The week ahead

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 **