Off-track action dominates again in Abu Dhabi

FORMULA 1’s global circus finally reaches its conclusion this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Jenson Button arrives in the Middle East with the world title already tucked in his pocket and thus it would make sense if that was the sole focus going into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

But this being F1 it is not.

Babies the key to success in Premier League title race

BACK in September Sir Alex Ferguson, like an embarassing dad, urged Jonny Evans to settle down and get married.

He argued that starting a family was the key to the stability that footballers need to perform at their best.

And this week two top Premier League stars took his advice and reaped the benefits.

Stankovic scores a lovely goal

INTER MILAN notched up one of the results of the season with their 5-0 trouncing of Genoa this weekend.

This was more impressive as they did it without their two stars, Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito, and Genoa had a previously unbeaten home record.

But all that paled into insignificance, as did the goals from Esteban Cambiasso, Mario Balotelli, Patrick Vieira and Maicon, alongside this effort from Serbian Dejan Stankovic.

Maradona shows Capello how to celebrate

ARGENTINA scraped past South America’s worst team, Peru, on Saturday to give them a fighting chance of securing a World Cup place.

This was a very exciting game of football – Peru, trailing for much of the game, equalised on 90 minutes, before 35-year-old Martin Palermo scored a late winner for the Argies.

This is the same Palermo who once celebrated a goal by standing on a small wall, only for it to collapse under the weight of supporters, breaking his leg.

He is also famous for missing three penalties in the same international match against Colombia and scoring a 40m header earlier this month.

But this time Palermo was a nation’s saviour prompting the greatest goal celebration ever seen by a manager.

England attempt a defeat while backs are turned

ENGLAND lost their unbeaten record in competitive matches under Fabio Capello with a defeat in the Ukraine.

And hardly anyone saw it.

Or at least that is what we thought was going to happen.

Pompey owner merry-go round shows Saudi silliness

OCTOBER is well under way now, which can only mean one thing – time for Portsmouth to get a new owner.

Sulamain Al-Fahim has sold his majority stake in the club to Saudi compatriot Ali al-Faraj after only 40 days of ownership.

People have spent that long on Mount Sinai with God.

Alonso’s action affects Button’s 2010 ambition

LAST Wednesday Ferrari revealed Formula 1’s worst kept secret – Fernando Alonso will drive their cars from next season.

This news was as not surprising as a perfectly healthy person waking up in the morning.

United should be wary of Grafite threat

MANCHESTER UNITED take on German champions Wolfsburg in the Champions League.

Wolfsburg took the Bundesliga by storm last season, winning their first league title.

This was mainly down to their front two – Bosnian Ezin Dzeko and Brazilian Grafite, who scored a hat-trick in their Champions League opener against CSKA Moscow.

Grafite was also responsible for the greatest goal scored anywhere in the 2008-09 season.

Who are these jokers masquerading as England?

BURNLEY beating Manchester United, Kim Clijsters winning the US Open, Tom Watson nearly winning The Open.

All of these have been usurped as the year’s biggest sporting surprise by England’s victory over Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy.

From Capello to Ferdinand, why Campbell left County

FABIO CAPELLO made a classic schoolboy error during Sunday’s Manchester derby.

But when Capello left five minutes before the end, not only did he miss Craig Bellamy’s dramatic equaliser and Michael Owen’s even more dramatic winner, he also triggered a chain of events which has left one of his predecessors with a problem.