Down to Ten Men

Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli has scored 2 goals in 14 appearances; this is a very poor record for a player that cost the Premier League club €16 million, that money could have been spent on signing a more consistent player but this risk was well known to Brendan Rodgers as the manager was well aware of he what he was doing once he signed the Italian attacker who has not helped fill in the gap that was left by Luis Suarez.

There are few Premier League teams who will have welcomed this weekend's break from league action more than Roberto Martinez's Everton side.

Now down in 13th place in the table having lost their last four Premier League encounters, Everton have enjoyed the most miserable of Christmas periods and will be glad of the distraction that the FA Cup third round offers.

Dismal Run

After missing out on a spot in the Champions League last season, Manchester United seem to have turned around their fortunes and are once again back in contention for a top-four finish this season.

If United can continue their impressive run of results that they are on at the moment, they could also claw back the deficit between themselves and betfair favourites Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.

In the aftermath of Liverpool's dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the weekend, Brendan Rodgers claimed that his side were capable of making the Premier League top four by the end of the season.

Whilst this may sound farfetched, and betfair punters could expect to get long odds on the reds rising up from 10th position into the Champions League places, a quick look at the Premier League table shows that all is to play for.

Dennis Law is fondly remembered as one of the best Manchester United players in the illustrious history of the club. He has lavished praise on the club’s current crop of strikers – Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie – by saying that he would love to play with these players.

Rooney has been the face of United since joining the club in 2004. Even though United parted with a hefty £ 30 million for a teenager, it has since proven one of best pieces of business done by the club. Law scored 237 goals for United and was labelled as the 'The King of Old Trafford' for his exploits.

Melbourne Victory managed a very good 3-0 win over Perth Glory in recent Australian friendly match, but Melbourne manager Kevin Muscat was not necessarily a happy man after the match. He said that his team should have won the match by an even bigger margin because they did not take advantage of the possession. Ahead of the start of the new season, Melbourne Victory were taking on Perth Glory in what was going to be a tough match for the home team. The match at the AAMI Park saw Melbourne comfortably win the encounter.