P  W  D  L  F  A   GD   PT
Durham City 24 0  0  24 14 119 -105 0

Yes, that was their 24th consecutive defeat this season.

On Friday, the FA held a hearing regarding a breach of the rules by Durham City:

The FA decided to penalise them 6 points, which unless they win an appeal will put them on -6pts for the season.

Durham City are sadly a victim of their own success, after winning back to back league titles they reached the Northern Premier League, and they were told that their artificial pitch would mean they were unable to go any higher up the leagues:

On hearing this their backers decided to pull the plug on the team:

So, if your team goes a few games without a win, before moaning think of Durham City

First they started the season on -25 points due to administration (-10 pts) and a breach of rules around this (-15 pts), they currently have -3 points which without the deductions would move them up from 24th to the lofty heights of 23rd. This Tuesday their first team refused to play against Forest Green:

Several board members had enough, Jim Harvey the manager had enough. The fans have had enough too:

As well as the players, the taxman isn’t being paid. and now it seems the Police aren’t being paid either, so their match against local rivals Wrexham due to be played on Sunday has had to be called off:

Farewell Chester

First was a lovely own goal from Anthony Gardner

also, Chelsea’s first goal was a lovely move

Now on to the rest of this weeks games:

Watford vs Sheff Utd
This is an important fixture for both teams, a proper relegation 6-pointer, a draw for either team will not help in their battle to avoid relegation. Both teams have pretty abysmal form, however I feel that Sheff United have a better side, and will take all 3 points on offer. My Prediction: 2-1 Sheff Utd.

Aston Villa vs Man City
Martin O’Neill has really got Villa fired up this season, and with Man City struggling away from home this should be an easy win for the Villains. My Prediction: 2-0 Villa.

Fulham vs Arsenal
Arsenal should have no problems in this match, although they are certainly struggling of late, and this is a potential banana skin. Fulham have a goalscoring problem at home, having only scored 5 goals at Craven Cottage so far this season, and I think this will really tell against Arsenal. My Prediction: 2-0 Arsenal.

Liverpool vs Portsmouth
An important match for Liverpool is they harbour any hopes of the championship, a win could potentially put them in 3rd place, although with Portsmouth still flying high this should be an interesting match. My Prediction: 2-1 Liverpool.

Man Utd vs Everton
After drawing with Chelsea on Sunday, United will be hoping to get back to winning ways here, and with Everton having mixed form of late, I expect them to win comfortably here. My Prediction: 3-1 Man Utd.

Arsenal
Retaining the services of Thierry Henry could be a very good move, with Rosicky providing excellent service (along with a cracking shot), and with young players like Fabregas and Van Persie constantly improving, they could have a chance of winning the league, and I’m sure Arsene would like to go one step better in the Champions League.

Aston Villa
IMO, Villa have had probably the worst build up out of any side in the premiership, however, the recent acquisition of Martin O’Neill as manager could prove vital, although with the takeover talks still being decided, money to make changes may arrive to late for the August transfer window.

Blackburn Rovers
Securing UEFA Cup football last year was an excellent result for Mark Hughes’ team, however selling Craig Bellamy to Liverpool may not have been such a good decision, but with the signing of South African striker Benni McCarthy they have signed one of Africa’s leading marksmen.

Bolton Wanderers
Bolton’s key problem currently is in the strikeforce department, and currently they are yet to have signed anyone to improve their chances infront of goal. Holding on to big Sam was important for them, and he will be hoping to continue his good work.

Charlton Athletic
As much as Simon Jordan will protest, Charlton begin a new era under Iain Dowie this season, and he’s been busy signing several players, including Ireland international Andy Reid, who struggled at Spurs (IMO he was a big podgy), and Amady Fae from Newcastle. Securing the signature of Darren Bent is key, and in a new era Charlton will be hoping their usual end-of-season slump will be a thing of the past.

Chelsea
Judging by Chelsea’s continuing signings over the summer, yet again they are going to be the team to beat, capturing Ballack on a free (albeit with a rather hefty pay-cheque) and Shevchenko for over £30m could add to the team something they have been missing. Selling Duff to Newcastle shows a shift in the teams emphasis in wing play, although looking at their performance in the Community Shield, Shevchenko & Drogba need to work together a bit more

Everton
Securing the services of Andy Johnson could prove a very good signing for Everton, and with James Beattie they have an all English strike pairing (you don’t see that very often eh). With Nigel Martyn retiring, and Richard Wright in a constant state of injury, they have signed Tim Howard from Manchester United on a season-long loan. Fans will be hoping their defence is of a better standard this year, particularly IMO Joesph Yobo who seems to make too many mistakes at times.

Fulham
Fulham will be hoping to score more goals this year, however Chris Coleman has yet to add to his strikeforce, however with the signing of Jimmy Bullard from Wigan, and Franck Queudrue from Middlesbrough they added some interesting players. Personally, I don’t rate their chances much, and I fear they may be relegated.

Liverpool
As I write this Liverpool are in the process of signing yet ANOTHER player, Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord. Rafa is definitely making a push for it this season, adding Pennant, Bellamy and Gonzales to an attack already containing Luis Garcia and Stevie G, and after beating Chelsea (again) in the Community Shield they could have the makings to take a long awaited Premiership title. That said, if they lose 4-1 at home to Chelsea this season Rafa may have to look again at how he plays the champions in the league.

Manchester City
Stuart Pearce has strengthened City’s defence over the summer, bringing in Andreas Isaakson, the Swedish international keeper, and Micah Richards is constantly improving as he matures. Paul Dickov adds to the options upfront, with Andrew Cole still scoring plenty, and Darius Vassell providing a constant threat.

Manchester United
Selling Ruud Van Nistelrooy could scupper United’s chances of taking any silverware this season, although they have strengthened their midfield with Carrick and quite possibly Owen Hargreaves, I can’t see them scoring that many currently, and they are likely to be left relying on Wayne Rooney too much.

Middlesbrough
With McClaren off to manage England, ‘boro chairman Steve Gibson made a very bold move to make untested Gareth Southgate manager, and I’m not too sure whether it was a good decision. Sylvain Distin is believed to be on his way to the Riverside, but I think they may rely too much on Yakubu to get the goals, and be left in the lower half of the table.

Newcastle United
Managing to persuade the FA to enable Glenn Roeder to stay on will please the toon army, as he has pushed them on into the UEFA Cup after a disastrous start to the season under Graeme Souness. However, losing Michael Owen to his freak knee injury in the world cup could cause them problems especially with Kuyt likely to join Liverpool, leaving them to rely on Ameobi and Luque. That said, the signing of Damien Duff (at a bargain £5m) was fantastic, and I think they could scrape a UEFA Cup spot again, but they still need to find a proper goal-scorer from somewhere.

Portsmouth
After Harry Redknapp’s remarkable turnaround at Fratton Park last year was amazing, whether they can avoid the drop this year will depend on whether the signings of Sol Campbell & David James can strengthen their defence. The signing of Kanu yesterday could be important, although whilst at WBA he wasn’t particularly sparkling, and pairing with one of LuaLua and Mwaruawari, who aren’t the most prolific of strikers, could be interesting. I think they are likely to avoid relegation, but struggle and finish in the lower half of the table.

Reading
After romping away with the Championship title last year, Steve Coppell will be looking to emulate what Wigan and West Ham did last year, and avoid any relegation worries in mid-table. They may have quality goalscorers, in Leroy Lita, Dave Kitson & Kevin Doyle, but I’m not sure there defence will be able to hold out against world-class strikers such as Henry and Shevchenko, and I think they too will finish in the lower half of the table, but are likely to avoid relegation.

Sheffield United
After 12 years in Division One, the blades are back, and I’m quite sure Neil Warnock will provide plenty of entertainment in the coming season. Whether his team will is a different question, after signing as many strikers as possible last year, I don’t really think any of them have any real chance of scoring, and defensively I think they are relatively weak. I can’t see them avoiding relegation I’m afraid.

Tottenham Hotspur
Narrowly missing out on a Champions League shows the progress Martin Jol has made with Spurs, signing Dimitar Berbatov should add to their goalscoring, although losing Carrick to Manchester United could affect their midfield. I think that with the squad Spurs have, a place in the UEFA Cup should be achieved, and with a bit more effort a Champions League place could be theirs.

Watford
Gaining promotion was a fantastic achievement for Adie Bothroyd’s side, but I don’t think they will be able to avoid relegation this year. They have a relatively weak defence, and with very little money to spend I can see them finishing bottom of the league.

West Ham United
West Ham’s young squad still have room to improve, and with Rob Green joining (once he’s recovered from his excruciating groin injury) they have added a quality young keeper, although losing Dean Ashton for the foreseeable future is a big blow. I think they will be able to do at least as well as last year, and maybe go one better in the FA Cup.

Wigan Athletic
I don’t think Wigan will do as well as they did last year, with Jason Roberts and Jimmy Bullard already leaving, and with everyone’s favourite donkey Emile Heskey joining the club. With loan keeper Chris Kirkland finally getting his first England cap they have a quality keeper, but I don’t see them finishing as high up, possibly just scraping a top half finish.

Group B
England, although not appearing to play in top gear, have done enough to reach the second round, with 80 minutes of rubbish, and followed by one well taken, and one superb goal against Trinidad, the Swedes, who England play today have looked poor going forward, and were lucky to have taken all 3 points against Paraguay. That said, Paraguay have offered very little in attack, and they are, IMO, quite deservedly out of the tournament, and if Sweden avoid defeat against England, Trinidad will be following Paraguay. This is a pity really, although they have played ultra-defensively in their first two games, at times they have caused defences to sweat, and seeing players from Wrexham and Luton compete against some of the worlds most expensive players is always good to see.

Group C
This group has rightly lived up to its Group of Death naming, with the Netherlands and Argentina already through, despite Ivory Coast looking the best of all the African nations. Argentina have looked by far the best of all the teams so far, their 6-0 crushing of Serbia & Montenegro was the best performance of the tournament by any team, and their second goal, a series of 24 passes followed by a clinical finish by Cambiasso, could possibly be called the greatest team goal ever, eclipsing Brazils 4th goal in 1970. The Netherlands have looked competent in their two victories and could still go all the way, although some of their defending has been dodgy at times, while both pointless teams, Serbia & Montenegro and Ivory Coast have shown glimpses of why they qualified, although S&M also showed the typical dirty play traits of a typical Yugoslav team.

Group D
This group has lived up to my “ZZZZ” opinion of it with Portugal misfiring on their way to 6 points, and Mexico struggling too. Angola have put a good fight up in both games, deservedly earning a point against Mexico, and they could sneak into second spot with a win over Iran and Mexico losing to Portugal, whilst Iran haven’t really done much, all in all, a dull group.

Group E
This has the potential to be the best group of the tournament thanks to the Czechs losing miserably to Ghana, and Italy struggling against the USA, with a win for any side giving them the chance to progress (although it depends on results for the USA). I have to confess, I didn’t see the Czech Ghana match, but what I have heard is that Ghana should have scored plenty, and the Czechs were poor, I did see the USA vs Italy, and the Italians just couldn’t score to take all the points and secure their progression to the next round. The last matches, Czechs vs Italy and Ghana vs USA should have been simple with both the Czechs and Italy through, now both matches could be the most important ones ever for 3 of the teams, and a vital match for the Italians.

Group F
Brazil are another side not firing on all cylinders yet, but they are through so anything can happen now, the Australians have looked good in both their two games, whilst Japan and Croatia have looked decidedly poor, but both teams still have a chance to progress (although that’s unlikely for Japan as they have to play Brazil). The Croatia vs Australia match will be interesting, as 3 of the Croatian players were born in Australia, and 7 of the Australian players were born in Croatia, so their could be some fireworks there.

Group G
This is another exciting group, with the possibility that France will go home after the group stages again, although if they win by 2 clear goals they will progress, albeit in second place with a probable match against Spain. South Korea have looked pretty good, grabbing a somewhat deserved point against the French (France should have sealed the match earlier, but just looked like they couldn’t be bothered), while Togo are on their way home, which is a pity as they have at times looked good. The Swiss looked confident against Togo, and were unlucky against France, so they could beat Korea and go through as group winners, which would be very interesting.

Group H
After their 4-0 drubbing by Spain, the Ukraine inflicted the same scoreline on a very poor Saudi side, whilst Spain qualified for the next stages with a win against Tunisia, although they were 1-0 down until into the 2nd half. Ukraine have a chance to join them with a win against Tunisia, whilst the Saudis have to hope they can beat Spain to stand any chance of progressing. Overall, a good group with plenty of goals (4 in every game so far) with Spain looking very good going forward and they could go quite far in the tournament.

In summary, the best teams I have seen so far in the tournament are:

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. The Netherlands
4. Italy
5. Brazil
6. Portugal
7. England

With all except Italy through so far there could be some very interesting knockout matches.