Relegated West Brom have a new man at the helm. Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto Di Matteo has been unveiled as the new manager, despite rumours that Alan Irvine was the man for the job. The 39 year old is leaving MK Dons to succeed Tony Mowbray who has gone to Celtic.

It’s interesting to note that Di Matteo has been given a 12-month rolling contract which must be causing the fans a bit of trepidation as all they want is a bit of stability, not to mention their place back in the Premiership, of course. However, Di Matteo comes with a pretty good pedigree as both a player and a manager.

He led MK Dons to third place in League One during his first year in charge but saw the team lose on penalties to Scunthorpe in the semi-finals of the play-offs last season.

Club chairman Jeremy Pearce said that over 40 names were thrown into the hat for the manager’s job but only two outstanding candidates were short-listed. We now know they were Di Matteo and Alan Irvine. It’s not clear whether Irvine actually went for an interview or not or whether he was offered the role before Di Matteo. In any event, he has pledged to say with Preston, a decision fans have been applauding.

Di Matteo takes with him from MK Dons Eddie Newton as assistant head coach and Ade Mafe as fitness coach. Number one priority will be to win promotion in the first season, perhaps the reason for that 12-month rolling contract. The Hawthorns will be asking a lot of their manager and will want him to deliver.

It’s not really hard to figure out why Middlesbrough, West Brom, and Newcastle are all going down to the Championship League next season and why Sunderland and Hull came perilously close to being relegated. Not one of those five teams managed to pull out a win on the last day of the season when their Premier League lives depended on it.

Hull lost to a second string Manchester United side at home 1-0 and I’m thinking if they can’t beat a weakened Manchester side that’s full of kids, at home, when they’re fighting for survival, then is there really any point of them being in the Premier League?

Newcastle was just as bad. They had a pretty decent first half against Aston Villa, but were down 1-0 at half time on an unlucky break when Gareth Barry’s shot bounced off of Damien Duff and behind keeper Steve Harper in the 38th minute. But Newcastle came out as flat as a pancake in the second half and with Hull losing, they only needed a draw to stay up.

They were so bad they didn’t even get a shot on net in the second half. Acting manager Alan Shearer didn’t bring Michael Owen on until the 67th minute and took off striker Mark Viduka for Shola Ameobi with 15 minutes to go. Not very bright I must say when you’re looking for a goal to stay up.

Middlesbrough was relegated after losing 2-1 at West Ham. The Londoners went up 1-0 through Carlton Cole in the 33rd minute only to have Gary O’Neil tie things up for Boro five minutes into the second half. However eight minutes after that, the inevitable happened and Junior Stanislas put woeful Middlesbrough out of their misery and officially sent them down.

West Brom managed to get a point at Blackburn as they played to a 0-0 draw. It was irrelevant though, as their fate was already sealed last weekend and they were the first team relegated and ended dead last in the league with a worse goal difference than Middlesbrough.

Sunderland had luck on their side as the other results meant they could lose and still stay up, and of course lose they did. Over 42,000 came to the Stadium of Light to see their heroes go down 3-2 to Chelsea. Kenwyne Jones scored for Sunderland in the 90th minute to make the score look respectable.

Again, Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia disrespected the paying fans and the players by leaving the team’s top scorer Djibril Cisse on the bench, this time for the whole game. At least against Portsmouth last Monday he gave him a whole nine minutes of playing time.

It’s no wonder that world-class players like Cisse leave teams like Sunderland when they are heads and tails above everybody else on the team in skill, but are left on the bench to watch inferior players struggle. Sbragia quit his job after the game and it was the best move he’s made all season, believe me.

Liverpool beat Spurs 3-1 to end up in second place with 86 points. Chelsea end up in third with 83 and Arsenal, who beat Stoke 4-1, come in fourth with 72 points and grab the Champions League qualifying spot for next season. Everton won 2-0 at Fulham and grab a Europa League spot with 63 points, while Villa at 62 points also make Europa, as do Fulham, with 53 points.

The EPL January transfer window has finally come to an end and there were a few more players on the move.

Fifth-place Arsenal, who now seem to be out of the title race, has signed Russian Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg. He should help the Gunners as long as Wenger plays him instead of sitting him on the bench. The 27-year-old Arshavin scored 51 goals in 232 games for Zenit, and was the 2006 Russian Footballer of the Year.

Portuguese international Ricardo Quaresma left Italy’s Inter Milan and signed on loan with Chelsea until the end of the season. Although he’s only 25, Chelsea becomes the fifth club of Quaresma’s career. Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho paid 16.3 million pounds for him last year.

West Brom signed winger Juan Carlos Menseguez from Argentine Primera Division champions San Lorenzo along with Youssouf Mulumbu from French club Paris St Germain.

Fulham signed French midfielder Olivier Dacourt, 34, on loan from Inter Milan until the end of the season

Twenty two-year-old Charles N’Zogbia’s left Newcastle after he was swapped to Wigan for 24-year-old Ryan Taylor. Newcastle also reportedly received six million pounds in the deal.

In loan moves: Calum Davenport joined Sunderland from West Ham, James Chester left Manchester United for Peterborough United, Tel Ban-Haim went to Sunderland from Manchester City, Michael Chopra left Sunderland for Cardiff City, and Matt Derbyshire was loaned out from Blackburn to Greek side Olympiakos.

Striker Robbie Keane’s return to Tottenham from Liverpool became official after six miserable months at Anfield under manager Rafael Benitez. The Spanish manager cost club owners about five million pounds or more by signing the 28-year-old Republic of Ireland striker last year for close to 20 million pounds. It’s not sure how much Tottenham paid to get Keane back as both clubs are now disputing figures.

It was an odd move in the first place as Liverpool had striker Peter Crouch, but Benitez sold him for some reason to Portsmouth for about seven million pounds before signing Keane. So at the end of the day, Liverpool has neither Crouch nor Keane, and are out millions of pounds. And yes, Benitez is still employed there. In another twist to the story, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has said Keane will now captain Tottenham, but defender Ledley King will retain the club captaincy, whatever that means. It will also be interesting to see how the fans at White Hart lane will greet Keane after he deserted them in the summer.

Meanwhile on the pitch, Championship side Burnley continued its FA Cup run by beating West Brom 3-1 at home in their fourth-round replay. Burnley will now face either Cardiff City or Arsenal in the fifth round. Burnley are getting used to beating Premier League sides this season as they have already beaten Fulham, Chelsea, and Arsenal in the Carling Cup and came oh so close to knocking Spurs out of that competition too, only to lose in the last two minutes of extra time last month. The Arsenal vs Cardiff FA Cup replay was postponed due to current weather conditions in England. Translation: It’s cold and snowing.

The EPL is back in action with a full slate of games over the next two days after a weekend off for some teams due to FA Cup games.

Tuesday’s matches feature 15th place Sunderland at home to 10th place Fulham, a first vs worst battle, with league leaders Manchester United travelling to Birmingham to take on cellar dwellers West Brom, 12th place Portsmouth is hosting fourth place Aston Villa, and 16th place Tottenham has a huge clash at White Hart Lane against 19th spot Stoke City.

Spurs vs Stoke
Tottenham will be a new-look squad after several signings in the transfer window, however, midfielder Wilson Palacios is suspended for the match against Stoke. Goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who just came over from Chelsea in a free transfer, could possibly start in net as first choice keeper Heurelho Gomes is struggling both in net and with a thigh injury. Former Spur Pascal Chimbonda, who was just reacquired from Sunderland, wasn’t registered in time to play.

On the injury front Jermaine Jenas (calf) and top scorer Darren Bent (groin) are back training, while Alan Hutton (foot), Ledley King (hamstring) and Jamie O’Hara (hip) are still out. However, Aaron Lennon (groin), Jonathan Woodgate (back) and Luka Modric (back/hamstring) will be game-time decisions

For Stoke, leading scorer Ricardo Fuller should be back after serving a three-game suspension for slapping team mate Andy Griffin. Defender Danny Higginbotham (calf) will be a game-time decision, while Salif Diao (calf), Mamady Sidibe (knee) and Andrew Davies (knee) are all out injured.

Spurs played on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Man United in the FA Cup. Both teams were winless in the last five league games.

Sunderland vs Fulham
Teemu Tainio is available for Sunderland after serving a one-match ban and George McCartney returns from a long-term foot injury.

For Fulham, Diomansy Kamara (knee) is still out injured.

Fulham beat non-league side Kettering 4-2 with two late goals in the Cup on Saturday, while Sunderland drew 0-0 with Blackburn. Both teams have one only one of their last five league games and Fulham hasn’t won on the road all season.

West Brom vs Man Utd
West Brom is missing captain and former Man Utd player Jonathan Greening after he injured his knee during Saturday’s FA Cup game with Burnley. The club already has four centre-backs injured with Abdoulaye Meite, Jonas Olsson, Leon Barnett and Neil Clement all on the shelf. Ten players in total are out with injuries.

Man United actually have more players on the sidelines with 12 on the injury list. Fabio (calf) and Danny Welbeck (ankle) were hurt in Saturday’s 2-1 Cup win over Spurs. Nani, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Rafael, and Patrice Evra are still out with injuries, while Anderson, Wayne Rooney, Jonny Evans and Ji-sung Park were also unavailable for Saturday’s game.

West Brom has won three of their last five, while Utd have won all five.

Portsmouth vs Aston Villa
Both teams could feature new signings as central midfielder Hayden Mullins and defender Pele could play for Portsmouth and striker Emile Heskey might see action for Villa.

Pompey is without injured players Papa Bouba Diop and Richard Hughes, but Younes Kaboul might return after missing five-weeks with a back injury. Moral seems to be pretty low, especially after being knocked out of the FA Cup at home to Swansea on Saturday.

For Aston Villa, defender Luke Young returns after missing Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Doncaster because of a one-game ban for receiving five bookings this season, but winger Ashley Young will miss the match as he serves the second game of a three-match suspension for a red card at Sunderland.

Potsmouth has only a draw to show for their last five league games while Villa has four wins and a draw.

After the weekend’s games in the English Premier League, Manchester has regained first spot with a 1-0 win at Upton Park in London over West Ham. Veteran Ryan Giggs supplied the winner with a marvelous goal in the 62nd minute.

At the other end of the pitch, goalie Edwin van der Sar extended his British shutout streak to 1, 212 minutes. United hasn’t conceded a goal in over 13 league games now and lead second place Liverpool by two points and also have a game in hand over their rivals.

Down south, Portsmouth blew a 2-1 lead over Liverpool with 12 minutes remaining in the game as Dirk Kuyt tied the contest in the 85th minute and Fernando Torres, who came on as a substitute in the 76th minute headed home the winner in injury time to save manger Rafael Benitez from being embarrassed for leaving his top striker on the bench for so long.

Things didn’t work out so well for Portsmouth manager Tony Adams after the game though as he was sacked for failing to win a game during his nine games in charge. I wouldn’t feel too bad for him though as he brought it upon himself by employing negative tactics in most of those games by employing one striker up front on his own. Adams leaves Pompey with 24 points, just one point out of the relegation zone.

Aston Villa jumped over Chelsea by two points in the standings and into third place with a 2-0 road win in Blackburn, who are still in the relegation zone with 23 points.

Chelsea could only manage a scoreless draw at home against hull and were roundly booed off the pitch at Stamford Park for their efforts.

Arsenal continued their mediocre season with a 0-0 draw with Tottenham in the north London derby and sit in fifth place with 44 points, 12 behind Man United.

The other two cellar dwellers, Middlesbrough and West Brom, both with 22 points, also lost. Manchester City squeaked by Middlesbrough 1-0, while west Brom were edged 3-2 at home by Newcastle.

The best individual performance belonged to Everton’s new on-loan signing of Brazilian star Jo, who scored twice in a 3-0 thumping of Bolton at Goodison Park. It was Jo’s first game with the Merseysiders after moving over from Manchester City, who bought him for 19 million pounds last year.

This shows me somebody isn’t doing a good job. You don’t pay 19 million quid for a player and then discard him halfway through the season. Either the scouts overrated him and the club paid way too much for him, or City never gave him a chance by sitting him on the bench. Either way, he’s already made them look foolish after just one game.

The David Beckham soap opera continues over in Italy as the Los Angeles Galaxy has turned down AC Milan’s offer for their star player. The two clubs are now haggling over the price for the talented midfielder.
Beckham could also be a big story this coming Wednesday as well when England travel to Spain for a midweek friendly against the Euro 2008 Champions. The 33 year old will get the chance at his 108th cap for England, which will equal the record set by Bobby Moore for an English outfield player. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton holds the all time England record with 125 caps.

Meanwhile, Carlton Cole of West Ham and Everton’s Phil Jagielka could get their first caps after being named in the squad.