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Reports recently have linked Real Madrid front man Karim Benzema with a move to Tottenham Hotspur. However Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has ruled out a January move for the talented Frenchman. “There’s nothing in that, he said. He’s a good player, I like him, and he looks a real talent. But certainly we haven’t made any enquires at all for him. There’s definitely nothing going on there at the moment.”

What’s strikes me at first, is Harry’s choice of words. “At the moment” would certainly allude that it is something the Spurs manager has given some serious thought. Is Harry thinking about a summer raid for the Madrid player, rather than a winter acquisition?

With Benzema cup tied in the Champions League would there be any point in purchasing the striker come January? Arguably yes, Spurs currently find themselves competing with the big boys at home and abroad and the addition of Benzema would certainly help in terms of Tottenham’s domestic campaign. The classy Frenchman would add not only depth but pure quality.

It seems I’m not alone in my opinion that a January move for Benzema wouldn’t be a bad deal at all. Not always the most reliable source in the world, but the Daily Mail explains that “Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is keen to strengthen his squad in January, with Spurs still flying high after a 3-2 derby win against Arsenal and a Champions League win against Inter Milan put trophies very much on the agenda.”

Benzema’s move, if it materializes could prove to be just the tonic, in recent weeks it has become evident that Robbie Keane no longer has a future at White Hart Lane. Furthermore, I’m sure even the biggest of Robbie Keane fans wouldn’t argue that Karim Benzema would be more than an adequate replacement.

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It would be fair to say that Benzema would immediately become the focal point of the attack at White Hart Lane, something he could deem attractive after failing to get a consistent run of games at Madrid. Furthermore In the wake of Van der Vaart’s signing, Benzema would become another genuine star signing for Spurs as Redknapp looks to build a side that will really challenge for the Premier League following their early Champions League form this season.  

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Manchester City silenced those critics who believe that they are only a one man team, after a Mario Balotelli hat-trick ensured a comfortable home win at Eastlands.

It was an easy day at the office for Roberto Mancini’s men, who built on their impressive showing on Sunday and cemented their title aspirations. To be honest it could have been five or six today as City just went through the motions after notching the decisive 4th early in the second half. The visit of Blackpool is next on the agenda for a City side that find themselves top of the Premier League, for a few hours at least.

So how do Manchester City fans feel about today, and what are the five things we learnt from Mancini’s men this afternoon?

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Blackpool captain Charlie Adam insists the constant transfer speculation surrounding him is not affecting his game.The 25-year-old has been linked with a move away from Bloomfield Road during the transfer window, with Aston Villa said to have had a bid of 3.5 million pounds rejected.

Several other clubs are also said to be interested, but manager Ian Holloway has made it clear Adam will only be leaving Blackpool if the club receives a big-money offer for the Scotland midfielder.

Adam said he was just doing his best to avoid all the rumours and was focused on getting the job done for Blackpool.

“It really isn’t difficult to ignore all the talk,” Adam told the Blackpool Gazette.

“I am a footballer and I want to keep playing well, and hopefully I can play for many years.”

“There is going to be speculation about lads at Blackpool because the players are playing well. You can’t stop speculation, so you just get on with it.”

“Everybody has something to say about football, everybody has an opinion. Some people like it, some people don’t. You get on with it.”

However, Adam, who has made 17 appearances for Blackpool this season, admitted the lure of playing for one the biggest clubs in the Premier League was strong.

“The bottom line is that everybody knows I want to play at the highest level. I want to play at the top of the tree, as they say,” Adam said.

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“This has been a fantastic part of my life coming to Blackpool, and it has been fantastic being part of this club and working with this manager.”

“At the end of the day everybody has ambition and I want to play at the highest level I can. Hopefully one day it will happen.”

The perfect week for Manchester United saw Fergie’s men extend their lead at the top of the Premier League. Sir Alex believes the turnaround at Bloomfield Rd could prove the catalyst that the Red Devils need to go on and cement their title push. It appears unlikely that Fergie will be looking to bring in any new additions before the close of the transfer window, despite the continued links with a plethora of targets.

At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Manchester United blogs that include the Michael Carrick conundrum, Berbatov slays his critics, while Fergie moves quickly to avoid lightning striking twice.

We also look at the best Man United articles around the web this week.

Andy Gray and Richard Keys starring in…

TEN things we can guarantee on Transfer deadline day

One signing that Sir Alex Ferguson cannot gamble on

The Michael Carrick conundrum

Silencing his Manchester United critics and then some

Sir Alex Ferguson ready to act with bid to stop lightning striking twice

Testing the financial waters at Old Trafford, or making waves for a move?

Morrison mystery set to un-Ravel at Old Trafford

Great player, but not the right signing for Manchester United

Why aren’t Fergie and Wenger busting a gut to sign him?

The glittering career of Edwin van der Sar

*Best of Web*

Goodbye, farewell, Edwin the gent – United Rant

New Deal For Berbatov is a No-Brainer for Sir Alex – Red Flag Flying High

VIDEO: Vidic & Evra talk about their 5 years at Old Trafford – The Busby Way

Third Time Is Anything But Charming – The United Religion

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Unintended consequences – could Financial Fair Play kill small clubs’ youth development? – The Andersred Blog

When Eric Cantona turned Peace Maker, and my Kat saw the King, fifteen years ago – RoM

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Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny believes the English Premier League title race is already down to two teams – the Gunners and Manchester United.

The former Lorient defender is still inside his first season in England, but has clearly seen enough to discount the title claims of Chelsea and Manchester City.

United lead the league on 54 points, with Koscielny’s Gunners five points behind in second.

Manchester City lie in third but have played one more game for their 46 points, with holders Chelsea 10 points adrift of United.

The scenario is enough for Koscielny to dismiss all other challengers bar his Gunners side, though his comments are sure to rile in the Manchester City and Chelsea camps.

“It looks like we are the last challengers to United,” he said.

“We have got more points than Manchester City, Chelsea and the others. We need to focus on our game, keep winning, keep picking up points and maybe United will lose games at some point.”

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“Anything can happen in this league. That’s why we must keep working hard together. We will keep fighting. It’s important we keep our defence strong. If we don’t concede, we will always make chances to score ourselves.”

“It’s going to be a big battle between us and Manchester United and hopefully they will drop points, not us. It’s not going to be easy. But we have faith in ourselves and in the squad. We do believe we can do it so bring it on.”

The traditional British dish of pie and mash was on the menu for Tottenham’s players this week, courtesy of David Beckham.The 35-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder and former England captain has spent the last six weeks training with the Premier League side in a bid to maintain his fitness going into the new MLS season.Spurs boss Harry Redknapp had nothing but praise for Beckham’s gesture of kindness.”It’s David’s last day with us. We’ve enjoyed having him here and, as I have said before, and I’m not just saying this, you couldn’t meet a nicer fellow,” Redknapp said.”Absolute top class, a top class person. We all know he has been a great player but he is a great guy as well.” “I had three pie and mash actually. I knicked an extra pie that day because I was brought up on pie and mash in the east end of London. It was fantastic.” “He had pie and mash delivered from Waltham Abbey or somewhere up the road. There’s a lovely pie and mash shop there and we all tucked into some. I think some of the foreign lads weren’t too sure what to make of pie and mash but we eat their portion.”LA Galaxy kick off their new season on March 16 away to the Seattle Sounders, while Tottenham take on Blackpool on Tuesday.

Lazio’s Edy Reja will be looking for a reaction from his players after they suffered a disappointing defeat at Cagliari in their last match.One of the early front-runners in the first half of the Serie A season, Lazio have struggled for consistency so far in 2011.They had been unbeaten in five matches since January 29 before coming unstuck in a 1-0 loss at Cagliari’s Stadio Sant’Elia on February 27.Reja’s men now have the opportunity to bounce back immediately in a home match against eighth-placed Palermo on Sunday.”After the defeat against Cagliari, of course we have the willingness to react, therefore we should take advantage of the home match against Palermo,” Reja said. “We should take into consideration that Palermo has 40 points and has proved to have very good and skilled players.” “They have a good attitude from this point of view and we’re aware of this. Therefore we should be able to play an intense and focused match.”Reja dismissed the suggestion that he may tinker with Lazio’s formation in search of the win, insisting instead the attitude of the players could prove more important. “Well, it doesn’t depend on the players on the pitch, it depends on the mentality and approach showed during the match or in view of the match,” he said.”It doesn’t matter if you play with one, two or three forwards.””There are two aspects: when you have the ball and when you don’t. When you don’t have the ball you should support the team and close the spaces; when you have the ball you should create offensive actions and attack the spaces, otherwise it won’t be possible to win it.”

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas says he does not have a point to prove in his side’s battle with Barcelona on Tuesday.Fabregas will lead his side out against his former club in the second leg of the round-of-16 Champions League tie, knowing all the Gunners need to do is avoid defeat to ensure progression after they won 2-1 in a brilliant first-leg match at the Emirates Stadium on February 16.Amazingly, the match will be Fabregas’ first at the Nou Camp despite the fact he spent six years with the Catalan giants. But despite all the hype surrounding his first appearance at the famous stadium, the Spaniard played down the personal significance of the match and preferred to focus on his team.”I am not here to shut up comments or to beat anyone specifically or whatever. I am just here to win for Arsenal Football Club,” Fabregas said.”For all my connections with Barca, tonight is all about Arsenal. All I will be concentrating on is how to help Arsenal through to the quarter-finals. It is something that I want as badly as any Arsenal fan.””It is about us proving that we have what it takes to beat the best of the best. Sometimes I don’t understand these reactions or comments about people saying I want this or I feel this. I want to win for Arsenal and that’s it. That’s easy for me.”Fabregas denied the match was held more occasion for him, and re-iterated his desire to lead Arsenal into the last eight of the most prestigious European club competition in world football.”I don’t put anything extra in my head because I play against Barcelona in the Nou Camp. It is a special game for everyone because it is a special stadium and we play against a good team and that’s it. It’s one more game that we want to win,” he said.”We want to do well for the club and we want to get through to the next stage of the Champions League. There is nothing more to it than that – we just want to go through and get to the quarter-final.”Fabregas’ manager, Arsene Wenger, also spoke to the press on Tuesday and confirmed that Dutch striker Robin van Persie would still need to undergo a fitness test before being named in the final squad.Van Persie injured ligaments in his knee just nine days ago in the Gunners’ 2-1 Carling Cup final loss to Birmingham and was expected to miss up to four weeks, but has made a surprisingly speedy recover.”He’s here as a player who will have a test,” Wenger said.”I personally would like him to play but he has to be 100 percent. He’s made quick progress in the last few days. When I spoke (on Monday morning) it was unlikely he would travel. But he was keen to have a go.”

Chelsea’s David Barnard believes a quarter-final against Manchester United could become another classic all-English Champions League clash. West London club Chelsea have experienced some memorable European encounters with Premier League opposition, including a 7-5 aggregate win over Liverpool in 2009.They will now take on United in a last eight re-match of the 2008 Moscow final, which Chelsea lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw.”Obviously we’ve got a great rivalry with Manchester United on the domestic scene,” club secretary Barnard said.”But when it comes to the Champions League we’re experienced in playing other English clubs like Liverpool, we’ve played them four times, we’ve played Arsenal in a quarter-final.””But the Champions League is different to the domestic, believe it or not. The atmosphere, the organisation … so those games are going to be special.””The law of averages says that we were going to come up against an English side at some point. We have the opportunity hopefully to do away with the English club early doors.”Barnard’s Manchester United counterpart John Alexander admitted his side might have preferred to avoid domestic opposition.”I think from the English teams’ perspective it would have been nice to avoid each other,” Alexander said.”But having said that it’s an opportunity for an English club to take a step towards a Wembley final, we hope that it’s going to be Manchester United on this occasion.””It’s what Manchester United is all about, we like to be in the big competitions as long as we can.””We like to be in them and we tend to thrive on the bigger games and we look forward to it.”Gary Lineker – official ambassador for the 2011 Wembley final – chose Real Madrid against his former club Tottenham Hotspur as the pick of the draw.”Spurs – Real Madrid … is a very tasty looking game, two sides who love to entertain,” Lineker said.”A thrilling night for Tottenham fans you’d think.” “I don’t think the Spurs faithful will be overly impressed with what I pulled out … certainly a tough track to final.””If they get through they face Barcelona in the semi-finals, but that is what European football is all about.””It’s the big time and i’m sure the Spurs fans will love their trip to Madrid and certainly the home game against Real.”

Nacional moved into sixth spot on the Liga Sagres table after breaking a four-game winless run with a 1-0 win over Pacos de Ferreira.An 84th-minute strike by substitute Edgar Costa was all that separated the two closely-matched sides on Monday at the Estadio de Madeira.

The 23-year-old attacker entered the fray at half-time and struck the decisive blow when Pacos goalkeeper Cassio came for a long ball and failed to collect, allowing the striker to place a cheeky chip over him and into the empty net.

Nacional midfielder Bruno Amaro was sent off in stoppage time after a clumsy foul cost him a second yellow card.

It was the first time Pedrag Jokanovic’s side had won in any competition since February 27, but it kept the Madeira club’s hopes of securing a Europa League spot alive.

Pacos’ own attempts to secure continental football took a hit. They now lie seventh and a point from a Europa League place in fifth..