THE modern Premier League might be the natural home of hype and hyperbole, but some players are apparently fated to defy convention.

PAUL IFILL and Ireland U21 winger Sean Scannell fired Crystal Palace into the fourth round of the FA Cup at the expense of Leicester.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is expected to escape a Football Association charge despite his scathing comments about referee Steve Tanner.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp will probably be hearing from the Football Association over the coming days after his scathing comments about referee Steve Tanner.

HARRY REDKNAPP might boast ‘Happy’ as one of his many nicknames, but there are days when even he finds it hard to smile.

West Brom 2 Tottenham 0

PHIL BROWN may insist he has no interest in taking charge at Sunderland, but nobody would dare accuse English football’s most in-demand young manager of lacking ambition.

Hull 2 Middlesbrough 1

Blackburn manager Paul Ince made six changes to the side which beat Sunderland in midweek in the Carling Cup for the return league fixture.

Liverpool 1 Portsmouth 0

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez made four changes from the side which claimed top spot in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday for the visit of Portsmouth.

AMBITION is the new buzz-word reverberating around the City of Manchester stadium, and nobody encapsulates it more definitively than the club’s highest profile recruit.

JOE KINNEAR will take training for the first time at Newcastle this morning knowing that he is the man with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Newcastle 1 Blackburn 2

Fulham 2 Bolton 1

AFTER narrowly avoiding relegation, most fans would celebrate a top-half finish with the sort of gusto usually reserved for Champions League winners.

West Ham 2 Derby 1

Wigan 1 Bolton 0

Wigan 1 Bolton 0

NO points, no desire, no hope and now no first-choice goalkeeper for the rest of the season. Bolton’s season hit a new low yesterday as they slipped to a defeat to fellow strugglers Wigan despite having an extra man for more than 85 minutes.

TWO goals from Jermain Defoe and further efforts from Hermann Hreidarsson and Kanu enabled FA Cup semi-finalists Portsmouth to sink struggling Birmingham in the Barclays Premier League last night.

Portsmouth 4 Birmingham 2

ANYONE at home” is usually the stock response when a player is asked who they’d like in the next round, but that is unlikely to be the reply from Dong Gook Lee.

Mansfield 0 Middlesbrough 2

ANDY RITCHIE might not be the ideal person to ask when it comes to discussing the romance of the FA Cup, not least because the Huddersfield Town manager’s heart was broken by it no less than four times during his playing career.

ROY Keane does not believe he is immune from the sacking virus that has swept through the Premier League but has not yet reached the north-east. After all, it happened to Brian Clough, the first great manager to give him a platform.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane is convinced his side should have been given the benefit of the doubt over Stephen Hunt’s last-minute goal which earned Reading a 2-1 victory.

Reading 2 Sunderland 1

MUTINOUS mutterings are sweeping Merseyside. Whisper it quietly, but Everton — so used to being downtrodden by brutish neighbours — have the scent of revolution thick in their nostrils.

CHELSEA will seek to tighten security in their away section after a West Ham supporter repeatedly dazzled Didier Drogba with a laser pen during Saturday’s London derby.

Chelsea 1 West Ham 0

THIS has been a particularly turbulent time in the always eventful life of Stephen Ireland but, for now at least, the midfielder is cutting an unusually contented figure.

THE KOP saluted Fernando Torres after the striker climbed off the bench to spectacular effect, but it was an unsung Spaniard who was the inspiration behind Liverpool’s first Premier League home win for two months.

SUBSTITUTE Tim Cahill fired Everton into the Carling Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 19 years at the expense of Luton. Manager David Moyes left the Australia international on the bench as one of six changes to his starting line-up but was forced to call on the midfielder as League One Luton — the lowest-placed side in the competition — held out for extra time.

Substitute Tim Cahill fired Everton into the Carling Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 19 years at the expense of Luton.

CAMERON JEROME insisted Steve Bruce must remain as Birmingham manager if Carson Yeung completes his protracted takeover of the club.

ROBERT GREEN cannot understand why he has slipped down the England pecking order after claiming he is in the best form of his career.

Aston Villa 1 West Ham 0

ANTOINE SIBIERSKI was on target again as Wigan kick-started their Barclays Premier League campaign at the expense of Middlesbrough — giving manager Chris Hutchings a victory to savour.

Everton manager David Moyes has hailed striker Andrew Johnson as the "catalyst" behind his side's 2-0 win at Reading.

Goals from Andrew Johnson and James McFadden allowed Everton to climb above Reading with a 2-0 win at the Madejski Stadium.

Watford could lose key players to suspension for the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final – but manager Adrian Boothroyd is likely to earn a reprieve.

Watford 0 Crystal Palace 0 (Watford win 3-0 on aggregate)