Happy New Year........

Yes I am back after being held captive by a band of very merry men over the festive period, drunken fuckers.....
The English premier league is still turning out to be a hap-hazard competition this year as all of the top clubs are still matching each other blow for blow.
2010 ended with the two Manchester clubs sharing the top spot and divided only be measly goal difference with the red side of the city being the one's sitting on the top......
Chelsea have fallen away massively compared to their blistering start to the season, Arsenal are holding on tight to the coat tails of the top two with Tottenham still holding strong under the watchful eye of the ever impressive Harry.
So going into the new year what are my views and predictions for the remainder of the season?????
I still stick by my end of season finishing positions as previously blogged, but there maybe some changes for the rest of the season for some clubs......
the relegation battle will go down to the wire.... no surprise there but after the first games of 2011 we are still no clearer on who it will be.
West Ham were bottom at Christmas.....certain doom as history reads but the hammers put together two brilliant results over Xmas and pulled themselves up to 15th by doing so, they are so poor but have spirit and in the form of Scott Parker I think he will single handily drag the irons out of the fire.
Wolves.....they play such good football and on boxing day they humiliated Roy Hodgson and his Liverpool side in their back yard as they went to Anfield and turned over the pathetic reds.
They really show good signs of a fighting mentality which will of course serve them well in the battle they will uncertainly have on their hands, they were beaten by West Ham yesterday and this put them rock bottom, but looking around them I see other teams that are in far worse positions and form, so I'll say Wolves to just escape.
Aston Villa face Chelsea tonight and unfortunately for them there should only be one outcome, and it will pile more pressure on the French Gerard Houllier.
Results just haven't been good enough for the Villains and i can see their major players looking for the exit door this month and in the summer, and I see the board losing patience with the ex-Liverpool boss as well.
Saying that though, surely they have to much quality and I think they will finish low but high enough this time round.
Their local rivals Birmingham are next under my microscope, Alex Mcleish has done a wonderful job here but the fires seem to be fading now and they are not showing as much heart as they are accustomed to at St.Andrews.
I don't think Mcleish is in danger of losing his job, not yet anyways, but if the results do not improve this could be the case for the side so hard to beat a home......they need to start doing that again....
Fulham......great club, great manager, unfortunately for the fans and Mark Hughes I can only see them going one way and its not the direction they will want to be going in.
Every time I watch Fulham they truly offer nothing, no real defensive power or finesse, no creative spark, and no finishing touch or anywhere near it.
I don't know when Bobby Zamora is due back but in my view he is the ONLY way they will make it out, and he alone may well not be enough anyways.
Wigan for me will be joining them, they do sum up for me what a club doomed is, such erratic form with the highs and lows being like Jordan's cleavage, ridiculous.
They put in some credible performances but they are matched by so god-awful ones, and this erratic-ness  will see them into the drop zone.
Last of the relegation clubs I think will be West Brom, I really hope I am wrong on this one because Roberto Di Matteo shows real dignity and style and he deserves for his team to continue in the vein they have for the start of the season but with the weather taking fixtures and as they start to come thick and fast I fear they may get sucked into it late on.
Like I say i hope I am wrong on this one.
Last up for my blog today I cant ignore the comments made by Roy Hodgson after Liverpool's boxing day performance at home to Wolves.......
The usually calm and supremely collected Hodgson reacted to the fans booing one of his signings, Paul Konchesky, and then the fans also chanted Kenny Dalglish's name from all around Anfield.
Possibly out of order from the illustrious Kop? I don't know but with their pride and joy performing so badly, with the players themselves looking like they had lost faith in what Hodgson is trying o do maybe it was a sign of what they expect to happen???
Roy clearly wasn't thinking straight as he accused the Anfield faithful of not showing support and pretty much blaming the followers for the poor showing again this year, and for not backing him and this sending negative vibes to the players themselves?????........is he fucking potty??!!!
This to me was just writing out his own P45 and I can't see it being to far away, because a manager, no matter who he is, no matter what club, as soon as you attack the very people paying out their pocket week in week out to watch their beloved team then you are only looking at two doors, the exit and/or the trapdoor.
A late Joe Cole goal saved Roy in the first game of 2011 but its surely a matter of time before the lacklustre reds are beaten again and that will signal the end for Hodgson.
Either King Kenny in until the end of the season then go after the un-settled Mourinho?? for me that would obviously be the dream, and is possible as we all now Jose likes to better anything his old foe Rafa Benitez has done and what better place than the club he failed to do it at???
If Mourinho wont go there the surely Marin O'Neil or more likely Frank Rikaard will fill the void, either of the three the loyal reds fans would be happy with, but definitely no less.......rough times ahead for all of you Liverpool fans.......only Roy will be walking alone this season I think......