The most search for Prem players on the web

As we sit on the cusp of another Premier League season, the folks at Google have released figures of all their football related searches from the past month. The team above represents the most-searched for Premier League stars on the web based on their positions.

As you can see, most of them have been involved in transfer deals or speculation. David James’ relatively-surprising spot in the side is probably helped by his occasional newspaper columns, and Steven Gerrard can attribute his first team place to his impossibly persuasive legal team.

The most searched team was Liverpool with 16 million hits, then followed Chelsea (13m), Arsenal (9.1m) and Manchester Utd (9m). Bolton were the least searched for side with 250,000 hits.

Understandably, the most popular WAG was Cheryl Cole, and Howard Webb was the referee who earned the most online enquires.

Also appearing on a computer near you…

John Barnes, Pat Cash and Austin Powers Healey want you to buy Mars bars

This is the kind of skateboarding we want to see
[WithLeather]

Spot the difference: Steven Gerrard’s kiss v Ryan Giggs’ kiss
[Pies]

Liverpool target Queen lovin’ defender David Wheater
[Caught Offside]

Chelsea have reportedly sealed the long anticipated Yuri Zhirkov deal
[Daily Mail]

Frank Lampard’s pouty ex Elen Rives is about to become 14 million Euros heavier
[Kickette]

Suspicious party discovered during Champions League Final

Those who believe that illegal activity could not possibly occur in a £1.3m mock Tudor mansion purchased by a footballer are in for a shock. While watching her son Ryan Giggs lose the Champions League Final in Rome on Wednesday night, police raided Lynne Johnson’s home and discovered a drugs party, which may have in fact been a sexy drugs party.

The Sun reports:

The Premier League star was said to be “hit for six” by the “unauthorised” bash at the £1.3million six-bed mansion.Lynne and Giggs’s half-sister Bethany, 17, had travelled to watch United’s defeat on Wednesday.

Cops were alerted after Lynne’s 91-year-old next-door neighbour spotted men pull up in two cars at the pad in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

A cop arrived to see two or three men and a woman run to the rear of the house

Sadly there’s no room for player of the year Ryan Giggs here…

It’s another end of season list, but with a twist. To stop a roundup of the 08/09 Premier League team of the season descending into a top 4 love-in, we’ve tried to limit ourselves to only one player from each club. Sticklers for punishment that we are, we’re also rigidly sticking to a classic 4-4-2. It all ended up being a lot harder than we gave it credit for:

GK - Manuel Almunia (Arsenal)
Pulled off some super saves, stopped an inordinate amount of penalties, and has been good enough to have this ridiculous nonsense about him playing for England rise to the surface again. The Spanish keeper has come a long way from Jens Lehmann’s assessment he was to rubbish to play for Arsenal.

DR - Rory Delap (Stoke)
Rory Delap made a healthy contribution to securing Stoke’s top flight status, earning priceless league (and mental) victories against the big boys at a time when Stoke were looking the unfashionable new kids while Hull cakewalked it. He spent most of the season in midfield but his position is almost irrelevent for what he brings to the team.

DL - Luke Young (Aston Villa)
Playing completely out of position, covering for a crocked Wilfred Bouma and an absolutely dreadful Nicky Shorey, isn’t an ideal way to start your first season a new club, but Young has done the job manfully, without complaint and more often than not, impressively.

DC - Phil Jagielka (Everton)
One of the most reliable performers of the season until that heartbreaking injury, Jags has had a superb campaign, reaping benefits in the form of England

“Tek a bow, son(s)”

With the end of the 2008/09 campaign only 24hrs away, The Spoiler takes a look back at the season’s finest goals and reveals our picks for the twenty greatest efforts. Part one documents goals 20-11…

#20: Ryan Taylor - Wigan 2-1 Newcastle, 26/12/08

Welsh midfielder may not think much of C-Ron

Keen to create a divide between Cristiano Ronaldo and his current employer, Spanish paper Marca are stirring things up extracting some insinuations from an interview with teammate Ryan Giggs.

The Welshman was asked to pick his Manchester Utd dream team, and he proceeded to wax lyrical about the likes of Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney. As you can see from his selection below, however, there is a distinct absence of any lothario Portuguese wingers:

The Giggs Manchester Utd dream team

Schmeichel or Van der Sar (he doesn’t distinguish between them as both are super brill)
Gary Neville
Jaap Stam
Rio Ferdinand
Dennis Irwin
David Beckham
Paul Scholes
Roy Keane
Ryan Giggs
Eric Cantona
Wayne Rooney

The Spoiler is concerned that the old guard has shown an apparent lack of appreciation for Ronaldo, but perhaps a little more concerned that Giggsy chose to pick himself in his own dream team…

Anderson can hardly believe what he is seeing

Last night, Ryan Giggs found out exactly why the Estadio do Dragao has such a fearsome reputation. Thanks to Spoiler reader Sarah for submitting this classic example of Champions League Sporno. If you’ve seen any great sport/ porn hybrids lately, send them here and we’ll make you one thousand pennies richer if we use it.

Click here to see the full Sporno gallery

Porto/Man Utd, Champions Lge QF 2nd leg, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2

With only Owen Hargreaves, Wes Brown and Darren Fletcher certain to miss out through injury, Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t short of options for tonight’s second leg at Estadio do Dragao. The Manchester United boss often favours a 4-3-3 for European games but here’s how The Spoiler would line the holders up:

We’ve chosen 4-4-2 and have opted for the tireless grafting of Park Ji-Sung and Carlos Tevez over the experience of Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov’s calmness and occasional brilliance. Do you agree with our selections? Let us know with a comment below.