Manchester City

To much surprise, Manchester City is a rising club. With already signed international Brazilian Robinho, City is looking to further add to their team. With the transfer season beginning next month, the team looks to spend up to 70 million euros for big names. City's top two choices right now are AC Milan's Kaka and Barcelona's Messi. Also on the list are Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez, and Cristiano Ronaldo (surprise?!).
At this rate, City is definitely a club that will be staying in the top flight of England's leagues and they are definitely a threat to other clubs for acquiring top level players. Good luck to City in heir venture for building an all around solid team.

Ballon d'Or

Today has been a very happy day for Portuguese star Critiano Ronaldo. After a tremendous 2007 season with the Red Devils, he was awarded the Ballon d'Or; the award that recognizes the most outstanding european footballer of the year. Not only was Cristiano Ronaldo given this award, but he got the highest point total - ever; 446 out of a possible 480. In second place was 21-year-old superstar Lionel Messi with 281 points. Lastly, in third place was Spain's superstar, Fernando Torres with 179 points.

The Ballon d'Or is presented by French soccer magazine, Frace Football. They have given the award every year since 1956 begining with Stanley Matthews of Blackpool. Blackpool FC is currently in the Championship League.

Finally, some much needed Soccer Updates

Chelsea vs. Arsenal
Yesterday, Arsenal had a very big match in which they prevailed against a very strong Chelsea side. Thirty minutes into the game, Arsenal defender Djourou gave up an unfortunate own goal. Arsenal would continue to fight, but they were unable to capitalize on any of their remaining opportunities as they ended the first half.
However, in the second half, Arsenal came out much stronger and more determined than Scolari's home side. It took only fourteen minutes for Arsenal's Van Persie to find the back of the net. Although counted as a goal, Van Persie was actually offside. Three minutes later, Van Persie would strike again. This time, it would be done with style. Arsenal would continue to hold on to the lead as the whistle was blown to end the game. For Arsenal, they can be very happy, but the same came not be said for Chelsea.
In fact, prior to the game, Ballack said that 4th place Arsenal would not be an easy side to defeat. Looks like Chelsea needs to head back to the drawing board and figure things out before their next game against Bolton on Saturday.

Manchester United
Man U's next game will be in Carling Cup competition against a very weak Blackburn side which should be no trouble for the Devils. They follow up the Wednesday game with Sunderland in premier league action on Saturday. Man U should walk away with three points in both matches thus, keeping them in good standings.

Leading in goals
Nicolas Anelka 12
Cristiano Ronaldo 8
Robinho 8
Amr Zaki 8
Jermain Defoe 7

Standings (points as of today)
Liverpool 34
Chelsea 33
Man Utd 28
Arsenal 26
Aston Villa 25
Hull 23
Everton 22
Portsmouth 22
Bolton 20
Fulham 19
Wigan 19
Middlesbrough 19
West Ham 18
Stoke 18
Man City 17
Tottenham 15
Newcastle 15
Sunderland 15
Blackburn 13
West Brom 11

*teams in bold have only played 14 games

source: ESPNsoccernet

Premier League

Unfortunately, on 3/18, Manchester United was knocked out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 loss to Portsmouth. Although Man U lost, they were able to move clear into first in the Premier League; 3 points ahead of Arsenal and 5 points ahead of Chelsea. Just as we thought, Man U would move into first and will be looking to win the league.
Meanwhile, Arsenal drew with Middlesbrough; 1-1 and Chelsea 4-4 with Tottenham.

Just a heads up for all you die hard MLS fans: the season starts up on March 29. Oh yeah, did you hear Beckham might buy the Galaxy? Yeah, check it out at ESPNsoccernet.

This Weeks Highlights

As many of you know, this week was very important as many different competitions were happening around Europe. First off, Man U has finally pulled in within one point of Arsenal (after beating Fulham 3-0) in the premiership and look very capable of wining his year's premiership once again. Additionally, Man U was able to beat Lyon in the champions league which has progressed hem further into the competition. Their next game is this Saturday against Portsmouth for the FA Cup which also looks bright for Man U. As for Arsenal, this year has been an aberration. Things are not looking so swell for them. First, they tied Aston Villa 1-1 in the premiership and will definitely not win the Premiership. On the other hand, Arsenal beat AC Milan 2-0 in the champions league which originally seemed highly unlikely. Other news:

UEFA Champions League
Chelsea 3 - 0 Olympiacos
Fenerbache (win on pk's) 5-5 agg. Sevilla FC
Barcelona 1- 0 Celtic
Roma 2 - 1 Real Madrid
Schalke 04 (win on pk's) 1-1 agg. FC Porto

FA Cup Saturday Quarterfinals
Man U vs. Portsmouth
Barnsley vs. Chelsea

FA Cup Sunday Quarterfinals
Middlesbrough Vs. Cardiff
Bristol Rovers vs. West Brom

Carling Cup Surprise!

Who would believe it, Tottenham were able to beat Chelsea in today's cup. It wasn't just any game, it was 11th placed Tottenham versus third place Chelsea. And to top it off, Tottenham won in the first OT thanks to Woodgate's perseverance to find the back of the net. This game goes to show that anyone can beat anybody on any given day; it comes down to who has worked harder in practice and who wants it more. Well down Spurs!

Man U On Fire!

After yesterday's dominating win over Newcastle, 5 to 1, one thing is for sure; Ronaldo is a major key to success for Man U. If you look at what he did, he was involved in 3 of the 5 total goals; two goals and an assist. Also, Wayne Rooney stepped his game up and accounted for 2 goals himself and an assist. Overall Man U have now pulled within 3 pts. of leaders Arsenal who had a dreadful 2 to 2 tie to Birmingham. Hopefully for Man U's next game against Fulham, they can once again have a dominating game with the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Nani, and others.