Birmingham have enjoyed top flight football for most of the club’s history. It was still only their second major trophy when they beat Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup final at Wembley yesterday. Substitute Obafemi Martins secured the 2-1 win in the last minute of the match, after a bad mistake by Arsenal defender Koscielny and goalkeeper Szczesny. Nikola Žigić had put Birmingham ahead after 28 minutes but Van Persie brought Arsenal level ten minutes later.

When Birmingham won the 1963 League Cup final it was their city rivals Aston Villa they beat. Back then the final was played over two legs and Birmingham won 3-1 at home at St Andrew’s before playing 0-0 at Villa Park. One of the heroes in 1963 was Ken Leek who scored two of the goals. The Welsh striker had left Leicester after having been excluded from playing in the 1961 FA Cup final against Tottenham. Leek had scored in each of the five previous rounds and Leicester without him went on to lose the final. A few weeks later he transferred to Birmingham. Leek was one of several heroes in the 1963 final and there were many to pick between in this year’s magnificent win. Goalkeeper Ben Foster would definitely rank up there as one of the greatest. He provided several crucial world class saves, just like he was Man of the Match in the 2009 League Cup final with Manchester United. Foster kept a clean sheet in the match and United went on to beat Tottenham on penalties.

Birmingham have now been in three League Cup finals. The only one they lost was ten years ago, losing the 2001 final on penalties to Liverpool. That match was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Birmingham have also been on the losing end of two FA Cup finals; all the way back in 1931 against West Bromwich Albion and in 1956 against Manchester City. Birmingham are still in this year’s FA Cup and due to play Bolton in the quarterfinal at St Andrew’s on March 12th. With the League Cup win Birmingham have qualified for next season’s Europa League.

History repeats itself, or so the saying goes. The 1987 League Cup victory was the end of a long trophy-less drought for Arsenal and it kicked off a great run which culminated with “The Invincibles” of the 1993/94 season. Arsène Wenger’s team haven’t won any trophy for almost six years now. That is something the fans hope will change at this Sunday’s League Cup final against Birmingham. Concurrently they’re also still in contention in the three bigger competitions; the FA Cup, the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Wenger has a new, exciting team full of talent, which is still maturing.

When Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 in the 1987 League Cup, after two goals from Charlie Nicholas (against a goal from Ian Rush), it had been 8 years since their last trophy. That was all the way back in 1979 when Arsenal under Terry Neill beat Manchester United 3-2 in the FA Cup. That was the beginning of the end of the 1970s era when Arsenal in the 1970/71 season had won the double. They won the league with the narrowest of margins with Leeds United as runners-up only one point behind. In the 1971 FA Cup they also beat Liverpool 2-1. In that Arsenal team were George Graham, the man who was appointed manager in 1986 and led them to a title in his first season in charge.

That 1987 League Cup victory could not come quick enough for the Arsenal fans. George Graham’s Arsenal became known for their exceptional defense, led by their young captain Tony Adams. However they did also have plenty of attacking power. The following season they reached the League Cup final again but lost. Then in the 1988/89 season Arsenal won the league title for the first time since 1971 (18 years). Again with the narrowest of margins, this time points and goal difference were the same as Liverpool but Arsenal had scored more goals. George Graham was named as Manager of the Year for his achievement. Two years later Arsenal won the league title again, this time well ahead of runners-up Liverpool. Another two years on, Arsenal won both the 1992/93 League Cup and FA Cup, beating Sheffield Wednesday in both.
The following year Arsenal beat Italian side Parma in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, after Alan Smith scored the only goal in the final. In February 1995 George Graham was sacked as manager after it was revealed he had accepted an illegal payment from a football agent. He was also banned for a year by FA.

Arsène Wenger arrived at the club on October 1st 1996 and is now the longest serving Arsenal manager. In his second season Arsenal won the double, for the second time in their history. Wenger had inherited the solid defense from George Graham, while Bruce Rioch who managed the team through the season between Graham and Wenger, had brought influential Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp to the club. Wenger himself has continuously brought a range of talented players to the club, including several from his native France. The next couple of seasons saw Arsenal close in the title race, but narrowly missing out. In the 2001-02 season they again achieved to win the double. The following season they defended the FA Cup title. Then came the 2003/04 season of “The Invincibles”. In fact, it started already in May 2003 and went on until October 2004, where they played 49 league games unbeaten (36 wins, 13 draws). They won the 2003/04 Premier League 11 points ahead of Chelsea. In 2005 came what was going to be their last trophy so far, when they won the FA Cup. After a goalless draw Arsenal defeated Manchester United on penalties.

In 2006 Arsenal reached the Champions League final, which they lost to Barcelona, just months before Wenger had been in charge for ten years. That era ended those years ago. The fans, the players and Wenger himself are desperate to go all the way again. They want and need to start winning trophies again. This season they seem to have every opportunity. The present team probably haven’t reached their full potential yet but it could start all over again at Wembley this Sunday. Birmingham is the first hurdle in the way for what can be the start of a new Arsenal era.

The start of the 2010/11 season looked to be business-as-usual at Chelsea FC, having won the double the previous season. Again they were top of the league, they scored more goals than any other team and Chelsea simply looked the best team in England. That was until November 11th when assistant coach Ray Wilkins was sacked by the club.

There had been one small hick-up at the very beginning of the season, when Chelsea lost the Community Shield match to Manchester United. That soon seemed to be forgotten when the Premier League season went ahead with Chelsea dictating the pace. They started off by beating WBA 6-0 at home and the following week beating Wigan 6-0 away. Stoke was beaten 2-0, West Ham 3-1, then Blackpool 4-0 before losing 0-1 away to Manchester City. They were quickly back on track again beating Arsenal 2-0, drawing 0-0 away to Aston Villa, beating Wolverhampton 2-0, beating Blackburn 2-1 before losing 0-2 to Liverpool at Anfield on November 7th. On November 10th they beat Fulham 1-0 at home on Stamford Bridge. The day after Ray Wilkins was sacked with immediate effect.

In the first match after Wilkins’ departure Chelsea were thrashed 0-3 at home by Sunderland. Next they were defeated 0-1 away to Birmingham followed by a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle. Two more 1-1 draws came at home to Everton and away to Tottenham, before a 1-3 defeat away to Arsenal. In the last match of 2010 Chelsea ended their worst Premier League run for more than a decade by beating Bolton 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. 2011 has continued with more of the same. First a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa, a 0-1 defeat to Wolverhampton. Then they looked like getting back into their winning way by beating Blackburn 2-0, Bolton 4-0 and Sunderland 4-2. After a high profile move by Liverpool striker Fernando Torres to the club, it was back to disappointing results, losing 0-1 at home to Liverpool and drawing 0-0 with Fulham. At present they are placed 5th in the league, which means they are outside a place in the Champions League unless things picks up again.

On February 19th Chelsea were knocked out in the 4th round of the FA Cup by Everton. They were already knocked out of the League Cup in September in a 3-4 defeat to Newcastle. Next Danish champions FC København awaits in the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. København are regarded as the weakest team left in the competition and not progressing to the next round would be a catastrophy for Chelsea.

There can be no doubt that manager Carlo Ancelotti is under extreme pressure. Club owner Roman Abramovich has so far supported Ancelotti, however the Russian wants results and trophies. The players have criticised the sacking of Ray Wilkins. Ancelotti has claimed it was completely out of his hands what happened. Lately he has even stated “It’s the same; with Ray and without Ray.” Ancelotti denies that Wilkins’ departure has effected the team morale. He also denies any rumours that he himself might quit the job. After former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri’s recent resignation at AS Roma, there was apparent interest from the Italian club to lure Ancelotti away from Chelsea. Ancelotti insists he won’t consider his position with Chelsea, it’s up to Abramovich to do that. Should they slump even further behind in the Premier League and indeed exit the Champions League at the hands of a Danish club, that could be considered fairly soon.

We’re down to the last 16 in the UEFA Champions League. The first leg fixtures are scheduled for this week and the next.

AC Milan – Tottenham Hotspur
Milan were runners-up in Group G with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Real Madrid won the group by winning all their matches except a 2-2 draw against Milan at San Siro. Tottenham impressed by winning Group A ahead of defending champions Internazionale. Football pundits have hailed the Londoners as ‘a breath of fresh air’, playing an open and attacking football. At present Spurs are 4th in the Premier League while AC Milan looks like a team making a return to past greatness. New head coach Massimiliano Allegri has turned around years of dominance from Inter and Milan have been on top of Serie A most of the season. They welcome Spurs to San Siro while they’re 4 points ahead of Napoli in Serie A. Milan would be a favourite to go through but Spurs, with or without Inter-assassin Gareth Bale, are strong outsiders.

Valencia – Schalke 04
Valencia came through as runners-up (to Manchester United) in Group C while Schalke won Group B ahead of Olympique Lyon and Benfica. Valencia are currently third in La Liga after an impressive 2-1 away win against Atlético Madrid. Schalke currently 10th in Bundesliga have been far away from last seasons form which saw them as runners-up in Germany. Valencia would be favourites to win at home but the Germans shouldn’t be underestimated in the return leg on their home turf.

Arsenal – Barcelona
Arsenal come into this while they look the only likely team to challenge Manchester United for the Premiership title. Arsene Wenger has put together the best Arsenal team for years. A team that probably still is to peak in another season or two. They still seem to have some defensive weaknesses and therefore it’s a good chance that Barcelona once again will be their nemesis in the Champions League. Barcelona would have to be regarded as currently the best football team on the planet. The team is packed with quality in every single position, with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta as their biggest maestros.
Arsenal have the quality and ability to pull off a big surprise but Barca are without doubt favourites, to go on to the next round and indeed to go all the way. It’s unfortunate for Arsenal that they only managed to come 2nd in Group H but they lost two matches, while Shakhtar Donetsk only lost one.

AS Roma – Shakhtar Donetsk
Roma came through as runners-up of Group E (behind Bayern München). They had an impressive come-back in the home match against Bayern München, turning 0-2 at half time to a 3-2 win. The Germans won all their other matches in the group. Roma came through with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. They will probably be regarded as favourites to knock out Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk. However Shakhtar impressed by winning their Group H ahead of a strong Arsenal team. At present Roma are 8th in Serie A, with a match in hand on most teams, while Shakhtar sit comfortably on top of the Ukrainian League.

FC København – Chelsea
The Danish champions beat Norwegian club Rosenborg to qualify for the group stages. They finished as runners-up in Group D (behind Barcelona), fighting off challenges from Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos. Group F winner and English title holder Chelsea will be a very difficult obstacle to get past. Chelsea have all the quality and ambitions to go further in this competition. Not advancing to the next round would be regarded as unacceptable, considering København are deemed the weakest team to have made it thus far.

Olympique Lyon – Real Madrid
Real Madrid will also be looking towards Wembley for their best chance of glory this season. They’re currently trailing Barcelona by 5 points in La Liga but the club definitely have all the quality to go all the way in the Champions League. Group B runners-up Lyon will have their work cut out for them, taking on Real Madrid, while they at present are 4th in the French Ligue 1.

Olympique Marseille – Manchester United
Olympique were runners-up in Group F (behind Chelsea) and denied Spartak Moskva advancement. Olympique are the only French team to have won the Champions League (1993). At present they’re 3rd in the French Ligue 1, which they won last season. Olympique can definitely pose a threat to Manchester United though the Englishmen would be the favourites. In the group stages Olympique lost 0-2 away to Chelsea while they beat them 1-0 at home. Manchester United had a slow start to this season but now look most likely to win another Premier League title. They might even turn out to be the strongest challenger to Barcelona in the Champions League.

Internazionale – Bayern München
So here they meet again, last year’s finalists. Both teams have failed to dominate in their domestic competitions so far, Inter currently 4th in Serie A and Bayern 3rd in the Bundesliga. It’s still going to be a battle of the giants and the first edition goes ahead at San Siro, the week after AC Milan have hosted Tottenham there. Bayern München will be keen to revenge last season’s defeat while both teams would want to redeem their disappointing domestic campaigns on Europe’s grand stage.

Christian Eriksen is a midfielder who plays for Dutch side Ajax and the Danish national team. At 18 years old Eriksen has been hailed as Denmark’s and perhaps Europe’s next big star, already thriving in the play-maker role for his club and country. Eriksen wasn’t much of a secret in Denmark or The Netherlands, however the rest of Europe have noticed him when he put on a Man of the Match performance for Denmark vs England on February 9th 2011. Eriksen is a technically gifted player, very comfortable on the ball and capable of orchestrating in a competitive midfield. Eriksen made his senior debut for Denmark in March 2010, shortly after he had turned 18. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup he was the youngest player of the tournament.
Eriksen spent his early teenage years with Odense BK in Denmark before joining the famous Ajax youth academy aged 16. In January 2010 he was brought into the first team squad. A month later he made his debut. Eriksen has already been compared with former Ajax players like Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van der Vaart and Michael Laudrup. Several European clubs are knocking on the door wanting his signature. AC Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal amongst them. For now Eriksen says he wants to keep growing at Ajax while he one day would prefer to play for Barcelona.