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Kammy's back with his picks of the Premier League weekend

Features Posted 4th February 2013 view comments

Every Saturday, Chris Kamara heads to stadiums up and down the country to deliver his unique match reports for Soccer Saturday.

On Sundays you can see him back in the Sky Sports studios as he brings you all of the highlights on Goals on Sunday.

And then on Mondays you can find Kammy right here on skysports.com as he brings you his views on the Premier League weekend.

Moussa Sissoko: one of Alan Pardew's firing Frenchmen

Moussa Sissoko: one of Alan Pardew's firing Frenchmen

Read below for his thoughts on a fantastic result for Newcastle, Goran Popov's red card and a big week for Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney...

Newcastle have raised it a notch but not much is going right for Rafa

It was a brilliant result for Newcastle - a really fantastic result, especially for them to come back in the way that they did with Moussa Sissoko scoring two goals on his home debut. The players that Alan Pardew has brought in have given the club a lift and that's all you can hope for as a manager. I thought Chelsea were magnificent when they played Reading - they could have been miles out of sight, with the game as good as over. But we all know what happened: Adam le Fondre, our guest on this week's Goals on Sunday, came on and fired two quick goals to earn Reading a draw out of it. It might just be a situation where it's not to be for Rafa Benitez. He's hardly doing much wrong but everything seems to work against him.

The arrival of Christopher Samba is a massive, massive bonus for QPR

I was at QPR on Saturday for what was a fabulous game. For a 0-0 there was plenty of excitement and I thought that both goalkeepers, Mark Bunn and Julio Cesar, were fantastic. When I first saw Julio early in the season the team was struggling and he was finding it difficult to come to terms with English football. I've watched him over the last few weeks, including Saturday, and he's been absolutely top drawer. Christopher Samba also played really well, especially considering that when I spoke to him beforehand he said he was only 50 per cent fit! If there's another 50 per cent to come on top of what we saw on Saturday, then he's going to be a massive, massive bonus for them! On the downside, it was a big disappointment that Loic Remy wasn't fit. Jamie Mackie ran his socks off again but I think he'll be the first to admit that he's not a centre-forward. He found it difficult with his back to goal. But Norwich gave as good as they got. Obviously the penalty would have decided the game in the end but unfortunately for Adel Taarabt, it was a brilliant save from Mark Bunn.

Roberto Mancini can only deal in wins if City are to keep their title defence alive

As far as Man City are concerned, Sunday's draw with Liverpool has to be a case of two points dropped rather than one gained. With Manchester United easing away from them at the top of the table, City can only concern themselves with wins now if they are to mount a challenge and make the title race interesting. Sergio Aguero is a quality player and it was a decent finish from him to earn a point; he's back with a bang and that can only be good news for Manchester City, particularly with Mario Balotelli gone and making an immediate impact at Milan. I'm sure that Mancini wants Balotelli to be a success - even if it's not at City! For Liverpool, Steven Gerrard showed once again what a top, top player he is and how crucial he is to that football club in terms of their success. I know he's desperate for Liverpool to win the Premier League title and he's just hoping that it comes before he has to pack the old game in.

I hope Goran Popov apologises for spitting at Tottenham's Kyle Walker

All credit to Mark Clattenburg for sending Goran Popov off at the weekend - Popov got his just desserts. The referee did what he had to do and nobody can have any complaints about it. I don't think anybody wants to see spitting in the game and Popov will learn from this - he won't do it again. We all make mistakes so let's not be too hard on him even if he was out of order. Hopefully he's going to apologise and move on.

The Brazil friendly is a big occasion for England's Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney

Ashley Cole has been - and still is - a wonderful, wonderful left-back. He's played brilliantly for club and country over the years and has been a credit to his profession in the way that he's performed. Getting to 100 England caps is a huge achievement. Of course, he is getting pushed all of the way now by Leighton Baines, who is having a fantastic season of his own but I'm sure Roy Hodgson will go with Ashley on Wednesday and give him that chance to join the 100 club. I'm really looking forward to what I hope will be a good game on Wednesday. The only thing I would say is that Brazil aren't the team of old when they used to put 11 players together and pass the ball around every and any football team that they wanted to. They are not like that anymore - they're a bit more human than they used to be! I'm sure that Wayne Rooney will admit that he hasn't played his best in an England shirt of late. I think that this could be a game for him to come out and show the rest of the world how good he is. Roy Hodgson has picked a strong squad - he's gone for experience and put people in there who have got stature and character, which is nice to see because you need experience as well as some younger players in the team. We've see that in the Premier League this season; you need players who know the ropes and have been there before.

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