Getting pretty excited about this week's fixtures.

I am going to put my neck on the line and tip Fenerbache to do the business against Chelsea. A weekend victory away from home over their hated rivals, Besiktas, will set them up nicely for Chelsea's visit on Wednesday. I reckon Kezman will have something to prove against his former employers. Either that, or I am being hopelessly optimistic.

As for Tuesday's fixtures, I am hoping for it to somehow be possible for all four teams to get knocked out. Barca, Schalke, United and Roma are all teams that I have no time for.

However I think most of us will agree that the most intuiging fixture is Arsenal v Liverpool. Both were highly impressive in ensuring that Milan has no representatives in this year's quarters. Fernando Torres' amazing form will certainly worry Arsenal's out-of-form youngsters.

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

What about the rest of you? Excited? Any predictions?

Ive always loved saints but in recent months i think why do i support such a crap team. I mean all we are good at is getting young players and then selling them and we dont get anywhere for doing this and we cant make a team out of doing this. I think that we needed to keep some of our best players from last season like baird, bale and rasiak i mean these three never get in first team at their new clubs if we needed to sell them we could of loaned them back, i know we were having finacial differiculty at the time but if we had investment then this would of never being a problem. Now we may even get relegated which would be awful.
Im glad i had the season tickets when i did i got to see 01-02 and then 02-03 and i got to go to the fa cup semi at villa park and then cardiff for the final which was a great experience and we were actually good then. I couldnt afford going back and see them as that was alot of money to have them for 2 seasons.

Rio Ferdinand as captain of England, you are having a joke surely ?
Apart from a 9 months drugs ban, 4 convictions for driving offences inc one drink driving,involvement in a sex video scandal, various nightclub incidences and flashing his unearned wealth to the world by driving a Hummer and a Bentley..........he is a fine example to British wealth.
Can I suggest some other jobs for Englands players.

Wayne Rooney...............Elocution Tutor.
David Beckham..............Canvas for tatooists.
John Terry .........Spokesman for supressed players.
Ashley Cole..........Limb Surgeon specialising in legs.
Joe Cole.............High Driving champion.
Steve Gerrard........Translator,English into Scouse
David James..........Test cricket slip fielder.

I am sure you can think ofmore. However, I am sure even if we lose tonight the British press will console us with the fact that the Premiership is the best league in the world. It is.....for foreign mercenaries.

It now seems that Sepp "Cant Keep His Nose Out" Blatter has not only killed off any chance of goal line technology but also wants to read the disciplinary file on Martin Taylor's tackle on Eduardo with a view to possibly changing the FA ruling and banning him for longer, perhaps an extended period of time.

Is it just me or is Blatter desperately trying to build his part?

When even Arsene Wenger admits it was clumsy but not malicious you know there's a damn good chance it actually was just that, even Eduardo came out with the classic line "F%$k it, that's football..."

So why now do FIFA have to get involved talking about temporary or even lifetime bans?

When I saw Taylor's tackle on Eduardo I was shocked... shocked at how innocuous it was...

He didn't go in two footed, he didn't leave the ground, he mistimed a tackle to dire consequences, the eternal curse of being a good but largely powerful centre back trying to go against a skilful and pacey striker.

The unfortunate fact is that if Eduardo's studs weren't planted firmly it might have been nothing at all, a yellow card and a quick squirt of the magic bottle to get him up and at em again.

I know much of this might have been heightened after Cristiano Ronaldo's latest sob story (seriously, superb player but is wimpier than my boss' three year old daughter) about having to "change his game" but really, will FIFA now be trying to take over the disciplinary parts of our game too?

What do you think? Do they have the right to overturn FA rulings? SHOULD they get involved?

And would they even be thinking of getting involved if it was someone in a game between MK Dons and Wrexham... or is it merely because it's a high profile Prem case...

What is going on in the FA Cup? Portsmouth knock out Man. Utd.
Barnsley dump Chelsea out on their a**e, then Middlesborough lose, at home, to Cardiff City.
Only one Premiership club in the semi-final? You gotta love the cup. Having watched all 3 ties, so far, WBA play Bristol Rovers tonight, the only unlucky loser was, possibly, and I hate to admit this, Man. Utd., but that apart, Cardiff could have won by more than the 2-0 scoreline, and I don't remember the Barnsley goallie, having to pull off save after save against Chelsea.
Who's name is on this years cup then?

So some of you might be aware that I am a huge Sampdoria fan, and that in the summer we signed Mr. Controversy, Antonio Cassano, on loan from Real Madrid. Some of you might also be aware how utterly in awe of this man I am. He is shockingly talented, capable of the most astonishing shows of skill both in creating and scoring goals.

However my reasons for hero-worshipping him are not his footballing skills. He's the greatest because of his extreme passion, his way of losing all reason when things don't go his way. I know it's ridiculous to admire the fact that he often costs us games by picking up stupid red cards, but seeing how much he cares about pulling on the Samp jersey (or, indeed, pulling it off!) truly reflects how I would feel if I ever had that chance.

Antonio Cassano, you are an IDIOT, but I salute you for it.
Samp v Torino, last Sunday

Samp v Fiorentina, sometime last year. His reaction was to a yellow card that ruled him out of the game against his old club, Roma