotted home, much to his relief. If the game wasn't over already, de Guzmán scored again in stoppage time to secure one of the highest ever scorelines in cup final history. 5-0. Swansea fans were jubilant but there were some angry English fans, believing Swansea shouldn't be allowed to compete in English leagues, let alone English cups...

Jonathan de Guzmán and Nathan Dyer squabble over who should take the penalty

There has always been a great rivalry between England & Wales, but it has only recently come to the fore in football since Swansea booked their place at Wembley just over a month ago. In total there are 6 Welsh teams who play in one of England's many divisions, with all 6 also competing in English cup competitions. Before Sunday, Cardiff were the only Welsh side to win an English cup, the FA Cup in 1927. Newport County, Wrexham and Merthyr Town play in the Welsh Cup as well, however Swansea, Cardiff and Colwyn Bay declined the offer. Many people are unhappy about these 6 playing in the English leagues, when they are not even English. Money is a big question in this. Teams will get a lot more income by playing the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City than they will do against teams like The New Saints and Bangor City. This is a valid argument and a reasonable option but I disagree. Welsh clubs have been playing in England for over 100 years, and people have only started disputing their involvement because a Welsh side not only reachs a cup final but wins it too. Trust me, I am 100% English and I see no wrong with Welsh teams' involvement. Not only that, I would love to see a Great British league, with teams from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all competing in one big system. I think this would really unite football in Great Britain and possibly give us a chance of doing better on the international stage. Talking of international football, this unification of the leagues could lead to the creation of a Great British football team, like at the Olympics. This would give players like Gareth Bale a chance to play at the World Cup or European Championship, which, in no offence to Wales, he may not get to do playing for The Dragons. Please feel free to agree or disagree with my views in the comments.

Premier League Round Up

• Ryan Giggs made his 999th appearance for club and country as Manchester United beat QPR  2-0 at Loftus Road. But Rafael stole the lime light with an absolute stunner from 20 yards as well as making a goal line clearance at the other end. The result leaves QPR 7 points from safety.
• After bitter disappointment last weekend in the FA Cup and in midweek in the Champions League, Arsenal beat relegation battlers Aston Villa, Santi Cazorla scoring both the Gunners' goals.
• Talking of relegation battlers, Reading faced off to Wigan in a real '6-pointer' at the Madjeski. The away side won 3-0 in a surprisingly one sided encounter. Pavel Pogrebnyak got sent off for the Royals as Arouna Kone scored two for the Latics.
• Grant Holt completed a stunning comeback for Norwich against Everton, scoring a last gasp winner to give the Canaries a first win in 10. Kei Kamara cancelled out Leon Osman's opener on 84 minutes before Holt struck.
• West Brom beat Sunderland at the Hawthorns courtesy of two Romelu Lukaku goals. The striker on loan from Chelsea has now scored 12 goals for the Baggies and is being encouraged to stay on next season.
• Dimitar Berbatov's immaculate volley was enough to beat Stoke City and earn Fulham just their fourth victory in 19 Premier League games. The result puts the Cottagers just one point off Stoke, who remain in 10th, despite the loss. 
• Two second half goals from Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez (his first in nine league games) gave Manchester City a vital three points against Chelsea as they put the gap between themselves and Manchester United back to 12 points.
• By beating Southampton 4-2, Newcastle overtook the Saints into 14th. Papiss Cisse scored the pick of the goals in a thriller at St. James Park.
• Tottenham leapfrogged Chelsea into third place with a 3-2 win over West Ham at Upton Park, Gareth Bale scored a brace, including a last minute winner, to carry on his incredible scoring run.

Goal of the Weekend
There are two this week, which is a bit of a cop out, but I couldn't decide!

• Rafael Da Silva vs QPR: When Julio Cesar palmed away Robin Van Persie's cross, the ball fell to the Brazilian, who sent his shot spinning into the top corner, almost taking Christopher Samba's head off.
• Papiss Cisse vs Southampton: Newcastle's number 9 produced a spectacular long range dipping strike on the half-volley after Magpies keeper Rob Elliot had launched a long ball forward.

Lower League Headlines

• Championship: Hull missed the chance to close the gap on Championship leaders Cardiff as they were convincingly beaten by Bolton 4-1 on Saturday.
• League 1: In Portsmouth's game against Oldham, Pompey player Sam Sodje saw red for an off-the-ball incident with Lee Barnard, apparently punching him where you don't want to know! Is it coincidence that Barnard is on loan from Portsmouth's rivals Southampton?
• League 2: New Aldershot manager Andy Scott got off to a great start as his new club beat 9-man Fleetwood 2-0. 2 goals from Danny Hylton put the Shots 4 points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand.

I would love to hear anyone's views on my blog as some feedback would be useful. I would also like to hear people's views on the Welsh teams in English divisions debate.
See ya on Thursday (hopefully!),

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998

#5-Au revoir Arsene?

Arsenal's week got worse on Tuesday, leading many to believe Arsene Wenger will be on his way out of the Emirates before the season end. I'll be discussing that game as well as the 3 other Champions League games from the last 3 days. I will also preview Sunday's Capital One Cup final between Swansea & Bradford.

The subject of Monday's post was Arsenal's wait for a trophy and that wait has extended with a 3-1 loss in the home leg of their Champions League clash against Bayern Munich. It follows their exit from the FA Cup on Saturday at the hands on Blackburn. And Tuesday night's result all but seals their exit from this competition too. Bayern were 2-0 up half-time with goals Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller as the Gunners were booed off at the break. They got a goal back through Lukas Podolski, a goal that broke the German team's clean sheet record of 6 games, one of the few positives to take from the game for Arsenal fans. The comeback was not on however, as Mario Mandzukic's scuffed effort left the Gunners needing a miracle in the second leg.

24 hours later, Barcelona faced up to AC Milan at the San Siro in another much anticipated clash. The Rossoneri obviously studied Barca's semi-final second leg against Chelsea last year, as they copied The Blues' backs to the wall tactics. It payed off, Barca were not able to score, but AC got 2 themselves. Former Portsmouth teammates Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari scoring. Lionel Messi had a surprisingly bad game (if he really can have one) and his evening summed up the Catalan Giants' overall performance. Riccardo Montolivo and Massimo Ambrosini were at the heart of Milan's superb resiliance, the latter the main contributer to Messi's bad night.

Champions League Round-up

• Joao Moutinho scored the only goal in the game between Porto and Malaga, giving Porto a slender lead to take across the border in the second leg.
• Schalke came out the better side in a scrappy game against Galatasaray. Jermaine Jones scored an away goal for the Germans after Burak Yilmaz had given Didier Drogba's new side an early lead.

The Capital One Cup Final
Sunday. 4pm. Wembley Stadium. Swansea City vs Bradford City.
Both sides have created shocks to reach the final, Bradford more than a few. Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa are among the teams they have beaten on this incredible run. They are very much made up of team players so it is hard to pick one star man. But if I had to single out 1 man it would have to be goalkeeper Matt Duke. 1 year ago he was battling cancer and now he's playing in a final at Wembley. He has made some amazing saves throughout the competition and got Man of the Match in the semi-final first leg.

Swansea also created a shock when they knocked out favourite's Chelsea over the two semi-final legs.They unbelievably won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge before holding out for a 0-0 draw at home to book their place in the final, They also knocked out Liverpool at Anfield, meaning the Swans have every right to be here. The game will be the first time the Welsh club has contested a final for one of English football's major trophies and they will want to make the most of it.

I predict: Swansea 2-1 Bradford

Premier League predictions
Man.City face Chelsea in a 2nd vs 3rd battle and Reading face Wigan in a relegation dog fight. It's a vital weekend at both ends of the table...
I predict:

• Fulham 1-1 Stoke
• Reading 2-0 Wigan
• West Brom 3-1 Sunderland
• Norwich 1-2 Everton
• QPR 1-5 Manchester United
• Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa
• Manchester City 3-2 Chelsea
• Newcastle 1-0 Southampton
• West Ham 1-3 Tottenham

Thanks for reading and as always I'm back on Monday to review the weekend's games and headlines so check then!

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998

#4-Arsenal's 8 year wait for a trophy continues

After a thrilling weekend of FA Cup fixtures in which one particular shock raised a few questions, I will look back on the 5th round (and 4th round) ties.

First of all, no one expected Arsenal to crash out of the FA Cup, with the fans at the Emirates looking forward to a comfortable win against Blackburn. It wasn't to be. The Gunners dominated the game but supremacy does not always lead to success. Arsene Wenger decided to start mis-firing Gervinho who is starting to look like an £11 million flop. The Ivorian had a host of chances, missing all of them miserbly. He was brought off on 70 minutes along with Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain as Wenger made a triple substitution. No sooner had Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla had a chance to get into the game, Colin Kazim-Richards scuffed home a rebound after Szczesny saved Martin Olsson's original effort. 23 minutes later, the final whistle blew and Rovers had knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup. Incredible stuff. The Gunners face Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the Champions League, now the only trophy they can win this season...
Since Arsenal last won a trophy stopwatch
20 things that have happened since Arsenal last won a trophy

As well as shocks, you also get routine victories. Manchester City, Chelsea and Wigan all cruised to 4-0, 4-0 and 4-1 wins respectively over lower league opposition. Sergio Aguero scored twice as City beat Leeds who hoped to create another upset after beating Tottenham in the last round, Chelsea set the stage for an away 5th round tie against Middlesbrough as Frank Lampard stepped 1 goal closer to becoming Chelsea's highest ever goalscorer as the Blues beat Brentford in a 4th round replay and Wigan won away at Huddersfield, meaning they will play an FA Cup quarter-final for only the second time in their history. Arouna Kone scored two in that one.

Weekend round-up

• (FA Cup) Matt Smith, who scored a brace against Liverpool in the last round was yet again Oldham's hero as he popped up to score a 90th minute equaliser against Everton, meaning a reply at Goodison Park is needed on 27th of February.
• (FA Cup) MK Dons, who beat QPR in round 4, lost at home to Barnsley, Chris Dagnall scoring twice to put the Championship side in the quarter-finals of the competition that took them to Wembley 5 years ago.
• (FA Cup) Luton's magical cup run finally came to an end as they lost 3-0 at home to Millwall, a score-line which was a bit harsh on the non-league side. James Henry, Rob Hulse and Dany N'Guessan scored the goals for the jubilant lions.
• (Premier League) Liverpool thrashed Swansea 5-0 at Anfield with 5 different scorers to end a 5 match winless run. The Welsh side who, overall this season have been great to watch, allowed the Reds 33 shots, 18 on target and Swans boss Michael Laudrup described it as 'a nightmare'.

FA Cup Quarter-Final Draw

• If Manchester United beat Reading tonight and Chelsea beat Middlesbrough a week on Wednesday, we'll see a feisty quarter-final between the two at Old Trafford for a place at Wembley.
• Speaking of Wembley, either Millwall or Blackburn will make a rare appearance there, the two Championship sides were drawn to face each other at The Den.
• Barnsley will be hoping to recreate their heroics of 5 years ago when they beat Liverpool and Chelsea to reach the semi-finals when they meet Manchester City at the Etihad in the tie that has the most shock potential.
• Wigan's first appearance at this stage in 26 years sees them travel to either Oldham or Everton, depending on who comes out on top in the replay. It will be a tough game either way.

Goal of the Weekend
James McArthur vs Huddersfield: The Scotsman received Callum McManaman's pass in the inside left channel, played a one-two with Gomez and arrowed a bullet shot into the top corner.

Lower League Headlines

• The Championship: Paul Ince has been confirmed as Blackpool's third permenant manager of the season after Ian Holloway and Michael Appleton. He will link up with son Tom, who has scored 17 goals in 33 appearances this season.
• League 1: Another managerial appointment. After sacking Graham Westley last week, Preston have appointed former Blackpool and Leeds manager Simon Grayson. He has been without a job since being sacked by Huddersfield last month.
• Burton thrashed Fleetwood 4-0, Jacques Maghoma scored twice as the Brewers leapfrogged Cheltenham into the automatic promotion places. The Robins drew 1-1 with relegation strugglers Aldershot.

It's the Capital One Cup final this Sunday so I'll be back on Thursday to preview that game as well as the weekend's Premier League fixtures including Manchester City vs Chelsea. I will also review the four Champions League games played on Tuesday and Wednesday!

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998

#3-Ronaldo rescues Real and Celtic surely stumped

In this post I'll review the four Champions League games played this week and look ahead to this weekend's FA Cup fixtures.

The first leg of the much anticipated Real Madrid versus Manchester United tie saw Cristiano Ronaldo play his former club for the first time since leaving in 2009. He started in a side that also included Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil and Xabi Alonso facing United with the likes of Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa in their line-up. United started off the better side and deservedly took the lead with a Danny Welbeck header on 20 minutes.But that was not before David de Gea made one of many fantastic saves yesterday, denying Fabio Coentrao. The visitors lead only lasted ten minutes before guess who pounced to level things up. It was a header that left Patrice Evra powerless and out of respect Ronaldo did not celebrate. That was how it stayed for the rest of the game however De Gea had to stop another Coentrao effort as well one from Sami Khedira. Van Persie came close a couple of times aswell. The result though sets up what should be a fascinating second leg at Old Trafford and expect another emotional night from Ronaldo on the 5th of March as he returns to 'The Theatre of Dreams'.

The other British side in action this week were Celtic, who lost 3-0 at home to Juventus on Tuesday. This means it will be an incredibly hard task for them to recover to go through to the quarter-finals. Alessando Matri, Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic scored the three goals for the Italian side. The latter two coming in the last 15 minutes proving the killer blow. The big risk taken by Neil Lennon was playing Efe Ambrose who only returned from the Africa Cup of Nations on the morning of the game. Ultimately, the Nigerian was at fault for 2 of the goals and could be the reason his team exit the competition. Watching the game on ITV, I thought that the result was a little unfair on Celtic, considering how hard they played for the best part of the game.

Champions League round-up

• A last minute equaliser from Mats Hummels earned Borussia Dortmund a vital 2-2 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk, putting them in the better position for the second leg.
• PSG scraped a 2-1 away win at Valencia, meaning surely the priority for the home leg is to defend. However they will be without star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was shown a straight red card for a stamp on Andres Guardado.

This weekend's FA Cup matches

• Luton vs Millwal: The only non-league team left in the competition have a home tie against Millwall, the team who beat Aston Villa in the last round. At least it's easier than Manchester City! I predict: 1-1
• Arsenal vs Blackburn: Arsenal's 8 year hunt for a trophy continues, with the FA Cup their only chance for silverware left this season. It won't be easy against Blackburn though who thrashed Derby 3-0 in the last round. I predict: 3-1
• MK Dons vs Barnsley: Championship strugglers Barnsley reached the semi-finals of this competition in 2008 and are only 2 games from that stage again. They face an MK Dons side who sit 12th in League 1. These two could meet again next season! I predict: 2-1
• Oldham vs Everton: Oldham knocked out the red side of Merseyside in the last round and hope to knock out their city rivals this weekend. They will have to do it without Paul Dickov though, who resigned at the start of this month. I predict: 0-2
• Chelsea vs Brentford (4th round reply): Brentford almost grabbed a shock win in the original game between these two but surely Chelsea will be too strong for them at Stamford Bridge. I predict: 5-0
• Manchester City vs Leeds: After beating Tottenham in the last round, Leeds will have to create another shock to reach the quarter-finals. The FA Cup is the only competition City can still realistically win this season so will be all out for the win. I predict: 2-1
• Huddersfield vs Wigan: Huddersfield beat Leicester in a 4th round reply on Tuesday to set up an interesting encounter against Wigan. The Latics will be hoping to blank out their poor Premier League form to reach the quarter finals for the first time in over 10 years. I predict: 0-0
• Manchester United vs Reading: United have still got a chance of winning the treble this season and beating Reading will put them one step closer to this dream. The Royals have a good record in this competition in the last few years though and will be tough to beat. I predict: 3-2

I will be back on Monday reviewing the games I've just previewed. Good luck to Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle who are all in Europa League action tonight. We might just have an English winner this season with those four clubs competing!

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998

#2-Is the title race over?

Hello and welcome to my first real post on this blog and today I'm going to look back on a pivital weekend of Premier League football, pick a goal of the weekend and see the biggest stories from the Championship, League 1 and League 2.

The only place to start is at St.Mary's on Saturday and Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester United wishing that City would slip up against Southampton on Saturday so they could take advantage against Everton on Sunday. Their wishes came true. The unbelievable, unthinkable and for City, unacceptable happened as they had an 'off' day, losing to Southampton 3-1, which was, in the end, a fair result. As a United fan, I couldn't believe it as I watched it on Match of the Day. City had more than double Southampton's points tally so I expected them to hand out a footballing lesson, maybe winning 4 or 5 nil. It was the other way around. Southampton showed Mancini's men not to get ahead of themselves and think that the game is won before it has even started. Jason Puncheon, who I think that along with Rickie Lambert and Morgan Schneiderlin, has been one of the Saints best players this season opened the scoring with 7 minutes played. Unfortunately, they'll probably turn it around I thought. But no. Within 15 minutes it was 2-0, Davis scoring his first goal since the opening day, also against City. Dzeko pulled one back for the visitors, but ultimately a Gareth Barry own goal sealed their fate. Yaya Toure had a surprisingly bad game after coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations (which I must say well done to Nigeria for winning yesterday!) and his performance summed up City's afternoon.

The next day, full of determination and hoping to gain a 12 point lead, Manchester United faced Everton at Old Trafford. They were beaten by their opponents on the opeing day but that was before they played Robin Van Persie, who scored the 2nd goal in United's 2-0 win this time around. Without his goals, the Red Devils would not be where they are now. The first goal of the game was also special for Ryan Giggs, keeping up his incredible record of scoring in every Premier League season. I had thought that this might be the season that that run ended, but the Welsh wonder proved me wrong. He is an outstanding player and role model, even if he doesn't play as often as he used to. Giggs has been there, seen it, done it.

Week-end round up

• Swansea got a great 4-1 win against QPR at the Liberty, meaning over the two games between the two sides this season, Swansea won 9-1. If QPR do stay up, the Swans won't be top of their list to play next season!
• Also getting a 4-1 win were Chelsea, who looked nervy at times against Wigan but eventually securing a comfortable win in the last 10 minutes, Marko Marin scoring his first for the club with a diving header.
• Gareth Bale was again the star of the show for Spurs against Newcastle, scoring 2 with plenty of chances for a hatrick, one especially Fernando Torres-esque right at the death.
• Arsenal are only 4 points behind their North London rivals, keeping up the pace with a 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, but it was certainly not comfortable, with Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson among the many who tried but failed for the Black Cats
• Reading lost their first game since New Year's Day, as they failed to get any points at the Britanna Stadium against Stoke, 2-1 the final score.
• After seeing all their relegation rivals lose the day before, Aston Villa claimed 3 vital points against West Ham yesterday as they moved out of the drop zone, winning 2-1, a Charles N'Zogbia free-kick the winner.
• Norwich and Fulham played out a dire 0-0 draw, completely the opposite to when the two sides last met when Fulham won 5-0.

Goal of the Weekend
Gareth Bale 1st vs Newcastle
A superb free-kick from 25 yards out that dipped past Tim Krul after Clint Dempsey had been fouled by Fabricio Coloccini.

Lower League Headlines

• Championship: After beating Nottingham Forest, Bristol City are off the bottom of the table. It was Forest Boss Billy Davies' first game back in charge of the club.
• League 1: Carlisle striker Rory Loy scored against Stevenage on Saturday as well as last week against Tranmere. He had been out for 12 months with a broken leg beforehand.
• League 2: Former West Brom and Swansea striker Craig Beattie has signed for strugglers Barnet to try and boost their survival hopes.

That's it from me! I'll be back on Thursday reviewing Tuesday and Wednesday's Champions League games and also looking ahead to next weekend's FA Cup fixtures.

Please feel free to comment your views on the topics I've discussed on today's blog.
Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998

#1-Welcome

Hi I'm Olly Allen, I'm 14 years old and an aspring football journalist. I've decided to create a blog about my views on the world of football. It will mostly be on the Premier League, reviewing the weekend's games but I won't be afraid to dip into the lower divisions, global leagues and international football.

I first got into football at around the age of 7. It was approaching the 2006 World Cup and all my friends were talking about it. We were also given a project to do at school where we had to research one of the countries competing. I wondered what all the fuss was all about, surely it is just kicking a ball around and it goes in a net once in a while. Little did I know when I turned on the TV on the 9th of June, I was to fall in love with the beautiful game. Germany were facing Costa Rica and within minutes of starting to get interested, Philipp Lahm scored an amazing goal. From then on I was hooked. The game, as you may well know ended 4-2 to Germany. I watched the game with astonishment, the skills these players showed were ten times the quality I'd seen in the school playground. I watched as many games as I could from that tournament, telling my mum to drive faster back from school so I could see any match possible.

At the start of the 2006-7 season I decided I needed a team to support. My favourite was (and still is) red and Manchester United won 5-1 on the opening day so they were my team. I am a glory hunter I do admit! United won the title that year and I was jubilant! I also had a soft spot for Reading, making their first appearance in the premier league. I live only around 45 minutes from the ground and my nan lives there so I always looked out for their results too as I do now. To this day I've seen more Reading games than I have United games and I was exstactic when they were promoted back to the top flight. I have loved watching their comebacks, especially the recent one against Chelsea which gave me a good laugh.

The first ever football game I saw was a Southampton game for my 8th birthday. It was against Burnley in the championship and Gareth Bale played and almost scored, showing glimpses of his talent that rocks the Premier League today. I have seen Reading play 5 times, the most recent being last season against Barnsley. I've seen Manchester United play 3 times, as well as having a stadium tour and I've seen England twice, once at under 18 level and once the full squad against Spain at Wembley, last year.

I have played for a local team for 6 seasons now, at almost every position, with being a goalkeeper the only one to elude me. Those six seasons have been shared between 2 clubs and I currently play as an attacking midfielder in the North East Hants league. I enjoy playing every Sunday even if it is just under 14 level and once the realisation of not becoming a professional footballer sunk in, I knew that I still wanted a job in the sport. I love writing and currently do so for the school magazine and I would love to be employed in sports journalism, if possible football.

That's my life in football so far which I hope will continue.
I'll be back tomorrow discussing the weekend's Premier League Games

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: @OllyAllen1998