A very interesting 3rd round FA Cup Saturday indeed. A good number of upsets today saw a few top flight teams crash out of the cup by lower division teams -

• Blackburn were humiliated in front of their home crowd with a 1 - 4 loss to Coventry, who are currently in 17th place in the Championship.
• Bolton also lost at home 0 - 1 against Sheffield United, who are 16th in the Championship.
• Everton took it one step further and lost 0 - 1 at home against Oldham, who are 13th in League One!
• Birmingham matched Everton in losing to a League One team but at least they lost away to 14th placed Huddersfield.

In other significant games, Wigan beat Sunderland 3-0, Boro came back to beat Bristol City 2-1, Chelsea scraped through with an own goal 1-0 win again QPR, while West Ham and Man City ended 0-0. Man United beat Aston Villa 2-0.

Spurs continue to let in goals at home with Robinson proving his England #1 status with a 2-2 draw against Reading. Two mistakes from Robinson allowing two goals from Stephen Hunt, while Berbatov continues his recent goal streak, which coincidentally came just before the transfer window opened up. His agent must’ve reminded him about the transfers and he must be desperate to leave as usual. He’s practically begging to be signed up by any team that “matches his ambition”, so I reckon that means any decent in any league as long as he leaves Spurs. Smart lad.

The draw means 1 more game for Spurs. The replay is scheduled for the 15th. But they also have a league game against Chelsea on the 14th. Our Carling Cup games against them are on the 9th and the 22nd. I hope they can reschedule so that both games be played between ours.

And now to our game against Burnley tomorrow.

Burnley are currently 12th in the Championship. They are winless in their last 6 games, with 4 of them being defeats. Their last win at home was in October, and they actually only won twice at home this season in 13 games.

Our team selection is limited for the game, either because of injuries or resting players. Seems that Adebayor, Hleb, and Van Persie are out injured, while Theo will face a fitness test to check his shoulder. Flamini is suspended. Fabregas, Gallas , Almunia, and Clichy will be rested.

Lehmann will start, along with Toure and Eboue who are set to leave after this game to the African Cup of Nations. I would assume Song could also feature after his solid performance in the Carling Cup against Blackburn and since he won’t be available for the coming Carling Cup ties. Bendtner’s ban ends which means he will probably start too.

Diarra, Diaby, and Denilson will all hope to be playing. My guess is that Denilson is assured as a starter. He has been a real professional compared to the other two and hasn’t complained one bit about not playing or whatever. He should be rewarded with a starting role. I would give Diaby the second available position since Diarra has been acting like an 8 year old demanding to start in the team less than 6 months since he signed.

Toure’s partner will be either Senderos or Djourou, who just came back from his loan spell at Birmingham. Both are capable of fulfilling this role with no problem.

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My guess for our formation is -

Just for fun, Beckham training at Arsenal -

Also, the transfer window is officially open, which can only mean one thing …. Fabregas to Madrid/Barcelona rumours. Yet again these rumours resurfaced, and his response is the best proof of why he is an Arsenal legend -

“Everybody already knows it makes me happy that a team like Real Madrid wants me. It is a great compliment,” said Fabregas.

“But now I am at Arsenal and I want to win the Premier League. Right now, I would die for Arsenal.”