West Ham man Scott Parker has picked up the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year award, beating off strong competition from the likes of Tottenham player Gareth Bale, who earlier this month won the PFA Player of the Year prize. Also up for the accolade were some huge names in Premier League football, including Manchester United stalwart Nemanja Vidic and City talisman Carlos Tevez, as well as the Blackpool revelation Charlie Adam, who could be set for a summer move to a big team.

The award, which is voted for by a panel of journalists, will be presented to the midfielder in a ceremony at the Lancaster Hotel on the 12^th May.

The award is well deserved by Parker, who has been a shining star in a team which has been involved in a struggle against relegation all season. The team sit just one position away from the bottom of the table with just five games remaining, and by all accounts Scott Parker has shone in what has been a series of poor performances for the team as a whole. West Ham boss Avram Grant will hope that the morale boost for the player and the team will help them in their final fixtures, from which they will need to pick up as many points as possible in order to avoid relegation to the Championship next season.

Parker’s good form has seen him earn a recall for the England international team in the Euro 2012 qualifying match against Wales.

The player is said to be happy with the award, and will certainly hope that his performances this season will be enough to keep the Hammers in the Premier League next season.

Congratulatory messages flowed forth for the midfielder, with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger among the commenters, saying, “It is a justifiable choice because he has had an outsanding season, until recently when he was stopped by injuries – he was very influential in the West Ham team.”

Manchester United’s top scorer Dimitar Berbatov is a worry this week for Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson after suffering a groin injury.

The Bulgarian striker missed out on the club’s midweek clash against Newcastle due to a struggle with a virus, but after picking up a slight groin strain, the striker could miss out on United’s weekend Premier League encounter with Everton. Berbatov will also be a doubt for next weeks crucial Champions League away match against German team Schalke 04.

Berbatov has certainly featured less often in the Manchester United line up of late, with wonder boy Javier Hernandez being a favourite selection of Ferguson to play alongside superstar Wayne Rooney. However, an injury to the striker will be a concern for the manager, as his options up front would be limited for the upcoming fixtures.

However, on the positive side, the club will welcome back full back Rafael Da Silva this week, who has missed out on the last four games due to a hamstring injury. The Brazilian has been in good form recently, and has shown that he can slot comfortably into the Manchester United first team on a regular basis.

The club will also soon see a return for Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher, who has been ill recently with a virus.

“Darren Fletcher is back training, he should be available again in 10 days”, the Red Devils gaffer said.

“He’s excelled in big games over the years. When he’s fit, he’ll come straight back into the team.

“Rafael is back in the squad. Berbatov has a slight groin strain, we’ll see how he is tomorrow. Otherwise, everyone is fine.”

The manager will need a full strength squad in the coming weeks with important Champions League matches coming up, and the race for the Premier League title intensifying, with just five league games remaining.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has called for further investment into the squad this summer. After offloading out-of-form Fernando Torres in the January transfer window for £50 million, the club went on to use the money to purchase world cup star Luis Suarez and England and Newcastle player Andy Carroll, in order to strengthen their front line.

The Reds also have some promising youth talent emerging, with Martin Kelly, Jay Spearing, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson all looking to feature heavily for the club in the near future.

However, caretaking boss Kenny Dalglish, who can expect to be offered a full time contract in the summer, says it is important to consider improving the squad by spending in the summer. The Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool FC’s new owners, have shown they are not afraid to bring in new talent, but now the test will be in the summer transfer window, when fans will hope to see the company invest heavily in the club’s future.

Liverpool have shown improvement of late, after a disastrous start to the season which at one point saw them sitting in the relegation zone. After the sacking of Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish has improved the club’s fortune, raising morale and winning games, proving popular with the fans.

However, with the Premier League becoming tougher and tougher, particularly at the top, every team will need to make sure they have the best squad available to them at the start of next season, as the four sought after Champions League places could be seriously contended by as many as six or seven clubs.

“It’s important that there is room for development for players, but it’s also important that you don’t use it as an excuse not to spend money and not improve what you’ve already got”, said Kenny Dalglish on the development of the squad.

Stoke City have signed up full back Andy Wilkinson for a new contract that will keep the player at the Britannia Stadium until 2014.

The 26 year old player is delighted to secure the contract, particularly as a local player who is a long time supporter of the club. Wilkinson made his debut in the 2003/04 season, and is now a regular fixture of the first team squad, being part of the side who destroyed Bolton Wanderers 5-0 on Sunday to secure a place at Wembley for the FA Cup Final against Manchester City.

Wilkinson said that the signing had “capped an amazing few days” for him, especially as a “local lad”.

Manager Tony Pulis expressed his pleasure at signing the defender, as he hopes to reward the players who have helped Stoke become a strong Premier League side over the previous years.

The Stoke boss said that the season “could go down as one of the most successful seasons in the club’s long history and at a time like this it is important that we look after those players who have helped get us where we are today”.

The Potters will focus on the Premier League this weekend, when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park, and will hope to ride on their recent success to take the full three points away from the clash.

The real test for Stoke will come on the 14^th of May however, when they will be the underdogs in their FA Cup Final encounter against Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City. Tony Pulis’ Potters will have everything to play for in the clash, with an FA Cup trophy being a rare moment of glory for the club, one that players and manager alike will be eager to secure.

Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid beat rivals Barcelona by one goal to nil to claim the Copa Del Rey last night.

In a tense encounter, winger Cristiano Ronaldo headed home the solitary goal in extra time, taking advantage of a wonderful cross from Angel Di Maria.

Barcelona’s usual free flowing passing style was stifled by the tactics of the wily Mourinho, whose team piled on the pressure to dispossess the Catalonian opposition using legal or illegal means. Barcelona struggled to play under the the pressure from the Madrid side, and failed to string together the fast passes and quick runs that the team is known for.

Despite the pressure, the sharp attacking quartet of Barcelona managed to get several chances on goal, with the fantastic Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta both firing deadly shots on goal, only to be denied by brilliant saves by Madrid keeper Iker Casillas.

The match was the second in a series of four matches between the teams over a period of just four weeks. Barcelona have been the favourite to come out of the encounters holding the spoils, but with a draw and a loss against the Jose Mourinho side so far, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola will certainly be concerned about the upcoming Champions League fixture due to take place on Wednesday 27^th April.

The match brought Jose Mourinho his first trophy since taking over at the Spanish club at the start of the season, and means that the tactician has won a major footballing trophy in every year since 2003. The victory was also Real Madrid’s first win over Barcelona since May 2008, and they will hope to repeat last night’s triumph in the first leg of their Champions League clash next week, taking them one step closer to a place in the final.

The Portuguese manager expressed his confidence regarding the upcoming fixture, saying, “I came here to do a job and change the mentality of the club. We have started to do that and it’s satisfying – but it’s just the start.”

Chelsea’s diminished title hopes were reignited last night as the Blues managed a convincing 3-1 win over Birmingham City at home ground Stamford Bridge.

The win puts Chelsea on the same amount of points as rival London club Arsenal, although they sit in second place due to a slightly better goal difference. Title-holders Chelsea have suffered from a decrease in form this season, and have sat well below contenders Manchester United for most of the season. With just six points separating the teams now, Chelsea will be optimistic of retaining the Premier League title that they won so convincingly last season.

A brace for Florent Malouda and a smart strike from Salomon Kalou took Chelsea to 3-0 last night, with Birmingham only managing a consolation goal from a penalty taken by Larsson later on.

Chelsea had the lead after just three minutes in the match, and with none of the three goals scored by record signing Fernando Torres (who came on as a substitute), questions will again be raised about the Spanish striker.

The £50 million signing has now played 893 minutes without a goal for club or country, and is still yet to net his debut goal for Chelsea since signing in January from Liverpool. With the remaining games being absolutely crucial for the club, Carlo Ancelotti will have a tough decision to make on whether to include the out of form striker in the forthcoming games, despite his massive transfer price tag.

The match result puts some spice back into the title race, with the top three all now in stiff competition. The league leaders Manchester United are still yet to play both Chelsea and Arsenal, and Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson will be all too aware of the fact that slip ups in either match could potentially cost the Manchester club their record 19^th title. Both Chelsea and Arsenal will be conscious of the fact that they need to beat the league leaders as well as turn out good performances in the rest of their remaining games if they are to have any chance of claiming the Premier League title this season.