John Terry has been dramatically stripped of his England captaincy this week following a string of allegations over an affair he had with the girlfriend of former Chelsea teammate Wayne Bridge. Fabio Capello, England's manager, chose to make the move this week. "What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice," Capello said. The vacant title has been filled by fellow defender Rio Ferdinand, with Steven Gerrard stepping into the vice-captain role. Chelsea has publicly supported its captain throughout the saga, and his position with the club does not look to be in jeopardy.
The January transfer window closed this week amid a flurry of activity. One of the biggest moves was Robbie Keane going from Tottenham to Celtic on a loan deal that will last the rest of the season. The forward has proved himself to be highly productive, but with Jermaine Defoe's exquisite form, there simply is no room for him at the north London club. Patrick Vieira has returned to England to play for Manchester City. City picked Vieira up on a free transfer, but his huge salary raises questions over the value of this acquisition. Liverpool has signed Argentina international Maxi Rodriguez. The playmaker has been brought in to bolster Liverpool's attacking potential and bring some stability to what have so far been inconsistent results.
In other news, Chelsea received a massive boost this week after the European Court of Arbitration repealed the two-year transfer ban levied on the club last year. The ban was issued as the result of alleged violations in the club's signing of teenager Gael Kakuta from French side Lens in 2007.
Wayne Rooney continued his goal-scoring streak for Manchester United as it crushed Portsmouth, 5-0. Portsmouth's troubles continue to deepen, and performances like this will not help team morale. The club is in financial turmoil, to the point where it has not been able to pay the players on time, and it looks like a sure bet for relegation. Rooney opened the scoring for the defending champions after 40 minutes with a powerful header, his 20th of the campaign, and United was helped to victory by three own goals and a Dimitar Berbatov strike. Liverpool picked up a much-needed win over Everton in a typically competitive Merseyside derby. The 213th league meeting was hotly contested and threatened to completely boil over at points. Both teams had a player sent off, and Dirk Kuyt registered his 50th goal for Liverpool to seal the win for the Reds, who are now unbeaten in five matches.
Tottenham and Aston Villa drew 0-0 on Saturday, which does not help either team in its efforts to secure fourth place and earn a Champions League berth next year. Both clubs have been on the precipice of breaking the monopoly that the ‘Big Four' (Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal) have had on the Premiership in recent years, and with strong squads and a tight championship race, this may be the season for this to happen.
In Spain, Barcelona continued its title defense in style with a convincing win over Getafe despite having two men sent off. Gerald Pique and Rafael Marquez were both shown red cards in the 2-1 victory. Lionel Messi and Xavi were on target for the Catalans to claims their 17th win of the season and fifth in a row. Real Madrid maintained its pursuit of Barca with a forceful, 3-0 win over Espanyol. Sergio Ramos scored after just five minutes, and Kaka doubled the lead after half an hour. Gonzalo Higuain came on as a substitute and rounded off the victory with a 90th-minute strike, his 12th of the season. Madrid is now five points behind Barcelona and will need the league leaders to slip up if they hope to catch them, but Barcelona's home form has been so strong that, save a complete meltdown, it is looking unlikely.
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