ITV have reached an agreement with Setanta Sports to show highlights of Englands remaining away 2010 World Cup Qualifiers!
Highlights of England’s away games against Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine will be shown shortly after the games finish. This has been a long awaited decision as many fans have not been able to catch up on the game due to Setantas hold on the games.
It certainly is a Super Sunday today for Premiership football with a lunch time Midlands derby between West Brom and Aston Villa quickly followed by Chelsea V Man U at 2pm and with another 3 Premiership games this Sunday I will be certainly watching MOTD 2 tonight at 10pm.
West Brom Villa was a good to game to start the day with, with Villa scoring twice in the first half through Carew and Abonglohor before James Morrison pulled one back for West Brom just as I was finishing off my full English.
Villa hit the post twice in the 2nd half and West Brom probed with some good football but there were no more goals.
Chelsea against Man United is one of the BIG games in the Premiership and could go someway to shaping the title race as a Chelsea victory would see them open up a 9 point gap on United, although it is early days yet. The big question from Chelsea is if Drogba would start and from United would Ronaldo start after coming on in mid week?
The answer is both players begin on the bench and Deco picks up an injury in the warm up and is replaced by Ballack. The game doesn't disappoint and after a lively opening Park gives United a 1-0 lead after 18 minutes and classic high octane Premiership battle continued with United going in 1-0 up at half time.
Chelsea haven't been beat at home since February 2004 and they were not going to relinquish that record to United. Drogba replaced Maloude at half time but it was another substitute, Kalou who headed in the equaliser ten minutes from time. There was a bizarre end to the game where both Andy Gray and Martyn Tyler were left bemused as to whether the ref had blown for full time or not but a decent Sunday spectacle and I'm looking forward to MOTD2 with Man City putting 6 past Portsmouth and 4 goals shared at the KC stadium in a 2-2 draw between Hull and Everton there will be some good games on there tonight.
Theo Walcott was England’s hat-trick hero last night as England beat Croatia 4-1 in their World Cup qualifying tie in Zagreb. The 19-year-old opened the scoring, and despite damaging one of his boots in the first half returned to find the net again in the second half of the match.
Wayne Rooney scored England’s other goal, with Mario Mandzukic scoring the consolation goal for Croatia. "Tonight was a bit of revenge. It was a great performance and a great result," Rooney said. "You always enjoy a 4-1 victory, especially after what Croatia did to us in the last qualifying campaign."
England had lost twice against Croatia in qualifying for June's European championship, including a 3-2 defeat at Wembley in November.
Englands next game will be Belarus v England on 15th October, 8.00pm Setanta Sports 1.
This was not a performance to strike fear into Croatian hearts, but as England know very well it could have been an awful lot worse. The first half saw them at their worst, many of the fans starting to boo when passes went astray, but at least they switched things around and brightened up in the second half. England finally overcame a very-well organised but highly defensive Andorra team, winning 2-0 thanks to goals by Joe Cole both in the second half. England will be in trouble if they perform as cluelessly in Croatia, though the two games will be nothing like each other. England travel to Croatia on Wednesday which promises to be a much tougher and probably far more exciting game of football.
England will play Croatia at 8.00pm on Setanta Sports 1, find more information at www.footballonthetv.co.uk
The soap opera that is Newcastle United continues as it has just been announced that King Kev has quit the Toon citing differences with Owner Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise over the way they have handle the transfers policy leaving him with "no choice but to resign" after only 8 months back in charge.
Next Newcastle Manager Odds
Gus Poyet - 5/2
Dennis Wise - 9/2
Alan Shearer - 11/2
Didier Deschamps - 8/1
David Moyes - 8/1
Glenn Hoddle - 25/1
More odds click here
It can be quiet a struggle to watch all the live football games on tv if you don't have a digital tv sports package and we are all aware of the credit crunch and the need to save that extra £10 a month, so here are 7 ways to get by without:
Englands World Cup Qualifying Campaign kicks off against Minnous Andorra on Saturday 6th September on Setanta Sports 1. There should be a host of goals for England, my prediction will be a 6-0 victory for the three lions, hopefully seeing goals from Rooney, Defoe and a first cap for Jimmy Bullard.
Here's the team........
In Goal:
Robinson (Blackburn), James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham);
Defence:
Lescott (Everton), Bridge (Chelsea), A Cole (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Brown (Manchester United), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Upson (West Ham);
Midfield:
Barry (Aston Villa), J Cole (Chelsea), Lampard (Chelsea), Bullard (Fulham), Beckham (LA Galaxy), Downing (Middlesbrough), Bentley (Tottenham), Jenas (Tottenham);
Attack:
Walcott (Arsenal), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth), Heskey (Wigan).
It's Carling Cup time and tonight sees Coventry take on Newcastle live on Sky Sports 2 with local rivals Sunderland against Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD. It may not be the most glamourus competiton but it is usually exciting and the games usually provide alot of goals.
There are 14 live games on this week starting with the Carling Cup tonight and finishing with the return of La Liga and Champions Real Madrid V Deportivo.
The question is what to watch and when, to help here is the first part of my armchair guide to this weeks footie on TV
Tuesday 26th August
Coventry V Newcastle - Sky Sports 2 & HD2 - 7:30pm - Carling Cup
Worth a watch Coventry knocked out Manchester United last season so this could be a lively game
watch rating - ***
Wednesday 27th August
Liverpool V Standard Leige - ITV - 8pm - UEFA Champions League Qualifier
Arsenal V FC Twente - BBC 3 - 8pm - UEFA Champions League Qualifier
Nottingham Forest V Sunderland - Sky Sports 2 & HD2 - 7:45pm - Carling Cup
Three games to choose from tomorrow but for the arm chair pundit it has to be the Liverpool game, it's finally poised at 0-0 and after being outperformed in Leige Liverpool have to win to secure a lucrative £10m pay day by qualifying the the Champions League proper.
Watch rating ***
Thursday 28th August
Midtjylland v Manchester City - Channel 5 - 3:25pm - UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Aston Villa v FH Hafnarfjordu - Channel 5 - 8pm - UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Villa are pretty much through but City are trailing 1-0 to the Danish side so need a win, I doubt the boss will let me watch it at work though
Watch rating **
The second week of the Premiership Season is almost over. This weeks Premiership football on TV has seen Fulham beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Saturday evening game and another 1-0 from the Sunday lunch time offering on Setanta with a Deco free kick enough to give Chelsea victory over Wigan. That is all 3 games on Setanta so far ending 1-0, is there something about football on Setanta that makes it not quite as good as Sky?
If it is goals and action you want then the live game of the week was Charlton against Reading, the Saturday lunch time TV game on Sky Sports 1 finished 4-2 to Charlton and was a cracking game with 3 penalties, 6 goals and a red card late on for Readings Sonko, proving good football on TV is not is just about the Premiership.
The weekends live football on TV finished with Manchester City beating West Ham 3-0 on Sky Sports 1, with The Hammers Mark Noble seeing the first red card of the Premeirship Season 2008/2009. A goal from youngster Dean Sturridge and two goals from Elano gave City a comfortable 3-0 win.
But it's not just about the live games, on Sky Sports 1 Football First game of the day, Liverpool's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough saw a dramatic Gerrard strike to seal the 3 points for Liverpool and a bodacious, Bergkamp esq turn by Boro's Tuncay, which would have been an early contender for goal of the season if his shot hadn't been straight at Pepe Reina.
Football fans are spoilt for choice when it comes to watching football on TV, with Sky Sports
It is very nice being able to watch your teams' 90 minutes but unless you are a top flight manager or scout you are not going to be interested in watching Newcastle beat Bolton 1-0 which makes MOTD on BBC1 the place to see all the days action and if you're out you can and have Sky Plus you can record MOTD and Football First at the same time.
With the weekend action at a close now below are my picks of this weeks action
showing a game of the day at 8:25pm on a Saturday night, followed by all the rest of the days Premiership games at 10:30pm allowing you to choose your game through the interactive button. If you have Sky plus this is great as you if your out on the town on a Saturday night you can record your team's game and watch it back on the Sunday morning.Goal of the Week - Ricardo Fuller - Stoke V's Aston Villa
A majestic flick by Fuller sees him leave Laursen standing and the Jamaican sprinted away and calm slot the ball past Friedal
Result of the Week - Tottenham 1 - 2 Sunderland
A great result for Sunderland, who struggled badly away from home last season, a debut goal from Djibril Cisse secured the points and a happy journey home for The Mackems
Skill of the Week - Tuncay - Liverpool V Middlesbrough
A stylish Bergkamp esque turn left Carragher standing but the Turks shot was straight at Reina
Mug of the Week - Mark Noble first red card of the Premiership
Sent off for two bookbale offences in the first half aginast Manchester City, a stupid handball and a wreckless challenge
There is still one Live game left from this weeks fixture list and that is Sky's Monday night evening and it could be a good one, with Portsmouth entertaining the Champions Manchester United. It will be a nice way to end the long August Bank Holiday weekend.
Football is back!! The Premier League kick off is only 2 days away and the Champions League, Championship, Carling Cup and football league are already underway. There has already been a smattering of football on TV with pre season friendlies on Sky, Setanta and Channel 5, the Football League and Championship games have started on Sky Uefa Cup qualifiers and Champions League qualifiers on Channel 5 and ITV. Sky maybe the home of the Premeire League but football is on a whole range of channels this season, every day of the week.
The big story from the European Qualifiers is the ongoing Gareth Barry transfer Saga. Liverpool played Alonso in their game, where they were lucky to get a draw against Belgian champions Standard Leige and Barry played and scored again Aston Villas 4-1 victory over Icelands FH Hafnarfjordur. This pretty much puts an end to the saga with Barry now cup tied in European Competition until February.
The question is will Villa fans accept him back and will he skipper the side again?
I think once Barry starts scoring for Villa agian the fans will forgive him, he is a quality player who wanted to play champions league football and I'm sure he would have been an excellent acqusition for Liverpool. Now can Barry and Aston Villa break into the top four maybe ousting out the Merseysiders?
And it is the Premier League which kicks off on Saturday. Regarded as the best and most famous leauge in world football their is no doubt that Premier League football is exciting and fast paced, however some say it is also predicatble, but is it?
The start of a new season is the only time when all teams are level and football fans are full of optimisim but will it be the usual suspects Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in the top four, or can Spurs, Villa, Portsmouth or Everton crash the party this season?
There are no answers at this stage of the season only questions, the two that matter the most though are who will win the league? and Who will go do down?I think the top 6 will be tight this year with, Liverpool, pushing Manchsetr United and Chelsea all the way to the final day, but not too far behind I think Arsenal, Spurs and Portsmouth will be challenging for 4th spot. In the relegation battle it is difficult to see Stoke or Hull staying up, however I think West Brom might just nick it with Bolton being relegated.
Premier League Winners odds CLICK HERE!
Premier League Relegation odds CLICK HERE!
