Tottenham, Third of the Season, MLS Cup

A bad weekend for an Arsenal fan got much worse yesterday when the Spurs hammered Wigan 9-1 at Shite Hart Lane. No, that was not a typo, 9-1 was really how it finished. 'Jeeesus Chhriiist' was my dads reaction, my brother wouldn't believe me until I provided him with some iPhonevidence and although I'm sure most football folk would have gone home win there yesterday, no-one could have predicted that. Jermain Defoe was outstanding in front of goal, Lennon was equally terrific being involved in the majority of the goals and even big Crouchy got in on the act - a good day for Spurs was a good one for England too. The old saying was trotted out by Robbie Savage on MOTD2, 'it could have been more,' and it really could have been. Kirkland made 2 or 3 really good stops and Crouch missed a couple early on, it's not inconceivable that we could have seen double figures. A word for Wigan then who will be feeling pretty embarrassed about the game and so they should be. For a professional team at any level or in any country to lose a match 9-1 is frankly disgraceful, the lack of application and hard work doesn't need to be assessed, there was none. Martinez is an intriguing bloke, he's got his team to beat Chelsea and Villa this year, but then they get beaten up badly the next week. Work to be done senor.

With everyone in the Premier League having played 12 or 13 games now, we're as close as mathematically possible to being a third of the way through the season. Doesn't feel like it right? The top two spots are held by the strongest teams and there's no real surprise up there, Arsenal have done well considering that most people expected us to be the team to relinquish that 4th place, and Liverpool have done much worse than expected. My opinion on the Scousers is well covered, I don't think that Benitez is quite good enough and has made a lot of mistakes tactically and transfer-wise-ly to demonstrate that. If Liverpool with THIS good last year, how can they be THIS good again when they sell Alonso, one of their best players and key reasons why they were THIS good? Gerrard and Torres can't stay fit, niggles for Johnson (£18million?!!?!), Benayoun, Agger etc and all of sudden you're looking at a very average squad who will now do well to make top 4. Below that Spurs, Villa and City are all doing ok but have already dropped enough points to make you wonder if they really have what it takes to get Champions League football - on yesterday's result you have to say Spurs are looking the best candidate. Sunderland, Stoke and Burnley have all done very well so far and all look pretty strong at home - thanks Sunderland. Then from Blackburn down to Wigan is a group of teams who have had some good results and some equally poor ones. Blackburn seem to be doing enough right now and are demonstrating that you don't need to worry about the games against the top sides, if you can keep beating those teams around you every other week then you've got a good chance of staying up. It's the bottom 5, Hull to Pompey that have as you would expect had the poorest starts this year. Pompey still only have a paltry 7 points and will be desperate for a run of back to back wins - good luck against Utd next weekend lads. West Ham have too much quality to be in the mire for much longer, I worry big time for Bolton (actually I don't worry cos I fucking hate Bolton) and likewise for Wolves - I think Mick has to be a bit more realistic and go ugly and direct when you need to. That's that then, the league is shaping up quite nicely and it's true that at the moment it is as exciting as ever.

Finally, congratulations are in order to Real Salt Lake City who beat the LA Galaxy on pens last night in the MLS Cup Final. The thought of anyone giving a toss about this 5 years ago is laughable, but proof that the Beckham factor is still reeling us in. Becks scored his pen and was involved in not only the Galaxy goal (1-1 in normal time) but also in getting some bloke stretchered off - that's what we wanna see Dave, get stuck in lad! The alien looking Landon Donovan missed his pen and 'the Galaxy' go home empty handed this year. It's done some good for Beckhams reputation over there though, and he can now go to AC Milan knowing that he's at least put in a decent shift this time. Who fancies a Milan v Utd Champs League quarter, first leg 0-0 in Milan, second leg, Beckham steps up to take a free kick at the Stretford end, just as he did against Greece all those years ago, the ref blows his whistle, 89 mins on the clock, Becks strides forward, he deliciously swoops the ball over the wall, it dips, it curls, Van Der Sar is scrambling, OHHHH WHAT A FUCKING GOOOOALLLLL!!! A dagger in Fergie's heart, yes yes yes, Becks takes his boot off in celebration, he looks towards the bench, and launches his boot at Fergies red face, just as he had done to Becks many moons ago, OHHHH SHIIIITT!! The boot cracks Fergie in the face, he's down, but the ref didn't see it!! Oh my lord, that's it, it's over, MILAN have done it, they're through!! Take her easy.