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The Gardener by Todd Martin and Trish Erickson-Martin

Synopsis-When Amanda moved to small-town Farmingdale with her mother she thought she’d be stepping into a dismal drab existence. She had no idea that a crazed-maniac would be lurking in their own backyard.

After arriving at their new home Amanda’s mother Mary hires Darren Gibson, a mentally handicapped man to do their yard work for them. He seems to be the kindest and most gentle … Continue reading →

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A Nikica Jelavic double condemned Blackburn Rovers to their third consecutive pre-season game without a win as Everton ran out 3-1 winners at Ewood Park yesterday afternoon.

The Croatia international, on as a half time substitute, added to Kevin Mirallas’ opening goal in the first half and ended the game as a contest with a second, and Everton’s third, late on.

Rovers pulled one back with minutes to spare as Scott Dann nodded in from close range after getting onto the end of Morten Gamst Pedersen’s corner, but it was scant consolation.

Despite the result, it was the hosts that started the brighter of the two teams and Chris Taylor might have given Blackburn an early lead, but could only head over the bar after popping up unmarked to latch onto the end of Alan Judge’s whipped cross.

Everton soon responded as the lively Ross Barkley saw...

Venue: Goodison Park Date: Saturday, 12th January K/o: 15:00 Team News

Everton will be hoping defender Leighton Baines will be available after the England left-back aggravated an ankle injury in the Fa Cup last week.

Midfielder Darren Gibson and defender Tony Hibbert have been ruled out through injury, but Kevin Mirallas could return after missing the last six matches with a hamstring injury.

Swansea midfielder Leon Britton could be rested for this encounter, with Kemy Agustien and Nathan Dyer pushing for recalls.

Michael Laudrup has no fresh injury concerns but long-term absentee Neil Taylor remains out with a broken ankle.

Match Preview

Fifth placed Everton will be looking to continue their surge toward a Champions League place after putting last month’s disappointing set-back against top four rivals Chelsea behind them in impressive fashion with a 2-1 win over Newcastle followed be a resounding 5-1 thrashing of Cheltenham in the Fa Cup.

Everton are notoriously slow starters but this season they have already picked up 6 points out of 9 and seem to have a found a rhythm uncharacteristically early in the campaign. Much has been made of Alan Pardew’s comments last season when he said Newcastle were ‘on a different level to Everton’ and Phil Jagielka has been adamant that he will make the Toon boss eat his words. The last time the sides met, at the end of last season, Everton comfortably beat a poor Newcastle side 3-1 and David Moyes has the edge over Pardew in managerial head-to-heads.

Team News

Things are looking ominous for the Toon Army already with a side heavily depleted thanks to a whole host of injuries. Tim Krul picked up an elbow injury on International duty with the Netherlands, Geordie stalwart Steve Harper is likely to replace him. Whilst away with Argentina Fabricio Collocini picked...

Team news ahead of Everton’s home match against Arsenal tonight at Goodison Park. Kick-off is at 8pm and the match is not being screened live anywhere in the UK.

Following the weekend’s Fa Cup quarter final, Everton are expected to be without Jack Rodwell (hamstring) and Seamus Coleman who were both worst for wear coming out of the match against Sunderland. Darren Gibson is still struggling with a knee injury.

Winger Steven Pienaar will be available for selection after being cup tied at the weekend.

For Arsenal, last minute goalscoring defender against Newcastle last time out, Thomas Vermaelen should be fit having shrugged off his minor calf problem. Midfielder Abou Diaby has however recovered from his hamstring injury but he has had a run-out for the reserves and won’t be considered for tonight.

Francois Coquelin (hamstring) is getting close to a return but is unlikely to feature tonight.

Kick-off time is 12.45pm at Goodison Park…

Sunderland’s turn around under Martin O’ Neill would look all the more impressive if they had a trophy to show for it. The Fa Cup would be perfect – prestigious silverware and a ticket to European football next season (which they may well get anyway if they can secure a high enough league position – don’t count the Black Cats out).They travel to Merseyside this afternoon with the intention of knocking out Everton, who showed just how important the competition is to them by fielding a weakened side against bitter rivals Liverpool, which led David Moyes’ side to a 3-0 defeat.

Two of the strongest Premier League managers never to be given a chance at the biggest of clubs. It really is a battle of tactical wits. Sunderland will be missing the irrepressible Stephane Sessegnon and Lee Catermole who are both absent with suspensions.

Saturday evening’s late Premier League kick-off is a 5.30pm clash between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park. The match is being screened live on Espn in the UK.

Everton boss David Moyes has declared his team almost injury free for tonight’s game, though several players could be lacking match practice. Defender Phil Jagielka, midfielder Leon Osman and striker Victor Anichebe all played for the reserves this past week and are hopeful of recalls to the senior eleven.

Darren Gibson however is still a fortnight away from contention because of his knee injury whilst on-loan Steven Pienaar is unable to play against his parent club as per terms of his loan agreement.

For Harry Redknapp, winger Aaron Lennon is missing with the hamstring injury he picked up against Stevenage on Wednesday night.

Striker Louis Saha can’t play against his old team due to the “gentlemen’s agreement...

Championship mid-table side Crystal Palace have put out Premier League Champions Manchester United of the League Cup in a pulsating game at Old Trafford. Palace beat United 2-1 after Extra Time with a marvellous, heroic performance against a poor, predictable United team.

It was a lively first half that did not yield too many chances, but plenty of talking points. Palace started off arguably the better side, influenced heavily by the lightening runs and trickery of prospect Wilfried Zaha. Their enthusiasm took United’s weakened side by surprise, and it had to be Zaha who had the first chance of the game, breaking into the box but firinh the ball high over the bar.

Berbatov carved open Palace’s defence to create United’s first chance. Intricate passing outside the box saw the ball looped in by Darren Gibson for Berbatov, his half-volley trickling slowly wide. United struggled to create...

1. Average of 2.97 goals per game

So far this season (as of Monday morning), there has been 291 goals, a fantastic 2.97 per game ratio. This means that even the typical boring mid-table games are still going to produce some sort of entertainment. Ok, so most of them are coming from Man City, but even so, it’s still so much more entertaining than a dirty child wailing over a once-credible song. Take that, Gary Barlow (pun intended).

2. Man City

Finally, the battle for top spot has got a bit feistier than the usual United vs. Chelsea, United vs. Arsenal, United vs. A.N.Other. The 6-1 Manchester derby was a great game for the neutral, and even better for the City fans. If United vs. Chelsea ended 6-1, would there have been anywhere near as much made out of it? No chance. Having a rivalry, a real one, at the top of...