itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

You better not be, that's all I'm saying. That'd be the most dispiriting thing ever.

Yeah, even i don't want it to happen

What what what?

Manchester United could in theory be reinstated to the Champions League after Fifa threatened to suspend Switzerland over the case involving Sion.

The Swiss FA has been given a deadline of 13 January to follow Fifa's instructions on the registration ban imposed on Sion or face a suspension which would also result in Basel being expelled from the Champions League. That could potentially see Sir Alex Ferguson's side back in the competition while another option could be that Bayern Munich, Basel's last-16 opponents, are given a bye.

"Should this deadline not be respected, the Swiss FA will be automatically suspended from 14 January 2012 onwards," the statement said.

If suspended, Switzerland – due to host Argentina in a friendly in February – would not be able to play any international matches. Euro 2012 would not be affected, however, as Switzerland did not qualify for the finals.

The warning follows a complex legal battle in which Sion defied Fifa and Uefa statutes by taking its case over a transfer ban to a civil court.

The case began when Sion signed six players in the summer while still subject to the transfer ban for poaching a player from an Egyptian club in 2008. The six players took their case to a civil court in the canton of Valais, which ruled they could play. Sion subsequently fielded them in the Swiss league.

Some of the players appeared in a Europa League qualifying tie against Celtic. Sion won the tie but were then expelled from the competition by Uefa who ruled the players were ineligible. Sion then obtained an injunction at another court in the canton of Vaud, where Uefa's headquarters are based, ordering European soccer's governing body to reinstate them to the competition.

However, this injunction referred the matter to the court of arbitration for sport which on Thursday ruled in favour of Uefa. In the meantime, the injunction obtained by the players in Valais canton was also overturned by a higher court.

Fifa now wants the Swiss League to award 3-0 defeats against Sion in every domestic match in which any of the six players were fielded. "The executive committee decided to give a final deadline of 13 January to the Swiss FA to enforce the registration ban imposed on Sion … and to sanction the attitude of the club repeatedly trying to circumvent this decision in a legally abusive manner," said Fifa.

"As a consequence, all matches in which the relevant players participated shall be declared forfeit or three points shall be deducted respectively."

shame abt billy sharp's kid. never like to see that happen.

uefa are pissed that swiss fa hasn't done anything to punish fc sion for rule breaking, may take it out on fc basel. i'm sure they'll find a comprimise by the end of the year.

It's the fallout from the Sion thing. They were tossed from the Uefa cup for fielding ineligible players, but won a court order in switzerland and continued to field them domestically. Fifa are now threatening to suspend Switzerland, I think for the heinous crime of letting the actual courts rule on football, unless Sion are retrospectively deducted all points from those games. If that happens, Basel get dumped out the CL.

Utd-Bayern does have significant lol potential right enough.

That would be embarrassing, tbh, but I can't see it happening.

Wigan seem fairly tidy, but in the same way that you might see an eight-year-old doing his karate moves really well. Sooner or later Chelsea will go in for a shoulder charge, or kick the ball really hard, and they will just crumple.

maybe put Celtic into the Champions League, have them win it through a series of losses reversed by administrative peculiarities.

ffs that couldn't be a clearer penalty

wigan-chelsea has been strangely engrossing.

JT's in a bit of trouble here

Ebjt injures himself kicking someone else in the kidneys.

Not quite so much trouble, then, the big girl.

recovered from a knackered acl in three minutes as opposed to the usual six months, talk about bravery.

Cech pretty much cleaned him out there, surely?

No, was actually a great tackle from Cech.

Heh xp, JT actually did get the full bravery acclaim from the commentator ("it takes a lot to knock JT off his stride") as if he hadn't been blubbing about nothing two minutes previously.

Well well

Ho ho ho!

lol cech

FFS

ref bottled it

Not sure what to make of that last shout - it was like them both tackling a patch of air that the ball never arrived at.

it was a clear foul outside the box but the ref bottled it incase he had to show a red

Fucking hell, every single youtube link in that Guardian poll of the greatest ever Premier League goals has been taken down due to a copyright claim from the Premier League. The horrible fuckers

They're all shite anyway.

Except Bergkamp's. Not a single team goal there either. Which is a shame, because it rules out goals like Liverpool's 3rd at Wolves last season, which is obviously the greatest goal of all time. Pfffff.

I mean, why do they even bother taking them down? How exactly are they losing out here?

I am quite enjoying reading all the comments blaming The Guardian for bringing the youtubes to the Premier League's attention though.

Luckily for me I watched them all before they were taken down. What was so good about Fabregas v Villa 09/10?

That's what i don't understand. Surely it's all advertising for the "product"

Wigan are an intriguing little bunch, aren't they? Defensively still unconvincing, but I really liked the look of McCarthy as deep-lying playmaker - very sturdy passer, really good at playing accurate passes to get the lines clear.

Trap out

A strange thing in the Fiorentina game just now - Gilardino scored and the commentator went into a perpetual loop of celebration. "Gilardino! goal! We've had to wait since the the seventh of September...". It's been going on for over four minutes now.

hows woodgate not walked, again

How is four-goal Jordan Rhodes still only 21?

hennessy- i read praise for this guy somewhere recently, but amir khan has more reach and jo brand has more jump than this pertwee lookin clown

A headed goal from Crouch!

a joke headed goal tbf, stoopin to clanger

It certainly wasn't elegant

funny how wolves' left side can figure that running at woodgate would put him under pressure, but bale didn't force him into a tackle at all last week.

paul robinson, p good at not getting out of the way of close range efforts

aw man morrisson!

beauty

aw man odemwingie!

Bburn goal p clearly offside btw

wish that back pass had gone in

ruiz chippy chip chip

I didn't know Odemwingie actually is from Russia, rather than just playing there for a bit.

Maverick punditry from Kenny there

If we win tomorrow, we'll go six points off City (and between four and seven points off Utd). So basically if we win tomorrow, this season suddenly becomes awesome. Also if we win tomorrow and Spurs do too, they go within 4 or 5 points from the top with a game in hand. When was the last time they were so close?