London fight on for Europe

Europe calling ... but which London teams won't make it. Source:AFP

Europe's calling for three of London?s biggest clubs - but only two will be invited to the party, and it will be an expensive rejection for which one of Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea miss out on UEFA Champions League qualification for next season.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	30	25	2	3	39	77
2	Man City	30	18	8	4	29	62
3	Tottenham	31	17	6	8	15	57
4	Chelsea	30	16	7	7	27	55
5	Arsenal	30	15	8	7	26	53
6	Everton	30	13	12	5	12	51
7	Liverpool	31	13	9	9	19	48
8	West Brom	31	13	5	13	0	44
9	Swansea	31	10	10	11	1	40
10	Fulham	30	10	9	11	-3	39
11	West Ham	30	10	6	14	-9	36
12	Southampton	31	8	10	13	-9	34
13	Stoke	31	7	13	11	-9	34
14	Norwich	31	7	13	11	-19	34
15	Newcastle	31	9	6	16	-15	33
16	Sunderland	31	7	10	14	-10	31
17	Wigan	30	8	6	16	-20	30
18	Aston Villa	31	7	9	15	-26	30
19	QPR	31	4	11	16	-23	23
20	Reading	31	5	8	18	-25	23

For Arsene Wenger, he can salvage some pride after another trophyless campaign  – or face the real prospect of his policies and philosophies suffering the ultimate failure. 

For Andre Villas-Boas, he can enjoy the last laugh over Roman Abramovich and provide the carrot for Gareth Bale to remain at White Hart Lane. 

For Chelsea, failure would leave owner Roman Abramovich with egg on his face after his lavish recruitment spree and polarising decision to axe UCL-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo to replace him with the unpopular Rafael Benitez. 

And the only thing worse than missing out on the biggest club competition in world football?

Seeing your two big city rivals prosper in your place. 

Only Everton, two points further back on 51 points and Liverpool, on 48 points, are the other teams in contention, but the big bickies in Europe look like staying in the capital. 

TOTTENHAM (games 31, won 17, draw 6, lost 8, goal difference, 15, points 57) 

The next three rounds will be decisive as Spurs aim to avoid last year's effort, where they blew a 10-point lead over Arsenal. 

Villas-Boas has said he thinks 70-72 points is the cut-off - a tough yardstick given Everton at home, Chelsea away and Manchester City at home are their immediate challenges. 

Gareth Bale’s staggering form has hogged the headlines, but they owe a fair bit of credit to Jan Vertonghen, as well. 

The Belgian defender surmised: "We’re up there in third, we’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and we can be happy where we are, but now we have to finish it, to finish in the top four and go as far as possible in the Europa League.

"We needed to get back on a run and Swansea away isn’t the easiest game, they made it tough for us but we won and we’re very happy.

"We’d lost three games in a row (including Inter) so there was some pressure at Swansea. It was difficult after international week but the lads did well and it was an important win for us."

The reward for Spurs if they can negotiate a tricky period - which also features a Europa League tie against Basle - then matches against Wigan, Southampton, Stoke and Sunderland await. 

CHELSEA (G 30, W 16, D 7, L 7, GD 27, P 55)

Pain in the league against Southampton was sandwiched in between progress to an FA Cup semi-final. 

It's time for the big, expensive guns to stand up under pressure. Demba Ba did just that against Manchester United, but Rafa Benitez needs to get the best out of expensive recruits Eden Hazard, Oscar, Juan Mata and, of course, Fernando Torres, in the run-in. That's not to mention some stability at the back, either. What to do with John Terry? 

Failure to do so will leave Abramovich red-faced, given the club's recruitment strategy and inability to retain a manager for an extended period. 

Chelsea No.1 Petr Cech was not impressed after the weekend's loss - bemused by inconsistency from a squad that doesn't have the depth in quality it used to, as they notched a third straight away loss. 

"We had a spell where we played better away than at home and now it’s been reversed,” said Cech.

"But we have to keep going. We put ourselves in a place where winning this game we would have had us in a good position.

A massive six-pointer against Tottenham looms on April 14 at Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton also feature in the run home. 

ARSENAL (G 30, W 15, D 8, L 7, GD 26, P  53)

Arsene Wenger's side, outsiders for now, might just hold the cards. 

Form is brewing - five wins from their past six and the most comfortable run home and schedule of their rivals - just two top-10 rivals and no other distractions. 

And the tone around the club is brightening.  

"In the past, we've been accused of starting slowly and I think that's something we've changed, especially in the last month," Aaron Ramsey told the club's official website. 

"We've started off on the front foot, defended high up the pitch and won the ball back in dangerous areas. We did that plenty of times (against Reading)."

Fluency has returned to the side. 

"I think you could see that we played without any hesitation and with the handbrake off. We created a lot of opportunities and we defended well apart from the goal we conceded. On the whole, we're delighted with the win," he added.

Striker Olivier Giroud added: "We want to be ambitious and keep our focus. The championship is until May 19. There’s eight games to play and a lot of points to play for.

"I trust in our ¬qualities so I really think we can make fourth and maybe even third place if we continue to play like this.

"We want to dictate the games. We are confident. We are used to finishing the championship well. And this season we will do the same.

"Spurs have to play against Manchester City and Chelsea so they are hard games.

"But every game is difficult, we can see that Chelsea lost at Southampton. We have to keep focus, concentrated and strong.

"We are scoring lots of goals. We need to be more concentrated when we are defending because we need more clean sheets because we dominate games. But we are playing well."

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Justin Bieber curses at paparazzi in London

Justin Bieber's week just got worse.

Following a brief hospital stay after fainting backstage, the 19-year-old pop star's preparation for a final concert in London on Friday hit a speed bump.

Bieber got into an altercation with insult-hurling paparazzi, lashing out at a photographer with a stream of expletives as he was restrained by minders.

The singer quickly took to Twitter to address the incident, which was captured by Channel 5 news, and pledged to channel his "adrenaline" into his Friday show.

"Ahhhhh! Rough morning. Trying to feel better for this show tonight but let the paps get the best of me," he posted on the social networking site.

"Sometimes when people r shoving cameras in your face all day and yelling the worst thing possible at u...well I'm human. Rough week."

The scuffle came just hours after Bieber said he was "getting better" after struggling to breathe during the previous night's concert at the O2 arena, and pledged the show would go on as planned.

A spokesman for the O2 Arena said the 19-year-old pop star was treated backstage during Thursday's concert after becoming short of breath, but recovered and finished his set.

"As far as we are concerned everything is on, on, on" for Friday's show, Jeremy King said.

"He was treated by our team of medics and after further examination they didn't find anything more serious or worrying."

A spokeswoman for Bieber said he was recovering after Thursday's incident, which saw him given oxygen before returning to the stage.

"Justin has been released from the hospital after a check-up and, while he's feeling a little under the weather, he's currently planning on going ahead with tonight's show," the spokeswoman said Friday. She demanded anonymity to discuss the star's condition.

Bieber later posted a shirtless photo of himself in a hospital bed, saying he was getting better and listening to Janis Joplin. Before that on Twitter he thanked "everyone pulling me thru tonight."

"Best fans in the world," he wrote. "Figuring out what happened. Thanks for the love."

Video footage from the concert shows Bieber appearing to fade during a performance of his up-tempo hit, "Beauty and a Beat." He slows down, puts a hand to his head then bends over, resting his hands on knees before walking slowly to the back of the stage.

The AP spoke to 18-year-old journalism student Prithvi Pandya, who shot the footage, to confirm its authenticity.

"When he started 'Beauty and a Beat' you could see he was struggling," said Pandya, who was near the front of the crowd. "He took lots of drinks of water, that seemed unusual, and he was really sweaty, sweating a helluva lot.

"Toward the end of it, he went backstage. We didn't see him fainting. They brought on dancers to entertain, and I knew something was wrong at that point."

Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, appeared onstage and told the crowd that the singer was feeling "very low of breath" but would come back to finish the show.

Jazz Chappell, a 20-year-old concertgoer who brought her younger sister and her friend to the show, said that In the nearly 30 minutes he was offstage, some fans started to leave. Once his manager announced what had happened, Chappell said many fans in the audience were gasping and crying, while others kept cheering for him to return.

"I thought, 'Give the guy a break. He just fainted. He's not a performing horse. Let him rest a second,'" said Chappell.

Chappell said Bieber, who is in London to perform four concerts at the O2, later returned and performed low-energy renditions of his hits "Boyfriend" and "Baby."

Braun later tweeted "everyone please give him a little space and he will be ok. Im sure he appreciates the support ... Tough kid proud night once again he always finishes the show. Full out. True pro..."

The incident caps a difficult week for Bieber. He was forced to apologize to outraged fans who accused him of taking the stage almost two hours late for his first concert at the O2 on Monday. He insisted he was only 40 minutes late and blamed "technical issues." He took to Twitter to vent his frustrations with the media's portrayal of the incident.

The star's Believe world tour is due to move on to Portugal on Monday, then continue across Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and North America until August.

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Justin Bieber rushed to the hospital after collapsing during London concert

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber collapsed on stage from shortness of breath during a London performance on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the singer said.

"[Justin] fainted and took a 20-minute reprieve to the stage and was given oxygen," the singer's spokeswoman Melissa Victor told Reuters.

Bieber, 19, was taken to the doctor following the show. Representatives for the Canadian pop star said he was okay.

According to Reuters, Scooter Braun, Bieber's manager, told the crowd that "Justin got very light of breath, the whole show he's been complaining."

Victor said Bieber dismissed doctors orders to end the show early and instead returned to the stage to finish the show -- the third of four at the O2 Arena during his "Believe" world tour.

The "Boyfriend" singer had not been suffering from any health issues before the London concert, the same Reuters report said.

Fans took to social media to spread news of the incident. On Twitter fans started using the hashtag #justintakeabreak, and gave the singer a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Bieber apologized to fans on Thursday for concert start time delays earlier in the week, citing technical issues.

Click for more from Reuters.

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Who are the kings of North London?

What a derby ... the North London rivals are set for an epic. Source: Ian Kington / AFP

They checked-in dreaming off UEFA Champions League Football; all that was required was a win on the final day of season 2005-2006.

They ate lasagna and 10 players went down with food poisoning and their dreams of Europe were shattered when they lost 2-1 to West Ham. 

To make matter worse for Tottenham the club that sealed a place in Europe at their expense was Arsenal. 

It had Spurs fans understandably crying foul play.

The Frenchmen in charge of Arsenal seemed an obvious suspect but he insisted he was not cooking that day at the Marriott Hotel. 

Wenger said if he had been they would have felt even worse. 

After an investigation by the Health Protection Agency the hotel was cleared of any blame, with tests on the players showing that one was suffering from norovirus, which may have spread to his teammates. 

The conspiracy theory was left in tatters and the reality was that Champions League football was not coming to White Hart Lane.

Perhaps even more hurtful was the fact that Arsenal was still the dominant power in North London. 

And so it has remained with Arsenal finishing above Tottenham in every season since. 

You have to go back to the 1994-1995 season for last time Tottenham finished above Arsenal.

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Watch all the action unfold live on Fox Sports 1 HD, 245am (EDT) Monday.

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Ahead of this weekend’s North London derby Arsenal have never faced such a challenge from Tottenham. 

Last season they finished just one point ahead of their bitter rivals.

This campaign sees Tottenham come into the second derby of the season four points ahead of Arsenal. 

Interestingly it is the same margin they found themselves ahead of the Gunners at the same point last season only to surrender their lead and a place in the Champions League. 

It could be suggested that history will repeat itself and Spurs will wilt when Arsenal make a late charge. 

But this feels like a very different Tottenham.

It was not how most predicted the campaign would unfold under Andre Villa-Boas. 

Most thought it was likely to end as it did at Chelsea when the young Portuguese was fired after overseeing a poor run of form.

This has proved to be misguided, with Villas-Boas improving an already formidable squad. 

The key has been how he has altered the role of Gareth Bale. 

The Welshmen is still deployed to the left of a front three but he has been given licence to roam across the front and come inside at every opportunity. 

By allowing Bale to come inside he has increased his involvement in the game and the result has been devastating with the 23-year-old scoring 15 times in the League so far this season. 

His outstanding winner against West Ham on Monday was the fourth EPL game in a row in which he has scored, leading to Villas-Boas to describe him as ‘unbelievable.’

"Players like this take responsibility at key moments, he is tremendous," the Spurs Boss said after the win over West Ham and then added.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	27	22	2	3	33	68
2	Man City	27	16	8	3	26	56
3	Tottenham	27	15	6	6	15	51
4	Chelsea	27	14	7	6	25	49
5	Arsenal	27	13	8	6	22	47
6	Everton	27	10	12	5	7	42
7	West Brom	27	12	4	11	2	40
8	Liverpool	27	10	9	8	15	39
9	Swansea	27	9	10	8	4	37
10	Stoke	27	7	12	8	-6	33
11	Fulham	27	8	8	11	-5	32
12	Norwich	27	7	11	9	-14	32
13	Newcastle	27	8	6	13	-10	30
14	West Ham	27	8	6	13	-10	30
15	Sunderland	27	7	8	12	-7	29
16	Southampton	27	6	9	12	-11	27
17	Wigan	27	6	6	15	-18	24
18	Aston Villa	27	5	9	13	-26	24
19	Reading	27	5	8	14	-18	23
20	QPR	27	2	11	14	-24	17

"The player continues to make the difference and he was tremendous once again.” 

It has not been all about Bale.

The players Villas-Boas has brought-in since he was appointed in the off-season have vastly improved the squad. 

Jan Vertonghen, Lewis Holtby, Mousa Dembele and Clint Dempsey have all settled quickly and have instantly made an impact. 

So to have the players promoted from the club’s youth academy with Steven Caulker in particularly impressing so far this season in the heart of the Spurs defence. 

In the match against West Ham there were three academy products in the Tottenham squad underlying the sense that Villas-Boas is building something for the long-term. 

This has been illustrated by a run of form that has seen Spurs win three and draw two of their last five games. 

Their surge into the top three would suggest they are the form team ahead of the derby.

But this is not true when you look at results alone. 

Despite their poor form in the FA Cup and Champions League first leg match against Bayern Munich Arsenal are in good form in the League. 

In the past five matches the Gunners have won four and drawn one. 

Despite winning, as they did against Aston Villa on the weekend, their performances have been far from convincing and have added to the sense that Tottenham is pulling ahead of their North London rivals. 

Bale stated his belief that this is now the case when asked about the weekend’s derby. 

"Over the past few seasons we have closed that gap and I think now we have overtaken them on the pitch. I think we have the stronger squad."

Arsenal fans are likely to disagree and many have been quick to point out that Spurs are having an excellent season and the Gunners are struggling but the gap is only four points. 

This may indeed be the case but if Spurs finish above Arsenal at the end of the season few at White Hart Lane will be bothered by what the margin was. 

Arsenal fans may point to 16 seasons of finishing above Spurs as proof of what it takes to be number one in North London. 

But finishing below Spurs will hurt, the last manager at Arsenal who did so paid for it with his job. 

Wenger appears unlikely to face the same consequences but a loss to Spurs will add to the sense that his club are on the wane and that their bitter rivals are very much on the up. 

Either way there have been few more significant derbies. 

Follow me on Twitter @beaubusch 

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