Sunday, September 23, 2007

Game Week 7- Review

Champions Manchester United moved up to second in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-0 win over Chelsea in Blues manager Avram Grant's first match in charge. After Obi Jon Mikel had received a first-half red card for a challenge on Patrice Evra, United took the lead on the stroke of half-time when he headed in at the near post.The match was put beyond them late on when Louis Saha scored from the penalty spot after Tal Ben Haim challenged him in the area. Chelsea are now five points behind leaders Arsenal, having played a match more.

The Gunners again demonstrated their firepower with a 5-0 win over Derby County at the Emirates Stadium. Abou Diaby gave them the lead with a superb long-range strike after ten minutes and Emmanuel Adebayor doubled the advantage on 25. The Togo frontman added a penalty after the break, and Cesc Fabregas scored another fine goal to make it 4-0 with 20 minutes to go. Adebayor completed his hat-trick late on.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez would have been less impressed by his side after they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Birmingham City. The home side looked more of a threat once Fernando Torres had been brought on in the second-half but that's now three draws in a row for the Reds.

A more entertaining draw was witnessed by those present at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Fulham and Manchester City shared six goals, although the home side were twice in front through Simon Davies and Hammeur Bouazza. On each occasion Martin Petrov and Emile Mpenza hit back, and City were even in the lead thanks to Petrov's second goal of the match. However, a goal from Danny Murphy on his home debut salvaged a point for Fulham who have been involved in some very exciting matches already this season.

Middlesbrough's match with Sunderland also ended all square. Liam Miller's 89th-minute goal earned a point for Sunderland in a thrilling 125th Tees-Wear derby. The visitors took the lead after just 75 seconds when Michael Chopra's shot hit Grant Leadbitter and fell kindly for him to shoot past Mark Schwarzer in the Boro goal. Julio Arca headed in an equaliser and Stewart Downing's 25 yarder looked to have given all three points to Gareth Southgate's men before Miller's late intervention. It ended 2-2.

Reading earned a much needed three points by beating Wigan Athletic 2-1. James Harper won it late on when he converted a superb pass from Dave Kitson. Reading had previously taken the lead when Chris Kirkland failed to hold Kevin Doyle's shot and Kitson knocked the ball over the line. Marcus Bent equalised when he headed in Jason Koumas' corner.

Portsmouth secured a fine win at Blackburn Rovers thanks to a first-half strike from Kanu. The fixture list has not been particularly kind to Harry Redknapp's side as they have already faced Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but it is surely a barometer of the quality that Redknapp has at his disposal that the side occupy a mid-table position.

Newcastle United put a poor performance at Derby County behind them with a 3-1 win over West Ham United. Mark Viduka scored twice for the Magpies, with Charles N'Zogbia netting the other. Dean Ashton scored for West Ham for the second game in a row.

Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur have endured a difficult start to the season, and they drew 1-1 at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday. Robbie Keane gave Spurs the lead, only for Ivan Campo to equalise with a header.

In the weekend's other match, Aston Villa defeated Everton 2-0. John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor were on target for Villa who moved up to eighth. It's been a week to forget for Everton manager David Moyes who has seen his side beaten by Manchester United and held to a 1-1 draw at home by nine-man Metalist Kharkiv in the Uefa Cup.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Murinho Quits Chelsea (or was he sacked)....


Jose Mourinho's three-year reign at Chelsea came to an abrupt end on Thursday as the
Special One's fraught relationship with the club's Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, finally reached breaking point.An announcement that will send shockwaves through English and European football came in the early hours of Thursday morning with Chelsea claiming that Mourinho had left "by mutual consent."

A terse statement posted on the London club's website stated: "Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent."Mourinho had reportedly informed Frank Lampard and other senior players that he was on his way out on Wednesday evening and late-night talks at Stamford Bridge concluded with confirmation of his departure.

If he wants to go straight into another job, Mourinho will not be short of offers.The Portuguese manager, who made his reputation by guiding FC Porto to Champions League glory in 2004, has transformed the English football landscape since taking over at Stamford Bridge in June 2004, winning two Premier League titles in his first two years in charge, the FA Cup last season and the League Cup in 2005 and 2007.

Of the 185 games he has been in charge, Chelsea have won 124, drawn 40 and lost 21, a record that includes a 60-match unbeaten run in Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge.The statistics go some way towards justifying Mourinho's famous description of himself as "A Special One."

That comment was made in his first press conference in England and it is a judgment that few Chelsea fans would dispute after three years which saw the club end its 50-year wait to be crowned champions and establish itself as one of the most feared teams in Europe.

But the success has failed to seduce Abramovich and the Russian's relationship with his most outspoken employee turned sour last season when he refused to come up with the funds Mourinho required to land his January transfer targets -- a stance the Portuguese believes contributed to Chelsea conceding the Premier League title to Manchester United.On the other side of the feud, Abramovich has grown increasingly impatient with the fact that, after investing nearly 500 million pounds (one billion dollars) in the club, Chelsea have failed to conquer Europe and continue to lag behind the likes of Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester United in terms of entertainment value.

Tuesday's disappointing 1-1 Champions League draw with Norwegian side Rosenberg -- watched by fewer than 25,000 fans -- appears to have brought simmering tensions to the boil, and, with hindsight, Mourinho's pre-match comments about the need to buy the best eggs to make the best omelette offered a hint that things were not going smoothly behind the scenes.

Mourinho and Abramovich appeared to have agreed to bury their differences over the summer and the manager had started this campaign pledging that he would be a much more "chilled" figure than in his first two seasons in England.But the strain of Chelsea's poor recent form was evident on Saturday, when Mourinho tossed a flat-screen television set to the ground in frustration over a disallowed goal in his side's 0-0 draw with Blackburn.

The manager has also made no attempt to disguise his frustration with Chelsea's misfiring striker Andriy Shevchenko, whose 30-million-pound signing from AC Milan is widely believed to have been ordered by Abramovich. Mourinho has also clashed with the Russian owner over backroom appointments, notably the May 2005 recruitment of Dutchman Frank Arnesen as the club's youth/scouting supremo and the appointment of Avram Grant as director of football.

Grant is likely to be in charge of Chelsea for Sunday's trip to rivals Manchester United but it is thought likely that Abramovich will be looking to bring in a high-profile successor to Mourinho. Russia coach Guus Hiddink and former Germany boss Jurgen Klinsmann are likely to top the speculative short-list, which may also include Sevilla's highly-rated Juande Ramos.

Game Week 6- Review

Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal produced one of their most entertaining encounters in recent years with Arsenal winning the game 1-3. Martin Jol's side took the lead with a trademark free-kick from Gareth Bale but Emmanuel Adebayor squared the match when heading past Paul Robinson in the 65th minute. A stunning long-range effort from Cesc Fabregas made it 2-1 to the visitors and Adebayor rounded off the scoring with a sumptuous volley late on.

Manchester United secured their third 1-0 win in a row thanks to a late Nemanja Vidic header at Everton. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will surely be pleased with the manner in which his side grinded out victory at Goodison Park.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was left frustrated after watching his side held to a 0-0 draw by Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have now dropped five points in their last two matches.

Another encounter which surely demonstrated the strength of the Barclays Premier League this season was Liverpool's visit to Portsmouth. The match ended 0-0, but Pompey manager Harry Redknapp was left to rue Kanu's first-half penalty miss. Jose Reina dived to his right to keep out the Nigerian's penalty in the first-half after Alvaro Arbeloa had been penalised for hand-ball.

West Ham United continue to climb the table and are up to sixth after a fine 3-0 win over Middlesbrough at Upton Park. A Lee Bowyer strike and an own-goal from Luke Young either side of half-time put the Hammers in the ascendancy but the biggest cheer of the day was for Dean Ashton who struck in the 62nd minute to end a 16 month goal drought.

Wigan Athletic manager Chris Hutchings was also dealt a blow after Emile Heskey broke a metatarsal in the 1-1 draw with Fulham at the JJB Stadium. The England international will now be out for up to six weeks with the injury. Clint Dempsey gave Fulham a first-half lead but Jason Koumas equalised from the penalty spot to make it 1-1.

Sunderland got their second win on the board after seeing off the threat of Reading at the Stadium of Light. Kenwyne Jones was a constant thorn in Reading's side and gave his team the lead when he turned smartly and drilled a shot low into the bottom corner. Ross Wallace made it 2-0 and although Dave Kitson pulled a goal back for the visitors late on, they could not find an equaliser. Manager Steve Coppell will be looking for an improvement from his side after a disappointing display in this 2-1 defeat.

Birmingham City addedem more misery to Bolton's terrible start to this season.Olivier Kapo's first-half strike was enough to see off Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at St Andrews.

In Sunday's match, Manchester City's Michael Johnson enhanced his growing reputation with the only goal in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. The youngster showed terrific determination to outmuscle the Villa defence before firing low past Scott Carson. City are up to second off the back of this win.
Everton 0-1 Manchester United
Portsmouth 0-0 Liverpool
Tot Hotspur 1-3 Arsenal
Birmingham City 1-0 Bolton Wanderers
West Ham United 3-0 Middlesbrough
Sunderland 2-1 Reading
Wigan Athletic 1-1 Fulham
Chelsea 0-0 Blackburn Rovers

Manchester City 1-0 Aston Villa

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Game Week 4- Review

Chelsea missed out on the chance to go back to the top of the Barclays Premier League as they lost 2-0 to Aston Villa on Sunday.Villa fan Zat Knight scored on his debut for Martin O'Neill's side to help shatter the former champions' eight-month unbeaten record in the top flight. And, with two minutes left, Gabriel Agbonlahor made sure of victory.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky were on target as Arsenal beat Portsmouth 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium to go second in the table.The only cloud on the scintillating display was the 50th-minute dismissal of Philippe Senderos, who was shown a straight red for denying Kanu a clear goalscoring chance on the edge of the box. Arsenal were already 3-0 up before Kanu pulled one back against his former club, but the Gunners ran out comfortable winners.

Benni McCarthy scored his first goal of the season to give Blackburn Rovers the points against Manchester City. He grabbed the winner in the 13th minute after Kasper Schmeichel had parried a header from Roque Santa Cruz. Tugay of Blackburn and City skipper Richard Dunne were both sent off after receiving two bookings in a rousing encounter at Ewood Park.

Liverpool moved to the top of the Barclays Premier League for the first time in five years with a 6-0 drubbing of bottom side Derby County at Anfield.Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres both scored two for the Reds, with Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin adding to the Rams' misery.

Forgotten man Louis Saha ruined Roy Keane's Old Trafford return with a goal that saved Manchester United's title defence suffering a blow at the hands of Sunderland.On his first appearance since the Champions League semi-final defeat to AC Milan in May, Saha found the elusive winner 19 minutes from time, giving United a 1-0 victory just as they looked set to lose even more ground to their major championship rivals.

Michael Owen was the Newcastle United hero as they won 1-0 at home to Wigan Athletic to give England manager Steve McClaren a boost ahead of the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers.Owen had one disallowed in the first half but headed home Obafemi Martins' cross from the right, his first in the league for the Magpies since a hat-trick away to West Ham United in December 2005.

Their Merseyside neighbours Everton have also started the season well and claimed a 2-1 win at Bolton Wanderers as debutant Ayegbeni Yakubu made a flying start. Andrew Johnson teed up his new £11.25million strike partner perfectly and the Nigerian made no mistake from 12 yards in the 11th minute to give the Toffees a 1-0 half-time lead.Bolton levelled the scores when El-Hadji Diouf's cross from the left was only half-cleared and Nicolas Anelka volleyed in off the underside of the crossbar but there was late heartbreak for Wanderers as Joleon Lescott headed home from a corner.

Tottenham Hotspur let slip 2-0 and 3-1 leads as Fulham fought back for a 3-3 draw at Craven Cottage. Spurs forged ahead in the 10th minute when central defender Younes Kaboul, signed from Auxerre in the summer, turned the ball in from a Gareth Bale corner and Dimitar Berbatov added a second in the 27th minute.American midfielder Clint Dempsey pulled one back for the Cottagers in the 42nd minute but Martin Jol's men seemed to have made sure of the three points when a smart finish from Bale rounded off a swift counter-attack. But Russian midfielder Alexey Smertin reduced the deficit and Diomansy Kamara's looping overhead kick right at the death, earned Lawrie Sanchez's side a point.

West Ham were 3-0 victors at Reading as Dean Ashton started his first senior game since the 2006 FA Cup final for the Hammers. Craig Bellamy opened the scoring in the sixth minute, racing away from his markers on to a Lee Bowyer pass and drilling a low shot across Royals goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

Alan Curbishley's men grabbed a second four minutes into the second half when Matt Etherington played an excellent one-two on the edge of the box with Bellamy and blasted a shot high inside Hahnemann's near post. Etherington added his second and West Ham's third deep into injury time from Carlton Cole's pass.

Middlesbrough were full value for their 2-0 victory over Birmingham City at the Riverside. David Wheater's powerful 12th-minute header left Maik Taylor rooted to his line to give Gareth Southgate's men the lead and Stewart Downing added Boro's second eight minutes before the break when he lashed in a shot from close range after a header down by George Boateng.

Transfer List

With the transfer window closing on 31 August all the teams have signed up some new players. Some new faces have come into the Premier League. here is the complete list depicting the IN's and OUT's from each club

Arsenal
In: Lukasz Fabianski (Legia Warsaw, £2m), Eduardo Da Silva (Dinamo Zagreb, £7.5m), Havard Nordveit (Haugesund, undisclosed), Bacary Sagna (Auxerre, £7m), Lassana Diarra (Chelsea, undisclosed).
Out: Jeremie Aliadiere (Middlesbrough, £1.5m), Fabrice Muamba (Birmingham, undisclosed), Mart Poom (Watford, free), Arturo Lupoli (Fiorentina, free), Thierry Henry (Barcelona £16.1m), Mathew Connolly (Colchester, loan), Freddie Ljungberg (West Ham, 3m), Jose Antonio Reyes (Atletico Madrid, undisclosed), Kerrea Gilbert (Southend, loan), Ryan Garry (Bournemouth, free), Johan Djourou (Birmingham City, loan till Jan 08), Joe O’Cearuill (Barnet, free), Jay Simpson (Millwall, loan).

Aston Villa

In: Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham, £8.5m), Harry Forrester (Watford, undisclosed), Marlon Harewood (West Ham, undisclosed), Eric Lichaj (unattached, free), Scott Carson (Liverpool, loan), Zat Knight (Fulham, 3.5m), Moustapha Salifou (FC Wil, undisclosed), Curtis Davies (West Brom, loan till summer 2008, 8.5m after that).
Out: Gavin McCann (Bolton, £1m), Jlloyd Samuel (Bolton, free), Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls, free), Stephen Henderson (Bristol City, free), Aaron Hughes (Fulham, £1m), Lee Hendrie (released), Steven Davis (Fulham, £4m), Chris Sutton (retired), Robert Olejnik (Falkirk, free).

Birmingham City
In: Garry O’Connor (Lokomotiv Moscow, £2.7m), Stuart Parnaby (Middlesbrough, free), Fabrice Muamba (Arsenal, undisclosed), Olivier Kapo (Juventus, £3m), Daniel de Ridder (Celta Vigo, free), Richard Kingston (Hammarby, free), Rafael Schmitz (Lille, loan), Franck Queudrue (Fulham, £2.5m), Wilson Palacios (Olimpia, loan), Borja Oubina Melendez (Celta Vigo, loan).
Out: Bruno N’Gotty (Leicester, free), Julian Gray (released), Stephen Clemence (Leicester, 1m), DJ Campbell (Leicester, 1.6m), Sam Oji (Leyton Orient, loan), Sone Aluko (Aberdeen, loan).

Blackburn
In: Gunnar Nielsen (BK Frem Copenhagen, undisclosed), Maceo Rigters (NAC Breda, undisclosed), Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich, undisclosed).
Out: Andy Todd (Derby, undisclosed), Michael Gray (released), Francis Jeffers (Sheffield Wednesday, undisclosed), Joe Garner (Carlise, 140,000), Paul Gallagher (Preston, loan).

Bolton

In: Gavin McCann (Aston Villa, £1m), Jlloyd Samuel (Aston Villa, free), Gerald Cid (Bordeaux, undisclosed), Blerim Dzemaili (FC Zurich, free), Zoltan Harsanyi (FC Senec, undisclosed), Danny Guthrie (Liverpool, loan), Mikel Alonso (Real Sociedad, loan), Christian Wilhelmsson (Nantes, loan), Daniel Braaten (Rosenborg, 450,000).
Out: Tal Ben Haim (Chelsea, free), Henrik Pedersen (released), Quinton Fortune (released), David Thompson (released), Cesar Martin (released), Idan Tal (Betar Jerusalem, undisclosed), Chris Howarth (Carlisle, free), Abdoulaye Faye (Newcastle United, undisclosed), Jaroslaw Fojut (Luton, loan).

Chelsea

In: Tal Ben Haim (Bolton, free), Claudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich, free), Steve Sidwell (Reading, free), Danny Philliskirk (Oldham, undisclosed), Florent Malouda (Lyon, £13.5m), Jacob Mellis (Sheffield United, £1.3m), Alex (PSV Eindhoven, free), Juliano Belletti (Barcelona, 5m).
Out: Yves Makaba-Makalamby (Hibernian), Nuno Morais (Apoel Nicosia), Geremi (Newcastle, free), Khalid Boulahrouz (Sevilla, loan), Slobodan Rajkovic (PSV Eindhoven, loan), Michael Mancienne (QPR, loan), Jimmy Smith (Norwich, loan), James Russell (Stevenage, free), Adrian Pettigrew (Brentford, loan), Ben Sahar (QPR, loan), Ryan Bertrand (Oldham, loan), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid, 24m), Harry Worley (Carlisle, loan), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, undisclosed), Lassana Diarra (Arsenal, undisclosed).

Derby County

In: Robert Earnshaw (Norwich City, £3.5m), Tyrone Mears (West Ham, £1M), Andy Todd (Blackburn, undisclosed), Ben Hinchcliffe (free), Claude Davis (£3m), Andy Griffin (Portsmouth, free), Lewis Price (Ipswich, undisclosed), Kenny Miller (Celtic, undisclosed).
Out: Seth Johnson (released), Paul Peschisolido (Luton, free), Morten Bisgaard (released), Paul Boertien (released), Lee Grant (released), Ryan Smith (Millwall, £150k), Lionel Ainsworth (released), Steven Cann (released), Richard Jackson (Luton, free).

Everton

In: Tim Howard (Manchester United, £3m), Phil Jagielka (Sheffield United, £4m), , Lukas Jutkiewicz (Swindon Town, undisclosed), Leighton Baines (Wigan, undisclosed), Stefan Wessels (Cologne, free), Yakubu (Middlesbrough, 11.25m), Thomas Gravesen (Celtic, loan).
Out: Richard Wright (released), Alessandro Pistone (released), Gary Naysmith (Sheffield United, £1m), Scott Phelan (Bradford, free), James Beattie (Sheffield United, £4m), Anderson Silva de Franca (Barnsley, loan).

Fulham

In: Aaron Hughes (Aston Villa, £1m), Steven Davis (Aston Villa, £4m), Diomansy Kamara (West Brom, £6m), Chris Baird (Southampton, 3m), Paul Konchesky (West Ham, 3.25m), David Healy (Leeds, 1.5m), Lee Cook (QPR, 2.5m), Hameur Bouazza (Watford, undisclosed), Kasey Keller (Borussia Monchengladbach, free), Nathan Ashton (unattached), Dejan Stefanovic (Portsmouth, 1m), Shefki Kuqi (Crystal Palace, loan), Danny Murphy (Tottenham, loan), Seol Ki-Hyeon (Reading, undisclosed).
Out: Claus Jensen (released), Mark Pembridge (released), Tomasz Radzinski (released), Mark Crossley (released, now at Oldham), Wayne Routledge, Jan Lastuvka, Vincenzo Montella (end of loans), Matty Collins (Swansea, free), Franck Queudrue (Birmingham, £2.5m), Zat Knight (Aston Villa, 3.5m), Papa Bouba Diop (Portsmouth, loan), Liam Rosenior (Reading, undisclosed).

Liverpool

In: Andrey Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free), Kristian Nemeth & Andras Simon (both MTK Hungariam, undisclosed), Nikolay Mihaylov (Levski Sofia, undisclosed), Lucas Leiva (Gremio, undisclosed), Sebastian Leto (Club Atletico Lanus, £1.7m), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, £270,000), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £20m-£26m), Yossi Benayoun (West Ham, £4m), Ryan Babel (Ajax, 11.5m), Ryan Crowther (Stockport, free), Dani Pacheco (Barcelona, £350,000), Alex Kacaniklic (Helsingborg, undisclosed), Marvin Purie (Borussia Dortmund, undisclosed), Gary Mackay Stevens (Ross County, undisclosed), Charles Itandje (Lens, undisclosed), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, undisclosed), Peter Gulacsi (MK Hungaria, loan), Damien Plessi (Lyon, undisclosed).
Out: Robbie Fowler (released), Florent Sinama Pongolle (Recreativo Huelva, £2.7m), Danny Guthrie (Bolton, loan), Luis Garcia (Atletico Madrid, £4m), Craig Bellamy (West Ham, £7.5m), Bolo Zenden (Marseille, free), Djibril Cisse (Marseille, £6m), Godwin Antwi (Hartlepool United, loan), Jerzy Dudek (Real Madrid, released), Mark Gonzalez (Real Betis, free), Scott Carson (Aston Villa, loan), Jimmy Ryan (Shrewsbury, loan), Miki Roque (Xerez CD, loan), Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente, loan), Gabriel Paletta (Boca Juniors, undisclosed).

Manchester City

In: Geovanni (Cruzeiro, free), Rolando Bianchi (Regina, 8.8m), Gelson Fernandes (FC Sion, undisclosed), Martin Petrov (Atletico Madrid, £4.7m), Javier Garrido (Real Sociedad, £1.5m), Vedran Corluka (Dinamo Zagreb, undisclosed), Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk, £8m), Valeri Bojinov (Fiorentina, undisclosed).
Out: Sylvain Distin (Portsmouth, free), Trevor Sinclair (released), Stephen Jordan (Burnley, free), Hatem Trabelsi (released), Joey Barton (Newcastle, £5.8m), Nicky Weaver (Charlton, free), Nathan D’Laryea (Rochdale, free), Ishmael Miller (West Brom, loan), Mathew Mills (Doncaster, loan), Danny Mills (Charlton, loan), Paul Dickov (Crystal Palace, loan), Bernardo Corradi (Parma, loan).

Manchester United

In: Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich, £17m), Nani (Sporting, £14m), Anderson (Porto, £17m), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Brom, 2m), Carlos Tevez (unattached, loan).
Out: Tim Howard (Everton, £3m), Kieran Richardson (Sunderland, 5m), Phil Marsh, Floribert Ngalula, Daniel Rose (released), Giuseppe Rossi (Villareal, £6.7m), Alan Smith (Newcastle United, £6m), Ryan Shawcross (Stoke, loan till Jan 08), Ritchie Jones (Yeovil, loan), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid, 8m), Craig Cathcart (Antwerp, loan till Jan 08).

Middlesbrough

In: Tuncay Sanli (Fenerbahce, free), Jeremie Aliadiere (Arsenal, £2m), Jonathan Woodgate (Real Madrid, £7m), Luke Young (Charlton, 2.5m), Mido (Tottenham, 6m), Mohamed Shawky (Al-Ahly, 650,000), Gary O’Neill (Portsmouth, undisclosed).
Out: Mark Viduka (Newcastle, free), Stuart Parnaby (Birmingham, free), Abel Xavier (LA Galaxy, free), Malcolm Christie (released), Danny Graham (released), Jason Kennedy (Livingston, loan), James Morrison (West Brom, 1.5m), Yakubu (Everton, 11.25m), Jason Euell (Southampton, free), David Knight (Swansea, free).

Newcastle United

In: Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough, free), Joey Barton (Man City, £5.8m), David Rozehnal (Paris St Germain, £2.9m), Geremi (Chelsea, free), Alan Smith (Manchester United, £6m), Claudio Cacapa (Lyon, free), Jose Enrique (Villareal, £6.3m), Habib Beye (Marseille, undisclosed), Abdoulaye Faye (Bolton, undisclosed).
Out: Scott Parker (West Ham, £7m), Titus Bramble (Wigan, free), Antoine Sibierski (Wigan, free), Craig Moore (released), Olivier Bernard (released), Alan O’Brien (Hibernian, undisclosed), Pavel Srineck (released), Lee Clark (retired), Kirs Gate (released), Andy Carroll (Preston, loan), Kieron Dyer (West Ham, 6m), Paul Huntington (Leeds, undisclosed), Nolberto Solano (West Ham, undisclosed).

Portsmouth

In: Sulley Muntari (Udinese, £7m), Sylvain Distin (Manchester City, free), Hermann Hreidarsson (Charlton, free), Martin Cranie (Southampton, undisclosed), Paris Cowan-Hall & Callum Reynolds (Rushden & Diamonds, compensation fee), Arnold Mvuemba (Rennes, undisclosed), John Utaka (Rennes, undisclosed), David Nugent (Preston, undisclosed), Glen Johnson (Chelsea, undisclosed), Papa Bouba Diouf (Fulham, undisclosed).
Out: Svetoslav Todorov (Charlton, free), Daryl Fordyce (released), Andy Griffin (Derby, free), Collins Mbesuma (Bursaspor, undisclosed), Jason Pearce (Bournemouth, free), Jean-Francoise Christophe (Bournemouth, loan), Asmir Begovic (Bournemouth, loan), Lomana Lua-Lua (Olympiakos, undisclosed), Dejan Stefanovic (Fulham, 1m), Gary O’Neill (Middlesbrough, undisclosed).

Reading

In: Kalifa Cisse (Boavista, £1m), Emerse Fae (Nantes, £2.5m), Liam Rosenior (Fulham, undisclosed).
Out: Steve Sidwell (Chelsea, free), Greg Halford (Sunderland, £2.5m), Jonathan Heyes (MK Dons, loan), Curtis Ujah (Yeovil, free), Graham Stack (Wolves, 1-month loan), Ben Hamer (Brentford, loan), Sam Sodje (Charlton, loan), Simox Cox (Swindon, loan), Seol Ki-Hyeon (Fulham, undisclosed).

Sunderland

In: Greg Halford (Reading, £2.5m), Russell Anderson (Aberdeen, £1m), Dickson Etuhu (Norwich, 1.5m), Kieran Richardson (Manchester United, 5m), Michael Chopra (Cardiff City, 5m), Paul McShane (West Brom, 2.5m), Craig Gordon (Hearts, £9m), Roy O’Donnovan (Cork City, undisclosed), Andy Cole (unattached), Kenwyne Jones (Southamption, 6m), Danny Higginbothan (Stoke, 2.5m), Ian Harte (Levante, free).
Out: Kenny Cunningham (released), Tommy Miller (released), William Mocquet, Kevin Smith (released), Stephen Elliot (Wolves, undisclosed), Arnau Riera (Falkirk, loan), Dan Smith (Aberdeen, free), Martin Fulop (Leicester, loan), Clive Clark (Leicester, loan), Stern John (Southampton, in exchange for Kenwyne Jones plus cash).

Tottenham

In: Gareth Bale (Southampton, £5m), Adel Taarabt (Lens, undisclosed), Yuri Berchiche (Athletic Bilbao, undisclosed), Darren Bent (Charlton £16.5m), Youness Kaboul (Auxerre, £8m), Danny Rose (Leeds, undisclosed), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Hertha Berlin, undisclosed).
Out: Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria, undisclosed), Mark Yeates (Colchester, undisclosed), Robert Burch (Sheffield Wednesday, released), Emil Hallfredsson (Lyn-Oslo, undisclosed), Charlie Lee (Peterborough, free), Mido (Middlesbrough, 6m), Jamie O’Hara (Millwall, loan), Lee Barnard (Crewe, loan), Danny Murphy (Fulham, loan).

West Ham

In: Scott Parker (Newcastle, £7m), Julien Faubert (Bordeaux, £6.1m), Richard Wright (Everton, free), Craig Bellamy (Liverpool, £7.5m), Freddie Ljungberg (Arsenal, 3m), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle United, 6m), Henri Camara (Wigan, loan), Nolberto Solano (Newcastle United, undisclosed).
Out: Tyrone Mears (Derby, £1m), Teddy Sheringham (Colchester, released), Nigel Reo-Coker (Aston Villa, £8.5m), Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, £4m), Marlon Harewood (Aston Villa, undisclosed), Paul Konchesky (Fulham, 3.25m), Roy Carroll (Rangers, free), Shaun Newton (Liecester, released), Hugo Ephraim (QPR, loan).

Wigan

In: Antoine Sibierski (Newcastle, free), Titus Bramble (Newcastle, free), Mario Melchiot (Rennes, free), Andreas Granqvist (Helsingborg, free), Carlo Nash (Preston, £300,000), Jason Koumas (West Brom, £5.3m), Michael Brown (Fulham, undisclosed), Rachid Bouaouzan (Sparta Rotterdam, undisclosed), Marcus Bent (Charlton, loan).
Out: Matt Jackson (Watford, free), Arjan de Zeeuw (released), David Unsworth (released), Andreas Johansson (Aalborg Bk, free), Lee McCulloch (Rangers, 2.25m), Leighton Baines (Everton, undisclosed), Caleb Folan (Hull, 1m), Henri Camara (West Ham, loan).