According to the LET Matteo is injured. Therefore I belive we'll go with FREIDEL NEILL ZURAB NELSEN © GRESKO EMERTON REID TUGAY SAVAGE PEDERSEN KUQI subs: BENTLEY JANSEN BELLAMY ENCKLEMAN MOKOENA

It would also be nice to have a better home record than away record this season, it has been 3 seasons since our home form has outweighed our away performances.

A point away from home in the Premiership is a good result be it against Chelsea, Bolton or Wigan

FRIEDEL KHIZANISHVILI MATTEO NELSEN NEILL EMERTON REID MOKOENA SAVAGE PEDERSEN JANSEN Subs: DICKOV BENTLEY ENCKLEMAN KUQI TUGAY

Amazing how the match last night has dented the country's confidence! We haven't seen the Aussies bat yet on the pitch and as far as I'm concerned if they caused us problems we can do like wise! It the end of day 1! Far too early to say who has the advantage, for me its still as it was at the start of play 50-50

I actually don't mind Souey, and to be honest I've not heard him say a bad word about the club since he left for the Toon Army. I generally feel sorry for any manager of Newcastle United because they think they're a big club. Don't get me wrong the have fantastic support and are bigger than us, but the fact they haven't won anything meaningful for 50 years says it all. Expectations are too high and hence Souey/Robson/Guillit/Kenny were all fighting a losing battle.

Im actually Gutted because there is only 1 test match left!! Its so good to be able to give it back to the Aussies after a decade of dominance from them! However I still feel that the Australians could ruin the party, Lee and Warne showed in the second innings that they are class bowlers and England have to be aware of this! Hopefully Jones is ok! and we can wrap up the series!

Relax, people are away on holiday's at this time of the year, plus the Fulham fans came in a taxi so you can't read anything into it just yet. Rovers fans are extremely fickle, if we start winning again then they'll come back in their droves.

0-0 will do me fine, a eventless 1st game back won't be a bad thing for either side!

Where you get the name from?

1. Chelsea: Mourinho masterminds another Championship victory, lets face it no one is in their league money wise and probably if they were doing poor at Christmas time Abramovich would stretch his budget even further! Expect Essien to sign and Chelsea to win by several points. 2. Manchester United: Improvement on last season, Rooney will hit top form and with a pretty much settled team from last year will finish second. Expect Rooney to score 20+ goals this term and Christiano Ronaldo to perform 20+ step overs a half 3. Arsenal: No more Mr. Vieira means bad news for Arsenal, I think the void left will be too big, Fabregas and Flamini are still too young and Gilberto Silva has proved ineffective without Vieira. Hleb will be a good signing but expect Arsenal to lose out on the race for 2nd. Expect Vieira to come back and knock Arsenal out of the Champions League with Juventus 4. Liverpool: The Champions of Europe will again blame inconsistency for their lack of a title challenge. Reina and Zenden I think will be a success but you heard it here first, Crouch will score 5-10 goals. Expect Crouch to be the biggest £7.5m flop since Mr. Corrado Grabbi 5. Middlesbrough: Good young team, addition of Yakubu will play a huge part in their season, with Southgate and co. at the back Middlesbrough always put together a good defence. Hasselbaink, Yakubu and Viduka must do the rest. Expect Hasselbaink and co. score 10+ each 6. Tottenham: Again inconsistency will haunt them but an exciting young squad, with the addition of Edgar Davids should kick on and I expect a top 6 finish, with the likes of Defoe, Keane, Mido and Kanoute. Expect Anthony Gardner to get into the England squad quite simply because he plays for Spurs. Oh and the year ends in a digit so Spurs for the FA Cup. 7. Bolton: Big Sam fails to improve on last season, expect the "long ball" to be in opperation from the off, Expect Davies to again score 10+ goals and El Hadji Diouf to get into at least 2 spitting incidents. 8. Newcastle: Parker and Emre are good additions I expect them to add another striker before the deadline, Shearer will want to go out on a high (deja vu?) and Expect Dyer and Bowyer to give us round 2. 9. Manchester City: Will miss Shaun Wright Phillips desperately but with Stuart Pearce at the helm City will prove to be a hard nut to crack. Expect Andy Cole and Robbie Fowler to link up well and Joey Barton to be in prison by Christmas. 10. Blackburn: Solid defence and if the new boys up front are a success it could be the tonic for success, If Bellamy can stay fit and another midfielder is added to the squad we could possibly finish higher. Expect Shefki Kuqi to be sold or released by this time next year. 11. Aston Villa: Still lacking up front, Phillips proved last season that he is over the hill and with reports that Juan Pablo Angel is upset and the loss of Luke Moore and Darius Vassell, Villa need some more strength in the striker dept. Expect to see Doug Ellis and David O'Leary have a major fall out. 12. Portsmouth: Robert must prove himself in his first season, however the new Zambian striker sounds like a top prospect, shaky in defence, despite this Pompey's challenge to be the new "Dads Army" of the premiership cannot come at a better time. Experience will win the day. Expect O'Brien to be as shaky and as overrated as he was at Newcastle. 13. Everton: Back to earth with a thud, teams know how to play against them, the Champions League run will not materialise and the UEFA Cup run will end at round 1. Expect Beattie to big a big flop and Yobo and Weir to get caught out by pacey strikers. 14. Charlton: Curbishley looks fed up and needs a new challenge, Charlton always amaze me how they go on a long run around Christmas yet the end of season form is atrocious and expect another season of mid table mediocrity, Expect to see Francis Jeffers score 5 goals of his backside. 15. Birmingham: Think they're bigger than they are, Upson apparently wants to leave and Pandiani doesn't want to join! The prospect of seeing Jason Euell playing for Birmingham makes me laugh. Expect David Dunn to miss 3-6 months of the season due to back or hamstring trouble. 16. West Brom: Stay up once again, but are run close. The loss of Keiron Richardson will be massive for West Brom although the experience gained last season will prove invaluable. Expect Keiron Richardson to return after failing to get into the Man Utd team. 17. West Ham: Only one of the newly promoted teams to stay up, Have the financial clout but also the pulling power which is what seperates them from Wigan. Experience like that of Teddy Sheringham and Roy Carroll will help them avoid the drop. Expect Pardew to be sacked early doors. (Hopefully as philipl says) 18. Wigan: Will start of slowly but go on a late charge, rather like Crystal Palace. Chimbonda and Pollitt are not exactly inspired signings however and Wigan go down. Expect Roberts/Ellington to score 15 goals between them. 19. Fulham: Awful preseason, poor middle/end to last season and the loss of Andy Cole and Edwin van der Sar will be huge, no team whose no.1 goalkeeper is Mark Crossley can expect anything more than a dogfight. Expect Papa Bouba Diop to move on at some stage of the season. 20. Sunderland: Despite being Champions havent improved their squad enough to survive, the current team is a solid Championship team, which unfortunately will be what they are at the beginning of the 2006/2007 season. Expect Jon Stead to score 3 goals including one against Blackburn.

Since 1993/1994 season. So 12th season coming up! First game, at home to Norwich City we lost 2-3!

If the Bowlers i.e. Harmison, Jones, Flintoff and Hoggard perform to their capabilities it could be the first series victory of my lifetime!! If England are to win they need to strike while the iron is hot, that means win one of the first two tests, no point leaving it until the 4th or 5th test and another story of what might have been! I think Australia will retain the Ashes but in a 1-1 Series draw

WOW what a night!!! Congratulations to Liverpool. Steven Gerrard was amazing!!!! Best Final I've seen in ages!!!!!

Duff is away with Chelsea in South Korea I think playing an end of season game.

Preston North End (so we have 14 Local Derbies next season! Tranmere (Localish club) Macclesfield (Another Localish club)

Agreed Spurs to win BIG Rovers to finish 15th Crystal Palace to stay up.

Team: FRIEDEL NEILL TODD © NELSEN McEVELEY EMERTON THOMPSON MOKOENA SAVAGE PEDERSEN STEAD Subs: TUGAY ENCKLEMAN DOUGLAS JOHNSON JOHANSSON

Coincidence they win without Shearer? I actually think they play better when he is not in the team, yet every manager who has realised this has soon been sacked! I think Shearer stayin another year is a big mistake, dont get me wrong he is a cracking player, and the best Rovers player ever, fact. BUT I think he demands too much respect at Newcastle and no one is bigger than the team.

I Hate games that dont live up to their billings! C'mon Chelsea, I want Duffer to get a Champs League medal

Morten and Toogs have made themself very popular tonight! thats for sure!

My team: FRIEDEL NEILL NELSEN SHORT JOHANSSON EMERTON THOMPSON SAVAGE © PEDERSEN STEAD GALLAGHER subs JOHNSON REID MOKOENA ENCKLEMAN JANSEN

I think Jose is top! Although he should have shaken Hughes' hand, but I think he's a character that is often missing with the bland mangers we have today. I think he will be the next Shankley/Paisley, because he will be so successful at Chelsea over the coming years.

I like Jose, anyways my 5 are 1. El Hadji Diouf- Spitting and Diving, no place in football for me. 2. Nicky Hunt- Always feels hard done by, is ugly and looks like he has a coat hanger in his shirt 3. Danny Mills- If he can play for England so can I! 4. Kieron Dyer- Is anybody more over rated than him? 5. Joe Cole- Am I the only person who thinks he's poor? He is shocking, easily Chelsea's weak link

I'd be tempted to give him another 1 year contract, see whether he can perform. I think Hughesy coming has give Matty a lift but his season has be blighted by injury. Statistics read quite nicely for us optimists as he has 2 goals in just 300 minutes of football, not prolific I know, but Gally only has 2 goals in 467 minutes! Bothroyd has 1 goal in 487! And Steady has 0 in 1018 minutes! Give him another season, If he stays fit and under performs then let him go! However let Hughesy tell him hes still in his plans for at least another season, and see how he does. If this is the end it would be a sad way to see him go!