Football News: Owens a goner as Newcastle freefall

Football News: Newcastle in freefall as Liverpool & Everton wait for Owen

Football news circulating on the internet has it that Michael Owen is wanted by Liverpool and Everton. Meanwhile Newcastles season is going into freefall, as they lost 3-1 to West Ham, with what can only be described as a hapless performance.

Reports are that Everont and Liverpool will approach Owen during the winter with a view to convincing the England hitman to complete a free transfer at the end of the season.

The 28-year-old was in and out of contract negotiations all summer long. The Toon at one point attempted to ease their cash-flow crisis by slashing 20 per cent off his wages, while later reports suggested a bumper £140,000-per-week deal was on the horizon.

The Tynesiders have been mired in turmoil ever since Kevin Keegan's dramatic resignation as manager two weeks ago: a replacement has still to be found and owner Mike Ashley, shocked by the levels of vitriol from supporters, has put the club up for sale, albeit at a prohibitive asking price of 450 million pounds (823 million dollars).

Such strife occasionally triggers a doughty defiance, but not with Newcastle. They slumped to an embarrassing home defeat to newly-promoted Hull last weekend and this performance, which leaves them second from bottom of the table, bordered on the shambolic, despite a late flurry prompted by Michael Owen's well-taken goal.

West Ham, sensing Newcastle's nerves, were in no mood for sympathy. It took them just seven minutes to break through, although even this was overdue. Etherington and Di Michele had already seen shots blocked before the latter finally cracked the Newcastle rearguard. After that the inevitable defeat followed.

Football news of this kind is only more torture for the poor Geordie fans. Their club is being dragged into the gutter by a woeful management team. Ashley, Wise and co have simply not got a clue about what it takes to run such a big and well supported club. The sooner they leave and Newcastle get some stability the better!

Manchester City News: Robinho impresses

Manchester City News: Micah Richards impressed with Robinho

The latest Manchester City news lis that defender Micah Richards has heaped praise on new signing Robinho, saying he has impressed his teammates with the amount of work he gets through.

Richards said: "It is not just about his tricks. He has got a good work rate, he works for the team. He could have been a star who came here and cared about himself but he really cares about the team and wants us to do well."

Manchester City meet Portsmouth on Sunday in their latest Premier League game and Micah Richards sees a bright future at Man City. The completion of the £210million takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group is imminent and is expected to give the club Chelsea like power in the transfer market.

Richards, who graduated to the first team from the academy, said: "This is a great place to be at the moment. I've always said we are going to do something. Hopefully with the financial backing we are getting we can go out and win a trophy."

Well given the dross served up by various management teams at Manchester City in the last decade you can only wish for the supporters sake he is right! Manchester City are certainly in the news lately, and it can't be bad if they Premier League ends up with five teams battling for four places!

Arsenal Premiership: Blackburn given a lesson

Arsenal Premiership: Class gap a chasm as Blackburn given the run-around

Arsenal and their Premiership ambitions were given a huge boost after this performance. Star of the show, was England man Walcott.

Walcott’s pace and vision made the opening goal for Robin van Persie and his continual pacey runs constantly showed up the immobile Blackburn defence and midfield. Arsenal confirmed that more than ever the Premiership 'big four' and the rest have a massive gulf in class.

Walcott's substitution in the second half left it to Emmanuel Adebayor, who promptly helped himself to a hat-trick. You got the thought, that this game may even have prompted Ince to even consider the possibility of switching to the basket case that is St James’ Park.

However at Blackburn, he at least has his fate in his own hands here and you don't meet Arsenal storming the Premiership every week.

Walcott apart, Arsenal went coasted through the game and passed their way past Blackburn with a minimum of physical or mental effort.

Blackburn briefly sensed they were still in contention only for Adebayor to deliver a reality check after a glorious phase of possession by Arsenal just before half-time. That made it 2-0 and there was only one outcome after that.

Arsenal really will be a Premiership force again this season, despite the higher resources of rivals. You can't help thinking that the Premiership is lucky to have a club like Arsenal to act as a counterbalance to the unseemly way some clubs are run. Arsenal are a club truly built on the values of the beautiful game!

Liverpool vs Man U: Gerrard Back?

Liverpool vs Man U: Gerrard Back?

LIVERPOOL Vs MAN U: STEVEN GERRARD is set to hand Rafa Benitez a huge boost - by giving himself every chance of featuring against Manchester United on Saturday.

The Liverpool captain will return to full training in the next few days and should he come through that with no ill effects, his chances of facing Manchester United will increase dramatically.

His rehabilitation programme has gone much better than expected since then and he is now fit enough to join in with his team mates as they prepare for their biggest Premier League game of the season so far. Gerrard now stands a realistic chance of being involved in Saturday's lunchtime showdown with the reigning champions, although the final decision as to whether or not he plays will rest with manager Rafa Benitez.

Liverpool vs Man U is always a massive game and Liverpool will be praying Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres recover in time for this one! They're gonna need them!