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Looks like someone isn’t very happy with Carlton Cole…
[101GG]

At Eastlands, laryngitis-ridden Liam Gallagher looks like he’s in the kind of mood that would cause a Spoiler editor to waste £75 on a V Festival ticket
[Pies]

Manchester Utd have answered some important questions
[Republik of Mancunia]

Self defence expert Stevie G now faces a civil suit
[The Guardian]

Lineker WAG Danielle Bux is not unattractive
[The Sun]

Manchester Utd to offer £10m and Michael Carrick for man-of-the-moment Luka Modric
[Caught Offside]

Rafa says Liverpool can improve upon last year’s 5-0 decimation of Villa tonight
[The Telegraph]

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England/Andorra, World Cup Qualifier, 8.15pm, ITV1

The Three Lions are ever-so-slight 1/200 favourites to make it seven wins out of seven in the World Cup qualifiers against an Andorra side who have never won away from home. This is how The Spoiler would line up.

We disagree with the idea of playing Gary Neville ahead of Glen Johnson, who is a yellow card away from suspension. Fabio Capello wants everyone available to face Croatia at home but we feel having players ruled out for the game after that away to Ukraine could prove just as dangerous.

The biggest talking point is who will partner Frank Lampard in midfield with Gareth Barry suspended and Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Scott

Kazakhstan/ England, WC Qualifier, Sat, 4pm, Setanta Sports 1

The Three Lions could continue their 100 per cent record in 2010 World Cup Qualifiers tomorrow, something that the bookies believe is a near certainty. The Spoiler also believes Fabio Capello will bring three points back to Blighty, and will do so starting with the 4-2-3-1 formation shown above.

We believe Robert Green will earn a cap, thanks to another great domestic season and the costly errors of Mr Robinson and Mr Carson. Matthew Upson was Man of the Match on his last away start for England in Germany, and therefore gets in ahead of Joleon Lescott (who has never really shone at international level) and Gary Cahill, whose newbie status means he’s unlikely to start.

We were toying with putting Michael Carrick in ahead of Gareth ‘Moneybags’ Barry, but the Manchester Utd star was poor in the Champions League final, and his City equivalent has played almost every game under Capello.

Crouchie’s international scoring record is a thing of beauty (13 goals in the last 13 he has started), so he should keep his place over Emile Heskey (whose form has dipped since joining Aston Villa) and Carlton Cole (who has only started once in two months because he got injured on the crappy Wembley pitch).

Let us know your opinions and choices for the starting line-up below…

The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies…

Gareth Barry could leave Aston Villa for free
Aston Villa are planning to offer their long-serving midfielder a lucrative new contract in a final effort to persuade him to stay but if he declines, Martin O’Neill is willing to lose him for nothing in exchange for one more season.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: The logic behind such a move would be that they can’t afford to lose another leader following captain Martin Laursen’s retirement and it would give them more time to find a perfect replacement. It’s estimated that keeping Barry last summer cost Villa £8.5 million this season so they may be willing to take another loss.

Glen Johnson to Liverpool
The Daily Mail claim that Rafael Benitez is willing to spend £15 million to bring Portsmouth full-back Glen Johnson to Anfield. The logic behind the hefty

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A cheerleader and a brain surgeon?
[SportsbyBrooks]

Stoke are 9/1 to beat league leaders Liverpool at home
[chickendinner]

Michael Carrick tries his hand at some Fergie mind games
[Football365]

A Detroit Lions fan finds a special way to celebrate a winless season.
[FanIQ]

Mark Hughes will buy before he sells
[The Guardian]

Charles N’Zogbia wants out of Newcastle…
[BBC]

…but Barry Ferguson could be about to fill his shoes
[Caught Offside]

The most regrettable transfers in Premier League history

It’s the January window, which means plenty of players are going to trade hands. Some clubs will end up paying far too much money for their new blood (Manchester City have already got the ball rolling on that one), while others will land a player who proves to be a bargain and a regrettable loss for their former employer. A classic example of the latter is Denis Law: Manchester United decided to let their second highest goal scorer of all time leave on a free to rivals City. Law only spent one year at City in his second spell before retiring, but his last goal came in the last game of the 1973-74 season against United. The red side of Manchester needed a win to stay up, but a Law back heel in a 1-0 win confirmed their place in the Second Division for the next season.

With this case study in mind, here’s the Premier League ‘Shouldn’t have let him go XI’…

Brad Friedel (Liverpool to Blackburn, 2000, free)
Friedel only managed 30 starts for Liverpool in three years before he was allowed to move on a free to Blackburn, after failing to displace Sander Westerveld. Since leaving Merseyside, Friedel has been one of the most consistent keepers in the league, while Liverpool have been through Westerveld, Dudek, Chris Kirkland, Pegguy Arphexad and Scott Carson, before settling with current shot stopper Pepe Reina.

Steve Finnan (Fulham to Liverpool, 2003, £3.5m)
Finnan was a key figure in the Cottagers side that won the Second Division and First Division and was a member of the PFA Team of the Year in his first season in the Premiership with them. He managed over 200 appearances for Fulham before moving to Liverpool and winning the League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League in his 5 years on Merseyside.

Jonathan Woodgate (Leeds to Newcastle, 2003, £9m)
In January 2001, Leeds were top of the Premiership. Two years later, they found themselves fighting a relegation battle. Then came the sales of Lee Bowyer, Robbie Fowler and their best defender, Woodgate - unsurprisingly their poor form continued. The following season Woodgate’s value to the team was all too evident when Roque Junior was brought in to fill the gap. Junior looked like he had money on a Leeds relegation as the club conceded 25 goals in the 7 games he played in.

Matthew Upson (Arsenal to Birmingham, 2003, £1m)
Upson only managed 20 league starts in nearly six years at Arsenal before he was sold for half the price they had previously paid for him. He excelled at Birmingam before a £6 million switch to West Ham, where his performances have been rewarded by a call up to the England team. Recent reports have suggested that following the uncertainty of the future of ex-captain William Gallas, Professor Wenger is keen to spend over £10m on bringing him back to Arsenal. If he does rejoin the club, maybe he’d have more luck starting if he changed his name to Mathieu Upsoné.

David Unsworth (Sheffield United to Wigan, 2007, free)
Mr Unsworth wasn’t the biggest success at Wigan - he only managed 10 games for the club. He did, however, manage to score the winning goal with a penalty in Wigan’s last game of the season to keep them in the Premier League. And the side who went down at Wigan’s expense? Sheffield United.

United stars reveal their inner selves. Sort of

The mind of a professional footballer is like a series of caves. Big, empty caves.

For example, who knew that goofy Cristiano Ronaldo (damn, he’s goofy) prefers tea to coffee! And how does Wayne Rooney manage to keep a straight face when he reveals that he wants to be a doctor? Answer: he doesn’t.

Ryan Giggs: True Red pulls out all the stars

On Monday, a DVD celebrating Ryan Giggs’ illustrious 17-year career will be released, and in celebration a premiere of the film was held in Manchester. Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Nani, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-Sung, Dimitar Berbatov, Owen Hargreaves, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea and Michael Carrick all walked the carpet rocking a snazzy jeans/ white shirt/ blazer combo in honour of the Welshman. Rio even augmented his outfit with a cravat, making him look dead sophisticated.

Celebrity fans Angus Deyton, Peter Hook and monkey man Ian Brown also turned out, but those reinforced crowd barriers were severly tested by the cream of Manchester’s acting talent, including True Red narrator Ralf Little, Will Mellor, Max Beesley and Corrie’s Kevin Webster.

Liam Fray of The Courteneers said: