The former England international has been frozen out by Roberto Mancini at City and hasn’t played first-team football since completing a loan spell at West Ham towards the end of last season.

Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill is hoping to get the best out of Bridge though, saying that his experience could be vital for the Black Cats as they fight to finish as high as they possibly can in the Premier League.

Speaking about securing Bridge’s services, O’Neill said: “I’m hoping that with Wayne’s ability and experience he can be a big help. I’m very pleased to have him here and with the number of injuries we’ve sustained recently I’m sure he’ll be a great help to us.”

As O’Neill mentions, Sunderland have had their fair share of injuries this season, with the latest being defender Wes Brown.

The former Manchester United man suffered a ligament injury against Middlesbrough at the weekend and faces a significant spell on the sidelines.

Bridge provides another defensive option for the Sunderland boss and he goes straight into the squad for Wednesday evening’s Premier League game at home to Norwich City.

Elsewhere, one player struggling to find a way out of Manchester City still is Carlos Tevez. Today is the last day potential buyers – including AC Milan – can make their move for the Argentina international.

One rumour doing the rounds with regards to Tevez’s future was that City would offer him to Liverpool in exchange for Andy Carroll.

This has been denied by Mancini though, who said: “Carroll is a good player. He is young. He is strong. But at the moment? No. I’ve never heard this.”

“We don’t have any chance to talk about this with Liverpool and I never spoke with Brian Marwood about it.”

This one may be a non starter, but there is still plenty going on during transfer deadline day to keep football fans interested.

The Black Cats boss has yet to make a formal offer for the 34-year-old, but it seems to be just a matter of time before Bolton have a decision to make following Sunderland’s interest.

Speaking after yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup, he said: “I did make an enquiry and may well follow that up tomorrow.”

With only two days of the transfer window remaining, things will need to move quickly if an agreement is to be reached. Bolton will presumably be hesitant to sell Davies with little time to find a replacement though.

Having said that, Davies hasn’t been involved as much as he would like at the Reebok Stadium this season and would perhaps be interested in entertaining the idea of a fresh start.

Bolton boss Owen Coyle doesn’t think anything will happen though, saying: “There is all sorts of speculation. When good players are out of the team, that is always going to happen.”

“I would hope Kevin Davies would get a wonderful reception because he is an outstanding player.”

“He is a terrific captain and he has a role to play at this football club. He knows that – I have spoken to him extensively.”

“I can understand why there would be interest. Martin O’Neill did ring me to make an inquiry, but I told him that Kevin was a part of my plans and that I don’t want him going anywhere.”

“You can’t stop clubs enquiring and that is exactly what it is – there was no offer or anything else.”

If O’Neill is to be believed though, an offer could be on the table later today so Coyle will have to deal with this more officially.

It is certainly a busy week for Premier League clubs with the transfer window coming to a close and a full round of matches taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

Sunderland take on Norwich City on Wednesday evening, so they do have a bit of time to secure the signature of Davies. Watch this space.

The Dutchman was clearly frustrated when influential youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was substituted against Manchester United at the weekend, shortly before Sir Alex Ferguson’s men scored the winning goal.

Speaking today though, Van Persie has denied that he has a problem with Wenger, although he did admit that he was disappointed to see Oxlade-Chamberlain withdrawn.

The striker said: “There is no problem, there is no conflict and there is no controversy. I was not questioning his judgement. I know it’s not my place to challenge what Arsene Wenger does.”

“I was not having a go at the boss on Sunday – I was just sad to see Alex leave the pitch as he just gave the assist for our only goal.”

“Alex had a calf injury. We did not know that but the boss did and brought Andrey Arshavin on. The manager and I are fine and my relationship with the club is good.”

This will be pleasing news for Arsenal fans as the last thing they need is their star player and top goalscorer unhappy at the club.

The 28-year-old scored his 23rd goal of the season on Sunday and will hope to add many more between now and the end of the campaign.

Then, Van Persie and Arsenal need to sit down and discuss a potential new deal with the forward’s current contract expiring in the summer of 2013.

The Gunners lost Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri – to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively – last year of course and they will not want Van Persie to follow them out of the club.

There is no doubt that some silverware would make the negotiations with Van Persie easier at the end of the season, so with this in mind, the FA Cup clash with Aston Villa at the weekend is very significant game.

Arsenal remain in the Champions League, but the FA Cup has to be seen as the most realistic chance of silverware this season, so they will want to move past Villa at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

Dalglish’s men went down 3-1 at struggling Bolton on Saturday after a display with Dalglish described as the worst since he’s been at the club.Clearly frustrated after the game, the Liverpool boss said: “If that’s the level they expect this football club to play at, they won’t be here long.

“”The most disappointing thing for me was I don’t think they were ready to play the game.”"If they think they can just turn up and get a result and not be competitive and not match the opposition for effort and then they have had a lesson today.”"

If we have learned from it then fine but we have to look at ourselves – without taking anything away from Owen Coyle and the way Bolton played – and what we can do and try to prevent it happening in the future.”Liverpool are targetting a place in the top four this year of course, an acheivement they had in mind when they spent a considerable amount last summer.

This is looking further away than ever now though, with six points seperating them from 4th placed Chelsea.The performances aren’t exactly encouraging either, so Dalglish has a right to be concerned and his players need to respond to his criticism.

They don’t have to wait long for the chance to do this though, with the second-leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City on Wednesday.Liverpool lead 1-0 from the first-leg, so perhaps confirming a place at Wembley in a major final will boost the club going into the rest of the campaign.

As for Dalglish, he then spoke about how important it was that his squad were 100% focused on the next game

.The Scotsman continued: “The foundations the football club have always been built on is respect for other people.”"

It is built on the philosophy that the next game is the most important one, not the one that is two or three down the line.”

Liverpool will certainly hope for a response in front of their home fans against City on Wednesday, before an FA Cup clash with Manchester United at the weekend.

The Gunners – who will come up against Rooney and United on Sunday afternoon – are currently 15 points behind league leaders Manchester City after two Premier League defeats in a row, but Rooney is refusing to write them off.

Speaking about the teams involved in the title race, he said: “I certainly wouldn’t write Arsenal off, they’re capable of going on a big run. You can’t write them or Chelsea off.”

“It’s great for the league that there are so many teams that can win it.”

As for when the two teams met at the Emirates on Sunday, the battle between Rooney and Robin Van Persie – two of the most feared strikers in England – is likely to be key.

Speaking about the qualities of his opposite number, Rooney said: “Van Persie is scoring a lot of goals, playing really well, and he’ll be the biggest threat for Arsenal on Sunday.”

“He and Ramsey are certainly the two standing out for them this season.”

It was Rooney who came out on top the last time Arsenal and Manchester Untied went head to head of course, scoring a hat-trick as Sir Alex Ferguson’s men ran out 8-2 winners.

Looking back to this one-off result, Rooney said: “To beat Arsenal 8-2 with the players and history they’ve got, it was certainly a great result, and a shock as we didn’t expect it.”

“But since then, they’ve gone on a great run and any team under Arsene Wenger is capable of that.”

Arsenal will certainly be after revenge on Sunday, getting back to winning ways after the defeats to Fulham and Swansea.

Another interesting factor to this weekend’s clash at the Emirates is the fact that Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes – who both made surprise Premier League returns recently – will be going head to head.

Overall, it should be quite the afternoon!

Three points against Mark Hughes’ new team meant that Newcastle moved above Liverpool into 6th place as things stand. They are also level on points with Arsenal who currently occupy 5th position and the final automatic European place.

Referring to the targets for the remainder of the season, Pardew said: “If we can manage to get a couple more wins when the boys are away and they can come back and give us a boost, who knows what we can achieve.”

“But we will never take our eye off things. We are not that naive. We are sixth and that’s not just the result today but through 21 games.”

“We are above Liverpool who have fantastic players. It’s amazing we have got where we are.”

The victory over QPR was significant for another reason too. It was the first time Newcastle have had to cope without influential midfielder Cheick Tiote and leading goalscorer Demba Ba after they left for African Cup of Nations duty.

Leon Best stepped up for the goal though to show that Pardew’s men can kick on without two of their best players. The Newcastle boss also reserved praise for talented midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa.

Speaking about the Frenchman, he said: “Hatem made a difference when he came on. He gave us a bit of flair and exuberance.”

“Hatem is becoming a force here. You can see him growing as we are growing. He’s starting to manoeuvre his way into the first team.”

Next up for Pardew and Newcastle is a Premier League trip to Fulham this weekend before an FA Cup tie against Brighton or Wrexham the following weekend.

In both of these games, they will be hoping for more and more players to step up their performances as Newcastle look to live up to gradually increasing expectations for the rest of the season.

The former England midfielder has come out of retirement to help out Ferguson in an injury crisis and the United boss is confident that Scholes can still cut it in the Premier League.

Speaking after a Scholes goal set United on their way to a comfortable victory over Bolton on Saturday, Ferguson said: “He showed the same things he’s shown for the last 10 years.”

“When he was a younger player scoring like that was his forte.”

“Why he goes in there at that time of the game, when we are saying just sit in the middle of the park and control things, only his judgement can do that. And it was an important goal.”

“Some of the press has been very negative about [his return] but I can understand that that’s probably because it’s United but he’s still a fantastic player.”

“Over the last few months he’s been training with the reserves and the young players have been in awe of him. He’s been in intensive training the last few weeks to get back to where he is now.”

Scholes has certainly made a successful return to playing for Manchester United. In his two games so far, they have knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup and recorded three comfortable Premier League points over Bolton Wanderers.

Next up for the Premier League Champions is another big game as they travel to the Emirates to face an Arsenal side that have their own comeback kid – Thierry Henry.

There are not many people that would have predicted a Premier League fixture involving Scholes and Henry this season, but these are two stories that simply add to what has been a thoroughly entertaining campaign.

The 28-year-old has only just come back from a long spell on the sidelines of course and after watching Spurs perform during this time, he is extremely excited by the way Harry Redknapp’s men play.

He said: “We’ve lost one in 18 and that doesn’t come easy, it comes with hard work and performing week in and week out.”

“I’ve been out for a long time and I’ve watched a lot of football and I’ve watched a lot of Tottenham.”

“I think the way we play with the pace we’ve got with [Gareth] Bale, [Aaron] Lennon and [Kyle] Walker and full-backs overlapping, we’re flying and playing really well.”

As for the ambitions for the season, Dawson believes Spurs are capable of challenging the two Manchester clubs for the title, but first and foremost, they need to guarantee a place in the top four.

The former Nottingham Forest man continued: “Our main aim is to be in the top four and to be in that Champions League spot and after the first two games losing the way we did, was disappointing.”

“We’re only just over halfway in the league and we’re in a great position.”

Next up for Dawson and Tottenham is a home game with Wolves before a crucial clash with league leaders Manchester City on the 22nd January.

Victory in these two games and Redknapp’s men will not only be in the mix for the title, but they could be leading the way. All of which is credit to how they have performed so far this season.

As for Dawson, he will simply hope to stay fit for the rest of the campaign and help Tottenham compete for major honours.

The Welshman was appointed as Neil Warnock’s replacement this week and after playing under him for Wales, Gabbidon is convinced that Hughes is the right man to take the team forward.

Speaking about the appointment, he said: “Everyone is looking forward to working with the new manager. I have worked with him with Wales and he is a good manager and hopefully he will get us up the league as soon as possible.”

“The people he has got with him, Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki are very good people and they are a good team together.”

“Every one of them is very professional, hardworking and very organised and it is very important in the Premier League to be organised.”

“Mark and his team are very professional and they will change the work ethic and make us more organised and it is very important in the Premier League to be organised.”

QPR could certainly do with an improved run of form of course. They have failed to win in their last eight Premier League games and currently find themselves just a point clear of the relegation zone.

Hughes’ first game in charge is a tough one though as he takes his new team to Newcastle United on Sunday lunch-time.

By the time this one gets underway they could find themselves in the relegation zone, so the pressure is on to get a positive result.

As for the outgoing manager, Gabbidon did have positive things to say about Warnock and wished him well for his future career.

On the man who signed him during the summer, he said: “Obviously you are disappointed when any manager leaves and Neil has done a good job at QPR.”

“I am disappointed he has left as he brought me into the club in the summer and he has been a little unlucky with some of the results we have got.”

“We now move on and I am sure Neil will move on.”

It is all about the new era for QPR now though as Hughes looks to guide them to Premier League survival and beyond.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the flagship race in the Festival and its sure to be a cracker as the Nation hold s its breathe with plenty of Cheltenham Free Bets for you to pick up.

Following on from Big Bucks dramatic win yesterday, there is now a chance for some up and coming horses to make a name for themselves.

Long Run (5/1) will go up against the favourite and last years winner Imperial Commander (7/2), although this race looks particularly open, with AP McCoy’s ride Kempes (9/1) looking decent each way value together with Midnight Chase (14′s). Long Run maybe a little too green and it remains to be seen as to whether the horse likes the ground at Cheltenham

Of course, lets not forget two legends of racing, Denman and Kauto Star will be back for this race, and although the horses maybe a little older in the tooth they are so high quality they are sure to have a say in the final outcome, and if one of these greats does win, there will not be a dry eye in Prestubury Park.

Its sure to be a cracker, and one race that will certainly grip the nation. We’re going for a bit of value in Midnight Chase at 14/1. The race really is wide open this year and there’s plenty of betting opportunbities and value to be had.

Make sure you get involved and watch – the action is live on the BBC and Channel 4.