Chelsea seem set to clinch their first title crown in fifty years even though, following yesterday’s goalless draw with Manchester City, their points advantage is back down to single figures.

Of course, Newcastle United let a similar advantage slip back in 1996. Could it possibly happen again?Chelsea seem set to clinch their first title crown in fifty years even though, following yesterday’s goalless draw with Manchester City, their points advantage is back down to single figures.

Of course, Newcastle United let a similar advantage slip back in 1996. Could it possibly happen again?

After Manchester United completed their 26th game of the 1995-96 Premiership campaign, they trailed Newcastle by nine points - the same margin that Chelsea have today - and Kevin Keegan’s team had a game in hand.

Already on a run of three consecutive wins, the Red Devils won ten of their twelve remaining games. Their only defeat in the run-in was at Southampton on 13 April.

The Geordies had just won five in a row. They won five of their last thirteen games, but also lost five.

Manchester United hit top spot on 16 March for the first time since 23 September. Newcastle went back on top two days later but slipped down again on 23 March due to a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s stayed in first position from then on. They clinched the title on the final day of the season with a 3-0 victory at Middlesbrough - and a winning margin of four points.

Before the champagne corks start popping again at Old Trafford, there are a couple of telling stats that should be considered.

After 26 games, Newcastle United had 60 points and four defeats. Chelsea have 65 points and only one defeat.

While both teams scored 49 goals, Newcastle had conceded 22 goals while Chelsea have only let in eight goals so far this season.

Our photo shows Chelsea’s championship-winning team from the 1954-55 season.

UEFA have announced that clubs qualifying for the Champions League and UEFA Cup will have to include at least four homegrown players in their 25-man squads from the 2006-07 season. UEFA have announced that clubs qualifying for the Champions League and UEFA Cup will have to include at least four homegrown players in their 25-man squads from the 2006-07 season.

The quota will rise to six players the following season, then to a maximum of eight homegrown players by 2008-09 following an agreement reached by the presidents and general secretaries of UEFA’s 51 national members.

The ruling could be expanded to include domestic competitions at UEFA’s annual congress in Tallinn, Estonia in April.

The ruling seems set to go before the courts though. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein told BBC Radio Five Live: “It’s misguided and it will almost certainly now be challenged.

“Few Premier League squads would meet UEFA’s current proposals and we think the quality of our league would suffer.

“We probably have the most successful league in the world and we tamper with it at our peril.

“Although it has been proposed for UEFA competitions, there is a danger it could eventually be introduced to all levels. We don’t think they can do that.”

Click here to read the full explanation of the ruling issued on UEFA’s web site.

With Chelsea continuing their seemingly inexorable march towards the title, goalkeeper Petr Cech set a new Premiership record during the leaders’ win at Blackburn Rovers last night for longest time without conceding a goal.With Chelsea continuing their seemingly inexorable march towards the title, goalkeeper Petr Cech set a new Premiership record during the leaders’ win at Blackburn Rovers last night for longest time without conceding a goal.

The 1-0 victory at Ewood Park means the Czech goalie hasn’t conceded a goal in 781 minutes of playing time so beating the previous best of 694 minutes by Manchester United’s Peter Schmeichel set in 1997.

Petr was last beaten on 12 December when Arsenal’s Thierry Henry netted his second after 29 minutes of the 2-2 draw at Highbury.

The Schmeichel run started on 5 May 1997 when Craig Hignett gave Middlesbrough a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes at the Riverside. United fought back to earn a 3-3 and then went on to keep seven clean sheets.

The great Dane was next taking the ball out of the net on 13 September 1997 when John Hartson gave West Ham United a 14th minute advantage at Old Trafford. Manchester again staged a comeback to post a 2-1 win.

United went on to be pipped for the 1997-98 Premiership crown. That’s clearly not in 22 year-old Petr’s planning.

Signed from Rennes in June, he has now kept an incredible 19 clean sheets in 25 Premiership appearances.

However, speaking to Matt Hughes of the London Evening Standard before the Blackburn game, he is clearly more interested in trophies than records: “I hate losses. When I got a B mark at school, I was angry. I wanted to get an A. I know there are 18 clean sheets but they mean nothing to me.

“In the year when I was at Sparta Prague I made a record of clean sheets, I had a record of the longest time without conceding a goal but I have no Czech title.

“It was a lesson for me. I would exchange both records for the title. It is more important than personal achievements.”

As it would undoubtedly achieve his main aim, Petr may be more interested if the record was timed in days rather playing minutes.

As Peter Scmeichel’s stretch included the 1997 close season, he wasn’t beaten for 131 days. Petr Cech has so gone an admirable 52 days without being breached. He would need to keep it clean until 23 April to go beyond Peter’s day record.

In the meantime, Petr has quite rightly earned the praise of his manager but has also been handed a warning. José Mourinho told BBC Sport: “Cech is fantastic, but it’s not just about him or about John Terry, it’s the way the whole team defends, we defend with everything we have.

“But Cech is magnificent and Carlo Cudicini is also guilty of that - Petr knows that if he sleeps Carlo is waiting for his chance.”

Petr now has a number of other records in his sights:
- His own record, set when he was at Sparta Prague, is 928 minutes
- The record in England is 1,103 minutes by Reading’s Steve Death in 1979.
- The British record belongs to Rangers’ Chris Woods who remained unbeaten for 1,196 minutes in 1986-87.
- The world record is thought to have been set by Abel Resino of Atletico Madrid in 1990-91. It is known that he was unbeaten for 1,275 minutes.

FURTHER REFERENCE
The following was published in the Knowledge section of the Guardian on 22 February 2005:

Last week, Lars Olsen pointed out that the world record for most minutes without conceding a goal actually belongs to the Brazilian keeper Mazaropi, and not Abel Resino, as we suggested a fortnight ago. Mazaropi, as Lars notes, kept an extended clean sheet for 1,816 minutes - or 20 games and 16 minutes - in 1977-78 while playing for Vasco da Gama, beating Resino’s 1,275 minutes by a whopping 42%.

“Italian icon Dino Zoff is also oft-mentioned in charts like this,” adds Nylin. “Depending on sources and method, he’s been listed at 1,142, 930 and 903 minutes for 1972-74.”

When Wrexham won one of our recent AFS Performance of the Week awards, we were delighted to flag up this year’s Fans United Day which took place at the Wrexham v Doncaster Rovers match on Saturday.

Now we are delighted to report that Fans United is amongst the nominees in the February 2005 uhlsport / FourFourTwo FQ Awards.When Wrexham won one of our recent AFS Performance of the Week awards, we were delighted to flag up this year’s Fans United Day which took place at the Wrexham v Doncaster Rovers match on Saturday. Now we are delighted to report that Fans United is amongst the nominees in the February 2005 uhlsport / FourFourTwo FQ Awards.

The Football Quotient Awards recognise those who display an ‘advanced understanding of the beautiful game’ or FQ.

Paul Reaney is the chairman of the FQ Award committee. He commented: “Conceived in 1997 as Brighton bid to avoid losing their home, over the last seven years Fans United have supported clubs in crisis from York to Wrexham to Dover and beyond. Fans United proves that football really is the people’s game. If you’re looking for an organisation with an advanced understanding of the beautiful game, Fans United are it.”

The other nominees are:
- Norwegian Kjell Skjerven who has taken ten months leave from his job to move to Leeds and follow the team.
- The Dutch Football Federation who, in the aftermath of Spain’s monkey chanting, ruled referees could abandon games subject to racial intolerance.
- Rotherham United Football Club, the manager and fans have shown real loyalty to each other by sticking together through thin, thick and thin again.

And the previous winners are:
June 2004 - Celtic and Barcelona supporters’ for their integrity in the aftermath of the Madrid rail bombings.
July 2004 - AFC Wimbledon supporters for their battle against the franchising of the game.
Aug 2004 - Michael Hutson for his stunning photographic exhibition of Sunday morning football.
Sept 2004 - Referee Pierluigi Collina for his ability to disarm, deflect and cajole.
Oct 2004 - TalkSport’s Mike Parry & Alan Brazil for re-inventing and re-invigorating football debate.
Nov 2004 - Gary Johnson for demanding Yeovil Town concede an equaliser in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Dec 2004 - Charlton Athletic coaches for their continued programme of South African football schools.
Jan 2005 - Iain Dowie for his refreshingly honest, and often humorous take on The Premiership.

Each month FourFourTwo readers are asked to vote on who has the greatest FQ with the winner going into a final vote to decide the individual or team who has shown the strongest FQ in 2004-05.

One voter a month will also win an uhlsport team kit with an end of season prize entitling a winner and his/her guest to take in a Serie A game featuring uhlsport endorsee Pavel Nedved.

For more information on the FQ philosophy, visit www.precisionfootball.com

It is still over a year away but tickets for the FIFA World Cup 2006 to be played in Germany are on sale from today.It is still over a year away but tickets for the FIFA World Cup 2006 to be played in Germany are on sale from today.

812,000 tickets are available in the first phase of sales. According to the latest seating plans, overall capacity for the 64 matches at the twelve stadiums will be 3.37 million.

According to FIFA, current estimates indicate that this figure will need to be reduced by around 440,000 to allow for visiting state dignitaries, guests of honour, media installations, security personnel and seats with restricted views, leaving a total of 2.93 million tickets for sale to the public.

FIFA and the German organising committee confirmed these details at a joint international media conference on 24 January 2005 in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main in Germany.

The first phase continues until 1 April 2005. Given that demand is expected to exceed supply, tickets will not be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. An electronic ballot will be conducted on 15 April 2005.

During the first ticketing phase, it will be possible to buy Team Specific Tickets (TSTs), which allow fans to attend all of their favourite team’s matches from the group stage through to the final.

For more details, go to the official FIFA World Cup 2006 web site.