On Sky's coverage of Liverpool vs Fulham last night, the commentator was heard to say, "Liverpool's next 2 games are Man Utd and Arsenal, so Father Christmas didn't give them too many presents when he devised the fixture list."

The Premier League claim that a computer company called Sema devised the fixtures, but we prefer the Santa theory. And given the fact that it's notoriously difficult to track down reliable information on the cheery old fellow, they could be hard-pushed to prove otherwise.

A spokesgoblin for Father Christmas plc. today issued this statement on behalf of Mr Claus:

"Yes, we claim copyright on the fixture list. It's nothing to do with the Premier League."

"And Arsenal should expect to hear from us regarding our copyright on their colour scheme too. Red with white trim has been Santa's colours since once upon a time long long ago, and if we were to allow Arsenal to use those colours without permission we'd be being unfair to all those fairies who pay us to use the colours on their toadstools."

The Premier League have so far refrained from commenting on today's developments.

Our understanding so far is that UK law relating to our case is not yet fixed, and if it went to court we'd have a good chance of winning. The PL will be aware of this, but may feel that they can get away with a bit more bullying.

We have not heard from them since before the deadline they gave us for removing fixture information. That includes the documents they promised to send us.