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Portsmounth 2 - 0 Aston Villa

David James was once again in good form saving form Maloney early on. Jermaine Defoe grabbed his sixth goal in as many games, a long ball from Johnson found Defoe who lobbed Carson who was in no-mans land. James then continued his form saving a Young free kick. The second one was a brilliant own goal, Carson cleared a ball as Defoe ran through on goal, but his clearance smashed against Reo-Coker and back into the empty net, classic.

In the second half Agbonlahor missed a sitter from a Maloney cross. James then saved another Young save, this time low to his left. Late on Muntari received his second yellow card of the match as the home side ended the game with 10 men, then Mellberg received a second yellow card a minute before time.

James extends Portsmouth stay

Portsmouth have rewarded veteran goalkeeper David James for some wonderful performances of late, with a two and a half year contract.

The England stopper was already under contract at Fratton Park until 2009 but this has been extended, keeping him at the club until 2010.

James moved to Pompey from Manchester City back in 2006 and has experienced arguably the best form of his career at the club. The 37 year old still harbours ambitions of keeping goal for England during the next World Cup in South Africa, and is currently well within Fabio Capello’s short term plans at least.

Formerly of Liverpool and Aston Villa, James has worked hard over recent times to rid himself of the “Calamity” tag which came as a result of many bloopers in high profile matches. Despite this however he overtook Arsenal legend David Seaman’s record of clean sheets in the Premier League (141) last year to etch his name into the history books.

Speaking to Portsmouth’s official website, James commented –

“I’m delighted to get the opportunity to sign a new contract…..I’m enjoying being at Pompey - it is a fantastic environment.”

James has refused to comment about his side’s chances of lifting the FA Cup this season despite being the only Premier League side left in the competition. Instead he chooses to focus on tonight’s home tie with Birmingham City

FA Cup Semi Final Draw

After one of the most exciting Quarter Finals in history the draw for the Semi Finals took place this dinner time, Barnsley face Cardiff and West Brom face Portsmouth. We knew that we were going to see a non-Premiership team in the final but the draw means that one of the smaller teams will be in the final considering WBA are miles better than Barnsley or Cardiff.

The games will take place at Wembley on 5 and 6 April.

Barnsley v Cardiff
West Brom v Portsmouth

Premiership Round Up

Another great Premiership Saturday, it was good to get back to watching football after the weeks major news of the announcement of the possibility of a 39th game to be played overseas. With the top 3 not playing the concentration was on the battle for 4th place and the battle of the bottom.

Aston Villa 4 - 1 Newcastle

Kevin Keegan is still without a win in his second spell at Newcastle. Micheal Owen had given the away side the lead in the first half. The second half with a few chances Villa came out on top, a deflected Bouma shot, two Carew headers and a Carew penalty sealed the match. Carew was awesome and fully deserves his hattrik

Everton 1 - 0 Reading

Yakubu was left out after coming back late from the African cup of Nations. The first half of the match was pretty quiet at Goodison Park. The addition of James Vaughan at half time helped, and Everton took the lead when a second ball from a corner found Phil Jageilka who looped in a header at the far post. That defeat for Reading and other results meant that the Royals moved into the bottom three for the first time this season.

Sunderland 2 - 0 Wigan

Sunderland recorded their fourth straight home win, and over fellow relegation rivals meant they moved out of the bottom three. Dickson Etuhu back from the African Cup of Nations grabbed a goal just before half time heading in from a free-kick. The Black Cats doubled the lead in the second half, this was after Wigan hit the woodwork twice, a cracking ball from Andy Reid found Daryl Murphy who thumped in a shot of the underside of the bar form all of 25 yards.

Middlesborough 1 - 0 Fulham

Afonso Alves who signed last week for £12 million started the game on the bench, it was another stirker who grabbed the only goal of the game in the frist half, Jeremie Aliadiere slotting in after breaking the offside trap. Alves came on the second half but was unable to make an impact.

Bolton 0 - 1 Portsmouth

The first half saw former Pompy player Matt Taylor miss a sitter, an open goal from all of 3 yards. The only goal came late in the game for the away side Lassana Diarra with his first goal in the Premiership. He did look offside which compounded the misery for the home side who had been the better side and had been denied by an inform David James on numerous occasions, no doubt that James is England’s number 1.

Derby 0 - 3 Tottenham

Well the Rams managed to hang on till the second half but then Spurs class shone. Robbie Keane tabbed in after Roy Carroll saved from Malbranque. The second from Kaboul when Derby couldn’t clear from a corner. The third form the spot for Berbatov after Stubbs handballed.

West Ham 1 - 1 Birmingham

James McFadden grabbed his first goal for Birmingham again West Ham, the Scot equalized from the spot after he was brought down in the box by Lucas Niell. West Ham had taken the lead in the first half, a long throw was flicked on by Cole and Ljungberg stole in at the far post to tap smash in the opener. Lee Bowyer decide to get himself sent off for a lunge on Johnson, bit of a shocker from Mr Battenburg.

Two games tomorrow complete the weekends football, and you don’t better than Liverpool Chelsea and the Manchester derby.

Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Liverpool, 16:00
Man Utd v Man City, 13:30

Defoe deal becomes permanent

Jermain Defoe has made his loan move to Portsmouth permanent.

The striker made a great start to his Pompey career by scoring against Chelsea at the weekend. Now 25, he signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Fratton Park, just days after agreeing to go on loan at the club.

Redknapp added:

“I honestly could not tell you the exact details but, at five minutes to midnight on Thursday, the two deals were dependent on each other with us getting £9m for Benjani and spending it on Defoe.

“I didn’t want to lose him but, of course, I had to because it is good business to sell a 29-year-old and get in a lad of 25 who is always going to get you goals.”

This would suggest that the Benjani deal does indeed increase to £9m after the 75-appearances clause rather than just over £7m as some reports have suggested.

Benjani completes move north

Benjani’s move from Portsmouth to Manchester City has been resolved.

Pompey will receive an initial fee of £3.87m, which according to some reports could rise to £7.6m (others £9m) if he makes 75 appearances for the club. He signs a two-and-a-half year deal with City after passing his medical on Monday.

The fee is much deflated from the ones from the rumor mill and “winning is everything” can’t help thinking that City have themselves some good business here.

Benjani Deal Close

After a right old balls up it looks like Manchester City will be able to sign Benjani from Portsmouth after it seems like the deal had not be completed before the transfer deadline. Premier League officials are set to confirm the deal on Tuesday.

Manchester City claimed that they were in time with the paper work, but some elements hadn’t been sent in time. They weren’t helped by Benjani turning up late at the City Of Manchester Stadium for a medical and paperwork.

It will be pleasing news for Harry Redknapp and Pompy who had splashed out £7 Million on Jermaine Defoe on the presumption that they would be receiving £7.6 Million from Manchester City for Benjani.

winningiseverything Premiership round-up

The results are in for the weekends matches, the Premiership finished with for another week.

The big winners this weekend were those at the wrong end of the table really. Fulham, Wigan and Bolton all won their respective games against Villa (2-1), West Ham (1-0) and Reading (2-0) to leave Derby further adrift at the bottom and some worried faces at clubs such as Reading (who are in free-fall), Sunderland and Birmingham.

Arguably anyone up to Tottenham are still in the relegation fight, but with Spurs having an upturn in fortunes and a scoring record the envy of many European contenders they will be fine. After their perhaps surprising 1-1 draw with champions Manchester United they will be looking to move onward and upward toward top-half status.

Newcastle and Middlesbrough played out a dull 1-1 draw as did Derby and Birmingham.

Jermain Defoe will be pleased with his weekends work, as he scored on his debut for Portsmouth against Chelsea to push the London club further behind the leaders.

Speaking of which, Arsenal maintained their excellent form this season with a 3-1 win at Manchester City, with two goals form the superb Adebayor. Wenger just seems to have a knack of selling players when he sees that they are holding up the progression of others. He did it with Viera to allow Fabregas to progress and now he has done it this season, letting Henry go to give Adebayor room to shine. As for Manchester City, they suffered their first home defeat this season and will be hoping that the Benjani deal goes through so that they have a striker that can actually score.

European contenders Blackburn and Everton played out a 0-0 draw at Ewood, but the Toffees will be disappointed that Andy Johnson’s goal in the second half was ruled out by the officials.

Finally, Liverpool recaptured some form as they beat Sunderland 3-0 at home. With their game in hand they may now feel a little more confident for that fourth spot.

Late deals

A few late deals from the Premiership last night including a right balls up from the blue half of Manchester.

First off, strugglers Fulham signed some experience for the run-in including former Liverpool forward Jari Litmanen and defender Toni Kallio. Both feature from manager Roy Hodgson’s past, having played for him in the Finnish national side. Litmanen is initially on trial, but arrives on a free anyway, while Kallio joins from Swiss side BSC Young Boys. Stalteri also joins from neighbors Tottenham on loan until the end of the season. I make this 7 signings for Fulham in this window.

Middlesbrough broke their club transfer record signing Brazilian striker Afonso Alves from Dutch club Heerenveen. The fee is thought to be in excess of £10m, with Alves putting his name on the dotted line of a four-and-a-half year deal. He comes with the reputation of being very prolific in front of goal with an especially impressive record at former club Malmo of 45 goals in 38 games. Middlesbrough will be hoping he came recapture that sort of form as they try to avoid relegation.

Everton let defender Alan Stubbs go to Derby for some first team football and then brought in some cover for their impressive defence signing Anthony Gardner on loan from Tottenham for the rest of the season.

Speaking of Tottenham, they completed another defensive signing, with Gilberto signing from Hertha Berlin. The Brazilian left-back joins for £1.9m after medical complications were ironed out yesterday.

And finally to the City/Portsmouth saga. Portsmouth captured Defoe from Spurs for an undisclosed fee with Harry especially happy at the capture. However, the deal may have been pushed through because of the transfer of Benjani to Manchester City thought to have been a done deal, for a figure thought to be around £9m. Complications have been forthcoming with City possibly not putting through the papers for the deal before the deadline thanks to the late appearance of Benjani at the club at around 11.15pm last night. Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was trying to get the deal complete, or at least find out if it would be, until 1am but the matter remains unresolved.

It’s not all bad news for City though as they completed the capture of Ecuador international striker Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel for a fee thought to be around £5m. Caicedo is 19 and signs a four-and-a-half-year deal at Eastlands. They also signed Filippo Mancini, 17, the son of Inter Milan boss Roberto.

Stay tuned to “winning is everything” for further developments in the Benjani saga.

Defoe & Benjani deals

“winning is everything” has heard numerous reports that Portsmouth have agreed a fee for Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe. Defoe, 25, has had limited appearances, mostly from the bench. His contract expires at the end of next season so this seems like the right time for Spurs to sell him to avoid a freebie.

With Defoe not in the England picture, most likely due to inactivity, this seems like a decent move for the former West Ham striker.

This move may pave the way for the possibility of Benjani going off to Man City as rumored with a striking replacement now ready and able. Benjani was having a medical in Manchester earlier today, according to reports.

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