Midweek TV Preview: 14 - 17 March 2011

Monday 14 March

19:45 Norwich City v Bristol City, Championship, Sky Sports 1/HD1
The Robins continue their belated surge back up the table with a game against the team just outside the automatic play-off places on goal difference. Bristol City have won their last four in the league, averaging nearly three goals per game. Norwich, however, have lost only one of their last eleven. A fascinating battle of wills looks set to ensue.

Tuesday 15 March

15:30 Al Gharafa v Foolad Sepahan, AFC Champions League, British Eurosport 2
Group A in the 30th AFC Champions League and Sepahan are already top of the table following their opening 2-1 victory over Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia. Al Gharafa drew their first match  1-1 against Al Jazira. No details available about whether David Frost was playing in goal for the latter.

19:45 Man Utd v Marseille, Champions League, Sky Sports 2/HD2/3D
An away goal could make things interesting for Didier Deschamps' men (what with the opening leg finishing goalless), but our money's on Man Utd following their professional dumping of Arsenal out of the FA Cup at the weekend.

19:45 Bayern Munich v Inter Milan, Champions League, Sky Sports 4/HD4
So Van Gaal's leaving Bayern at the end of the season and the pressure's suddenly off. A 6-0 thrashing of Hamburg at the weekend could conceivably be followed by a favourable result against an Inter side that drew 1-1 against next-to-bottom Brescia on Friday. The Germans lead 1-0 from the first leg.

01:30 (Wednesday morning) Seattle Sounders v LA Galaxy, MLS, ESPN/ESPN HD
As our MLS correspondent Chris Nee mentioned only last week, it's now or never for the Galaxy. Seattle, meanwhile, are Terry's tip for success, all of which you'll have known if you'd read the first part of Chris Nee's excellent preview to the 2011 MLS season.

Wednesday 16 March

10:45 Yokohama F Marinos v Omiya Ardija, J League Cup, British Eurosport 2
We're listing this despite Eurosport's insistency on listing matches in its schedule which clearly have no likelihood of reaching our screens. Both teams drew their opening games last week, but the F Marino's should prevail here on home advantage if nothing else.

18:00 FCF Juvisy v FFC Turbine Potsdam, UEFA Women's Champions League, British Eurosport
A tokenistic mention for the women's game which stands even less chance of appearing on Eurosport than the aforementioned J-League match. Let's hope it survives the indecisiveness of Eurosport's programme schedulers.

19:45 Chelsea v Copenhagen, Champions League, ITV1/ITV1 HD
The Blues lead 2-0 from the first leg and a similar scoreline looks likely against the plucky Danes.

19:45 Real Madrid v Lyon, Champions League, Sky Sports 2/HD2
Lyon are clocking up the points like no-one's business in Ligue 1 and are a very likely contender for the title. Like their rivals Marseille, Lyon have away goal potential here tonight. Ironically, Karim Benzema has hit form with both goals in Real's win over Hercules at the weekend, so a great game looks in prospect at the Bernabeu.

00:45 (Thursday morning) Colo Colo v Santos, Copa Libertadores, Premier Sports
The Chileans could go top of Group 5 with a win over the All Whites, and we're not talking about the New Zealand football team, either. That would just be silly.

Thursday 17 March

18:00 Man City v Dynamo Kiev, UEFA Europa League Last 16 2nd Leg, ESPN/ESPN HD
Two goals down from the first leg, it's time for Mancini's men to show their real strength in depth (if they have any). A morale-boosting 1-0 win over Reading in the FA Cup yesterday should be more than enough to carry them through to a historic victory over their Ukrainian counterparts... it says here.

20:05 Villarreal v Bayer Leverkusen, UEFA Europa League Last 16 2nd Leg, ESPN/ESPN HD
The Spaniards lead 3-2 from the first leg and this could be similarly tight again, especially given how similar recent form is for both sides. Home advantage could be key for the Yellow Submarine.

20:05 Liverpool v Braga, UEFA Europa League Last 16, FIVE/FIVE HD
It wasn't a good week for English teams in the Europa Cup last week, but at least Liverpool are capable of breaching a single goal deficit against the Portuguese here. Another one of those Classic European Nights at Anfield © should be just what the doctor ordered.