Soccer Central

With 19 year-old Ricky Sappleton having returned to Leicester after a one month spell with Oxford; Craig Farrell has been brought in on loan from York City until the end of the season.

The striker is expected to make his debut against Lewes on February 1st, and will be hoping to gain first team football with Oxford that he has not been guaranteed with York. Farrell has been with York since August 2006, and has so far scored 21 goals in 73 league starts for the club.

Oxford’s top scorer James Constable is out for the Lewes game and will therefore not be starting up front with Farrell; he’ll still be hoping to make a good first impression though, and will be looking to establish himself in the Oxford United first team with plenty of goals over the coming weeks and months.

In the last ten home games at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford United have won nine and drawn one; with Lewes currently sitting second bottom, Oxford will surely be confident of adding to their tally with another home win.

Senegalese striker El-Hadji Diouf has joined Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee from Sunderland. Having failed to score with Sunderland this season, El-Hadji Diouf will now be looking to get his career back on track as he reunites with his former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce.

Diouf is unable to take part in tomorrow’s game against Middlesbrough, he’ll no doubt be looking to get involved in first team action as possible though, and will surely go on to play a huge part in the Blackburn first team over the coming months.

El-Hadji Diouf has been in the Premier League since joining Liverpool in 2002, and although he was unable to really establish himself at Anfield; he did achieve reasonable success with Bolton Wanderers, and it was under the careful guidance of Sam Allardyce that he really became a star at the club.

Allardyce is glad to bring Diouf to Blackburn, and Diouf also is excited at the prospect of once more playing for his former manager. It worked out well before, and Sam Allardyce will now be hoping to once more work his magic, and get El-Hadji Diouf finding the form that he never quite managed with Sunderland.

If Diouf fits in well at Ewood Park then he could well go on to score a lot of goals for Blackburn; fans will certainly be hoping that this will be the case, and that El-Hadji Diouf can once more produce performances of the quality that made him such a firm fans favourite in Bolton.

Having been on loan in France with Nice since June 2008; Emerse Fae has now joined the club on a permanent basis from Reading. Signing for an undisclosed fee, the Ivory Coast international will now be looking to get his career back on track with the French club, having failed to really establish himself in English football during his time with Reading.

Emerse Fae originally joined Reading in August 2007, he only made eight league appearances for the club during his first season with the team though, and seen as surplus to requirement; Fae was therefore loaned out to Nice in the summer.

He’s done enough to secure a permanent deal with the club, and the player who arrived in English football from Nantes has now been provided with a return to French football.

Emerse Fae will no doubt do a fantastic job for Nice in the top flight of French football, Ligue 1. It’s a shame that things haven’t worked out too well for him in England, he is an excellent midfielder though, and having previously spent many successful years in France with Nantes; I’m sure that the Ivory Coast international can bounce back from his troubled time in English football, and impress all in southern France with his performances for Nice.

Brazilian footballer Robinho (full name Robson de Souza) has been arrested over an alleged sexual assault. The football striker that currently plays for Manchester City in the Premier League has been arrested, the 24 year-old denies the allegation, and has now been released on bail.

The Brazilian international arrived at Manchester City from Real Madrid in the summer for a British record fee of £32.5 million, and on Tuesday evening his spokesperson Chris Nathaniel said of the issue that “We can confirm that Robinho met the police today, as pre-arranged and as part of a criminal investigation”.

Mr Nathaniel also added that “He strenuously denies any allegation of wrongdoing or criminality”.

The incident is alleged to have taken place in the VIP area of the Space nightclub in Leeds on January 14th.

With tonight’s 5-0 win over West Brom; Manchester United have set a new Premier League record of eleven consecutive clean sheets. Beating Petr Cech’s five year old record, Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has now gone 1,032 minutes without conceding.

With Paul Robinson sent off in the 40th minute of the match, West Bromwich Albion were forced to play out the second half with only 10 men, and after first half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez; West Brom’s misery was further compounded when Vidic headed home a third in the 60th minute, and Cristiano Ronaldo bagged two in eight minutes, scoring in the 65th and 73rd minute of the match.

It was a fantastic win for Manchester United, and this victory now takes the champions three points clear at the very top of the table, three points ahead of Liverpool and Aston Villa, and five points clear of fourth place Chelsea.

The Manchester United players are really beginning to up their game right now, and the team’s current record of eleven consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League really does speak for itself. Manchester United is, without doubt, the favourite team to win the Premier League this season, and if the players continue to perform as they have been doing then Manchester United could well win the league this season by some distance.

This is a crucial stage of the season right now, and with eighteen games still to go; it’s Manchester United that currently has the advantage in the title race. Dimitar Berbatov has his name on the score sheet for the third time in four games, and just lately the Bulgarian has really been showing why so much money was spent on him in the summer. He may appear a little lazy in his play at times, one thing’s for sure though; when you’ve got a Dimitar Berbatov in your team, you’re always going to be guaranteed goals.