IT’S always pleasing for a pundit to see the cues he has set up being fulfilled. West Ham were, indeed, as “ripe for a kicking” as I suggested they would be last week; Rooney did take overdue advantage, as prescribed; Nani continues to show the benefits of an enforced summer off, as I predicted in my preview here three weeks ago.

DID you hear the one about the manager who got the Christmas sack with his team sixth in the table, in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, beaten only twice all season and just coming off the back of having scored four goals at home to secure three Premier League points?

Paul Cole believes there is more to come from impressive York winner No Hubris as he prepares to step up in grade for the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

ANOTHER day, another Berbatov icepick to the head of the opposition. Suddenly the ‘Whither Berbatov?’ think-pieces are thin on the media ground. Harrumph.