"PATRICK Vieira's performance against Everton last weekend in the Premier League and then against Chelsea on Tuesday in the FA Cup quarterfinal was beautiful to see. If any of our players want to see how to play in midfield, just watch Vieira. He is so strong and so fit. He destroyed Chelsea. He is captaining Arsenal and wants to captain France. He is just an incredible player - he plays from box to box with those long legs of his.

I hope he stays at Arsenal. I know the club have warned him and fellow Frenchman Robert Pires not to ask for any big wage demands at the end of the season because they will not be getting them because they cannot afford them - the club have said they would have to let the players go but I think that both players want to stay with Arsenal.

I think Arsenal are right to not give in to any big wage demands - if they do they could end up like Leeds who are in serious financial trouble.

Arsenal are now out of the Champions League but I think they can win the double - the FA Cup and Premier League. In my opinion they are the best team in England.

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INTERNATIONALS

England have to take all six points from their 2004 European qualifying matches in the next week. On Saturday they should have an easy game against Liechtenstein but then on Wednesday they host Turkey.

As far as the Liechtenstein game goes, I hope there will be a good security presense because of the war with Iraq.

Also I believe that the manager will give the Everton teenager Wayne Rooney a chance which I think is great. He's only 17-years-old and a very good player as it is. He is going to be a great player and why not let him have a run.

The tough game will be against Turkey who, as they showed in the World Cup, are a very good team. And they lead the group - it is not going to be an easy match for England.

Scotland play against Iceland on Saturday and I think Scotland are going to have to get something out of the match. Iceland have a few good players so it will be interesting.

Another good match could be Poland against Hungary - two teams with a great history which were formely from Eastern Europe.

But the best match could be the friendly between Brazil and Portugal. That promises to be very entertaining and hopefully we will be able to see it in Bermuda. Both teams play very attractive football and also Portugal's coach is Luiz Felipe Scolari who coached Brazil to the World Cup title last summer.

A tough match will be Holland hosting the Czech Republic. Holland will definitely want to get into the European Championships after having missed out on the World Cup last summer.

And if Frank de Boer plays he will get his 100th cap for Holland and be the first Dutchman to do it - he has always been a very good player and fair play to him. But the Ducth will have to watch out for the Czechs who always have some class players.

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BECKHAM

Real Madrid say they are considering on trying to sign Manchester United's David Beckham this summer.

Real usually only make one big signing a year - look at when they signed Zidane, Figo and then Ronaldo. Now they want Beckham.

Well Beckham is a good player but if I was Manchester United I would trade Beckham for Figo - give me Figo any day.

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PREMIER LEAGUE

Well Manchester United put the pressure on Arsenal when they beat Fulham 3-0 early on Saturday but Arsenal responded very well to beat Everton 2-1 to go back on top.

I must admit United's victory over Fulham was the Ruud van Nistelrooy show. He was great - especially when he scored that second goal. He showed just how much class he has.

But Arsenal played well against Everton and then destroyed Chelsea two days later in the FA Cup.

The league is still tight at the top. And it is still tight at the bottom. My team West Ham won 2-0 over Sunderland and they played very well. They are showing what they can do and hopefully they can survive the drop.

However both Birmingham and Bolton won as well so I think it could go down to when West Ham play Bolton later this season. That will be the match I think that will decide to stays up and who goes down.

However I really do like the way West Ham are playing right now - they seem a lot more confident and they certainly played some entertaining football - unfortunately West Ham have a history of playing entertaining football but not always winning those matches!

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FIRED

So Terry Venables has been fired from Leeds. That is a shame - he is a great coach. The guy who should go is the chairman Peter Ridsdale who got the club in this financial trouble in the first place and was forced to sell a lot of players. It angers me when I think that people like Ridsdale sit high and mighty in their office and fire people like Terry.

Also Fulham have told their manager Jean Tigana they will not renew his contract at the end of the season. Personally I think Tigana has done a good job at Fulham. Unfortunately owners these days simply think that you can buy a championship. It is a lot more than that.