The Toffees are unbeaten in the last 5 League encounters with Blackburn (won 3) and haven’t lost on their last 3 visits to Ewood Park (1 win). Neither club has been particularly active in the transfer market this January though David Moyes managed to bring in youngster Dan Gosling from Plymouth and playmaker Manuel Fernandes for a second loan spell. He also managed to make a tidy profit from the sale of bit-part player James McFadden to Birmingham in the process, so good work all round. Rovers haven’t signed a single player yet but did manage to shake off reported interest in manager Mark Hughes from Newcastle.

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Birmingham have won last 3 meetings between these clubs home and away but it is the Blues home form against the Rams that should have Paul Jewell worried. Derby have won once at St Andrews’ in almost 60 years, that’s 1 win in the last 20 League visits. The Rams last won at St Andrews’ in November 1995, the Bald Eagle Jim Smith was in charge of a 4-1 win. The club have had a total of 6 permanent managers and 4 caretaker managers since that win.

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31st January

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It seems we’re all happy to be swept along in the romanticism of football at the moment. Watching the Havant and Waterlooville players with their camcorders and mobile phones as they graced Anfield, epitomising everything the FA Cup stands for, was enough to warm even the most sceptical of hearts.

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Chelsea were written off as silverware contenders by many of the so-called ‘experts’ of the game when Roman Abramovich replaced the enigmatic Portuguese man of war Jose Mourinho with the dour Israeli Avram Grant back in September, but 5 months later on the Blues are back in the Premier League title race and still in contention for all the cup competitions. So was Avram’s appointment a masterstroke by Roman or has Grant just carried on where the ‘special one’ left off?

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Juande Ramos has taken just 3 months to lead success starved Tottenham into a cup final after the clubs 6-year absence from a trophy winning showpiece, but once again their opponents will be one of the big four in the shape of London rivals Chelsea. Can Spurs finally put an end to the ‘Champions League quartets’ monopolisation of the nation’s silverware and bring a trophy back to White Hart Lane for the first time in 9 years?

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Two hat-trick heroes meet as Pompey hit the road and head north to Old Trafford. Ronaldo finally netted his first United hat-trick earlier this month when the Reds stuck 6 past a post-Allardyce, pre-Keegan Newcastle. Benjani’s hat-trick against Derby was actually his second of the season. Between them, they are racking up the points in our Fantasy Football game!

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With everyone’s attention turned towards the red side of the city, Everton are perhaps not being given the praise and admiration they deserve. Bearing down on their local rivals in that precious fourth Champion’s League spot is enough to even soothe not being involved in the 4th round of the FA Cup at the weekend.

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Chelsea have pulled themselves back into the title race with a run of 4 successive wins and now just 4 points separate themselves and leaders United. They remain unbeaten in 74 home Premier League games so the title’s destination may not be Old Trafford or the Emirates as many predicted. Defensively Chelsea are beginning to look more like themselves with 11 clean-sheets kept in the last 16 games.

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Villa have a good recent record against Blackburn including a 4-0 win at Ewood Park back in November. The Villans have won the last 3 encounters with Rovers and have scored 8 goals in the process. Mark Hughes’ side have won just one of the last 7 meetings (lost 5) and have not won at Villa Park for 4 years. Villa have won the last 3 encounters at home without conceding a goal. In fact, they have only conceded in 1 of the last 6 against Rovers at home (5 wins). With those stats in mind, the home side should be strong favourites.

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