Zoltan Gera scored an early close-range header to keep Fulham in the hunt for qualification from Group E after a hard-fought and crucial 1-0 win over CSKA Sofia in London.

Fulham's Zoltan Gera celebrates his goal.

News Post by the ESPN NEWS

Write comment (0 Comments)

Heaven only knows what Carlo Ancelotti said after Chelsea's amateurish defending cost them the game against Aston Villa last month, but since then the Blues have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight match.

At the other end, it helps that Didier Drongba finally seems to have recovered from the departure of Jose Mourinho. The Ivorian frontman worshipped his former boss and was reported to have burst into tears when Mourinho left the club in 2007.

In Mourinho's final full season, Drogba hit a whopping 20 league goals. In the two seasons that followed, he added a paltry 12. Things are looking up, though.

He has already hit nine in the league in this campaing and you certainly wouldn't bet against him racking up 20 before may.

I AM ageing. There's no point denying it, the signs are everywhere. The other day, in conversation about London, I caught myself using the phrase, "but that was before your time", as if the capital was just a collection of fields when I arrived in 1999. 

Last week, The worst moment come when I discovered that Ryan Giggs celebrates his 36th birthday tomorrow. Ryan Giggs,36. How on earth has that happened? I still remember reading about his debut in 1991, I remember his breakthrough season of 1992/93 when he took the nation by storm.

Totteham boss Harry Redknapp hailed Jermain Defoe as the finest finisher available to England boss Fabio Capello after his striker produced the best individual goalscoring performance in the Premier League for a decade. Defoe struck five times in the 9-1 demolition of Wigan at White Hart Lane yesterday, Matching Alan Shearer's haul for Newcastle against Sheffield Wednesday 1999. 

"He's an amazing finisher," said Redknapp. "When you look at England strikers, Wayne Rooney's Fantastic - complete all-round player - but as a finisher, Defoe is the best out there."