These players are not worthy of wearing the shirts of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, West Ham, Hull, Aston Villa and Man City.

Phillip Degen (Liverpool)

Why this guy was ever purchased is a mystery as complex and pointless as The Da Vinci Code.

A selection of talent from Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton, Stoke City, Burnley, Sunderland and Aston Villa who should get more in the way of plaudits.

Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool)

A player who only seems to get his chance when someone is out injured or badly off form.

When WAGs stop spending their partner's cash and start earning it Richard Dunne begins life at Aston Villa £2 million wealthier than he might have after his wife demanded a pay-off from Manchester City. Helen Dunne decided to play hardball with football's latest moneybags when it became clear that he would be sold following Joleon Lescott's [.

After just one month of the 2009-2010 Premier League season, ESPN2 has generated an average viewing audience of 274,128 according to Nielsen Ratings.

The ratings are impressive thus far given the fact that no two heavyweight teams have faced each other on ESPN2 as of yet. The first massive match-up to be aired on ESPN2 will be the October 31st clash between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (Sep 4, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Pop quiz time. Which team finished the 2008-2009 English Premier League table in the top seven places, had the forth least goals conceded last season in league play, and has advanced to the group stages of European competition this term? Manchester United you say?

Last week coach Fabio Capello revealed England's national squad roster for the upcoming September 6th friendly against Slovenia, followed by the September 9th World Cup Qualifier against Crotia. There were a few surprises on the roster additions, but what might have been most surprising was a few of the names left off of the list.

Now every manager has his different training techniques Some inspire. Some perspire. But Martin O'Neill as gone down another route. He has had a fight with one of his players...a real fight! The incident happened after a very heated exchange between the manager, and versitile former Hammer's skipper Nigel Reo-Coker.

It looks like a few teams in the Premier League could suffer a fair bit when the African Cup of Nations 2010 kicks off on Sunday, January 10th 2010. The competition, which always coughs up some great entertainment, will see approximately 27 Premier League players set off for Angola.
Which clubs are going to suffer?

The English Premier League starts back up after a few weeks off due to World Cup Qualifying in Europe. There are several interesting matches this weekend in the EPL, including unbeaten Tottenham Hotspur hosting Manchester United. In the USA, there are several matches that will be broadcasted on Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN2, and Setanta Sports.

by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

After a few forgettable weekends, the Americans Abroad bounced back with some positive performances this weekend.

It feels like the season has really begun now, the international break is well behind us, the Champions League & the Europa League are in full swing, and the big clashes are starting to come thick and fast.

Here are my predictions for this weekend's Premier League fixtures - make sure you add yours to the mix and check out the podcast crew's predictions for this weekend's big matches across Europe as well.

For those of you who follow our site regularly you will know that I'm also a bit of a wrestling fan. The latest instalment of my two favourite sports meeting happened yesterday at Aston Villa's training ground with manager Martin O'Neill and Nigel Reo Coker...

Reo Coker and O'Neill reportedly wrestled each other to the ground after having a disagreement and eventually other players had to separate the two.

Top 5 teams in the English Premier League Table: Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Man City, Aston Villa. Sounds familiar right? It seems the few surprises that we got in the start of the season, were just that, surprises.
This weeks most impressing win was took by Arsenal, after 2 weaker games, team resumed to their level and took 4-0 over Wigan.

England international Shorey to Portsmouth

• Follow all the transfer deadline day dealings live as the clock ticks away [Telegraph]

• Aston Villa defender Nickey Shorey will be loaned to Pompey. The left back would have been pushed down the pecking order with Villa's capture of Stephen Warnock from Blackburn [Goal]

• Portsmouth wins one, but loses a bigger one.

Every club has one. That vital cog that keeps the team wheels turning. With the season in its infancy, supporters up and down the land are still harbouring dreams of glory (or at the very least over achievement, given that short of a billionaire Sheikh turning up on your doorstep, thoughts of the title are confined to a privileged few these days).

Watch England v Croatia live here.

The England squad for the international break (a friendly against Slovenia on Saturday, September 5 and the World Cup qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday, September 9) sees Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott and David James miss out due to injury while Peter Crouch, Wes Brown and Aaron Lennon return to the fold.

Something to read while you experience 45 seconds as a Luton Town fan, with Oxford United about to take a penalty against your team... Meet Jim Lovetoy, who is in no way related to Tim Lovejoy (The Football Ramble) The future voice of American soccer broadcasting? (Pies) Delayed podcast triple whammy @ (Podcast Offside) Someone wants to employ Bryan [.

This weekend's Premiership fixtures promise to be exciting clashes between some of the world's top talents. Sadly, though, for some fans the weekend will be about coping with injuries. Some of the Premier League's biggest players have been injured in recent weeks, and just to show the talent that is missing out, here are eleven players that every football fan should look forward to see return in the coming weeks:

Manuel Almunia (GK)

Arsenal's number one is suffering from an unfortunate chest infection and isn't expected to be fit for Arsenal's match against Wigan this weekend.

A look ahead at this weekends games in the Premier League. Last weekend I went 7 out of 10, when brings me up to 76% for the season.

Portsmouth v Everton
It looks like David Moyes side has turned the corner after a tough start to the season. In their last three games, all wins, Everton have scored 11 goals with none conceded.

Week 3 would bring more outstanding football action to your favorite football league. Chelsea would continue their dominant ways and prove not to go down the same negative path as they did last year in the Carling Cup with a 3-0 victory over Burnley. Chelsea's offense is clicking on all cylinders and looks like it might be the best in the league this season.

Time is ticking away on the transfer window and after the Bentley announcement things have gone a little quiet as it seems (a late change of plan aside) that there will be no further arrivals at the club.
The two potential deals still up in the air are for Richard Dunne to Aston Villa and Martin Petrov to Tottenham with Sky Sports expecting the Dunne deal to be completed, but there appears no progress on the Petrov move as time is beginning to tick away.

Nielsen have revealed the TV ratings for last Saturday's broadcast of the Chelsea against Burnley game which was televised by ESPN2.

The early Saturday morning kickoff generated a 0.2 rating and was watched in 197,856 households across the United States. The total viewing audience for that game was 253,934.

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Ireland defender Richard Dunne after the Premier League ratified his £6million move from Manchester City.
Dunne was unable to finalise his switch to Villa Park on Tuesday despite the paperwork having already been sent off to the Premier League.

Of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League, only 8 have English managers. Four clubs have Scottish managers, and there are two each from Spain, Italy, and Wales. Here is the complete list of Premier League managers by nationality:

8 - England: Sam Allardyce (Bolton), Gary Megson (Bolton), Roy Hodgson (Fulham), Phil Brown (Hull City), Paul Hart (Portsmouth), Steve Bruce (Sunderland), Harry Redknapp (Spurs), Mick McCarthy* (Wolverhampton)

4 - Scotland: Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Alex McLeish (Birmingham), Owen Coyne (Burnley), David Moyes (Everton)

2 - Italy: Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Gianfranco Zola (West Ham)

2 - Spain: Rafael Benitez (Liverpool), Roberto Martinez (Wigan)

2 - Wales: Mark Hughes (Manchester City), Tony Pulis (Stoke City)

1 - France: Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)

1 - Northern Ireland: Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa)

*Mick McCarthy was born in England, but played internationally for the Republic of Ireland.

That's right football fans. You're favorite palm reading psychic is back and this week Miss Cleo looks to continue her good fortune with some more winning picks. After a 5-5 start Miss Cleo used some Windex and wiped away some of the blotches on the old crystal ball and the last two weeks she has on fire with a 14-3 record.

MLS on TeleFutura: New England - Chivas USA at 3pm. EPL on Setanta: Birmingham City - Aston Villa at 7am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Fulham - Everton at 11am. Bundesliga on GolTV: Cologne - Schalke 04 at 11:30am. ESPN2 has a La Liga game scheduled for 11am, teams not available at press time. La Liga on GolTV: Xerex - Athletico Bilbao at 3pm.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez admits his side used the disappointing experiences of last season as guidance in Saturday's 4-0 victory over Burnley.
Yossi Benayoun hit a hat-trick, with a Dirk Kuyt goal sandwiched in between, to wrap up a comfortable win against the newly-promoted Clarets on their first league visit to Anfield in 33 years.

There have only been 46 games so far this season but already there are some notable - or perhaps anomolous - statistics. Courtesy of Football365, here are the most salient in a club-by-club format...

Arsenal
*Tomas Rosicky's first outing in 20 months also included a goal.

Here are the fixtures:
Burnley v Sunderland
Arsenal v Wigan
Aston Villa v Portsmouth
Bolton v Stoke City
Hull City v Birmingham
West Ham v Liverpool
Man Utd v Man City
Wolves v Fulham
Everton v Blackburn
Chelsea v Tottenham
Again there are two very interesting soccer matches this gameweek as the Manchester teams go against each other and Chelsea welcomes Tottenham.

David Ngog staked a first-team claim with the winning goal as 10-man Liverpool Reserves beat arch-rivals Manchester United 1-0 on Thursday.
The French striker fired in the opening minutes but the Reds had to work hard to maintain their lead at Prenton Park following the first-half dismissal of midfielder Damien Plessis.

MLS on Fox Soccer Channel: Chivas USA - Seattle at 3pm. EPL on ESPN2: Burnley - Sunderland at 7:30am. On Setanta: Arsenal - Wigan at 9:30am and Hull - Birmingham at 6:45pm. On Fox Soccer: Aston Villa - Portsmouth at 10m, West Ham United - Liverpool at 12:30pm, and Bolton Wanderers - Stoke at 5:30pm. Championship on Setanta: Cardiff City - Queens PArk Rangers at 10:15pm.

Burned his Villa bridges?

Nigel Reo-Coker has been told to stay away from Villa Park this weekend after Martin O'Neill sent the player home from training yesterday and dropped him for Aston Villa's Barclays Premier League home game against Portsmouth today because the pair had a confrontation.

Carling Cup Third Round Draw: Manchester United Away To Leeds - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Chelsea host Fulham in one of several all-Premier League ties in the third round of the Carling Cup. Manchester United are away to Leeds while Liverpool, who seem to be taking the Carling Cup very seriously this season, are away to Brighton.

The 5pm deadline has passed and, although news may still come through, at this stage Tal Ben-Haim has been the only piece of business conducted today.
Whilst the reports of Martin Petrov may have been a non-story, it is Richard Dunne that is the intriguing situation. It was expected that his move to Aston Villa would be completed but at the time of writing this nothing has been confirmed.

Four games into the season, and some pundits are already musing that Liverpool's dreams of bagging a maiden Premier League crown are all but shattered.
Rafael Benitez's men have kicked off the 2009-10 campaign in see-sawing fashion, with two losses (against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa) and two wins (over Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers).

transfer window wrap-up courtesy Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

Everton signed Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga from Atletico Madrid for six million pounds (6.8 million euros) just before the transfer window shut on Tuesday.

Heitinga agreed a five-year contract with the Premier League club and the move was announced in the final hour before the 1600GMT deadline.

Usually if you are stuck at work on deadline day it can be an immensely frustrating time without Sky Sports News to keep you upto speed on the latest news, rumours and deals. Today however, if you missed the deadline coverage, consider yourself fortunate indeed.
Today, especially with the deadline being 5pm, transfer deadline day was as damp a squib as the Twenty20 games at Old Trafford.

Done deal.

Hull City have signed former Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

The Dutchman has signed a two-year deal at the KC Stadium after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms.

Vennegoor of Hesselink is able to join Hull outside the transfer window as he is a free agent after being released by Celtic earlier this summer.

The impressive start of Tottenham Hotspur, the riches of Manchester City, and the grit and resilience of neighbours Everton, are of no interest to Jamie Carragher, who is focused solely on Liverpool's title push and not on any potential top four usurper.
"There are other teams who could get into the top four this year - but hopefully not at our expense," the former England international informed the club's official website.

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe made a strong case to start in the crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday as England beat Slovenia 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday evening. Defoe, a half time substitute for Aston Villa's Emile Heskey, scored England's second goal after Frank Lampard had converted a penalty that [.