Arsenal are currently second in the Premiership 7 points off the pace after a draw with Man City. Shaun Wright-Phillips hit home a spectacular shot for City and if his footballing career hits the heights it should do we will hopefully be spared the possibility of a father-son duo TV punditry nightmare. Stoke City are visitors to Highbury in the FA cup this weekend and then Arsenal face Bayern in the Champions League next month.
Charlton have Rochdale at home in the FA cup, but they also have a fairly poor record in this particular cup competition so cue much discussion of giant killing, and the evergreen pundit classic "The Magic of the Cup."
Chelsea took the full twelve points on offer over the festive season and are opening up a sizable lead at the top of the table. Both Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson have been saying that the title is Chelsea’s to lose, probably in a futile attempt to lure Jose Mourinho into some mind-game Keeganesque histrionics.
Having read the Mourinho biography this Christmas break (some great chapters but not surprisingly a fair bit of filler) the Londonist knows this is unlikely to happen, what with Jose head down in his special file in preparation for the upcoming Champions League face off with Barcelona.
He may be fractionally less concerned with the threat posed by the arrival of Scunthorpe United in the FA cup on Saturday.
The other London Premiership clubs line up in the FA Cup third round as follows: Crystal Palace face a trip up north to Sunderland hoping a decent cup run will go some way to salvaging what's shaping up as a dismal season for them while Fulham pop up the road to Watford.
We have of course not got to Tottenham yet, who are probably best left alone following one of the most spectacularly bizarre disallowed goals of this and any Premiership season against the Referee Associations favourite club, Manchester United. Aside from stepping up Ferguson’s search for a non-gaffe prone keeper this incident has also kicked off the now regular, technology in football debate.
The closest FIFA are coming to introducing any new technology is a trial of a microchip implanted in the football to clear up any line crossing debate.
The Londonist remains sceptical of anything that will break up the flow of the game and is struggling to visualise the kind of technology and process that will actually achieve all that it's supporters are claiming.
There are however some technological advancements we'd like to see introduced:
Saliva DNA testers at every seat. Prove you were spat on by El Hadji Diouf and win a prize.
A large Totaliser above the big screen at Stamford Bridge that shows how much money Roman Abramovich has made in the last minute.
A microchip in Robbie Savage's brain that allows Sky Sports Interactive viewers to run 30,000 volts through him when he acts like a twat.
