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André Villas-Boas warns Jermain Defoe he will stay on Spurs bench, while Portsmouth are sent tumbling out of the FA Cup Villas-Boas warns Defoe he will stay on the bench André Villas-Boas has warned Jermain Defoe that he is likely to remain on the fringes of Tottenham's first team despite…

Chelsea midfielder Ramires 'was on his way down' in controversial draw with West Bromwich Albion

West Brom manager says Chelsea midfielder Ramires "was already on the way down" before earning penalty.        

The Agenda: what you cannot afford to miss this week

United's big FA Cup game – Shortwood United, that is; Republic of Ireland's Bad Cop and Bad Bad Cop go on their first patrol BIGGEST TV GAME … Manchester United v Arsenal? Or Shortwood United v Port Vale ? All 1,300 tickets for Monday's FA Cup tie (BT Sport, 7.45pm) sold out in an hour…

Chelsea 2 West Brom 2 match report: Steve Clarke left crushed by Ramires' fall

Twenty-four hours after Jose Mourinho declared of diving, “I hate it, but I don’t have a problem as none of my players do it,” his unbeaten league record at Stamford Bridge was rescued by an example of the genre from Ramires. The Brazilian tumbled to the floor in the 94th and…

Liverpool 4 Fulham 0 match report: Martin Jol pleads not to be judged on dreadful performance after Liverpool rip Fulham apart at Anfield

If you want to compile a checklist of whether a manager is about to be sacked, Martin Jol ticks the boxes. Did he finish last season badly (check)? Did he bring in a lot of players over the summer (check)? Is the club run by a man who did not appoint him (check)? Is there an international break…

Crystal Palace 0 Everton 0 match report: Stalemate at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace end seven-game losing run

As Crystal Palace come closer to ending their search for a new manager, they have at least ended their search for another point. This battling display halted a run of seven successive defeats and gave the club their first positive result since 31 August as well as a first clean sheet of the season.

Southampton 4 Hull City 1 match report: Three lions of England give Tigers a mauling

The Saints fans sang “It’s just like watching England.” Of course, no-one is yet hailing Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez as the 2013-14 equivalents of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, who went from an unfashionable club side to World Cup glory. But…

Norwich City 3 West Ham United 1 match report: Leroy Fer seals some breathing space for under-pressure Canaries manager Chris Hughton

It would have been cruel if West Ham United had been the team to deal a fatal blow to Norwich City's imperilled manager Chris Hughton, an EastEnder who once served them as a diligent full-back. At half-time that appeared a strong possibility as the Norfolk side, already in the bottom three of the…

Aston Villa 2 Cardiff City 0 match report: Leandro Bacuna free-kick ends the goal drought to send Villa on way to victory against Cardiff

Aston Villa’s goal drought stood at seven hours and 31 minutes when Leandro Bacuna stepped up and lifted a 25-yard free-kick over the visitors’ wall and into the bottom corner of the Cardiff net, as goalkeeper David Marshall looked on motionless.