Joint owners David Gold & David Goldman appointed Avram Grant last summer on a four-year contract but the exciting, attractive style of football that West Ham fans have been used to was not present this season.  Instead, the Hammers rarely played as a team unit.  Scott Parker’s ‘never say die’ spirit helped paper over some cracks, something that helped him win the Player Of The Year award.  But Parker’s leadership qualities have been dogged by injuries; and when Parker was missing, the game plan often collapsed.

On Saturday 15th January, on the morning of a home game against Arsenal, it was leaked that Martin O’Neil had agreed to become the new manager at Upton Park.  Following a 3-0 defeat Avram Grant took off his claret & blue scarf and threw it into the crowd as he applauded the faithful fans.  This appeared to be Grant’s farewell, but O’Neill never came and the owners weren’t decisive in managing a damaged situation; and yesterday West Ham paid the price for poor leadership s they were once again relegated from the Premier League.

I’m pretty sure the West Ham owners will attempt to sell as many of their top players as possible to lessen their outgoings.  Inflated wage bills may prove difficult to shift the likes of Carlton Cole, Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge and some of the foreign players but there will be plenty of interest for Scott Parker and Robert Green.

Following a summer clearout I believe the owners will set about rebuilding a team with Championship players on Championship wages.  To this end, I wouldn’t bet on West Ham returning to the Premier League immediately.

Next Sunday will see the last round of the Premiership 2010/11 season games kick off simultaneously at 4pm.  The results will show which two from five teams will join West Ham to be relegated.

With three teams on 39 points Blackburn and Blackpool look favourites to go down.  Birmingham are away to Spurs, who will want to secure 5th place and Blackpool are away to the newly crowned champions Manchester United, who will want to finish the season on a high.  Of the three, Wigan have every chance to win against a deflated Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, following their FA Cup defeat to Manchester City.

Wolves and Blackburn currently have 40 points each, and will play each other at Molineux.  With neither club wanting to leave anything to chance, this should be a high scoring cracker!

The Seasiders have certainly brought colour to the Premier League but since Christmas they have been on a rapid nose dive.  Their miserable plight continued last weekend even after securing a point with a 1-1 draw at Spurs.  They dropped into the relegation zone for the first time this year after Wolves won 3-1 against ‘black country’ rivals West Brom on Sunday.

Wolves have spent much of the season in the bottom three even though they have beaten the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.

The bottom three, with just two games to go are: West Ham (33 points), Wigan (36) and Blackpool (36).  The three teams above them are Wolves (37), Birmingham (39) and Blackburn (39).

But looking at the remaining fixtures I can’t see Blackpool or West Ham escaping relegation to the nPower Championship. But Wigan’s two games at West Ham & Stoke could possibly see them play a ‘get out of jail’ card and send Blackburn, Birmingham or Wolves down in their place.

Bottom Six Premier League Fixtures Remaining:

Blackburn – Manchester United (home) & Wolves (away)
Birmingham – Fulham (home) & Spurs (away)
Wolves – Sunderland (away) & Blackburn (home)
Blackpool – Bolton (home) & Man Utd (away)
Wigan – West Ham (away) & Stoke (away)
West Ham – Wigan (away) & Sunderland (home)

I’m going for West Ham, Wigan & Blackpool.  What about you?

Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring with another headed goal from a Jermaine Pennant cross. Ryan Shawcross tapped in a second from inside six yards, and Jermaine Pennant made it 3-0 with a deflected shot from about eight yards.

Wolves were very poor while Stoke continue to impress, playing to their strengths under the excellent management of Tony Pulis.

Wolves (34 points) stay in the bottom three, along with Wigan (33 points) and West Ham (32 points) but there is still time for all three to avoid relegation with four games still to play.
Blackpool climb out of the relegation places on goal difference after a 1-1 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.  Blackburn are currently 16th (35 points) and Birmingham (38 points) are far from safe following a run of bad results.  Fulham are in 14th position with 39 points and a game in-hand on the six teams below them, which I believe will be enough to see them play Premier League football next season.

I personally think the relegation battle will go to the final day and is now between the bottom six: Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Wigan, Wolves and West Ham.

At the top of the Premiership Arsenal and Tottenham both dropped more points at the weekend.  Spurs were held to a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane by West Brom, while Arsenal lost away to Bolton. Tottenham appear to have blown a chance of a top four finish and Champions League football next season with two from a possible six points last week; while Manchester City overcame Blackburn on Monday with Edin Dzecko’s first Premier League goal.

Man City are now 5 points clear of Spurs with five games to play; and with Arsenal winning only one point from their last two games, Arsene Wenger will be looking over his shoulder at Roberto Mancini’s sky blues who are now just 5 points behind them with a game in hand.

Chelsea continued their recent good run as the most inform team in the Premier League with a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham on Sunday, including a first goal for Fernando Torres, and Manchester United continued to grind out results beating Everton at Old Trafford 1-0 on Saturday.

Both Chelsea (67 points) & Manchester United (73 points) have four games left.  This weekend Chelsea are at home to Spurs while Man Utd are away to Arsenal; two massive games for all four clubs.  But the Premier League title could be decided when Chelsea play Manchester Utd at Old Trafford on Sunday 8th May.

For reasons of money, investment and past glories, it is easy to think of the aforementioned clubs as the five teams that still have a realistic chance of winning this season’s Premier League. But Spurs are only above Bolton Wanderers (who have a better goal difference) because Bolton could only manage a home draw with Blackpool on Saturday.  Both Bolton and Blackpool are playing really exciting football under the guidance of Owen Coyle and Ian Holloway respectively, and have been involved in some surprise results already this season.

So, as we head into December it is good to see there are only six points between the top 5 clubs, and the top half of the Premiership includes some surprises.  Liverpool can only scrape into the top half of the table on goal difference, ahead of two of last season’s promoted teams, Blackpool and West Brom. While ahead of them are Bolton (6th), Sunderland (7th), Stoke City (8th) and Newcastle United (9th).

Manchester United are top of the league for the first time this season after a 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford on Saturday.  It marked the return of Wayne Rooney to the starting line-up and also the best performance I have witnessed from Dimitar Berbatov since his move from Spurs.  Not only did the Bulgarian striker score five goals, his movement and link up play with Rooney was as sharp as I have seen.

Blackburn were awful but that takes nothing away from an excellent team performance by Man Utd who remain unbeaten this season but moreover have started to play better football and look like possible champions. Lest we forget, Manchester Utd have regularly started the season off slowly in recent years, only to make a charge for the Premiership title come the New Year.

Furthermore, United’s thrashing of Blackburn has meant they now have the same goal difference as Chelsea who started the season so well.

Defending champions Chelsea find themselves two points behind Manchester United after only being able to manage a draw against Newcastle at St James Park.  This follows defeats to Sunderland & Birmingham, and more importantly, the surprise sacking of assistant manager, Ray Wilkins, which has now been followed by the news that Frank Arneson has resigned and will leave his post as head talent scout at the end of the season.

It is clear that there is something wrong behind the scenes as well as on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, and though the return of John Terry, Michael Essein and Frank Lampard to the Chelsea team will help alleviate some of the problems Carlo Ancelotti is faces on the pitch with a team that were playing exciting football and looked invincible just a month or so ago, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Chelsea continue to implode over the coming weeks and months.

For the first time since July, I can muster a grin at the fact that I had a pre-season bet that Manchester United would win the Premier League this season.

Like Chelsea before them, Man City’s arrival has been cemented by a large sum of money while Harry Redknapp performs nothing much short of a miracle in Spurs continual ascendancy as one of the actual ‘big five’ teams in the Premier League.

But this season’s English Premier League has already thrown up a list of amazing results.  Just this weekend Chelsea lost a second game in succession to Birmingham, while Arsenal through away a 2-0 half-time lead to lose to Tottenham 3-2 at The Emirates; and furthermore, while Manchester United remain unbeaten this season they are playing far from their invisible best and only last week were allowed back into a game that Aston Villa should have killed off.

So, with Arsenal and Chelsea dropping points and Man Utd looking less than convincing, there is no better time for Tottenham and Manchester City to launch a real assault on winning the Premier League; and Man City done just that today by thrashing Fulham at Craven Cottage 4-1 and in the process playing a more expansive and attacking style of football under Roberto Mancini than I’ve seen all season.  Maybe the show was especially for former Man City manager Mark Hughes.  But after weeks of criticism of Mancini playing two holding midfielders and one striker both home and away, Manchester City started the game with Carlos Tevez and Joe upfront, and that appeared to signal a change from the more cautious, defensive approach Mancini has played in recent games.

Whatever happens, it is turning into an eventful, exciting season with every week.  I only hope Manchester City and Spurs continue to pile on the pressure by playing exciting football and that come spring, any one from five teams are still in with a chance to win this season’s Premiership title.

Stoke were no doubt lifted by the surprise half-time appearance of Tony Pulis who had not been present for the first half due to the death of his mother; and the result was crucial.  This is Stoke City’s third consecutive season back in the top flight of English football, and it has been their home form that has kept them in the Premier League thus far.

As for Aston Villa, what were they thinking when they appointed a manager in Gerard Houllier who has still not been released from his current position with the French FA. Last night, Caretaker Manager Kevin MacDonald told reporters he was still unsure when Houllier was going to take charge of the team.  For now he had been told to pick the team to play against Stoke and again on Saturday at home to Bolton Wanderers.

To suggest Aston Villa is a club in turmoil is far from the truth.  However, the next six weeks could be very important in deciding the fortunes of this so-called ‘sleeping giant’.

Following their home game on Saturday with Bolton they will play a very difficult game against Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the Carling Cup. In all honesty, neither side may play their strongest teams.  But if Sam Allardyce decides to strike while Aston Villa’s morale is low, Blackburn could quite easily knock Villa out of the cup.

After the Carling Cup game next Wednesday (22nd September), Aston Villa will play two difficult away fixtures at Wolves and Tottenham. They do not play another home game until they host a goal-rampant, ultra-inform Chelsea on Saturday 16th October.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, their only other home game in the Premier League in October is against arch-rivals Birmingham (31st October).

With an away game at Sunderland between the two, it is clear to see that Aston Villa needs the French FA to release Gerard Houllier as soon as possible.  And if the situation carries on until the end of October, Houllier could quite possibly arrive to find Aston Villa languishing amongst the relegation places.

Furthermore, the longer this bizarre situation continues, the more vocal the fans were air their disapproval and the higher eyebrows will be raised at the owner Randy Learner’s decision to appoint a manager who is actually not available!

Lastly, once Gerard Houllier eventually arrives at Villa Park he will have big shoes to feel with both the fans and club expectations, if he is to exorcise the ghost of Martin O’Neill; and there is also the small matter of how he consoles goalkeeper Brad Friedel and defender Stephen Warnock.  Both players were told they were surplus to requirements when Houllier became manager at Liverpool.

As one alcoholic striker once said, ‘it’s a funny old game’.  But its stories like this that makes the game of football as exciting as the results themselves.

karren brady

Al Fahim has at last been seen to do the right thing by selling the majority shareholding in Portsmouth FC to fellow Saudi businessman Ali Al Faraj, who has promised financial stability and a safe future for the Premier League club.

Peter Storrie CEO at Portsmouth admits that he has had some sleepless nights during Al Fahim’s brief reign although he remains uncritical of the man who will remain as chairman at Portsmouth for at least two seasons.

Storrie has confirmed that funds would be available for new players in the January transfer window and added, “Ali is a passionate follower of the Premier League and wants Portsmouth to remain in the best league in world football, there will be money to spend in January to make sure we do not lose our coveted place in the top flight.”

Hong Kong billionaire Carson Yeung has completed the purchase of 90% shareholding in Birmingham City and takes over at the club with immediate effect.

Ralph Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady will all leave the club although David Gold will stay on as chairman. Sullivan is allegedly showing interest in purchasing another club in the top tier, with West Ham as favourites, although Sullivan has insisted that he will be taking a break from football.

At Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has had a dig at manager Rafael Benitez, saying that instead of criticising the owners, fans should look at the performance of the Liverpool manager for the clubs lack of progress.

Gillett insists that he and Tom Hicks have invested ‘more money than our competitors’ adding;

“In the last 18 months, we have invested £128m on top of what has come in. That means it should be getting better. Now if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and Hicks, it’s the manager, it’s the scouting. You have to make sure you balance out your analysis. There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs.”

It is a powerful start for Tottenham, in direct contrast to this time last year when everything conspired against Juande Ramos who eventually lost his job at Spurs before taking control of Real Madrid for half a season.

One thing the experts all consider when talking about league winning teams is ‘depth of squad’ and Spurs must have the biggest in the league. For three seasons/managers at Spurs have bought about three players for every one they sell so there must be some squad still there.

That doesn’t stop Harry Redknapp from being linked to every player that enters the market, the latest football news says he is after buying Arjen Robben from Madrid. While there is little substance to the story it may be different if Spurs have maintained their form into the January transfer window.

If they are still top come January, Redknapp will be determined to show his skill in the attracting the best players to the club. It will be like me playing fantasy football for Harry, spend every penny available and to hell with the defence.

I wonder what the football betting odds are on Spurs to win the league, I wouldn’t bet against it, but it really is early days and lets face it anything can happen. I do expect a closer group of teams in the top six or eight this season, from the limited action I have seen most teams have shown improvement on last season.

However and not withstanding Arsenal’s fine result on Saturday, I am predicting that we will see the top four become six, and Liverpool will lead the pack. I do expect both Spurs and Manchester City to make a big impact this season and look forward to the fight with Arsenal to secure the fourth place.

At the other end newcomers Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley all have a win under their belt’s and what an incredible result it was for Burnley to beat the champions Manchester United.

Right now they are all pretty much unknown quantities and maybe capable of the odd surprise, but how regular will that become? I expect all three to be involved in the traditional end of season relegation battle  along with Stoke, Bolton and Hull, with the latter trio going down.

Jose Mourinho

Mourinho has also said that neither Tottenham or Arsenal have been in touch with Inter Milan regarding the signing of Patrick Vierra. Both clubs have been verbal over offering the midfielder a pay as you play deal over the last few weeks. “If they want him, they have to let us know,” he said. “I have to say until this moment, no Tottenham, no Arsenal. They have not contacted us.”

The Premier League will honour Sir Bobby Robson with one minutes applause at each of it’s opening games on the weekend of August 15 and 16.

Hull City have completed the double signing of Seyi Olofinjana from Stoke City and Jozy Altidore from Villareal. Olofinjana has signed a four year deal with Hull, the 29 year old opting against a move to Monaco in a £3million deal, while 19 year old Altidore has agreed a season long loan from Spanish La Liga side Villareal.

Burnley have signed 19 year old Fernando Guerrero on a one season loan from Ecuador club Independiente Del Valle. Guerrrero was formerly at Real Madrid as an under 19 before returning back to Ecuador. A permanent contract is on offer if he impresses.

Twenty year old Chelsea winger Scott Sinclair has agreed to go on loan to Wigan for a season. He spent half of last season helping rivals Birmingham in their Championship title race.

Liverpool expect the signing of Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani to go through with no hitches, having agreed a fee of around £20million with Roma. The player will take a medical with the Reds this week.

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes is concerned that Carlos Tevez may not be fully fit for the start of the season, after the player slipped over in the shower.

Bowyer was taken on loan by the Blues towards the end of  last season, playing in seventeen games and being instrumental in helping the team win promotion back to the Premier league.

It has been reported that the player was willing to negotiate a cut in wages in order to complete the deal. Bowyer earned his reputation as a tough tackling uncompromising midfielder after joining Leeds from Charlton in 1996 as a teenager. He first joined West Ham in 2003 before a move to Newcastle six months later. Bowyer returned to Upton Park in 2006.

Bowyer joins Christian Benitez, Stephen Carr, Scott Dann, Roger Johnson, Joe Hart and Giovanny Espinoza in signing for Alex McLeish’s Birmingham City this summer.