England: Premier League Weekend Review, Reports & Analysis

Wigan's shock win against Tottenham was admirable but not unfamiliar, Sunderland also stunned high-profile opposition whilst Arsenal passed a stringent test at Blackburn.

Elsewhere, both Manchester United and Chelsea enjoyed a relatively easy weekend, Blackpool's first home game of the season was an entertaining affair, 10-man Bolton fought from two goals down while Wolves and Newcastle played out a bruising clash.

Richard Jolly at Old Trafford

Paul Wilson at Ewood Park

Stuart James at Villa Park

Kevin Palmer at Stamford Bridge

Andy Hunter at Anfield

Monday MLS Breakdown: LA Galaxy Seek Return To Form

As Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena contemplated the reasons for the Galaxy's 2-0 home defeat to Kansas City on Saturday night, he focused on one glaring issue.

The Fifth Official: K-Mac no longer the Villain

Few of us like Monday but The Fifth Official does, for it brings with it a chance for him to point the finger and laugh. Here he pulls out the pretty, the puzzling and the downright pig-ugly from a five-star weekend.

Wags & Stags

Welcome to Wags and Stags where we pit the Barclays Premier League's perfect pairings against each other as they represent their respective clubs in our fun-filled game. We've trawled squads around the country to select the Premier League stars - and their better halves - to "play" for their clubs in our contest of glitz and glamour.

A couple will represent each team taking part in the Premier League this season and be matched as per their club fixtures in a battle of brains, brawn and beauty.

Click on the match-up and vote for your favourites. We will then see how our Wags and Stags league table compares with the real thing.


Stag...

Friday MLS Forecast

The Forecast evaluates the reason behind the Eastern Conference woes before revealing its Week 22 picks.

England: Premier League Previews & Predictions

Blackburn's Saturday lunchtime meeting with Arsenal is the first of 10 Premier League matches this weekend. Wigan will be out to avoid another 9-1 drubbing when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur, a rampant Chelsea entertain Stoke, Manchester United host West Ham while Manchester City travel to Sunderland on Sunday.


Preview I
Preview II

Tom Adams previews Blackburn vs. Arsenal
Jon Carter previews Manchester United vs. West Ham

Lawro's Predictions

The Mill +

Friday's Rumours



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Spain: La Liga Weekend Preview

Real Madrid begin their quest to wrest the La Liga title off Barcelona when they travel to Real Mallorca.

Preview

Germany: Bundesliga Weekend Preview

Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund will be bidding to gain their first points when they wrap up the second round of matches on Sunday.

Preview

Eduardo Alvarez's Primera Liga Predictor

After experiencing the indescribable joy of witnessing my own team win the World Cup final, could I be bothered to write about the irrelevant minutiae of a two-horse national competition? (Expletive) yes! True wisdom lies in being able to make the most out of our daily/weekly pleasures, while hoping for something out of the ordinary to happen every once in a while... even if it's only once in a lifetime. Back to our weekly pleasures then. A new La Liga season is about to begin, therefore it's time for the Soccernet Quiniela to return. Let's start. As usual, it's '1' for a home win, 'X' for a draw and '2' for an away win.

Roberto Gotta in Italy

Once again, then, the best way to look at Italian football is by focusing on the pitch. If you really concentrate, you can block out the vision - and thought - of the negative stuff: directors and owners you'd like never to see again, unruly fans, agents who are taking over the airwaves and sports pages with their, er, objective opinion about their own players, financial instability and hyping of moderately interesting transfer deals. Just look at the pitch and follow the ball rolling about: isn't that, after all, why we started loving football in the first place?

Sid Lowe in Spain

Barcelona will again look to rely on graduates of their academy to repel the threat of Real Madrid in the coming La Liga season.

Ideologies clash as Barcelona and Real Madrid prepare for La Liga duel.

Europa League: Aston Villa suffer recurring nightmare as Rapid Vienna inflict damage again

"Your nightmare returns" proclaimed the banner held aloft by the Rapid Vienna supporters beforehand, and so it proved as Aston Villa were knocked out of Europe by the Austrian side for the second successive season on a night of crushing disappointment for the Midlands club. The match was within their grasp when Emile Heskey put them 2-1 up and 3-2 ahead on aggregate but, as was the case last year, Villa pressed the self-destruct button and allowed Rapid back into the game late on.

Emmanuel Adebayor threatens to leave Manchester City

Emmanuel Adebayor has threatened to leave Manchester City before the end of the transfer window. The striker is ready to move on if there is an offer for him before 31 August as he fears spending a large part of the season on the substitutes' bench if he stays.



Hey Ade! These guys might be willing to take you...

Europa League Draw

Manchester City face Italian giants Juventus in the Europa League group stage, while Liverpool tackle Napoli.

Masch Bound for Barcelona

Javier Mascherano has been given permission to open talks with Barcelona after Liverpool agreed terms with the Spanish giants.

Dominic Raynor: Off The Ball

The new season is upon us and Off The Ball will be scratching around the underbelly of professional football for the duration of the campaign to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.

This week, Manchester United's new £7.4 million signing is dropped from the reserves, Panionios fans dig up their own pitch, there is a phantom underpant slasher at Chelsea and Khalid Boulahrouz kicks a ball at a woman's head.

Encounter with Inter fuels Tottenham's Champions League adventure

Tottenham are alone among the four Premier League clubs in having a Champions League group they can really savour.

UEFA Champions League: The Groups

Group A
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Tottenham
FC Twente

Group B
Lyon
Benfica
Schalke
Hapoel Tel Aviv

Group C
Manchester United
Valencia
Rangers
Bursaspor

Group D
Barcelona
Panathinaikos
Copenhagen
Rubin Kazan

Group E
Bayern Munich
Roma
Basel
CFR Cluj

Group F
Chelsea
Marseille
Spartak Moscow
MSK Zilina

Group G
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Ajax
Auxerre

Group F
Arsenal
Shakhtar Donetsk
Braga
Partizan Belgrade

Matches
September 14-15, 28-29; October 19-20; November 2-3, 23-24; December 7-8.

Eduardo, Jermain Defoe and the Great English Hypocrisy

The crucial second goal of the night came to Spurs through a piece of outrageous cheating from Jermain Defoe. With a high ball coming in, Defoe clearly and deliberately controlled the ball with his hand, bringing the ball down to enable him to score the goal that put Spurs firmly on their way to the group phase.

What consequences then for Defoe?