EPL Daily 3.21: Ronaldo better than Best?, Defoe left home

BIG FIXTURES: Saturday – Tottenham vs. Portsmouth, Fulham vs. Newcastle (relegation clash), Reading vs. Birmingham (relegation clash), Sunday – Chelsea vs. Arsenal, Liverpool vs. Manchester United

DEFOE: Portsmouth’s Jermain Defoe was ruled ineligible to play in Saturday’s Pompey vs. Defoe’s former team Tottenham clash. The reason for this? In order to get the transfer done before the January transfer window closed – Pompey had to rush a loan deal through before they eventually followed it up with a permanent deal AFTER the window had closed. The rules stipulate that if a player is loaned, he cannot play against his former team unless put specifically in a clause within the contract (this is regardless of the fact it was eventually made permanent). Needless to say, Harry Redknapp is livid and even says that Tottenham was expecting Defoe to play. Kinda nitpicky for the English FA is you ask me, but then again – rules are rules.

TOTTENHAM: Speaking of the Hotspur, Juande Ramos is predicting a “spectacle” on Saturday in their match vs. Portsmouth this Saturday. If this Saturday’s match will be a spectacle, what the hell was Wednesday’s crazy 4-4 draw with Chelsea??? In that game, Robbie Keane grabbed the late equalizer, while 7 different people hit for goals. In no particular order they were Joe Cole (2), Drogba, Woodgate, Keane, Huddlestone, Berbatov, and Michael Essien.

DERBY: Despite fighting to keep from grabbing the worst record ever in EPL play, Derby County’s investors – American Andy Appleby – are still extremely happy with their investment. Good things are afloat for the soon-to-be-Championship team. The Rams need 6 more points in 8 games to beat Sunderland’s 15-point record set in 2005/2006. What Appleby really should be doing is forcing Paul Jewell to play out-of-form Benny Feilhaber.

CRISTIANO RONALDO: Tony Paskin over at the Daily Express UK asks if Ronaldo is in fact better than the late Georgie Best? Best held the 40-year old scoring record that Ronaldo just surpassed after scoring both goals in a 2-0 beating of relegation battlers Bolton. I’d be interested to hear your take – ESPECIALLY if you had the chance to watch Georgie Best play.

With that said – who is better – Best or Ronaldo?

Harry Redknapp, Amdy Faye Arrested!

Well there goes any shot at taking over Steve McClaren’s vacancy. Or maybe not, everybody’s innocent until proven guilty right??

Redknapp – firmly entrenched at Portsmouth when his transfer kitty sky-rocketed exponentially due to Russian businessman Alexander Gaydamak’s takeover – has been confirmed by his club to be one of the five arrested on…

“…on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting as part of an ongoing investigation into football corruption.”

Another of those arrested was Portsmouth executive Peter Storrie while the second most surprising of those taken in was former Newcastle, Portsmouth, and current Rangers midfielder Amdy Faye. All that was officially released at first was the ages of those arrested – 69, 60 (Redknapp, although he’s 61), 55, 48, and 30 (Faye).

It all started with Lord Stevens who was brought in by the English FA last year to look into odd transfers and going-ons in English football. Stevens did just that and pissed some people off – throwing accusations and caution out the window. Is it like baseball’s steroids where everybody knows it’s happening but people would rather sit in denial? Early on, clubs like Newcastle, Portsmouth, and Rangers were searched, while it was alleged that Pascal Chimbonda of Tottenham was brought in for questioning, and results were presented, 8 arrests made, but nothing as high-profile as this.

Is this the start of things to come?