Midweek TV Preview: 31 October - 3 November 2011

Monday 31 October

20:00 Stoke City v Newcastle United, Premier League, Sky Sports 1 / HD1

Part one of a Stoke double bill this week, you lucky people. Despite being a game behind most of the league, Newcastle are going great guns under Alan Pardew. It must be Mike Ashley's fault.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

17:00 Bate Borisov v AC Milan, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 2 / HD2

Milan's trip to Belarus will hold no terrors for them. Even if they slip up in Minsk, they are still likely to qualify in what is a two horse race of a group.

19:45 Arsenal v Marseille ,UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 2 / HD2

Three points for Robin van Persie's Arsenal should settle the nerve's at the Emirates. After an uncertain start to Ligue 1, OM have won their last three games, scoring nine goals.

19:45 Genk v Chelsea, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 / HD4

The Belgian club were involved in a nine goal thriller against Club Brugge last Saturday, eventually winning 5-4.Given Chelsea's recent slump,there could be an opportunity to cause an upset. Rumour has it that the Belgians plan to slip a copy of Herge's racially suspect Tintin In The Congo into John Terry’s suitcase.

19:45 Viktoria Plzen v Barcelona, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Plzen have only lost one game in their last six. The trouble is that it was against Barcelona.

19:45 Apoel v FC Porto, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Don't ask me how but Cypriot football continues to improve. Witness APOEL who sit proudly atop and albeit very poor Group G. Porto are suffering from a hangover after winning the Portuguese League at a canter and the Europa League last season.

19:45 Borussia Dortmund v Olympiakos, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

BVB have pretty much got themselves back on track, domestically but despite their array of talented attackers, they have struggled in the Champions League. A home game against a beatable Olympiakos team may be their last hope.

19:45 Valencia v Bayer Leverkusen, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Of the three German Bundesliga teams in the Champions League, Leverkusen were expected to achieve the least. Yet they are second in the group after having established a four point cushion over Valencia following their impressive victory over the Spaniards in the last round. Now they must travel to the lions den and finish the job. Match of the night, in my book.

Wednesday 2 November

19:45 Villarreal v Man City, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, ITV1 / ITV1

With Villarreal all but out and ravaged by injury, City need to to capitalise. The Manchester club, despite their squad have found European club football tougher than expected and have failed to recreate their Premier League zeal. Now that tricky first win is out of the way, things should be easier... shouldn't they?

19:45 Man Utd v Otelul Galati, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 2 / HD2

Given their erratic performances, Manchester United will be guarded against complacency when welcoming the group's whipping boys. In truth, there is little here to be excited about.

19:45 Lyon v Real Madrid, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 / HD4

The Madrid club are dominating this group but have only picked up a single point in their last four visits to the Stade de Gerland. Lyon aren't quite the team they were last decade, however so that proud record must be in jeopardy.

19:45 Bayern Munich v Napoli, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Group A offers the two most attractive matches on the Wednesday evening. FC Bayern barely broke a sweat in their 4-0 trouncing of Nurnberg at the weekend. Napoli, meanwhile are going through a rocky patch. Still, plenty for the neutral to get stuck into.

19:45 Inter Milan v Lille, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Fresh from a defeat to their hated rivals, Juve in the Derbi D'Italia on Saturday, Inter will be in no mood for any lip from Lille (or should that be Joe Cole's Lille?) The French Champions haven't lost a domestic fixture since August. Getting three points at the San Siro is a tough ask though, especially against a wounded home side.

19:45 Benfica v Basel, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

The Swiss club have recently lost their coach to Hamburg and lost to the same opposition at home. I've not seen Benfica yet but understand that they are something.

19:45 Ajax v Dinamo Zagreb, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

The Dutch team will be looking for a rare win for Real at Lyon to give them the chance to move into second spot.

19:45 Trabzonspor v CSKA Moscow, UEFA Champions League Group Stage, Sky Sports 4 Interactive

Both teams have a win, a loss and a draw to their names so far. CSKA have scored twelve goals in the last three games. Seydou Doumbia is the man to watch after having score eight of those twelve. He's a regular Robin van Persie. What would they do without him?

02:00 Seattle Sounders v Real Salt Lake, MLS, ESPN / ESPN HD

The Sounders have been strutting around the MLS like they own the place since their admission in the league in 2009. But football has a habit of biting Billy Big Bollocks and the Pacific North West club go into the second leg of this play of tie with a 3-0 deficit against an unfashionable Real Salt Lake side that won the MLS Cup in the Sounders' own stadium in 2010.

Thursday 3 November

17:00 Rubin Kazan v Tottenham Hotspur, UEFA Europa League Group Stage, ITV4 / ITV4 HD

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the solitary goal when these two last met a, couple of weeks ago. The former Spartak Moscow striker will almost certainly be utilised again against Rubin.

18:00 Maccabi Tel Aviv v Stoke City, UEFA Europa League Group Stage, ESPN / ESPN HD

Still seems strange to say it but this should be another three points for Stoke. It's been a real treat seeing an English club participating in the Europa League with anything other than extreme reluctance.

19:45 Mansfield Town v Cambridge United, Blue Square Premier League, Premier Sports

With a wide choice of English and Scottish clubs on the telly, Premier Sports have got some nerve putting this fixture on. Those Cambridge fans hardy enough to make the trip can be relatively optimistic as their team has only lost two in the last nine away games.

20:05 Birmingham City v Club Brugge, UEFA Europa League Group Stage, ITV4 / ITV4 HD

If ever there was justification for the Championship getting awarded a Europa League spot, it's been Birmingham City's impressive displays despite relegation from the Premier League. They had a terrific result in Bruge in the last round and can put half a toe in the knock out stages with a win at St Andrews.

20:05 Celtic v Rennes, UEFA Europa League Group Stage, ESPN / ESPN HD

Despite only losing one match, Celtic are bottom of what is a bastard group. Unfortunately for UK viewers, Atletic Madrid v Udinese is the game of this round and it's not on the telly.

20:05 Fulham v Wisla Krakow, UEFA Europa League Group Stage, Channel 5 / Channel 5 HD

The Cottagers lost a man in the reverse fixture and were unlucky to lose in Poland. Their form has been patchy of late but should still be favorites. Krakow lost their first match, after a four match winning streak, on Saturday.

Football Americana: Playoffs begin with wild card clashes

It's the post-season in Major League Soccer and it began in Texas with the first of two wild card games, contested between the best four sides to finish outside the top three in their respective conferences.

FC Dallas were dealt something of a harsh hand. Despite finishing as the fourth best team overall their season is now over thanks to a wild card game defeat by New York Red Bulls, who occupied the final playoff spot.

The Red Bulls took the lead through Joel Lindpere's prod home on the hour from Mehdi Ballouchy's pass across the six yard line. New York's Jan Gunnar Solli was sent off for a bad tackle on Daniel Hernandez but it was Red Bull who got the second goal to set up a two-legged Western Conference semi-final with LA Galaxy. Thierry Henry scored it from all of three inches in the 98th minute with Dallas desperately hunting an equaliser.

It took just one goal to settle the other wild card match, with Colorado Rapids defeating Columbus Crew with a goal from Omar Cummings, who drilled home a cut-back from just inside the box on the stroke of half time. The Rapids had chances to double their lead after the break but the former Villa trialist's goal was enough to take them through to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, where they will face Sporting Kansas City.

All the latest details and highlights can be found here.

Friday List of Little or No Consequence #212

Six appeal
The 15 Teams That Have Gone The Longest Time Since Their Last Defeat By Six Goals Or More In A League Match

1. Liverpool (since 15 April 1963 - lost 7-2 v Tottenham)
2. Watford (since 7 April 1984 - lost 6-1 v Norwich)
3. Bury (since 1 April 1989 - lost 6-0 v Huddersfield)
4. Preston North End (since 17 February 1990 - lost 6-0 v Reading)
5. Chelsea (since 20 April 1991 - lost 7-0 v Nottingham Forest)
6. Birmingham City (since 12 April 1993 - lost 6-4 v Swindon)
7. Fulham (since 2 November 1993 - lost 6-3 v Exeter City)
8. Northampton Town (since 1 January 1994 - lost 6-2 v Rochdale)
9. Plymouth Argyle (since 17 December 1994 - lost 7-0 v Brentford)
10. Southend United (since 28 September 1996 - lost 6-1 v Crystal Palace)
11. Tottenham Hotspur (since 6 December 1997 - lost 6-1 v Chelsea)
12. Yeovil Town (since 14 February 1998 - lost 6-4 v Hayes)
13. Huddersfield Town (since 27 November 1998 - lost 7-1 v Barnsley)
14. Sheffield United (since 21 August 1999 - lost 6-0 v Man City)
15. Crystal Palace (since 28 August 1999 - lost 7-1 v Huddersfield)

Weekend TV Preview: 28 - 30 October 2011

Friday 28 October

19.45 League of Ireland Season End, Premier Sports

The Airtricity League finsihes with a whimper rather than a bang. Shamrock were crowned Champions on Tuesday while Sligo and Derry are secure in their Europa League positions. At the foot of the table, Galway were secured in the relegation play-off spot a long time ago with just one win all season - Rogue Trader, Nick Leeson stepped down as Chief Executive of the club in February, but is still on the board.

Saturday 29 October

12.00 Aberdeen v Rangers, SPL, ESPN/ESPN HD

Back to back games against the Old Firm look like halting Aberdeen's turnaround in form. With Rangers still unbeaten and nine points clear already, the mid-table Dons will be more than happy with a point.

12.00 League Cup Quarter Final Draw, Sky Sports 1/HD1

The final eight of the Premier League's top reserve team competition.

12.45 Chelsea v Arsenal, Premier League, Sky Sports 2/HD2/3D

There probably isn't a better time for Arsenal to go to Stamford Bridge. Both teams are suffering from a soured relationship between fans and those running the club. An Arsenal victory is still the most unlikely outcome here but a hard fought point against a side without Drogba or Bosingwa and a with a distracted John Terry should keep the fans happy and the good run continuing.

15.45 Aberystwyth Town v Bangor City, Welsh Premier League, S4C

Well you won't see this because you'll be at your nearest FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round fixture - won't you. Won't you.

17.20 Burnley v Blackpool, Championship, Sky Sports 2/HD2

A very tempting offer from the Championship with two teams that really need a good run. Blackpool have only won once away from home in 2011 (a win at Hull on the opening day of this season) but Eddie Howe's side prerformances have lacked the consistency so far.

17.30 West Brom v Liverpool, Premier League, ESPN/ESPN HD

And talking of inconsistency, here comes Liverpool! Their results are coming in pairs of late: two wins, followed by two defeats, followed by two wins, followed by two draws. Two Chris Brunt penalties sealed the points for the home team, when they met here in March - to Roy Hodgson's delight. Here's hoping for some more Karma to come down.

19.00 Barcelona v Mallorca, La Liga, Sky Sports 4/HD4

Third plays 13th. The Balearic side snatched a rare point here last season but it's been two and half years since Barcelona dropped points in consecutive home games. Watch the first half then switch over to...

19.45 Inter Milan v Juventus, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

The Derby D'Italia and a chance for Claudio Ranieri to put one over one of his former employers. Juve are top but haven't looked convincing in their three away fixtures this season. Despite Inter's woeful start, I fancy them in this one.

21.00 Real Sociedad v Real Madrid, La Liga, Sky Sports 4/HD4

Madrid get the chance to go top, until of course unbeaten Lavente look to stretch their run of seven straight wins away to Osasuna tomorrow - a match Sky have decided not to cover.

21.00 Santos v Atletico PR, Serie A, Premier Sports

Just seven games to go in Brazil Santos are mid-table holding their Copa Sudamerica qualifying spot by just one point. Atletico meanwhile are in the relegation zone and it will need more than their recent improvement in home form for the 2001 Champions to continue their 15 season run in the top flight.

Sunday 30 October

11.30 Siena v Chievo, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Siena's return to the top flight is getting into its stride while Chievo's promising start has began to falter. Perfect opportunity for the Tuscan side to register three Serie A home win in a row for just the second time ever.

13.15 Leeds United v Cardiff City, Championship, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Two teams separated by four places but just one point, such is life in the Championship. Cardiff have been a real bogey team for Leeds and have won the last six encounters. In fact, the last time Leeds beat Cardiff was 1957.

13.30 FA Cup 1st Round Draw, FA Cup, ITV1/ITV1 HD

32 non-league teams join the 48 sides from League One and League Two. Bring it on!

14.30 FC Koln v FC Augsburg, Bundesliga, ESPN/ESPN HD

Who can say which Koln side will turn up for this one. The home side have one of the worst defensive records in the Bundesliga while new boys Augsburg have only managed 8 goals so far; a case of the resistable force meeting the moveable object. To be fair, Augsburg are just about finding their feet - a great achievement considering this young side (they were only formed in 1969) almost went bust in the Regional Leagues in 2000.

16.00 Tottenham Hotspur v QPR, Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1/3D

QPR may have used up all their luck last week; even with a two man advantage they made heavy work of beating their local rivals Chelsea at home. Should be straightforward home win for Spurs, you feel.

16.30 SV Hamburg v FC Kaiserslautern, Bundesliga, ESPN/ESPN HD

You can't help but feel one of these sides will have to go back to square one after this game - both have just started get results after a torrid start to the season.

19.00 Atletico Madrid v Zaragoza, La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

And so the weekend finishes up, as usual, with a couple of Spanish games. Maybe this is all part of some grand plan - associate Spanish football with the dread and loathing of Sunday night TV. That gut emptying feeling you used to get watching That's Life or the Antiques Roadshow, knowing that you'd have to go to work/school the next day. Nothing amazing on offer here.

21.00 Malaga v Espanyol, La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

7th plays 6th. Espanyol are on a roll, while Malaga have run out of toilet roll.

Football Americana: Playoffs update

The Major League Soccer playoffs are set, and are already upon us. With apologies, I'll just give you a quick update on where things stand because, unfortunately, the real world has taken over my life over the past seven days and I've got other things I've had to deal with. So no highlights this week, but suffice to say that DC United sh*t the bed and the results of the final week of the regular season came together to send New York Red Bulls into the playoffs.

This season the playoffs are structured differently to accommodate ten teams and ensure better representation of the Eastern Conference in the latter stages.

The bracket begins, therefore, with two wild card games between the four teams that had the highest points totals and didn't finish in the top three of their respective conferences. On Wednesday, FC Dallas play New York Red Bulls and on Thursday it's Colorado Rapids versus Columbus Crew.

From there on in, it gets a little complicated.

In the Eastern Conference semi-finals:

FC Dallas will play Sporting Kansas City over two legs if they defeat New York. If they lose to New York, Sporting will instead play either Colorado Rapids or Columbus Crew.

Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union will meet in the other semi-final.

In the Western Conference semi-finals:

Real Salt Lake will play Seattle Sounders over two legs.

If New York beat Dallas, they will play LA Galaxy in the other semi-final. If Dallas win their play-in game and therefore face Kansas City, LA will play the winner of the Colorado v Columbus match.

The Conference finals will be hosted by the highest seed in each case, and will take place as standalone matches.

Still with me? All will be clearer next week, and I'll have a proper update for then.

Midweek TV Preview: 24 - 27 October 2011

Monday 24 October

17.00 Dinamo Moscow v Rubin Kazan, Russian Premier League, ESPN/ESPN HD

Funny how the slogan of ESPN’s current UK marketing campaign is ‘Miss nothing’ given that they’ve failed to show any Russian Premier League coverage since June 22nd. Cynical, but worth pointing out, we feel.

19.45 UCD v Shamrock Rovers, Airtricity League, Premier Sports

Premier Sports continuing coverage of the Atrocity League brings this clash between two sides located just south of Dublin but situated at either end of the table at present. We reckon it'll take you no more than three minutes to work out which one is 37 points better off than the other.

20.00 Brighton v West Ham, Championship, Sky Sports 2/HD2

West Ham’s grip on a top-three place has proven stronger than Brighton’s but though they may be eight places below The Hammers at time of writing, they could overtake them with a home win tonight.

Tuesday 25 October

19.00 Granada v Barcelona, La Liga, Sky Sports 3/HD3

Granada face the mighty Barca for the first time in the league since 1976. Granada have found the top flight a bit of a struggle so far with only one win over Villareal to shout about. Shame to say it, but El Graná are almost certain to find themselves the subject of a feeding frenzy here.

19.45 Aldershot v Man Utd, Carling Cup 4th Round, Sky Sports 2/HD2

The Shots’ brilliant run in the League Cup this season stands every chance of being extended following United’s utter capitulation against rivals City last weekend and the likelihood of Ferguson putting out a second string of Berbatov, Giggs, Ji-Sung and... oh, who are we kidding...?

19.45 Juventus v Fiorentina, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Both teams have seen their league form impeded by a proliferation of draws just lately, in fact each team played out 2-2 draws at the weekend. Juventus need all three points here if they’re to get back on top of the league having been knocked off by Udinese and Lazio in the Sunday fixtures.

Wednesday 26 October

19.15 Hibernian v Celtic, Scottish Communities League Cup 4th Round, BBC1 Scotland

Celtic remain the odds-on favourites to win the League Cup out of the eight teams remaining, and winning it might just give a lift to a somewhat uninspiring season thus far.

19.45 Napoli v Udinese, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Fifth-versus-Second. The bookies have Napoli down to win this one, but Udinese are unbeaten in eleven (UNDICI) matches stretching back to the end of August. Worth a punt on an away win, given Napoli’s recent unpredictable form.

19.45 Wolves v Man City, Carling Cup 4th Round, Sky Sports 2/HD2/3D

It seems some Wolves fans are unhappy at their club’s circumstances at present. At least they haven’t conceded six goals for four-and-a-half years, they’re not in the bottom three of the Premier League and they’re not as unpopular as Mario Balotelli on an oil rig.

21.00 Real Madrid v Villarreal, La Liga, Sky Sports 3/HD3

An ample opportunity for Real to keep the pressure on league leaders Levante. And once again, in case you didn’t quite catch that: An ample opportunity for Real to keep the pressure on LEAGUE LEADERS LEVANTE.

Thursday 27 October

12.50 Universidad de Chile v Flamengo, Copa Sudamericana Round of 16 2nd Leg, Premier Sports

Something of a dead rubber, this. La U won the first leg 4-0 at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange last Wednesday so expect to hear the phrase ‘park the bus’ (or its Spanish equivalent) plenty during this match.

16.00 Zenit St Petersburg v Volga, Russian Premier League, ESPN/ESPN HD

Why ESPN, you’re spoiling us... This second offering of Russian Premier League action in the space of one week (after months of pretending it didn’t exist) sees the newly-promoted and soon-to-be-relegated-on-current-form Volga visiting the league leaders. Home win all the way.

19.45 Palermo v Lecce, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Palermo are the St Paul’s Cathedral protesters of Serie A. Sitting in sixth spot, you know they’ve done well to be where they are for so long and what they’re doing is very noble, but long term they’ll lose interest and eventually drift away before Christmas.

Friday 28 October

19.45 League of Ireland Season End, Premier Sports

The Aircritity League finsihes with a whimper rather than a bang> Shamrock were crowned Champions on Tuesday while Sligo and Derry are secure in their Europa League positions. At the foot of the table, Galway were secured in the relegation play-off spot a long time ago with just one win all season - Rogue Trader, Nick Leeson stepped down as Chief Executive of the club in February, but is still on the board.

FA Trophy - Whyteleafe 0 Grays Athletic 3

The FA Trophy (or FA Carling Trophy to use its proper name) is the cup competition that only a non-league club can win. The tournament is open to all clubs from step 5 to 8 in the Non-League Pyramid. There are ten rounds in total, the final being at Wembley Stadium.

My first experience of this competition was this season at Ryman League Division 1 South club Whytleleafe FC when a gaggle of football bloggers descended on Church Road to see the home team battle back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 with a dubious last-minute penalty against North Greenford United of the Evostick (Southern) League in the Preliminary Round.

To the victor was a home draw against the once mighty Grays Athletic in the First Quailfying Round on 22nd October. Grays are a big name in English non-league circles, their heady days in the Conference, last decade, as they made a bid for Football League status. These days, The Gravelmen play in the Ryman Division 1 North so it was an even match between the two sides. The winner enters the pot for the Second Qualifying Round where teams from the step above join the fray and trousers the not inconsiderable prize fund of £2,200.

The away side are two times winners of the FA Trophy and while they are no longer the force they were, they sit in second place in the Ryman Division 1 North. Whyteleafe, meanwhile, are languishing in 19th place in Division 1 South, just two points from the relegation zone. Progression would be a tough challenge for the leafy club from the north-east corner of Surrey.

From the kick off it was clear that Grays were a team that will be playing a division higher, next season. The away side were winning every ball in the air. They were quicker in both mind and body and as strong as their hosts. You could have cordoned off one half of the pitch in the first period of play, such was Grays' domination. Attacking midfielder Joa Carlos hit the post early on and it was only a matter of time before the first goal. Specifically, it was nine minutes.

Louis Dennis is a strong and purposeful forward who verily rifled home a shot for the opener. Grays kept up the pressure. Captain Lee Flynn headed the second home from a the rebound after the ‘Leafe ‘keeper saved yet another rasping shot. The home side paid the occasional visit to the opposition half and when they did, their forwards were isolated and could barely scare up a shot on goal. At Half Time a three or four to nil score would not have been an injustice and Whyteleafe can thank their ‘keeper Paul Smith for maintaining a respectable scoreline.

It was more of the same after the break until Dennis' second goal signalled the end of the contest. The strike was from a tight angle and was too quick for the ‘keeper. After that, Grays were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure.

As the late October sun set on Whyteleafe’s dreams of the Wembley Arch, Grays’ lively away support that made up the bulk of the 145 attendance headed back to their cars and onto the next round. For those of us left behind, a long season of concentrating on the league awaits. The only other significant statistic from the match is that it is finally time to retire my Converse trainers after a prolonged summer.