Hammers Heading for Europe

Two second half headed goals from the Irons defensive duo of Upson and Ferdinand was enough to give West Ham United their third consecutive win over Manchester United. Having done the double on the Red Devils (and Arsenal) last year West Ham have now proved themselves to be an official bogey team of Sir Alex.

Tevez got the winner for West Ham in the last game of last season, while this year he faced up against his old team mates from the East End.

However there was nothing he could do to stop his team slipping to only their third defeat of the campaign, even Portuguese 'wonder-kid' Ronaldo was unable to procure three points for the traveling team.

Upton Park is an extremely fickle place. Last week the crowd booed the team off following a dismal draw with ten men of Reading. This week the support was positively electric.

Welcome Home

Not many returning Hammers receive a warm reception at Upton Park, Lampard, Cole, Defoe and Ince could all testify to that, but such was the heroic impact of Carlos Tevez last season that he will always be fondly remembered.

It wasn't single handed, and you could argue his arrival with Mascherano was the catalyst for the demise in the first place, but Tevez definitely achieved the status of Hammers Legend in his brief spell at the club.

This latest win will keep West Ham in the hunt for a UEFA cup spot although most fans will be more than happy with a steady top ten finish after the traumas of last year.

The title race however is far from over and it is likely to go right down to the wire. And what price would you get for West Ham to complete a double double over United in the penultimate game of the season, to decide the championship?

Christmas Number One?

If you could personify statistics I fear they would look rather like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Sometimes invaluably insightful, other times dangerously misleading.

Sport relies on rankings to determine who is the best, who is number one.

In most cases, they are taken as given, for example no-one would argue that Roger Federer is the best men's tennis player in the world, or Tiger Woods the best golfer.
But sometimes the computer throws up some curve balls that surprise even the purest of fans, and call into question how these stats are generated.

Googlies

Cricket is one sport which often has a dark cloud of confusion thrown over it by muddy statistics.

It is impossible to argue that the Aussies aren't the best Test and One Day team in the World, and that's great (really great), but the best of the rest are constantly being muddled.

Maybe it doesn't matter, maybe we should all just make up our own statistics. Opinion based statistics, now there's a good idea!

Pie in the Sky

Another annoyance of statistics is their over-use during live sport for which the blame must lie with the producer.

Sky Sports tend to be the worst offender. At the weekend when watching the first of their 'Grand Slam Super Duper Sunday' football matches, my eyes were distracted from the hi-octane action to a stat-flash letting me know that both teams had won one corner each.

I didn't think it could get much more exciting but it did. The next flash told me that for the last 5 minutes Liverpool had 76% of possession.

Both these stats were not only unnecessary and blindingly obvious but also an annoying distraction from the action.


A Pick of the Rankings

Football, Cricket, Rugby, Tennis, Golf

Black Day for RFU

Last weekend saw the second leg of back to back matches in the Heineken Cup group stages in which the English teams had mixed results, although there was no lack of controversy.

Leicester were always going to lose to Toulouse in France as French teams seem to be almost unbeatable on 'la terre Francais'.

Illustrated by London Irish getting done over in Perpignan in snowy conditions. Although a flying elbow from Englishman Perry Freshwater, which left London Irish flanker Kieran Roche with a broken cheekbone, stole the headlines.
Gloucester continued their imperious form by bludgeoning Bourgoin 51-27 at Kingsholm, they now look set for a home quater-final.

Ryan Lamb was once again man of the match, and today's news that the CPS have dropped their case against him for public affray will give the Cherry-Whites some Christmas cheer.

Black Sting

The highlight of the weekend though was at Adams Park, where London Wasps held on to beat Clermont Auvergne 25-24.

Wasps dominated the first half under the magical control of prodigous new talent, Danny Cipriani.

Three scintilating tries and a penalty put Wasps in total control at half-time, 22-0. But the second half was a different story.

As Wasps went for the kill, they were twice caught on the break, once by Rougerie and once by Delasau.

But the real drama came on the hour when a fight broke out on the touchline, Jamie Cudmore rained down the punches onto the head of Wasps prop, Tim Payne.

As the fight spilled into the hoardings, a Wasps fan leant over and tried to wallop anything French with his programme. This man was Alan Black, a RFU employee, former Wasps captain and club member! He has since apologised and been given a season long ban from England and Premiership games.

Bonus Blunders

On the pitch Wasps contrived to give away the losing bonus point to Clermont as the French team scored a last minute try.

That means three points squandered in the double header, after throwing away a losing bonus point of their own last week, and the double wammy of missing the four try bonus and the losing bonus this week.

A win is a win though and two more against Llanelli (home) and Munster (away) will see them through to the quater finals which should be laden with English teams.

Arsenal's Fate Hinges on the Physio

This Sunday sees the top four of the Premier League going to head to head in what is the biggest day of the season so far.

Both Arsenal and Liverpool slipped up last week dropping valuable points against Middlesbrough and Reading respectively.

Arsenal have been suffering a tough time of it on the injury front, with the midfield torn to shreds and their main goal threat all out of action.

This weekend they will be hoping that they see most of them return to the field. Fabregas and Van Persie have been their two best players over the last 18 months and they are both on the brink of recovering full fitness.

If these two return then I think the Gunners will retain their one point lead over Man United, as I cant see them losing to Liverpool.

Super Sunday

It indeed will be a Super Sunday, two top football games, Leicester vs Toulose in the Heineken Cup, and the BBC have finally got the rights to show the Hatton-Mayweather replay.

I predict, Arsenal, Man U and Leicester to come out on top, although I think Hatton might have met his match in the boxing, possibly a Mayweather win in the 10th?

Family Affair at Awards

One month ago I predicted Joe Calzaghe would win the BBC Sports Personality Award, and your votes supported me. Last night he proved us right. But he wasn't the only Calzaghe to scoop a prize.
Joe's father and trainer Enzo won the award of best coach for his efforts in nurturing three world champions, his son Joe, cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli and light-welterweight Gavin Rees.

Calzaghe received his award in Vegas where he had been supporting his friend and boxing counterpart Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton.

Had Hatton beaten pretty boy Floyd he would have given Calzaghe a much closer run for the top award although with two boxers in the top three, it has been a spectacular year for British pugilism.

A Few Surprises

Although Calzaghe's victory was no surprise, the BBC did throw in a few shocks. Firstly, James Toseland playing the piano (badly) and then Mark Ramprakash dancing (badly). Strange interludes to an otherwise impressive review of the sporting year.

The other shock was the England Rugby Team winning the team of the year award. Those that read my blogs regularly (hi mum) will know that I love rugby, but England did not deserve to win this award.

Two decent wins against the Aussies and Les Bleus in the World Cup in an otherwise dismal year. A poor Six Nations, a terrible tour of South Africa and an abysmal group stage of the RWC, should not have won them the award.

Oh well, I guess the memory of a sports fan is short, and that's probably a good thing anyway.

Here are the full results from last night:

1. Joe Calzaghe 177,748 (28.19%)
2. Lewis Hamilton 122,649 (19.45%)
3. Ricky Hatton 85,280 (13.53%)
4. James Toseland 84,570 (13.41%)
5. Jason Robinson 67,061 (10.64%)
6. Paula Radcliffe 34,895 (5.53%)
7. Jonny Wilkinson 30,302 (4.81%)
8. Andy Murray 13,242 (2.1%)
9. Justin Rose 10,227 (1.62%)
10. Christine Ohuruogu 4,481 (0.71%)

Total votes: 630,455