It's a sad day in podland, and not just because Phil Brown has been relieved of his duties at Hull City. On your brand new Football Weekly, we sing an ode to David Beckham, whose World Cup dream is over in the wake of a potentially career-ending achilles injury (although that cut under his eye looks fairly nasty too). James Richardson and a dangerously sleep-deprived Rob Smyth shed a tear. Before we get to that, proper journalist Owen Gibson looks ahead to Chelsea's Champions League clash with Internazionale. Plus, there's all the usual gubbins about the Premier League title race – could it all come down to goal difference? – and the fight for fourth place. Can Tottenham Hotspur really hang on in the face of the crumbling challenge from Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Manchester...

I met up with Will in Guildford at around 10.30 for the journey north and had the third degree from him because I was a few minutes late. He was revelling in the fact that he had been at our prearranged meeting point on time – a world first! Nevertheless, I had to take the...

• Club statement says former manager 'on gardening leave'• Brian Horton and Steve Parkin to take charge of first teamPhil Brown has been "relieved of his managerial duties" at Hull City.Hull, who lost to a late Nicklas Bendtner goal at home to Arsenal on Saturday, are 19th in the Premier League, three points away from safety.A statement on the club website, by Adam Pearson, the club's chairman, read: "Hull City AFC confirms that Phil Brown has been relieved of his managerial duties at the club and has been placed on gardening leave with immediate effect. Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will take charge of first-team duties until further notice."We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Phil for the major success achieved during a period of four seasons in charge at the club...

The weekend’s football panned out pretty much as expected with West Ham and Fulham capitulating on their respective visits to Chelsea and Manchester United. The upcoming weekend could see Arsenal return to the top of the table with our nearest rivals playing on Sunday. Whilst United appear to have the trickier match of the two, I do not expect anything from Liverpool, no matter how much they may wish to win the match. Quite simply, they are not good enough. And yes, I am really hoping that I have to eat those words. Andrey Arshavin is rapidly becoming a surreal footballing experience; sublime on the pitch and frankly talking as if he has dropped a tab of acid off it. The latest ‘gem’ from his website concerned the visit to Hull: Unfortunately, we missed a penalty kick....

1. Last minute winners from Nicklas Bendtner now? A Sun-style apology might be due from OTP soon. 2. Craig Gordon is the unluckiest player of the weekend. His excellent performance deserved to win all three points for Sunderland against Manchester City. 3. George Boateng has been watching too much Six Nations action (see video above). 4. And [...]...

Adam Johnson loomed high on Steve Bruce's January shopping list but once Roberto Mancini registered an interest in the then Middlesbrough winger, Sunderland's outbid manager had no option but to concede defeat.That was what Mancini's City were heading for on Wearside until Johnson, a late substitute, curled in a sublime stoppage-time equaliser to secure a potentially vital point in his side's pursuit of fourth place."It's going to be very tight but I think we have a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League," said a previously agitated Mancini, his sanity quite possibly preserved by the Sunderland-born Johnson's 11th-hour intervention.Earlier City's manager had pressed almost every conceivable tactical button, repeatedly reconfiguring his side as Bruce's newly renascent team...

Adam Johnson's injury-time equaliser salvaged a vital point for Manchester City in their bid to finish fourth in the Premier...

Wayne Rooney scores twice and Dimitar Berbatov adds a third as Manchester United move two points at the top of the Premier...

Press F5 or use the autorefresh buttton for the latest updates and email rob.bagchi@guardian.co.uk if you like. You can also follow all today's goals with our live score centre9 min: GOAL! Sunderland 1-0 Man City (Jones)7 min: Meyler's done OK so far and Campbell, on the right, has just had a crushing challenge with Wayne Bridge and won the free kick. Seconds later Tevez goes flying and wins a free kick but Mensah hardly touched him. Very congested across the middle so far - the dodgy kicking of both keepers being the biggest thing of the game so far.5 min: Poor kick from Gordon on an admittedly bobbly pitch. "SWP's value problem is due entirely to an English prejudice againsttiny players," posits Ian Copestake. "Pacheco at Liverpool will also have to grow a pair of inches before he is...

Press F5 or use the autorefresh fandangle for the latest updates and email barney.ronay@guardian.co.uk with your paeans to Wayne Rooney. You can also follow all today's goals with our live score centre29 mins United are having all of this game. Fulham double up on Nani this time and just about clear the ball. It's all coming down his side right now. Berbatov lays it back to rooney 20 yards out and he shoots striaght away, but Schwarzer makes a brilliant save diving down low to his right. Xavier McDaniel asks "What would Rooney have to do to be knocked from his perch as the Greatest Living Briton? Besides a text affair with Amy Winehouse or palling around with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before the World Cup, I think he's nearing untouchable status." He could beat Stephen Fry up maybe? Or...

Hull City 1 – 2 Arsenal 0 – 1 Arshavin (14) 1 – 1 Bullard (28 pen) 1 – 2 Bendtner (90) A less comfortable win than it should have been but victory nonetheless and at this stage of the season, three points is all that counts, especially since Chelsea had won convincingly earlier in the day. Nicklas Bendtner’s late goal was apparently not good for his manager’s heart but it was certainly good enough to keep the pressure on at the top of the table. This was a win reminscent of 1989’s victory at Ayresome Park. On that day, the most exciting Arsenal team to that point won through a late Martin Hayes toe-poke, overcoming stubborn resistance from a team struggling at the foot of the table. That title winning side was capable of playing far better than...

Let me just start off by saying that I’m so glad I put Nicklas Bendtner in my fantasy premier league team this week. So often dismissed as an arrogant egotist, he’s showed real ability in this past week, netting a hat trick against Porto and scoring the late winner in this morning’s game. I believe my cynicism has been well documented, and well justified. However, it is starting to look more and more likely that I’ll eat my words. The last ten minutes of the game against Hull reminded me of Manchester United. Their movement, sense of urgency, it resembled a United movement I like to call it. There was real intent to claim the 3 points, and while I disagreed with the substitutions Wenger had made, I was relieved that Denilson took that shot. He is possibly the only...

In the United States, the clocks go forward an hour tonight for Daylight Savings Time. However the clocks don’t go forward in the United Kingdom for another two weeks until March 28. That means that for viewers in the United States, Premier League games will begin one hour later than usual for the next two weeks. That’s good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. You’ll get one hour of extra sleep before the early matches kick off on Saturdays and Sundays. But the Saturday late kickoff won’t finish until 3:30-3:45pm ET. Here’s the latest Premier League TV schedule for viewers in the United States. Related posts:Premier League TV Schedule For US: December Matches Revealed U.S. TV Schedule For Premier League Games: Aug Through Nov 09 (Updated) Fox...

Preview followed by live coverage of Saturday's game between Hull and Arsenal in the Premier...

Three days before 'The Man' returns to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea put on a performance that was classic Mourinho. There was no great need to exert themselves and, against a pedestrian West Ham side, they plucked the three points necessary to regain position at the top of the Premier League table.They were even able to tweak their goal difference without sweating too much. No need to tell Carlo Ancelotti, but you-know-who would have been proud.With the honourable exception of Florent Malouda, whose contribution shone in terms of vigour and finesse, Chelsea were a couple of gears below the levels they require against Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Not that there will be any complaints about a comfortable win after a month that threw up domestic defeats by Everton and...

The consolation for Sam Allardyce is that he did not do Rafael Benítez a favour. Had Allardyce's Rovers stunted Tottenham's push for a top-four finish and, indirectly, helped Liverpool and Benítez, it might have stuck in his jowls. Allardyce cannot see eye-to-eye with the Liverpool manager, to put it mildly.The Blackburn manager, though, endured a frustrating afternoon as his team's woeful away form continued. They might have started brightly and had a decent shout for a penalty turned down, but, when you concede the sort of goals they did, you get what you deserve.Tottenham were not at their free-flowing best, despite another marauding performance from the in-form Gareth Bale, but they did enough. Jermain Defoe plundered his 23rd of the season from close-range and Roman Pavlyuchenko,...

Hit F5 for the latest updates, or get funky with our autorefresh tool. Email questions and the like to alanrgardner@gmail.com and keep up with all today's goals with our live score centre3.35pm: Ireland and Wales are back out at Croke Park, where Wales have the put-in on an early scrum on their 22. The score is still Ireland 16-6 Wales. "Re Jim Wild's translation at 2:58. Douglas Adams would be proud." Chris B namechecks the dearly-departed author of the Hitchhiker's Guide – a book I've sadly never read.3.34pm: Ian Copestake has neatly married the two topics of conversation currently bobbing aimlessly in my inbox: "Playing Paul Merson might have been more fun if we could go back to his days of skill and excess. Doing it now would mean sending in emails that made sense when run through...

Hit F5 or use the autorefresh tool for the latest updates and email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk with your best bants. You can also follow all today's matches with our live score centre41 min: Kalinic and Dawson battle under a long bouncing ball heading for the Spurs area. The Blackburn striker looks to be winning the tussle, the prize for him being a one-on-one with Gomes, but he panics when in the box seat, shoving Dawson in the back then knocking the ball past him with a preposterous volleyball punch. You'll not be getting away with that, young sir. Naylor, by the way, is voting for Jamie. Redknapp Irritation-o-meter: Harry 1, Jamie 1, Louise 0.38 min: Spurs have stepped it up a gear alright. Now Modric pings one forward straight down the middle, Defoe running onto the ball and drifting...

The trip to Hull brings back many fond memories of previous encounters, Phil Brown’s jocularity always shines through when faced with Arsenal and Brian ‘Laughing Boy’ Horton; well, what a guy. That stand-up routine he and Cesc had going really recreated Harlem from the Blaxploitation movies, right down to the public shoe-shine. This is one of those fixtures which Alex Ferguson referred to be as being ‘easier’, Hull’s league position being the driver to that comment. It is that fact which makes it one of the tougher of the run-in. Chelsea and Manchester City have both failed to take maximum points from their visits to the Humber, Machester United are one of only two sides to have achieved that this season, highlighting the paucity of the hosts form on...

After the win in midweek at crisis club Portsmouth – we return to St Andrews to face an Everton side who appear to be improving week by week. With key players like Arteta returning, Everton have gone on a decent run. Landon Donovan has been another player who has made a big impact. He is on...

The Chelsea midfielder still respects his former manager but has no intention of losing to him in the Champions LeagueFrank Lampard has already staved off two potential indignities of late. Unlike Gary Lineker, he has avoided having to dress up as a sandwich, his face peering out between plastic tranches of ham and foam tomatoes, when filming the latest Walkers Crisps advertisement in Kent. Then, in a kickabout at Sandwich Technology school, his five-a-side team have edged out a comically dismayed Lineker's in a penalty shoot-out. Yet, if that provides some light relief, swerving the biggest ignominy of all could be distinctly trickier.Chelsea confront Internazionale on Tuesday with a first-leg deficit to retrieve and Lampard's mentor, José Mourinho, blocking passage to the Champions...

All Premier League games this weekend will feature a special red-coloured version of the usual official Nike T90 Ascente ball. It’s all part of the Red charity campaign to fight AIDS in Africa. Serie A and La Liga will be joining the Premier League in the use of the Red ball during their weekend matches. In addition, stars such as Cesc Fabregas, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and Fernando Torres will be wearing special Nike Red laces to help raise awareness of the campaign. Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the Premier League, said, “[a] red ball and red laces are simple ideas, but sometimes those are the best – the hope is that the profile given through this and the money raised through ‘Lace Up, Save Lives’ will provide significant...

• Storrie claims he left club over 'intolerable' abuse• Former chief executive will continue as consultantPeter Storrie has left his job as chief executive of Portsmouth. He said tonight that he had gone because he could no longer tolerate the abuse he has been subjected to over the club's plight.Storrie has departed without a pay-off but Portsmouth's administrators said he would be "remunerated accordingly" for ongoing work on a range of matters, including the sale of the club and the FA Cup semi-final arrangements for game against TottenhamHotspur or Fulham at Wembley on 11 April at Wembley.Last night Storrie told ESPN: "It is best that I walk away for the sake of the club as well as my family and friends. Despite working non-stop to try to keep this club alive for the last 14...

• Decison was taken in the interests of the club• Storrie will stay on as a consultantPeter Storrie's reign at Portsmouth has come to an end after the club announced that he has stepped down as their chief executive.Portsmouth's administrator Andrew Andronikou said Storrie made the decision after consulting with his friends and family and decided it was in the best interests of the club if he were to leave full-time employment at Portsmouth."The administrators would like to thank Mr Storrie for his undivided assistance and support over the past few weeks," read a statement on Portsmouth's website.Storrie will be kept on at the club in a consultancy role and the administrators expect him to assist on a "wide range of matters" including the sale of the club, the FA Cup semi-final...

Here is another article by Dale. You’re Alex McLeish. You have players like Michael, Gardner, Phillips and young Jake Jarvis at your disposal. You have guided your team to premier league safety with ten games still to play. Whats your next move? The man himself has reiterated his desire to push as high up the table as possible before...

I raid my record collection and nab a post title from The Buzzcocks. Darius raids his and comes up with a Tears for Fears lyric. Tears for bleedin’ Fears? Yea Gods. I know whose CDs I’d like to listen to and they ain’t his…although any article that references Steve Marriott can’t be all bad. The Association of British Specialist Insurers has suggested that in the last few weeks members have inundated them, seeking advice on how to approach the development of a new product. A select group of clients are clamouring to buy what has been described as ’Humble Pie’ insurance, seeking to find solutions that will save face, stop them from eating their words, and shield them from having industrial portions of humble pie shoved down their throats come the end of the football...

• Fan ejected from club TV show for wearing scarf • Steward sacked for returning confiscated bannerManchester United are so concerned about the increasing success of the green-and-gold protests that the club have effectively forbidden Sir Alex Ferguson's players from speaking about it publicly and imposed a series of other measures aimed at counteracting the kind of publicity generated by David Beckham's endorsement of the campaign.Beckham's parting statement after United's 4-0 defeat of Milan on Wednesday, leaving the pitch with a protest scarf around his neck, is being described as "an iconic moment" by the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (Must), and senior figures at Old Trafford are worried about the significance of the most famous sportsman on the planet attaching himself to...

With around 10 games left on the schedule, it’s white-knuckle time up and down the table in the Barclays Premier League. Three teams are within two points of first place, four teams are within four points of fourth place and seven teams are within six points of the drop zone. Or, if math really isn’t your thing, you could just say that things are tight. Check it out: The Gaffer points out that this is a landmark weekend for EPL games in the States, as all of them will be shown live in some medium. See the TV schedule here Just for fun, let’s change up the format this week. Chasing the crown Chelsea vs. West Ham The Blues have a game in hand but are two points back of Manchester United – a situation they’ll be looking to remedy when West Ham waltzes into...

This weekend will be a turning point for the English Premier League in the United States. For the first time in history, all ten Premier League matches will be available live to U.S. viewers. Typically soccer fans in the United States have been able to see as many as eight live games out of the ten matches each weekend. In the past, we missed a couple of the live 10am ET Saturday games because there weren’t enough outlets available to show the games. But now with the demise of Setanta US and the relaunch of FoxSoccer.tv, the broadband service from Fox has picked up the slack and plan on showing as many as four live games in the 10am ET slot all at the same time on different Internet streams. So, for example, this Saturday soccer fans in the United States who have access to Fox...

• Pompey owe £15m to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs• 'The Revenue has accepted the administration is valid'Portsmouth's hopes of survival were today given a major boost when Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs accepted the club's move into administration.Pompey escaped being wound up after HMRC, which is owed around £15m by the club, abandoned its claim that the the club's owner, Balram Chainrai, did not have the legal right to put the club into administration.A spokesman for the club said: "The Revenue has accepted the administration is valid."The club yesterday made more than a quarter of their staff redundant. Eighty-five of 320 employees will lose their jobs but the administrator, Andrew Andronikou, said the chief executive, Peter Storrie, would remain on a salary of "under...

After a Champions League week in which both Arsenal and United cruised through, the media in UK goes overboard. There are rarely any shades of grey in press coverage here. You’re a hero or a zero and that’s pretty much it. At the moment you’d think Rooney had actually invented heading the ball, so extreme has the praise of his goals been. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve praise – but my god it goes over-the-top. Thus, United were imperious and Arsenal majestic, despite the fact that both were playing against sluggish, over-the-hill teams. Teams which still needed beating, and which they beat well, but a little perspective would occasionally be welcome. The trouble is The Premier League and its cheerleaders seek any opportunity to laud the league as the best in the world. They...

Media reports of Nicklas Bendtner having the ‘last laugh’ put the whole of the coverage surrounding his performances in recent days into the perspective that they deserve. The image which sprang to my mind was a Python-esque character, dressed in Superhero garb, proclaiming, “I laugh in the face of danger“, his horn-rimmed spectacles perched precariously on his nose. The ‘danger’? Anyone taking the criticism and praise seriously without realising that they will return in equal measure, depending upon his performance at Hull on Saturday. Bendtner noted that this is the manner in which the ‘issue’ was dealt with ‘internally’: There was some criticism of me after the game last Saturday, but me and my team-mates have just laughed...

Here is Bazza’s report from Tuesday night. I went straight from work to Will’s place where I met his wife Julie for the first time. I introduced myself and said that yes, I really was the serial killer she thought I was given that Will had met me originally via the blog and therefore the internet....

Thursday gives the team of Kartik Krishnaiyer, Laurence McKenna and Richard Farley their first chance to reflect on a banner week for the Premiership in the UEFA Champions League. The team gets together to discuss Manchester United’s 4-0 (7-2) win over AC Milan, Arsenal’s 5-0 (6-2) win over Porto, Thursday’s Europa League match for Fulham at Juventus, Liverpool at Lille, Monday’s Liverpool disappointment at Wigan, and the weekend’s important matches in the Premiership. Related posts:Mid-Week Review Show: EPL Talk Podcast EPL Talk Podcast: Mid-Week Review Show Weekend Review Show: EPL Talk Podcast...

David Nugent's headed finish earns relegation-threatened Burnley their first point in five games in a scrappy encounter at Turf...

UEFA Champions League, Round of Sixteen, 2nd Leg Arsenal 5 – 0 FC Porto Arsenal win 6 – 2 on aggregate 1 – 0 Bendtner (10) 2 – 0 Bendtner (25) 3 – 0 Nasri (63) 4 – 0 Eboue (66) 5 – 0 Bendtner (90 pen) There are times when football is a cruel mistress; there are times when she is full of love and benevolence. Nicklas Bendtner experienced both extremes in the space of four days, a double hat-trick of chances missed against Burnley, a hat-trick to ensure comfortable progression on aggregate through to the Quarter-Finals of this season’s Champions League. Charles Dickens summed it up rather nicely indeed, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. The final outcome cannot be argued with, Arsenal deserved the win for an...

After almost four months and 14 Premier League games without a win Sunderland's bleak midwinter finally ended last night. As the thermometer dropped to freezing point it did not exactly seem like spring but Steve Bruce's suddenly relaxed body language was that of a man who has just felt the sun's warmth on his back for the first time in a very long while.Like Bolton, who began brightly enough but faded badly, Sunderland have not yet banished relegation fears but, thanks to Darren Bent's hat-trick and Fraizer Campbell's opener, their manager now has no reason to feel trepidation when he attends a scheduled formal meeting with his boss this morning.More than an hour before kick-off Bruce stood in the centre circle deep in conversation with Ellis Short, Sunderland's owner. Given Fabio...

Darren Bent scores a hat-trick as Sunderland claim their first league win of 2010 against ten-man...

Two goals from Cameron Jerome inspire Birmingham to a battling win against bottom-club Portsmouth at Fratton...

Porto arrive at The Emirates, defending a one-goal advantage, on the back of a poor record when visiting London. The Portuguese champions have not won on their last six visits, indeed losing them all. If Arsenal are to progress that record must continue. It is the night when comic pundit Ian Wright ‘feared‘ that Arsenal’s season would be over. Perhaps he should return to the company of Fozzy and Kermit. They will have to achieve that victory without Cesc Fabregas. Losing your best player is disadvantageous but unlike previous seasons, Arsenal has depth in its squad to cover this loss. The likeliest replacement is Samir Nasri but any one of the Frenchman, Tomas Rosicky or even Andrey Arshavin can fulfil the playmaker role, other personnel can be shuffled to compensate for...