On paper, you’d have to say that out of the two teams it’s Newcastle who have the most favourable fixture. They play a West Ham who have entered that familiar period of the season when they have absolutely nothing left to play for.

When watching the Champions League beyond the group stages, there is always a hollow quality to any given team performance and this is without doubt due to the away goals rule.

The short answer is no, of course they can’t. They’ll get knocked out of the F.A cup by Reading, suffer a crisis of confidence, Jack Wilshere will make a come back only for his biscuit bones to break again and Arsenal will make fourth place by the skin of their teeth due to the erratic form of the teams below them. But those with a romantic disposition might disagree.

For the remaining two positions, Rooney has to make way. The United forward has been a fine servant for his country, but given that his powers have been waning for about five years now, Hodgson can’t afford to have any passengers.

Singapore opened their World Cup Qualifying Group E campaign on a rousing note as they saw off Cambodia 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

After Singapore lost to Indonesia, a dejected Aide Iskandar announced his resignation from the Football Association of Singapore as a coach.

"I have been reflecting deeply about my presidency and about the forty years in which my life has been inextricably bound to FIFA and the great sport of football. I cherish FIFA more than anything and I want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football.

I made comments on a social media outlet which showed my distaste for an article that was written on this media outlet. I am more than happy to explain my reason for this distaste of such poor writing.

Georginio Wijnaldum apparently joins St James' Park

It’s the end of term and school is out. It’s time to mark those report cards and find out who the class swats and dunces were and whether anyone needs to give teacher an apple. We’ll kick off with the Champions.

It's great to see the send off that Liverpool arranged for Steven Gerrard. That's 9-2 the Reds have lost to the combined might of Crystal Palace and Stoke City.

Now that the dust has settled a little with only one away match to come, both the club and player can look to a fresh start next season and we can take a look at his career for both Liverpool and England and the legacy that he is leaving behind.

I think it's safe to say that Liverpool have gotten far more out of Steven Gerrard than he has out of the club given they've barely ever given him a set of teammates fit to play with him.

A week of international fixtures normally brings with it a flurry of transfer activity. We keep an eye on Schneiderlin, Song, Falcao, Benteke and Mirallas.

The bottom line is this: Benteke is too good to play for Aston Villa

An Arsenal side with Sami Khedira and Arturo Vidal in the midfield would make the North Londoners serious title contenders so I’d expect to see at least one of them come way of the Emirates.

Benitez will be parting ways with Napoli at the end of the season and heartened by Chelsea’s revival under Jose Mourinho’s second coming, Liverpool are considering bringing back the man who took the Mersysiders to two Champions League finals.

Liverpool and Arsenal aren’t having all the fun though as Manchester City are said to be finally closing in on Juve’s £71 million rated Paul Pogba.

When watching the Champions League beyond the group stages, there is always a hollow quality to any given team performance and this is without doubt due to the away goals rule.

It’s a mixture of Premiership and FA Cup this weekend with some big matches in store. Let’s kick off in London on Saturday.

It's another full card in the Premiership with everything to play for at both ends of the table. The weekend kicks of in Wales with the Saturday lunchtime kick off.

Well what a weekend that was. I managed to watch no less than five Premiership matches and one from La Liga. I think it’s pretty safe to say I entirely wasted my weekend.

Raheem Sterling has taken the unusual step of giving a radio interview to give his side of the story regarding his current contract issues with Liverpool. Is this again the greedy side of football or is he simply asking for what he is worth?