The Fifth Official

Few of us like Monday but The Fifth Official does, for it brings with it a chance for him to point the finger and laugh. Here he pulls out the pretty, the puzzling and the downright pig-ugly from a week brimming with potential victims.

Happy Friday!

Sid Lowe on Villarreal's poor form, Anton Ferdinand speaks to the press but he and brother Rio won't speak to John Terry, Rohan Ricketts on taking racism in stride, weekend action in Italy includes Juventus at Inter Milan and AC Milan at Roma, weekend EPL action features a London Derby as Arsenal travel down to Chelsea, Manchester United go to Everton, table-toppers Manchester City get Wolves for the second time in four days, Chelsea's Abramovich suffers defeat to Chelsea pitch owners, Friday MLS Forecast, Titus Bramble charged with sexual assault and public urination and much more!!

How Rohan Ricketts Handled Racial Abuse in Greece

Some say show racism the red card, well I like to say show racism it can’t faze you and keep it moving. This is what I had to do last week during our Europa tie against PAOK Salonika in Greece. Coming to the stadium from our hotel was a very long drive. I was running through the game in my head like I do before every game. I gave a little thought to the fact that I was playing in a country where I may face a bit of racism. It’s not something I like to worry about, even though it’s likely to happen.

Sid Lowe in Spain

Defeat to Real Madrid was yet another wobble for Villarreal in a season that is rapidly spinning downhill.

Juan Carlos Garrido's defiance can't conceal Villarreal's malaise.

Chelsea Pitch Owners reject club's attempt to leave Stamford Bridge

The Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the club's fans after shareholders in the Chelsea Pitch Owners company rejected a proposal to buy back the land upon which Stamford Bridge is built at a fractious extraordinary general meeting.

England: Premier League Previews, Predictions & Spotlight

Chelsea and Arsenal meet on Saturday lunchtime in a London derby at Stamford Bridge. The home side are engulfed by off-field controversy following the FA's charges in the wake of last Sunday's foul-tempered defeat by QPR, while John Terry has also been accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. Arsenal, in comparison, are in a relative state of stability after what had been a turbulent start to the season. By the time Chelsea and Arsenal kick-off, Manchester United will be approaching half-time in their match at Everton. After hammering Wolves in the Carling Cup, Manchester City will be in confident mood when they welcome Mick McCarthy's struggling side to Etihad Stadium. Liverpool also booked a place in an unusually exciting looking last eight of the Carling Cup with a rare win at Stoke and now Kenny Dalglish will hope to carry the winning feeling into a reunion with Roy Hodgson. There was a sense of inevitability about the West Brom manager's victory over his former club at The Hawthorns in April. On a rare quiet Sunday in England's top division, Tottenham host London rivals Queens Park Rangers.

Preview

Manchester United vs. Everton: Preview

Chelsea vs. Arsenal: Preview

West Brom vs. Liverpool: Preview

Team News

Paul Merson's Predictions

Lawro's Predictions

Premier League Spotlight

Italy: Serie A Weekend Preview

Claudio Ranieri is confident Inter Milan's players can make life difficult for his former club Juventus when the two sides meet at the San Siro. Lazio travel to Sardinia this weekend to face Cagliari while Udinese take on Palermo at the Friuli stadium, having won all of their home games so far. Defending champions AC Milan travel to the capital to face Roma, and Milan are riding a three-match winning streak. Fourth-placed Napoli will look to end Catania's five-match unbeaten run when the two teams square off at the Angelo Massimino stadium. Fiorentina coach Sinisa Mihajlovic will be under pressure heading into Sunday's game against Genoa, with his side having failed to win any of its last five games.

Preview

Spain: La Liga Weekend Preview + Quiniela

Levante are revelling in their unlikely status as La Liga leaders with midweek hero Ruben Suarez declaring: "We are the team to beat." Ruben lashed home a stunning 93rd-minute winner as Levante edged out Real Sociedad 3-2 on Wednesday to move back to the top of the table after being briefly usurped by Barcelona. The win saw Levante re-establish their one-point lead at the summit over Real Madrid, who won later in the evening, an advantage they will try to preserve at Osasuna on Sunday afternoon. By the time they take the field at the Estadio Reyno de Navarra, Levante could be down in third, however, with the big two playing on Saturday. European champions Barca are first up with a home game against Real Mallorca. Madrid kick-off at Real Sociedad minutes after the Barca game concludes.

Preview

Quiniela

Sunderland's Titus Bramble charged with sexual assault

Sunderland footballer Titus Bramble has been charged with two counts of sexual assault and urinating in a public place.

England: Arsenal AGM leaves fans underwhelmed

When Stan finally spoke at Arsenal's Annual General Meeting (AGM) it was worth the wait.

Forthright, honest and impassioned, it was exactly what you would expect from a man with a significant emotional and financial stake in the North London club.

"I've been coming for 30 years and that was probably the worst AGM I've ever attended. The club often talks about respect but there was a complete lack of respect shown today. It was awful."

That Stan was Stanley Salter, a long-term shareholder and Highbury veteran.

The other Stan, Stanley Kroenke, the majority shareholder and Emirates parvenu, also spoke at Thursday’s meeting. It was…well, a bit underwhelming.

Friday MLS Forecast: Conference Semifinals, First Leg - Colorado completes the semifinal field with a narrow victory over Columbus

The Forecast discusses the Rapids' 1-0 result over Columbus from Thursday night and previews the four conference semifinal series.

Ferdinand speaks of 'crazy' week

Anton Ferdinand broke his silence for the first time since becoming embroiled in an alleged race row involving England and Chelsea captain John Terry, referring to the events of the past week as "crazy".

ESPNsoccernet can reveal that Anton and Rio Ferdinand are refusing to talk to John Terry, and have declined his frantic attempts to speak with them.

Wayne Rooney can be England's top player – as long as he isn't picked

It has been a bad month for the talisman. Carlos Tevez is "very much City's talisman" according to John Motson – himself very much the sort of item you might hang from the rear-view mirror to ward off road accidents, and mask the smell of the dog – but has been forced to work his medieval-mugged magic from the stands, while City try to decide whether to send him back to the belltower or not.

John Terry, Chelsea's supernatural charm (and I think we can all agree that Terry's charm is not entirely earthly), has been forced to explain that the only reason he allegedly directed a racist remark at Anton Ferdinand was to demonstrate just the sort of alleged racist remark he did not, had not and would not ever allegedly make. The fear at Stamford Bridge is that the FA may follow the Blues' captain's lead and ban Terry for three seasons just to prove that this is exactly the sort of thing they would never do in a million years.

And then there is Wayne Rooney. Poor, poor Wayne.

Decided to take the day off

and do this instead. We'll be back tomorrow with all the previews for what should be another great weekend of football...

England: Wednesday's Carling Cup Preview

Everton host Chelsea, Stoke welcome Liverpool, Manchester City go to Wolverhampton, and Blackburn host Newcastle.

Preview

The Forgotten Story of ... the English Super Cup

After English clubs were banned from Europe in 1985, the Football League created a consolation competition for them

Cyberspace plays judge and jury as John Terry 'racism' case escalates

With this visual material flying around cyberspace, the blogosphere and Twitter, Terry's defence was that Ashley Cole walking across the camera shot had obscured the first part of his remark to Ferdinand: the bit, Terry says, in which he shouts "I did not call you a …" at the QPR man. The footage is chilling, because the offending words are apparently so clear, but also disembodied, because Cole stops us seeing what Terry said before he used a profoundly nasty and potentially illegal phrase.

Italy: Tuesday's Serie A Report

Juventus 2 - 1 Fiorentina

Report

Spain: Tuesday's La Liga Wrap

Champions Barcelona returned to winning ways in the Primera Division but had to grind out a 1-0 win away to nine-man Granada. Tuesday night's other game saw Sevilla, on a high following a strong run of form that saw them frustrate Barca in a goalless draw at the Camp Nou on Saturday, salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Racing Santander.

Wrap

England: Tuesday's Carling Cup Review & Reports

Manchester United bounced back from its derby humiliation by cruising to a 3-0 victory over forth-tier club Aldershot in the League Cup, while Arsenal overcame Premier League rival Bolton 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals on Tuesday. In Tuesday's other cup matches, Cardiff beat Burnley 1-0 while second-tier leader Southampton lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace.

Review

Aldershot Town 0 - 3 Manchester United

David Hytner at the EBB Stadium

Mark Lomas at the EBB Stadium

Arsenal 2 - 1 Bolton

Paul Doyle at the Emirates Stadium