Sunday 1 Arsenal are back on top after a stormy 2-1 win over Man City. Nicolas Anelka scores the latter’s goal in the 90th minute but is sent off before the restart for a bundle in the goalmouth. Surprisingly, his sparring partner Ashley Cole is only booked. Chelsea just about stay in touch, needing a late winner from Glen Johnson to beat Blackburn 3-2. Sir Alex, meanwhile, faces a decision: to climb down in his court case or finally file papers with the judge in Dublin…
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Dear WSC
I enjoyed the articles on the links between football and rap (WSC 204). One important connection has been overlooked, however. In a slightly surreal interview on Liverpool’s official site from 2001, Dr Dre reveals himself as a fan of the (his words) “cool cats in red”. At the time of the interview, Dre’s Liverpool favourite was Michael Owen, though he says he was first attracted to the Reds by John Barnes. “He was bad,” Dre explains. “Kinda reminded me of Magic Johnson.” He goes on to describe Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp as “old school” and Czech midfielder Patrik Berger as “the bomb”. How long will it be before Eminem admits that Tomas Repka is a role model?
Sam Beckwith, Prague, Czech Republic
Some unexpected names are shining in the FA Youth Cup these days. Gavin Willacy explains why lower-division teams are suffering hammerings as the result of an educationl initiative
Anyone who glanced at the FA Youth Cup results this winter might have wondered just what was going on. Second Division Hartlepool lost at home to Chester-le-Street, who then put five past Port Vale; Stevenage Borough thrashed Oxford United 6-1 away; Hayes beat QPR; Crawley Town won at Bristol Rovers
In spite of Sepp Blatter's recent crass remarks, football females are on the rise and England may soo have a professional league, as Dianne Millen writes
As tantrums go, it was almost Keeganesque. When Albion Rovers went down 1-0 to Montrose earlier this season, then manager Peter Hetherston was in no doubt about where to direct his fit of pique: at Morag Pirie, Scotland’s most senior female official. “I knew it wasn’t going to be our day when I found out we had a woman running the line,” he ranted. “She should be at home making the dinner for her man after he has been to the football. This is a professional man’s game.”
While the Czech Pavel Nedved celebrates being named European Footballer of the Year, Ian Farrell remembers the rapid decline of a previous winner, from slightly further east
Such is the general view of football in eastern Europe today, it takes some effort to imagine teams from there electrifying the sport and winning admirers across the world. But in the mid 1980s, Dynamo Kiev, together with the virtually interchangeable USSR side also coached by Valery Lobanovski, took football to another level with a conception of the game as a living machine. Total Football meets applied mathematics. This lent itself easily to Cold War stereotyping – collectivised football played by faceless automata – but the play was a world away from the drabness of the Eastern Bloc, thanks mainly to Oleg Blokhin, Alexander Zavarov and, foremost among them, Igor Belanov.