Chelsea vs. Arsenal, David Conn on the Glazer Money, Europa League, Inter Milan, Southampton vs. Manchester United

Chelsea vs. Arsenal. February 7, 2010. Photo by The Editor

First it hit one computer, then another, then another, and before you knew it, all 74 computers at SSN Headquarters were down. Caput. Finito. We're back, though, and just in time for what should be another rocking weekend of Le Foot. Let's hit it, beginning with Premier League previews and such, where the London Derby down The Bridge dominates the headlines...

Premier League Preview

Top Storylines

10 Things To Look Out For This Weekend

Premier League Watchability

50-50 Challenge

Michael Cox: How Chelsea & Arsenal should line up

Andi Thomas: For the first time in ages, Chelsea might actually be fun

Richard Jolly: Fabregas changed Arsenal forever - but his pursuit of greatness failed

Iain MacIntosh: City must beware West Ham

Paul Merson's Predictions

Lawro's Predictions

Check out what Scott Murray's into: A brief guide to Man Utd v Southampton: The fixture that shaped the Premier League. Indeed! Lovely.

Serie A Weekend Preview

La Liga Weekend Preview

There was Europa League action yesterday. Liverpool drew at Bordeaux, Spurs beat Azerbaijani Giants FK Qarabag (seriously), and Borussia Dortmund beat Krasnodar. Here is a wrap, tables, results, yadda, yadda. More? How about Five Talking Points?

Manchester United. Oh, dear. They're to pay £15m to the six Glazer siblings every year. WTF?! David Conn is on the case and says this: "A club founded by railway workers in 1878 has become a vehicle for paying six siblings £2.5m a year each – and Greg Dyke and Richard Scudamore have not said a word."

James Horncastle wants to talk Serie A and he wants to talk Inter Milan and we want to listen, dammmit! 

Jim White wants to talk The Redemption of Arsene Wenger: Arsenal's Stubborn Sorcerer Ready to Rise Again. We want to listen, dammmit!

Back Stateside, Seattle take on Vancouver. Here's a Weekend Preview for MLS.

Woop! We out.

Onward!!

-SSN

pitchrivals.com

Payet Brace Lifts West Ham Over Newcastle, The Champions League Returns, Sid in Spain, Paolo in Italy, Rafa in Germany, Forest Trailer

Tuesday = Awesome! Great pieces from the Scribes below, Champions League football this afternoon, and the hint of autumn in the air. Glorious. Let's get going!

There was Monday Night Football last night and it took place in East London. The Hammers defeated Newcastle on the back of two goals from Dimitri Payet. Dominic Fifield was at Upton Park and filed this report.

There are matches this afternoon, as well. Champions League matches, in fact. There are a slew of them, but Manchester City vs. Juventus and PSV vs. Manchester United catch the eye. Here are some previews to get you prepared:

Champions League Preview: The storylines, favorites and predictions

Ultimate Guide to Champions League Matchday 1

Group Storylines

Week One Preview

Manchester City vs. Juventus: Preview

Manchester City vs. Juventus: Preview II

PSV Eindhoven vs. Manchester United: Preview

Miguel Delaney: €701 million gap between richest and poorest sides

Mike Goodman: Surveying the Early-Season Worries of Juventus, Chelsea, Sevilla, Gladbach

Graham Hunter: Will Messi or Ronaldo top Champions League scoring?

Gabriele Marcotti: Why we love Europe's premier competition

Michael Cox: PSV, Roma, Lyon, Sevilla could upset established order

It's Tuesday and that means it's time to go IN DEPTH and get to the heart of the matter. It's...Scribes!

Where? Spain. Who? Sid Lowe. What? Messi proves Barcelona’s father figure in key victory over Atlético

Where? Germany. Who? Raphael Honigstein. What? Eintracht’s Mr Extra Ordinary gives Frankfurt hope of reviving the glory days

Where? Italy. Who? James Horncastle. What? Reviving Juve will take time

Where? South America. Who? Tim Vickery. What? The Bolivian soap opera of Julio Baldivieso's coaching appointment

Where? Italy. Who? Paolo Bandini. What? Milan’s Mihajlovic picks up the tab as his friend at Inter takes the points

Where? Germany. Who? Uli Hesse. What? Turkish Super Lig offers German footballers more than just big wages

Tuesday also means Marcotti's Musings. This week Gab is gabbing about Man United progress, Liverpool do not; Inter's derby win; Ronaldo, Messi star.

Backheel Breakfast

Do you believe in miracles? Do you? Here's the trailer for the upcoming film on Forest's improbable run to the European Cup in 1979. We can't wait to see the film!

We should probably catch up with Major League Soccer as the league heads toward the end of the campaign. Here are some Power Rankings and reviews and updates and such.

Podcast! Today it's...Special times call for a special pod and on today's Football Weekly, AC Jimbo welcomes Barney Ronay, Paolo Bandini, John Ashdown and Ian McCourt to near-earth orbit as they marvel over Anthony Martial's Manchester United debut and riff on Chelsea's continuing misery. United saw off a sorry Liverpool 3-1, and will quite likely do the same to PSV in the Champions League on Tuesday night – but Chelsea look ripe for the picking at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv having slumped to another disastrous defeat, this time away at Everton. We look ahead to the rest of the big games in the Champions League, including Juventus' trip to the Etihad to take on unbeaten Manchester City, and Arsenal's trip to a Zagreb side that hasn't been beaten in 11 months. Finally. we praise Leicester for their astonishing comeback against Aston Villa, get the lowdown on the Milan derby, and even show some love to mighty Aberdeen, who are off to their best start in decades.

Hey look! Ben Lyttleton is taking us around Europe. How thoughtful.

And finally...the Premier League Most Injured XI of the 21st Century!

Onward!!

-SSN

pitchrivals.com

Liverpool Listless, Chelsea Calamitous, Inter Intriguing, Leicester Loving It, Boca Beat River, Ronny Fires Five, Messi Boosts Barca, Monday Night Football

Hello! A very pleasant Monday to you and yours. Tons and tons and tons of stuff to get through today. We knew it would be a big weekend, and it was. Hopefully you were able to enjoy some of the action. Let's take a look at what went down, beginning with the Premier League...

10 Talking Points From The Weekend’s Action
Things We Learned

Heroes & Villains

EPL Notes

Manchester United 3 - 1 Liverpool: Phil McNulty at Old Trafford

Manchester United 3 - 1 Liverpool: Daniel Taylor at Old Trafford

Michael Cox: United and Liverpool both show lack of tactical cohesion

Everton 3 - 1 Chelsea: Paul Wilson at Goodison Park

Everton 3 - 1 Chelsea: Mandeep Sanghera at Goodison Park

John Brewin: Mourinho the winner must deal with losing

Paul Wilson: Mourinho’s woes start with Chelsea’s defence, midfield & attack

Phil McNulty: Has Jose Mourinho blown the title already?

Arsenal 2 - 0 Stoke City: Amy Lawrence at the Emirates Stadium

Team of the Weekend

Garth Crooks's Team of the Weekend

Down in Spain, Messi came on as a sub to save his mates with a late winner. Here are Three Quick Thoughts from Barcelona's win at Atlético. Not to be outdone, Ronaldo netted five times to become Real Madrid's all-time La Liga leading scorer. Wow. Here's more from the weekend in Spain. More tomorrow with El Sid. Over in Italy, as mentioned above, Inter won the Milan Derby. Here's a weekend wrap for Serie A. More tomorrow with Paolo. And here's a little Double Shot of Spanish and Italian Weekend fun.

Backheel Breakfast

In Él SUPERclásico, Boca edged River 1 - 0. Here's a report. Apparently nobody died, so that's good.

European Round-Up? We'd love to! Focus on Siena? Why not?

There one more match in the Premier League this week. Newcastle travel down to London to face West Ham this evening. Here's your preview.

That's quite fine to get the week rolling.

Onward!!

-SSN

pitchrivals.com