James Poplett

After five cup games in a row and thirteen televised games in all competitions in a row, we return to the Premiership on Saturday for a 3pm

Time to move on and look to yet another cup. Let’s win this one to make up for the weekend. Thanks to probably the most sleep inducing football match that will ever be played at Ashburton Grove we have another fixture squeezed into our already congested list. Not many teams more fitting to face the wrath of a thoroughly pissed off Arsenal side ready to kick seven shades of shite out of anyone in our way following 'The Battle of Cardiff' or whatever Sky will call it.

So the Champions League finally kicks off again after a two and a half month break. The players only a day to recuperate after, er, doing very little on Saturday and will now be in Eindhoven preparing to face PSV in the Phillips Stadium. Wenger has talked about the importance of scoring an away goal, and he has a point.

So here we are. The kids have finally gotten us to a Carling Cup Final after years of owning Premiership sides up and down the competition but never quite making it to the last stage

I’ve only just about recovered from last night. God only knows how the players are doing.

So we go from playing one set of northern time wasting fouling moaning knobs, to, er, playing another set of northern time wasting fouling moaning knobs. And on Saturday, we play some northern time wasting fouling moaning knobs if we win on Wednesday. Best league in the world. We return to our most favoured of northern hunting grounds after

Disappointing result on Saturday considering our recent run of form, but I suspect the squad was a little jaded after a period of fixture congestion.

This is the eighth game in a row that we’ve been on TV, and there’s another two to follow this. Not that it’s a bad thing as such, it’s just quite odd. After the Bolton FA Cup replay, 16 of our last 19 games in all competitions will have been on TV. And if we beat Bolton, it becomes 18 out of 21.

2-2 from the first leg, and a finely balanced tie. While we have the advantage of the two away goals, which means that we win if the score is 0-0 or 1-1 after 120 minutes, it will be another difficult game, with Spurs once again playing their strongest line-up while we rest certain players. Another performance of the calibre of the one we saw at White Hart Lane will be required. Although preferably without two early conceded goals. Ahem.

Our fifth ‘Big’ game of the season approaches us at the start of a tough run of four fixtures, giving the lads a break from the North West. We’ve got a good record so far this season, winning three and drawing one thanks to the foul fouling bastard that is Cashley Cole. United will no doubt be after revenge for Adebayor’s telescopic leg giving us the deserved victory back in September. In a period of good form this is a test that we HAVE to react positively to and get the three points, otherwise we’ll just go one step back again.