Before i begin my update i would like to offer my deepest sympathies to the family, friends and team-mates of Espanyol club captain Daniel Jarque who died after he suffered a heart attack following a training session yesterday. My thoughts are with them at this sad time.
Moving onto the title of this update only a couple of weeks ago hardly any Real Sociedad supporters would have heard of Antoine Griezmann since he was in the youth set up and yet to even make the step up to Sanse however with 4 goals in 2 pre-season friendlies he is the talk of San Sebastian.

Chelsea v Hull Live Streaming & Match Preview
Premier League - Chelsea vs Hull City Live Online - Click Here
Saturday, 15th August 2009
Kick Off : 12:45 GMT
Venue : Stamford Bridge, London

Finally the brand new football season is here and to kick it off you can watch last season's 3rd place and this years Community Shield winners Chelsea face one of last seasons success stories Hull City.

The English Premier League is set to start its season this week and The 90th Minute Soccer blog will be having a weekly feature of predicting the results for each match. The first week will be interesting and can be very different to predict as some teams start out in great form while others are still getting the rust off.

The much-awaited fixtures for the Premier League are finally out, and some clubs will silently grumble with what they have been served as the starter, while some others will say that there is no such thing as an easy game in the English top flight.

Birmingham City will be given a ‘red' carpet welcome into the league of extraordinary clubs, when they face a club that is arguably the most popular all over the world.

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Fulham started off their 2009/10 campaign in winning fashion as they brushed aside a Portsmouth team still in turmoil.

Lady luck shone on Roy Hodgson's side as a Clint Dempsey's shot took a heavy deflection off Bobby Zamora and went straight into the back of the net in the 13th minute. A goal that even Hodgson himself admitted was ‘fortuitous' proved to be the perfect start for a rejuvenated Fulham who are aiming to better their 9th place finish last season.

It was announced yesterday that star studded Real Madrid will visit Anoeta on 15th August to honour the centenary of Real Sociedad. It has also been revealed the visitors will not be charging a penny to play in a fantastic gesture to the cash strapped club and any much needed money raised will be kept by Real Sociedad.

Clint Dempsey could hardly be in better form going into the 2009/10 Premier League season. He was recognised as one of the players of the tournament at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, hitting three goals in the United States' run to the final.

Dempsey is the American most likely to make an impact in the forthcoming Premier League season, certainly of the outfield protagonists.

Its been announced that star studded Real Madrid will visit Anoeta on 15th August to honour the centenary of Real Sociedad. It has also been revealed the visitors will not be charging a penny to play in a fantastic gesture to the cash strapped club and any much needed money raised will be kept by Real Sociedad.

Liverpool duo head home

Liverpool's injured duo Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar will fly home from the Far East on Thursday to have potentially serious injuries assessed in the UK.
Both players were injured in Wednesday's 1-1 friendly draw with Thailand in Bangkok.

Everton v Arsenal Live Streaming & Match Preview
Premier League - Everton vs Arsenal Live Online - Click Here
Saturday, 15th August 2009
Kick Off : 17:30 GMT
Venue : Goodison Park, Liverpool

A few years ago it would have been ludicrious to even think that Everton could beat an Arsenal side, and yet when Arsenal travel to Goodison Park this Saturday it shows you how far David Moyes has taken the football club when you actually expect Everton to get at least a point from the game.

The second round of matches in the Bundesliga is upon us with every team keen on a good start to the season. The match of the week sees Bayern Munich hosting Werder Bremen, while champions Wolfsburg face Koeln.
Goal.com previews all the weekend's action...

Saturday 15th August (all times local)
15:30 Bayern Munich – Werder Bremen
15:30 VfB Stuttgart – SC Freiburg
15:30 Hamburg – Borussia Dortmund
15:30 Bayer Leverkusen – 1899 Hoffenheim
15:30 Hannover - Mainz
15:30 Eintracht Frankfurt – 1.

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Record signing Darren Bent proved to be the difference on Steve Bruce's first game as Sunderland manager.

Bent, who cost £10m from spurs this summer, opened the scoring in only the 5th minute and should really have had a few more as Sunderland dominated the encounter. Gary Megson will be unhappy with his sides performance as Sunderland contained any Bolton attacking threat with relative ease; indeed a fantastic save by Fulop which denied Gary Cahill was the closest Bolton came to equalizing.

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Burnley started off their first season in England's top flight for 33 years with a defeat away to a Stoke side who showed why they avoided relegation last time around.

Two first half set pieces proved to be Burnley's downfall; the highly rated Ryan Shawcross opened the scoring with an unchallenged header then Rory Delap continued his throw-in antics with a perfectly weighted ball that Stephen Jordan glanced into the back of the net.

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Man City started what will prove to be an important season for Mark Hughes with 2-0 victory away at Ewood Park.

Emmanuel Adebayor showed the City faithful why Hughes decided to stump up £25m for him when the Togo striker opened his City account by scoring a fantastic goal just 3 minutes into his debut.

Ground: Rockingham Road
Date: Saturday 15th August 2009
Comp: Conference
Match: Kettering 1 AFC Wimbledon 2 HT: 0-1 Att: 1,746
Thomas 74: Kedwell 9, 66(pen)
Additional: Entrance £18 (stand) £14 (terrace), Programme £3, Hamburger £2.80, Hot drinks £1.00
Rockingham Road in pictures
Despite my decision to follow Leek Town this season, this game was booked in advance as a birthday present from my Dad, an AFC Wimbledon fan.

Unless they have the fortune of having European qualification matches to look forward to, English football fans will be looking at their team's pre-season itinerary. There is other football to enjoy before the Premier League starts on the 15th August, with the European U21 Championship and the Confederations Cup nearing their conclusion.

Even before a ball was kicked on the 15th August, fans of the 20 English clubs were anticipating one of the most intriguing premier league seasons to date.

And here we are, almost half way through the 2009/2010 season and it hasn't failed to deliver by providing us with as many talking points as we might be forgiven for expecting through the course of a whole season.