What happened this week in the Premiership?

· George Best's "state" funeral took place at Stormont Castle.Thousands lined the streets in pouring rain, and the great and the good of British Football attended the ceremony to support friends and family in their emotional farewell of the football genius.

· Peter Crouch scored not one, but two goals for Liverpool at last, after going nearly 24 hours playing time before hitting the net. The first may yet be taken away from him, as it looked more like an own goal by Wigan keeper Mike Pollitt. Crouch's "second" goal was real quality though.

· Spurs won and Arsenal lost on the same week-end for the third time this season. Let's hope for many repeats this term!

· Harry Redknapp resigned from Southampton. We all thought he was going to Portsmouth, but the latest news suggests that won't happen. Never say never though!

· Charlton and Man City played out a cracking game on Sunday, but Alan Curbishley's side lost for the fifth time at home (in the Prem) and for the fifth consecutive Premiership match. Vassell and Cole looked sharp for Man City, and Joey Barton seemed determined to get on the score-sheet in the week that his (brother's) name was in the headlines for the worst of reasons. Joey did manage to score in the end, but his penalty was saved by Kiely, only for Barton to follow up and put the ball in the net.

· Ex-Spur Bobby Zamora scored a cracker at Birmingham to help the Hammers win at St. Andrews, where the home fans have yet to see a win, and hardly ever see a goal. Heskey did get the first goal of the game this time though. Spurs play Steve Bruce's ailing side on Boxing Day.

· Outside the Premiership, Paul Gascoigne was sacked as manager of Conference side Kettering after only 39 days, after an alleged assault incident at a fund-raising gathering in Liverpool. According to some reports, Gazza had been involved in alcohol-related incidents on 37 occasions in those 39 days. The analogies with George Best are not difficult to draw are they? Ironically Gazza the manager was guest columnist in the Spurs programme last Saturday.

Results 03-05.12.05

Blackburn   0-2   Everton
Bolton      2-0   Arsenal
Chelsea     1-0   M'brough
Liverpool   3-0   Wigan
Man Utd     3-0   P'tsmouth
Newcastle   1-1   A. Villa
Spurs       3-2   Sunderland
West Brom   0-0   Fulham
Charlton    2-5   Man City
B'mingham   1-2   West Ham
 
      FA Barclays Premiership 
 
Pos Team        P  W  D  L   F   A  GD Pts

 1  Chelsea    15 13  1  1  34   7  27  40
 2  Man Utd    14  9  3  2  24  13  11  30
 3  Liverpool  14  8  4  2  18   8  10  28
 4  Spurs      15  7  6  2  19  12   7  27
 5  Arsenal    14  8  2  4  22  12  10  26
 6  Bolton     14  8  2  4  17  13   4  26
 7  Wigan      14  8  1  5  16  13   9  25 
 8  Man City   15  7  3  5  20  14   6  24
 9  West Ham   14  6  4  4  19  14   5  22
10  M'brough   15  5  4  6  20  21  -1  19
11  Newcastle  15  5  4  6  13  15  -2  19
12  Charlton   14  6  1  7  19  23  -4  19
13  Blackburn  15  5  3  7  15  20  -5  18
14  Fulham     15  4  4  7  16  20  -4  16
15  A. Villa   15  4  4  7  15  23  -8  16
16  Everton    14  5  1  8   7  16  -9  16
17  West Brom  15  3  4  8  15  24  -9  13
===========================================
18  P'tsmouth  15  2  4  9  11  23 -12  10
19  B'mingham  14  2  3  9   9  19 -10   9
20  S'derland  16  1  2 13  14  33 -19   5