Morning all.

We'd best start with the bad news this morning and that's Jack Wilshere. He's suffered a 'little setback' according to Arsene Wenger and although the manager was obviously trying to play it down a bit, saying he couldn't put a timeframe on it because Jack has to see consultants, the fear is that this could keep him out for at least 6-8 weeks, if not the rest of the season.

Spurs were already in the midst of an injury crisis when Brazilian midfielder Sandro limped out of action on the half hour mark of yesterday's win over West Brom. The news got worse as Sandro's replacement Jake Livermore left proceedings after a clash of heads with Younes Kaboul.

The situation has left the club with few right sided options in midfield with Scott Parker nursing a knee injury and Tom Huddlestone a long term absentee.

By Chris Wright

Chelsea held an open training session in aid of the 'Help A Capital Child' charity at The Bridge yesterday afternoon ahead of their midweek trip to Tottenham and we've got photographic proof people...

The West Stand at Stamford Bridge in all it's glory

The replacements for David Luiz and Alex are wheeled out

"These gloves smell of.

Yesterday during the open training session at Stamford Bridge we had the news that John Terry had suffered an injury and at first was doubtful to face Spurs on Thursday night. Thank god that it seems as though we will now be OK for the game as I really believe he is one player we simply cannot afford to miss right now.

Squad sheets: Aston Villa v Liverpool

Stewart Downing, who scored the only goal of the game in the corresponding fixture at the end of last season, can expect a hostile reception from Aston Villa supporters on his return to his former club. The England winger has still to score for a Liverpool side that have lost only once in their last 10 league matches.

Tomorrow's game at Norwich gives Newcastle United a chance to get back to their winning ways. But they will have to do that without top center-back Steven Taylor, who was injured in the game against Chelsea last Saturday afternoon, and is now out for the season after undergoing surgery on his Achilles last Monday.

News today in the Journal that the powers that be at Newcastle will be deciding whether to bring in two new center-backs in the January transfer window. James Perch -- becomes important player for Newcastle The big bad news on Saturday was with just two minutes left in the game Steven Taylor ruptured his Achilles, and he is in London today having an operation that [.

The Rapids start the playoffs tomorrow night at the Dick against the Columbus Crew. 4 games in the next 11 days separate them from another trip to MLS Cup. Tomorrow night its simple, win or go home. There will be 30 minutes and, if necessary, PK's to decide a winner. Of course last year when Colorado started their run to MLS Cup they did it by beating the Crew in the first round.

By Chris Wright

RAT!

He's probably not the worst, he's definitely not the first and he sure as excreta won't be the last, but Wisla Krakow's Gervasio Nunez showed his true rat colours in getting Moussa Dembele sent-off in the Europa League last night.

Team news, manager quotes and match facts ahead of the Champions League Group F fixture between Marseille and Arsenal at Stade Velodrome.

TEAM NEWS

Marseille lacked the services of playmakerMathieu Valbuena at the weekend as they drew 0-0 with Toulouse, but the the diminutive midfielder.

Mais um jogo da Indian Ocean Games, foi jogado no dia 09/08/2011, na cidade de Victoria-SEY, onde jogaram as seleções de Seychelles (199º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção de Maldives (160º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado.
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Jean-Pierre Rakotonjanahary-MAD
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Nelson Laurence, aos 16 minutos do primeiro tempo, sendo seu terceiro gol pela seleção nacional.

Mais um jogo da Indian Ocean Games, foi disputado no dia 06/08/2011, na cidade de Victoria-SEY, onde jogaram as seleções de Seychelles (199º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção de Mauricio (195º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Eliminatórias Continentais
2008Curepipe 09/09/2007 MRI1:1 (0:1)SEY Group matches2008Roche Caiman 07/10/2006 SEY2:1 (1:0)MRI Group matches1998Roche Caiman 24/08/1996 SEY1:1 (0:1)MRI Preliminary round1998Bellevue 08/08/1996 MRI0:0SEY Preliminary round1990Roche Caiman 16/10/1988 SEY1:0MRI First round1990Curepipe 02/10/1988 MRI3:0 (2:0)SEY First round
Amistosos
Witbank 19/07/2008 MRI0:7 (0:2)SEY Group matches
Antananarivo 14/08/2007 MRI3:0 (2:0)SEY First stage2006Roche Caiman 28/06/2006 SEY2:1 (0:0)MRI 2003Curepipe 02/09/2003 MRI0:0SEY 2001Port Louis 26/09/2002 MRI1:0 (0:0)SEY 1998Saint-Pierre 15/08/1998 SEY4:3 (0:0)MRI 1993Roche Caiman 28/08/1993 SEY2:6 (0:0)MRI 1990Antananarivo 25/08/1990 MRI2:0 (2:0)SEY 1987Roche Caiman 15/10/1988 SEY1:0 (0:0)MRI 1986Curepipe 14/09/1986 MRI2:0 (1:0)SEY 1986Roche Caiman 31/08/1986 SEY1:2 (1:2)MRI
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Harouna Hassui-FRA
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Nelson Laurence, no primeiro minutos de Seychelles.

By Chris Wright

I'm usually fairly passive when it comes to getting riled up over football, but I routinely make an exception for Real Madrid's ankle-buster in chief, Pepe.

Dear sweet Jesus-on-a-stick how I hate this disgusting, conniving, cowardly, nefarious, maliciously-unhinged c**t with the burning passion of a thousand suns the most recent case in point being his Achilles-shredding, head-kicking assault on Levante's Xavi Torres during Madrid's shock 1-0 defeat over the weekend.

Squad sheets: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

Harry Redknapp's distaste for the Europa League had veered into parody by the time he fielded just one of the team to have beaten Wolves last Sunday, but the importance he placed on this fixture was genuine. Spurs's early-season form has been dubious and if they are to end their six-month recession then victory against nominal rivals and a team whom they beat twice last season would be a start.

A muggy night, a sparse crowd (hello, prep football) and Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena has the squad rotation in full effect.

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts returns from injury for his first start since June, Bryan Jordan slots in at right back for his second start of the season, Paolo Cardozo starts up front in his third start of the season and Chad Barrett is alongside him for his first start since, um, Monday.

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal side are already facing a major injury crisis, only three matches into the Premier League season. Last night it was revealed that center back Thomas Vermaelen underwent an achilles operation in Sweden, ruling out the influential Belgian for at least a month.

The injury, combined with Jack Wilshere's persistent injury problems, means that the struggling Gunners will continue to be without some of their key players.

Just when you thought things were on the up at Arsenal, and lets face it they couldn't have got much worse could they, there are reports in today's Daily Mirror saying that defender Thomas Vermaelen could be out for two months! The defender took a knock on his Achilles against Udinese two weeks ago which [.

Good morning from a wild and windy Dublin. I think summer, such as it was, is now well and truly gone.

There's gloomy news to start with this morning involving Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian is set to miss two months having undergone ankle surgery in Stockholm early this week. He picked up a knock away to Udinese and although Arsene Wenger was hopeful he might play against United at Old Trafford things have taken a very obvious turn for the worse.

Morning all, sorry about the technical issues if you were trying to get to the site this morning. Gremlins. And not the cool kind that you get when you make Junichi Inamoto wet after midnight. Should be cool again now.

And speaking of gremlins, Jack Wilshere has got them in his ankle. Turns out that story yesterday in the Mirror was on the money, sadly, and Jack confirmed he'd be out for 2-3 months on his Twitter.

Having brought Harry Kane, Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend into the 18 man squad for tonight's return leg against Hearts, the exact line up is harder than most to predict.

What we do know is that Huddlestone and Modric are doubtful while King, Sandro, Pienaar, Rose, Gallas and Palacios are definitely out.

The news of Spurs sudden injury crisis in midfield may have wider implications than mere selection for tomorrow's tie with Hearts.

Daniel Levy's promised period of streamlining has been slow to say the least but after Robbie Keane left the club earlier this week, it had been hoped that more would follow.

A 2010 postseason rematch is set to take place in the Mile High City, as the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids host the surging Columbus Crew (9:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).

The Rapids have found new life after the Achilles' tear that ruled star striker Conor Casey out for the rest of the season.

Call them the bananas, call them the Village People, call them traffic cones, or call them the Crew. Whatever you call them, they're in town to play the Rapids tomorrow night. Columbus is the top team in the East but are level on points with the Rapids. The last two times Colorado has played a team from the East they were on top of the table and the Rapids beat them.

Players to watch in Scotland 2011-12 is a post from: Just Football

Here's a few players plying their trade in Scottish football who, for one reason or another, are worth keeping an eye out for this season:

Shaun Hutchinson (Motherwell)

The 20 year-old central defender was brought to Fir Park by Jim Gannon but was frozen out during Craig Brown's time in charge.

Players to watch in Scotland 2011-12 is a post from: Just Football

Here's a few players plying their trade in Scottish football who, for one reason or another, are worth keeping an eye out for this season:

Shaun Hutchinson (Motherwell)

The 20 year-old central defender was brought to Fir Park by Jim Gannon but was frozen out during Craig Brown's time in charge.

Well they also have to play the Union, but I'm guessing that at least a couple of the guys will take the opportunity to try a cheesesteak. Its somewhat of a homecoming for the Ginger Ninja as he went to high school and college in the Philly area. The Rapids get the honor of being FOX Soccer Channel's Game of the Week tomorrow night, kickoff is at 5:30.

The Colorado Rapids looked to be in a world of trouble when star striker Conor Casey went down with a season-ending Achilles tear, but for one week, a new forward option emerged to dazzle the Rapids and keep Colorado on a playoff path.

Sanna Nyassi notched his first career hat-trick in a mid-week blowout win vs.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

BY ADAM SERRANO

Juan Pablo Angel is hoping that a scoring tear is on its way. For one of the most proflic scorers in MLS history, Angel has been unable to get into form this season for the LA Galaxy during a season where he has dealt with a cross country move as well as various injuries.

As I predicted, the Rapids lost in Seattle by a goal. As I didn't predict it was a 4-3 goal-fest instead of the expected defensive battle. The Rapids got off to a good start, with a Wells Thompson goal off a lazy Seattle clearance in the first 5 minutes. Not surprisingly Colorado gave the lead right back within 5 minutes as the back line was beaten again, for at least the 3rd time in the first 10 minutes.

While Angel Reyna's first-half strike provided the lone tally in Club America's 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field Thursday night, the friendly stood out for U.S. national team and MLS fans for a couple of other reasons.

Attack-minded American left back Edgar Castillo started and played the first half for the Mexican side, which has sent him on loan to three clubs over the last two years.

The U.S. women's national team has already cemented its place in the FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals, but a win or a draw is still needed in its final group game on Wednesday (2:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN3.com) if the team is to avoid an encounter with Marta-led Brazil in the first knockout round.

A report out of OregonLive.com yesterday evening suggests that one of the Portland Timbers' most prominent players (and most expensive) could find himself on the bench. Kenny Cooper, despite coming into the league and team with high expectations has had a lackluster season so far scoring only three goals and not making much of an impression in the final third.

We were all disappointed when Sam Ricketts ruptured his Achilles last February. It's no secret that our squad has the depth of a kiddie pool, and Ricketts was starting to look quite good as well. Well that was four months ago, and while Sam has made a lot of progress, thanks to an interview with the official site, it's clear he still has a long way to go.

Juliano Belletti spent just under three years at Chelsea. Today he announced his retirement from the game. It's safe to say he will be greatly missed.

Persistent injuries ravaged Belletti late in his career, particularly during his return to Brazil after his contract wasn't renewed by us in June 2010.

It's now less than two weeks until the 2011 Women's World Cup starts in Germany, and over the next couple of weeks we are taking the time to bring you a quick run-down of the teams that are taking part in another of the groups of this year's competition. We have already presented Group A, Group B, and Group C.

Like Achilles' ankles or Steffi Graf's backhand, Swansea City's weakness over the past few seasons of approximate excellence has been all too obvious. Jason Scotland was the key fulcrum for a time, but the goals for column has rarely been a totalizer at the Liberty. That all ended this Spring when Brendan Rodgers - he of the Big League contacts - took a drive down Fulham Broadway and came back

After four NBA Championship rings, six teams, 19 seasons, 28,596 career points and countless laughs, Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement on Wednesday. The 39-year-old made the announcement via video and posted it on his Twitter page.

"I really, really thought about coming back, but this Achilles' is very damaged, and if I had it done the recovery would be so long we'd have the same outcome as this last year — everyone sitting around and waiting for me," O'Neal said.

Fulham will be looking to halt Liverpool's surge on Monday, with the Reds aiming to clamber into fifth spot.
The Cottagers will welcome Kenny Dalglish's side to Craven Cottage in buoyant mood, having enjoyed a productive run of their own of late.
Back-to-back victories have helped to lift them into the top half of the table and they can cement that standing with another positive result.

So what's worse, United fans, having the worst offense in the league or the worst defense? Unless we get somebody planted on the bench that has a clue about how to structure a defense or import a player that's going to be vocal, bang some thick (or just inexperienced) heads, and do the organizing on the field, we're looking at another year wandering lost in the non-playoff forest.

So what's worse, United fans, having the worst offense in the league or the worst defense? Unless we get somebody planted on the bench that has a clue about how to structure a defense or import a player that's going to be vocal, bang some thick (or just inexperienced) heads, and do the organizing on the field, we're looking at another year wandering lost in the non-playoff forest.