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Get warmed up for the weekend with some FUNK!

One player Rafa should have held onto

[Caught Offside]

The ultimate “Everpool” line up?

[The Daily Mail]

Who is the Premier League’s laziest player?

[Pies]

Five great Merseyside derbies

[The Telegraph]

Tom Hicks to flog his “hockey” team

[The Guardian]

Carragher’s feeling edgy

[Football Fancast]

Heading off to Man United?

In a move now commonly known as “The Reverse Carlos Tevez”, it looks like Micah Richards might yet navigate himself across the Manchester divide during the January transfer window. With that in mind, here’s a team of maniacs who risked everything to play for a rival club… 

Goalkeeper, Pat Jennings - Spurs (1964-1977), Arsenal (1977-1985)

After thirteen very impressive years at White Hart Lane, the consensus was that Pat Jennings was just about ready to hang up his gloves. Instead, he threw caution to the wind, and waltzed over to Arsenal to carry on for another eight years. He then returned to Spurs to play in the reserve team. A hunch suggests that a similar gesture perhaps wouldn’t be afforded to Sol Campbell.

Right Back, Nelson Vivas - Boca Juniors (1994-1997), River Plate (2003)

Most of you probably remember Nelson Vivas as the plucky understudy to Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn at Arsenal. And you’d be right! But he was also the daring Argentine defender who has played for both of the featured teams in the fiercely fought Superclasico, which finds the angry poor people of Boca Juniors throwing their mucky kitchen sinks at the hoity toity poshos from River Plate.

Which child will be smiling after 90 minutes?

Both teams will be going into Sunday’s Merseyside Derby on the back of a pretty shocking run of form. Everton have won just one of the last seven, and are now dangling in that horrible mid/lower table area just above the dreaded relegation zone. And Liverpool haven’t had it much better, having not won a Premier League match since they “reignited their season” with a win over Man United.

Add to that the fact that Everton have only won two of their Premier League Merseyside Derbies at home in the last ten years, and that Liverpool have the infuriating knack of pulling out a winning performance at the right time, and things are looking pretty bleak for the Toffees.

Even so, the timing looks good for Everton, with Liverpool crashing out of Europe, Benitez showing tactical chinks in his armour with some weird substitutions, so might it be their turn to “reignite their season” with a big win over local rivals? Let us know with a vote and a comment.

Barrage of socks baffles most of the country

The eighties phenomenon of throwing things on the pitch has experienced a huge revival this season, and last night’s Merseyside Derby fell victim to this idiotic fad. Coins and plastic bottles were directed at the pitch, but the most bizarre missiles of the season turned up in the second half, when Liverpool fans started hurling socks onto the pitch.

Was it a safer version of the George Bush shoe throwing protest? Was it a surreal attempt to further destabilise Rafa Benitez’s diminishing sanity?

Alas, no. After searching some Liverpool message boards, The Spoiler discovered it was a taunt intended at Everton “sock robbers”. These are Kirkby residents who steal socks from clothes lines to keep their fingerprints off of the cars they steal. Kirkby, of course, is the proposed location of Everton’s new stadium.

Apparently, the concept of gloves and the idea that stealing is bad has yet to reach Kirkby.

TV blunder helps nation miss late goal

Nineteen-year-old midfielder Dan Gosling will always have the memory of steering in a 118th minute winner that saw Everton progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup ahead of Liverpool. Unfortunately, most ITV viewers will not have this memory, thanks to Tic Tacs.

Aware that the Merseyside Derby was dreadfully boring, someone at ITV decided the nation would be much better off with a set of adverts instead. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t great, as ITV were forced to cut back to Everton players celebrating their last gasp winner.

Aside from Lucas Leiva’s dismissal and some socks on the pitch, nothing else happened. If you must, check out the highlights after the jump…

Pesky Australian halts Reds’ title charge

Liverpool 1/ Everton 1

Aside from a few chants concerning Steven Gerrard’s impending court case, fans from both sides generally held back on the vitriol during last night’s Merseyside Derby.

The aforementioned Liverpool captain put the Reds ahead with a superb long-range strike, but just as they looked to climb back to the top of the Premier League, Tim Cahill rained on the Anfield parade.

[Video: 101GG]

Can we expect ill feeling and naughty words at Anfield tonight?

Back in the days before Sky Sports, £1,000 season tickets and barmy Spanish managers, the Liverpool/ Everton derby was a gentle affair that earned itself the moniker ‘The Friendly Derby’. As so many families consisted of supporters of both teams, segregation was not deemed necessary, and none of the vitriol present between, say, Arsenal and Tottenham could be detected.

These days, however, there is a helluva more tension between the sides: Rafa Benitez caused a big kerfuffle by calling The Toffees a ’small side’ in 2007, and the vile chants directed at Steven Gerrard, Phil Neville and their respective families in recent matches should not be wished upon anybody.

So, when did the tide turn on the Merseyside derby? Was it Evertonian bitterness over the Heysel disaster that kept English clubs in the European wilderness, or is it simply a change in the climate of the game that has created the animosity between all teams? Recent chants at Sol Campbell and Cristiano Ronaldo would certainly support the latter theory, but if you have any thoughts please let them be known below…

Liverpool/Everton, 8pm, Setanta Sports 1, Free £10 bet

2009 marks the ten year anniversary of Everton’s last win at Anfield, and they have two opportunities this week to ensure end their lean streak. Liverpool are unbeaten at home this season, but they have been held to a draw on more than a few occasions. Here are eight reasons why our boys at chickendinner expects them to drop points tonight:

1. Everton’s form away from Goodison Park is so impressive that they have won more on their travels than Liverpool have at home this season. Only Chelsea have a better away point average this season than the Toffees.

2. David Moyes’ side know how to perform a smash and grab. They have recorded the second most 1-0 wins in the league this season and four of those have come away.

3. Everton have won four straight games and are unbeaten in six despite the lack