Champions League Group Stage

The champions league group stage draw was done today. The draw was done in Monaco Thursaday evening and the seeding were very interesting.

Pot one: Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Porto, Inter Milan.

Pot two: Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Villarreal, AC Milan, Valencia, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Benfica.

Pot three: Zenit St Petersburg, Manchester City, Olympiakos, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Basle, Lille, BATE.

Pot four: Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli, APOEL, Genk, Trabzonspor, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen.

All of Europe's current elite are in pot 1 (yes even Arsenal) and each will be grouped with one team from pot 2 ,one from pot 3 and 4.

The draw took place and football fans are in for a treat this season. Here are the results of the draw:

Group A:  Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli

Group B:  Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor

Group C:  Manchester United, Benfica,  FC Basle, Otelul Galati

Group D:  Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb

Group E:  Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk

Group F:  Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund

Group G:  Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL Nicosia

Group H:  Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen

And there they are, the teams that will be fighting to be crowned champions of Europe.

The most eye catching group is of course Group H. Barcelona will face AC Milan, but eyes will also be on big wage paying, money spending, we buy everything Manchester City. Manchester City will face a tough task against the likes of Villarreal, who are no push over, Bayern Munich, they speak for them selves and if City sit back too much, they can just ask Manchester United what happen to them when they played Bayern. And last Napoli, the Italians have been on the rise in recent years and will be looking to impress.

Manchester United and Inter Milan have been handed relatively easy groups and should progress to the Knock-Out stage, not to say it is a given but these two teams stand miles apart from the respective group members.

Real Madrid will once again face off with Lyon. And the most open group would have to be Group F, as Arsenal (still considered one of Europe's eilte) will have to fight for all there wins in this group.

La Liga Strike!

The Spanish  La liga was scheduled to kick off today but due to the top flight teams stike, over unsure wage payments, all matches have been postponed....Read more

Barclay's Premier League game week 2

Saturday August 20, 2011

Sunderland vs Newcastle

These two teams both drew in their first match, versus Liverpool and Arsenal respectively; and they will be looking to secure all three points this week when they face off at the Stadium of Light. In the last 13 meetings Newcastle had the upper hand, with only 1 defeat to the Black Cats, but Sunderland may want to set it right this time around.

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Liverpool are tipped to kick Arsenal out of the top four spot this season and this match may yet prove vital come May. Liverpool comes into this match on the back foot, with only one victory over Arsenal in their last 11 meetings and that victory is not among the last 8 matches.

With both teams drawing their first match they will be looking to go all out for three points to keep up with the early table leaders.

Aston Villa vs Blackburn

Aston Villa has lost only one of their last 9 Barclay's Premier League matches. And Alex Mcleish will want to win his first home match to win over some of the Villa fans.

Everton vs QPR

QPR’s first outing ended in a bashing by Bolton, and the task does not get easier as they travel to Goodison Park. Everton's first game was postponed last week, so with an undefeated record in their last Barclay's premier League match, Everton will want to continue.

Swansea vs Wigan

Swansea was the first team to face ManCity's millionaire team and paid the price heavily last week. But they may look to bounce back against an already struggling Wigan side.

Chelsea vs West Brom

West Brom faced the Champions last week, only to go down by a late winner. Chelsea's new boss, Boas, may just be realizing how tough of a task it is to manage a Premier League team when his side drew blanks last week. However, he will be confident the Blues can repeat last year’s 6-0 rump of West Brom.

Sunday August 21, 2011

Norwich vs Stoke

Norwich started their campaign in a convincing fashion, mounting a comeback to draw with Wigan. Stoke also delivered a strong opener when they denied Chelsea three points. This time however they may be looking to secure all three points from the new comers.

Wolves vs Fulham

The wolves were on the hunt last week and they got their prize, all three points. This week the hunt will be on as they take on Fulham. Fulham start to the campaign was not a very convincing one as they squandered numerous chances, which lead to a draw against Aston Villa. The squandered chances leaves much to be admired of Fulham’s forward line.

Bolton vs Manchester City

The Barclay's Premier League current first and second place face off with each other. They both disposed of the opponent last week with the same score line, 4-0. This week they will both want to continue they impressive start to the campaign. Bolton, however may be a much more of a challenge for the millionaire 's though.

Monday August 22, 2011

Manchester United vs Tottenham

The Champions will kick off the second match against one of the teams tipped for a top four finish and even the Premier League title. This will be Tottenham's first match of the campaign as their first was postponed last week. Tottenham will be on a high after crushing Scottish rivals hearts 5-0 in mid-week. 

The champions will be looking to secure three more points this week, but will be wary they may actually just get one.

Arsenal Supply Line?

Arsenal's manager fear that Arsenal are becoming a feeder club for their rivals. This come on the moon of Cecs Fabregas rumored departure today,  to Barcelona for a medical which will be the first sign that he will complete a 35mil transfer.

Manchester United shocked!!!

Manchester United's defender Rafael da Silva has been sidelined for up to 10 weeks with a shoulder injury. The defender was making his stamp in defense after the departures of John O'Shea and Wes Brown. But it was not be as a training ground incident saw his shoulder dislocated and Rafeal unavailable for up to 10 weeks.


A statement on United's official website read: "Rafael will be out of action for around ten weeks 
after dislocating his shoulder in training ahead of the trip to West Brom."

Premier League: Saturday Round Up

Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal

Arsenal new boy Gervinho was showed his marching orders due to controversial decision by the referee. He (Gervinho) was man handled by Joey Barton and Gervinho reacted with a slap to Barton's face, Gervinho saw red instead of Barton's face being red.  The absence of Arsenal's Nasri and Fabregas was well noted as the Gunners never left first gear for the entire game. No creativity, no vision, a flat and disappointing performance.

Newcastle had they chances but didn't take any, most of them coming through "bad boy" Barton.

Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland

No doubt the most exciting match of the Saturday games. Suarez missed a penalty, then his eye for goal gave Liverpool the lead before being pegged back a possible goal of the season from Sunderland's Larson

QPR 0-4 Bolton

Welcome to the Premier League, that was the intention of Bolton, a 4-0 drumming of QPR. Bolton had control for majority of the game and their top flight experience show throughout the match.

Wigan 1-1 Norwich

 Unlike their fellow debut ants Norwich's Wes Hoolahan goal was enough to give them their first point of the Premier League season.

Wigan took the lead after just 21 minutes played when Ben Watson scored from a free kick. The lead only lasted until the last minutes of the first half, when Hoolahan slotted home into a empty net due to an error by Ali Al Habsi

Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa

In a game of chances, atleast one of these two teams should have won. John Arne Risse, Andrew Johnson and Bobby Zamora missed a host of chances. Another guilty party is Aston Villa's Emile Heskey who missed two (if not more) clear chances.

Blackburn 1-2 Wolves

Premier League debutant Mauro Formica scored his first goal for Backburn as they lost to a very resilient Wolverhamton side. Wolves were level minute later when Mathew Javis cross was met by striker Stephen Fletcher, who's header was unstoppable. Wolves took the lead minutes after the restart when Kevin Doyle's missed penalty rebounded and Stephen Ward was at hand to finish what Doyle had started.

Premier League Returns!!

The Barclay’s Premier League is back for another season, and it starts off today with six matches. Earlier this week, the Premier league kick off was in jeopardy as officials were considering postponing matches due the unrest in parts of London. Only one match was eventually postponed, Tottenham vs Everton, all other matches will start at their scheduled time.

Arsenal Transfers!!!

One of Arsenal's longest transfer saga is about to end according to “The Sun".  Cesc Fabregas is on the brink of returning to his boyhood club, he only has to splash out 4.5mil of his own cash to add to Barcelona’s 35.9 mil. The Gunners are set to agree to the 35.9 mil fee and add-ons  which includes Fabregas paying Arsenal £900,000 (all this from his pocket) a year for the next 5 years.

Manchester United wins Community Shield

New season, young players, same old story! Manchester United beating Manchester City. This derby is always interesting and never short of excitement. Remember Michael Owens’s late winner back in 2009? Wayne Rooney’s jaw dropping winner in 2010/2011 season? And now, Nani’s twinkled toe eye popper!

Top teams fight for Champions League spot

So its finally back, "The Champions League" return and for all football fans, its another year of smiles and cries. 2006 runners-up Arsenal, 2010 runners-up Bayern Munich, french big boys Lyon and La Liga's Villarreal will all feature this Friday  seeding for Champions League play-offs.

"To be a Gunner"

This is a personal phrase of mine and I first stared saying it in the 2009-2010 season (if memory serves right). I started saying it because my friends were constantly questioning my loyalty to 'the arsenal' ( this due to me continual rants about arsenal short comings in important matches), and to avoid the back talking and debates, i would simple reply "to be a gunner".