If there was any consolation, this was the first time this season we had really deserved to lose: both the defeats to United and City were particularly galling because we were the better team.
Credit Sunderland. While their performance wasn't out of this world, they did what they had to do. Click to continue reading...

Coming in late last night, a little tipsy, I noticed a friend had emailed me a link to a Youtube clip of Van Persie going off injured after a tackle by Giorgio Chiellini.
If you watch the video, Chiellini does little wrong. Robin bursts into the box and he comes across to cut it out - whilst my original reaction (below) was to blame him, I don't think this is fair. Click to continue reading...

With Lukasz Fabianski's injury, it is pretty unlikely that a single one of the players involved in Wednesday's Carling Cup match will start the North London Derby tomorrow. As such, it is very difficult to draw any great conclusions from the Liverpool match.
In terms of momentum, it will mean nothing - maybe it will inspire the players for the next round but no more than that. Click to continue reading...

Patrice Evra has told reporters of the pain that him and his United teammates are feeling following their 2-0 loss to rivals Liverpool. United were defeated by a Fernando Torres goal, and a late David N'gog goal added salt to United's wounds.

"Normally when United play we create at least five or six clear chances, but we only had the one when Valencia hit the crossbar.

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Arsene Wenger has his sights set on Sunderland captain Lorik Cana as he aims to bring some bite to Arsenal's lightweight midfield. Reports from the Sunderland Echo suggest that Arsenal will do their best to sign the Albanian midfielder when the transfer window opens.

Cana is a new signing at the Stadium of Light having joined the Black Cats over the summer.

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Lyon's 2-1 Champions League victory at Anfield on Tuesday night sparked mass hysteria amongst the Liverpool faithful. While almost everyone points the finger at the absence of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in recent weeks, even more people are blaming manager Rafa Benitez. There is no doubt about it: people are calling for Rafa Benitez's head.

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Patience is a virtue, and for two of the Premier League's best players, that patience has finally paid off. The crazy thing about it all? These two players are on the same team! And the lucky team is Sunderland.

It was just last season that Sunderland were in the heat of the relegation battle.

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Another week of Premiership action is now in the books, and Thursday means one thing: it's time for the Thursday Throwdown from A to Z. Here we go...

A� is for Anelka. Chelsea fans should be counting their lucky stars that both Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba are in spectacular form.

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With the opening weekend of the 2009/10 Premier League season now in the books, we can now look back and see who came out winners after the first round of action and who disappointed. Here are the opening weekend's winners and losers.

Winners Arsenal

Arsene Wenger's side has been heavily tipped as the side most likely to miss out on the top four this season, but an emphatic 6-1 win over Everton on Saturday sent a loud and clear message to the rest of the Premiership.

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When I wrote a quick post about the fixture list in mid-June it was never my intention for that to be my last blog post for a couple of months. However, whilst I wrote a couple of half pieces I never finished them off. July saw a month of particularly hard work and to say I've had limited internet access so far this month is a massive understatement. Click to continue reading...

Landing a top defender aside (and it may well happen before the month is out), it has been a summer Mark Hughes would have wished for.
He now has a squad as strong as seen at the club, more importantly his squad, in his mould and with two quality players for every position providing options in terms of positions and formations. Click to continue reading...

This coming season promises to be the most exciting in years. Of course, every coming season promises to be the most exciting in years. This is one of the many truisms of English Football. Last season we gaped open mouthed as Manchester City clumsily wooed Global Franchise Entities with the promise of dreams and Ferrero Rocher.

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Este fin de semana pasado se realizaron muchos partidos, la mayoría buscando que muchos clubes europeos cierren su preparación de cara a algunos campeonatos que aún no inician como La Liga en España, o como la Premier League De Inglaterra; a diferencia de la Bundesliga (Alemania) y la Eredivisie (Holanda) que ya iniciaron.

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This time for The Observer:

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My contribution for the team over at lowlifeopinions as part of the Premier League preview. Click to continue reading...

Never say we don't keep you up-to-date with football news from around the world... Here's another new feature for SPAOTP - Jeu du Jour, a weekly round-up of all that's happening in French football. The new season starts this Saturday, so here's our preview of what to expect from each of the twenty participating clubs in 2009/10. Click to continue reading...

Something new for you now on SPAOTP. Here's Sp3ktor with the first in a regular series of round-ups on Italian football - and what better way to start than a look at each of the twenty participating clubs.
Atalanta
Very much a yo-yo club, these close neighbours to the Milanese giants finished a creditable 11th last season. Click to continue reading...

The pre-season is in full flow and the build up to the new season is getting more exciting by the day. Therefore, let's take� pre-season preparation as a variable to preview this upcoming season in football rather than discussing the oft-repeated, boring variable known as the transfer market.

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The season is fast approaching, and with preseason friendlies now fully underway squads are getting ready for the 2009/10 Premier League season. Last season saw Aston Villa comfortable in fourth place for much of the season before stuttering over the finish line, but Martin O'Neill's side lead a long list of clubs hoping to crack into the four coveted Champions League spots this season.

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The road to the Champions League group stages is longer and more treacherous than Alberto Contador on the mountain stages of the Tour de France.
Of course some clubs are not required to join that road until it becomes a lot wider with tarmac, cat's eyes and those flashing signs warning you against bottle necks at Junction 11. Click to continue reading...

Este es el nuevo uniforme del Club América, local y visita:

Para ver más detalles de los uniformes, visita: Galería del Nuevo Uniforme del América

Vía | Foto | Club América

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Como que la gente del América se decidió a darnos muchas buenas noticias esta semana, y andan con todo. Ayer les dijimos en exclusiva lo del rediseño del sitio web. Obviamente, hoy ya lo hacen oficial mediante un comunicado:

Éste viernes 17 de Julio de 2009 en punto de las 19 horas, encontrarán en exclusiva la fotogalería del uniforme para el torneo Apertura 2009 que será presentado ésta noche en San Francisco, California.

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Fantasy Premier League has re-opened its doors for the 2009/10 season. Take a look at the new additions and their valuations... Michael Owen at £8m, anyone? There have been a couple of rule changes this season:

• Emergency captain if yours doesn't play
• Transfers carry over if not used
• Private Head to Head leagues

Read more about those changes and their impact here.

Click to continue reading...

While the summer months toil away and the transfer rumors get even more boring (or exciting if you're a Football Manager fan), football fans around the world start to get excited for their club's upcoming season. Will your club succeed? Will they fail? Will your star player remain healthy? Who will Joey Barton hit next?

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The 2009-10 Premier League fixture list was released today. I must say, I like what I'm seeing.

The first two months look rather comfortable, away to Fulham and a home date with Tottenham looking the toughest of the lot. We play Liverpool and Manchester United at home in October and November, respectively, before closing out our Big 4� slate with away matches against those two in April and May.

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Its worth remembering that any advantage (or disadvantage) the fixture list gives is minimal. Ultimately, every team has to play every other team twice - I know that's no great insight but it's easily brushed over by Ol' Rednose so he can make a complaint.
Anyhow:
1) Every team is going to experience greater fixture congestion than usual. Click to continue reading...

For those of you that weren't already aware, today's the day the Premier League releases it's fixtures for the 2009/10 season.
It's a day of great excitement but one that's somewhat stifled by the inability of blogsites like us to display any of those fixtures. We'd like to show you who your favourite team's playing in the opening weeks of the season, who they're playing over the Christmas period and who they're playing when the excrement hits the fan as the season's ending in May, but we can't. Click to continue reading...

Back in August 2008, Some People Are On The Pitch wrote one of its most popular articles ever. It wasn't a lengthy thesis on the things we hate most about Cristiano Ronaldo, nor was it an online poll asking you for your happiest memories involving Milton Keynes Dons. Somewhat surprisingly, it was an article listing the kit manufacturers of each of the 92 Premier and Football League teams for 2008/09. Click to continue reading...