(All times UK)Monday 8 December
20:00 Crystal Palace v Southampton, Championship, Sky Sports 1 & HD1
Palace moved up to ninth on Saturday after an impressive win at Pride Park. They'll fancy their chances of temporarily moving into the play-off zone with a win against the young Saints.
20:00 West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, Setanta Sports 1
Teetering hilariously above the drop zone, Spurs are at the same time contenders for relegation and the Carling Cup. They face a tough but short trip to Upton Park to face the Hammers. Fortunately, unlike their supporters, they won't need to take the District Line.
Tuesday 9 December
19:45 Chelsea v CFR Cluj, UEFA Champions League Group A, ITV1 & ITV HD
It's a measure of the expectations around English clubs that not qualifying for the knockout round with games to spare raises eyebrows. However, Cluj have been a surprise package this season and their intervention has prolonged the outcome of this group which is all to the good for the neutrals. As for Chelsea fans... well if you can't beat the Romanians at home then you don't deserve to qualify, surely.
19:45 Roma v Bordeaux, UEFA Champions League Group A, Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
Assuming there is a home win at the Bridge, the winner of this game goes through and the loser faces the ignominy of appearing on Channel 5 next year.
19:45 Panathinaikos v Anorthosis Famagusta, UEFA Champions League, Group B, Sky Sports Interactive
Famagusta are another team to have put the cat among the pigeons and will be desperate to stick it to the Greek giants and qualify at their expense.
19:45 Werder Bremen v Inter Milan, UEFA Champions League Group B, Sky Sports Interactive
Knowing Bremen, they'll win this game 5-3 and Diego will score a hat-trick. It won't matter a damn, of course, but Thomas Schaaf's men would be my favourite's to win the UEFA Cup if they can squeeze through at Famagusta's expense.
19:45 Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk, UEFA Champions League Group C, Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Barca are through by a mile and look good enough to win the whole thing. Shaktar need to win by a cricket score and hope that Basle can do something similar to Sporting...
19:45 Basle v Sporting, UEFA Champions League Group C, Sky Sports Interactive
... which ain't gonna happen.
19:45 Marseille v Atletico Madrid, UEFA Champions League Group D, Sky Sports Interactive
Not much to see here. A dead rubber deservedly relegated to the red button in favour of more meaningful games.
19:45 PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool, UEFA Champions League Group D, ITV4 & ITV HD
Not much to see here. A dead rubber deservedly relegated to ITV4 in favour of a more meaningful game. Not that that will stop analogue-only scousers from whinging mind. 'We've not all got Freeeview like.'
Wednesday 10 December
19:45 Kettering Town v Notts County, FA Cup 2nd Round Replay, Setanta Sports 1
You have to admire Setanta's chutzpa for putting on a Cup replay amidst all this Champions Leagary. An away fixture at non-league Fleetwood awaits the victor. Both teams will see this as a chance to get through to the fourth round and some much needed attention and revenue. As the league club, Notts should be narrow favourites. However, the fact that this tie has gone to a replay suggests that there is not much between the middle of League 2 and the top of the Blue Square Premier. Football fans who like to be contrary may be interested in this one.
19:45 Celtic v Villarreal, UEFA Champions League Group E, Sky Sports Interactive
Celtic need to win in order to have a chance at a UEFA Cup spot. However, they lost at the weekend and can't even beat Aalborg so...
19:45 Manchester Utd v Aalborg, UEFA Champions League Group E, Sky Sports 2 & HD2
Not much to see here. A dead rubber which deserves to be relegated to the red button in favour of more meaningful games.
19:45 Lyon v Bayern Munich, UEFA Champions League Group F, Sky Sports Interactive
A play-off for the top spot and it's the French with home advantage. Both teams are sufficiently vulnerable to go through as top seeds in the draw. Also, there may be some side interest of Franck Ribery wanting to stick it to the French champions.
19:45 Steaua Bucuresti v Fiorentina, UEFA Champions League Group F, Sky Sports Interactive
What a disappointing return to the Champions League for Fiorentina. At the very least they should be able to console themselves with a UEFA spot. For Steaua its been even worse. Perhaps the two teams can rouse themselves enough to claim their first win? Don't hold your breath.
19:45 Porto v Arsenal, UEFA Champions League Group G, Sky Sports Xtra & HD3
Not much to see here. A dead rubber which deserves to be relegated to the red button in favour of more meaningful games... oh wait, there are no meaningful games.
19:45 Dynamo Kiev v Fenerbahce, UEFA Champions League Group G, Sky Sports Interactive
Sky really did get the shit end of the stick didn't they? Even the games of minor interest are only of minor interest.
19:45 Real Madrid v Zenit St Petersburg, UEFA Champions League Group H, Sky Sports Interactive
Probably the most enjoyable part of Sky's coverage will be to see how Richard Keys will big up this assorted bag of nails while at the same time adopting that same blissfully ignorant and condescending tone when talking about non-Premier League players.
19:45 Juventus v BATE Borisov, UEFA Champions League Group H, Sky Sports Interactive
'After the break, we're off to Juve for another stunning strike by Alex Del Piero who is rapidly becoming Italy's answer to Cristiano Ronaldo. Don't miss that one.'
Thursday 11 December
And on the fourth day, we did rest.
As as I would love Celtic to have a chance of the UEFA Vase, we can only finish 4th.
ReplyDeleteShame that, Kev. So if you had to name one thing that needed to be improved about Celtic in Europe (apart from the obvious away form) what would it be?
ReplyDeleteBetter scouting and use of the megere budget we have compared to the 'Big Boys'.
ReplyDeleteGet that right, we would have a better quality of player.
Does that count as one or two things?
One, two... doesn't matter really. Sounds like a valid point one way or the other!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet The Bhoys still appear to be leading Rangers a merry dance in the Prem. Is it just the step up to European success that would be solved by your suggestion?
Yes. Domestically, we are dominate and our PLC at the moment just spend enough to stay in front of R*ngers, which if we do in turn leads to partaking in The Big Cup.
ReplyDeleteWhile we only make up the numbers in The Big Cup, wie oor turnover, support and history we should be looking at being in the top reaches of The European middle order, which IMO includes teams from Portugal, Germany, Holland etc.
Every season oor aim should be to be in Europa competition after Santa has been. It disnny matter if it's being beat by one of the 'Big Teams' in the last 16 of The Big Cup or getting into the UEFA Vase. That for me is an achievable aim.
Whether we have the scouting, the coaches and the manager to do this is the question.