Apologies to all for missing the last installment of the column. Your editor took a mini-vacation and was unable to push out several articles as a result. Fortunately, the goings-on were well-covered by a stellar Footy Fetish broadcast last week that saw an exclusive interview with David Beckham. We hope to have yet another exclusive interview with Jose Mourinho in the next two weeks. News aside, what of the Premiership?

Most noteworthy is the Gunners retaking the lead atop the league table. This past week saw Arsenal take on Man City and come out ahead, 3-1, thanks to a brace from Adebayor (who has been in scintillating form this season) and an astonishing volley from Eduardo. Fernandes pulled one back for City but they were quite hopelessly outclassed by the Gunners which further adds to Eriksson’s woes of late.

Man United, on the other hand, had a rough time against the Spurs with Tevez just managing to salvage a draw for the Red Devils. Hard luck to Tottenham who put on a fantastic display for their fans including some stout defending. Berbatov scored after Lennon’s shot was parried by Van de Sar. Berby was unlucky to have scored another after breezing by three United defenders and Tottenham will be left to rue a draw after fighting so hard.

Pompey and Chelsea also battled to a stalemate with goals coming from Anelka and Defoe in the second half. With new signings all around, both teams were hoping for a good display but Chelsea remain a shadow of their former self with Drogba still in Africa. Anelka is a capable striker but perhaps hasn’t integrated into the team quite yet. Portsmouth fans were looking forward to seeing how Defoe and Baros would perform and in a way they didn’t disappoint. They linked up to score the lone goal, however, we think Defoe is in the same league as Chelsea’s Shaun Wright Phillips, namely, lots of hype and little to no performance. We’ll be elaborating on the show tonight.

Liverpool, fortunately, won comfortably against Sunderland, their first win since Boxing Day. Crouch (back in favor?), Torres and Gerrard all found the net in the 3-0 win against a sad, sad Sunderland. There’s really not much else to say.

A decent match to have watched was the Villa-Fulham tie-up if only to see Jimmy Bullard play. Bullard was involved in both goals, setting up Davies for the first and launching a screaming free-kick to give Fulham (and Roy Hodgson) a much-needed win. Bullard was tireless in pursuing the ball, a real credit to his team and probably well worthwhile for fantasy managers. That about wraps it up for the review, let’s move on to some club news.

CLUB NEWS

Arsenal midfielder, Abou Diaby, signed a new contract with the Gunners that should keep him at the Emirates until 2012.

Apparently Man U’s Ronaldo nearly signed for Arsenal some years ago with Wenger claiming the two of them were very close. Wenger was being coy about revealing more and we are left to wonder what kind of team Arsenal would have had today had Ronaldo chosen otherwise.

Kanu is available for team action in the UK after Nigeria failed to progress in the African Cup of Nations. He is expected to return at the end of this week though there’s no word on whether he’ll play or not.

Fernando Torres is out of the game against Chelsea. A lot of fantasy managers have him on their roster so be sure to find a suitable alternative.

Newcastle’s Keegan says Charles N’Zogbia may leave at the end of the season. Spurs may be the ones to pick him up. As of now there isn’t much speculation as to why he might be leaving.

Starting next season, Premier League clubs will be allowed to name seven subs on their roster (as opposed to the current 5).

There’s been talk of moving some Premier League matches abroad to increase the marketability of the game. Several coaches and clubs support the idea but the UK government and fans seem to be against it. Either way, nothing is expected to change until 2010-11.

AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS

The final sees Egypt and Cameroon go head to head after the Egyptians trounced the Ivory Coast and Cameroon broke Ghanian hearts.

ON THE FANTASY FRONT

In the Footy Fetish Show League, the table leader remains ArsenalEvolution with KSFM a close second. The bottom of the table is occupied by FC Fort Worth and the Curryhouse Stalwarts. The best performing weekly teams were ArsenalEvolution and Cascadia FC.

Do join our fantasy football league on Yahoo Sports HERE. Our group name: Footy Fetish Show, our group ID: 38402, our group password: aceradio.

FOOTY FETISH SHOW SUMMARY

*Note: Instructions on how to use the miniplayer below have changed. The linked article has been updated to reflect these changes.

For a list of injured players, click HERE.

For a list of suspended players, click HERE.

For a list of players to be suspended, click HERE.

For a list of dedicated penalty takers, click HERE.

For a list of African players away at the African Nations Cup, click HERE.

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