Arsene Wenger agreed a £10million deal for Ajax centre-back Thomas Vermaelen yesterday but is still unsure about who will partner him at the heart of Arsenal's defence next season.

Though his agent Soren Lerby was still negotiating personal terms last night, Vermaelen seems certain to sign a four-year contract at The Emirates after convincing the Arsenal manager he has the credentials to shore up a defence that was repeatedly found wanting last season.

Is Rafa looking to strengthen his defence?

The Daily Mail says Liverpool are understood to be one of a number of Barclays Premier League clubs interested in Dynamo Moscow centre-back Fernandez.

The Argentine, who played as his side lost 2-0 to Celtic in the Champions League third qualifying round on Wednesday night, would not need a work permit as he has an Italian passport.

Georgie Bingham doesn't have the easiest job on television, that's for sure. From that early morning Saturday kickoff in August when ESPN kicked off its coverage of the Premier League to the last match shown between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, Georgie has experienced the highs and lows of being the presenter of the Premier League coverage on ESPN2.

The 09/10 Premier League season starts in 2 weeks and the inaugural Football Media Fantasy Football league is now open for business.

There are a host of prizes to win, it's free to join and it's based on the popular and very easy to use premier league fantasy football game.

How To Play

1.

English Premier League relgation fight survivors Hull City have launched their Umbro home and away kits for the 2009/10 season. The Tigers' new Umbro home and away shirts will carry new sponsor totesport's name on the front for the 2009/10 Barclays Premier League season. Of the new kits, Umbro has stateed both of that "they provide [.

The English Premier League has several midweek matches including Sunderland v Chelsea, Liverpool v Stoke City, and Burnely v Manchester United. The USA TV rights remain with Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports but ESPN has reached an agreement to broadcast several matches . Here's the full TV schedule in the United States for Tuesday August 18 and Wednesday August 19.

English Premier League surviors Sunderland AFC have revealed their new change kit for the 2009-10 Barclays Premier League season. The kit will be officially launched at 6pm on Wednesday 8 July at the Stadium of Light. Here's a desciption of the kit from the Black Cats' website: The modern, clean design features a predominantly white, round-necked shirt.

The English Premier League continues its 2009-10 season with a full set of matches this weekend. There are several to be televised in the United States on Setanta Sports, Fox Soccer Channel, and ESPN2. Here's a full listing of matches to be televised in the USA on Saturday August 29 and Sunday August 30.

Premier League Team News - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetYou can check either the link above or yesterday's The Week Ahead post for a complete listing of those missing through suspension after the Premier League's refs. As I mentioned yesterday, the interesting opportunities that will result from suspensions are O'Shea being a line-up definite and Frazier Campbell deputizing for

Here is the full release, sent this morning (Hope you like watching Burnley): ESPN to Present Live Match Coverage of England 's Barclays Premier League in U.S. for 2009-10 Season Exclusive Saturday Morning and Monday Afternoon Matches on ESPN2 For Immediate Release August 14, 2009 ESPN has reached an agreement with Fox Sports International to televise a package of Barclays Premier League (BPL) matches in the U.

ESPN will Show Live 46 matches until 2010 and 23 a Season From 2010-2013 22 June, 2009 The Premier League today awarded ESPN two exclusive live media packages for the 2009/2010 season, and one package from August 2010 for the following three seasons. The agreement means ESPN will deliver fans in the UK 46 Barclays Premier League [.

Gallery, Images, Photos & Pictures of Arsenal's Jack Wilshere 2009/2010 Season. Teams/Clubs: Arsenal Players/People: Jack Wilshere Events/Matches: Arsenal Training Session, 2009. Arsenal v Atletico Madrid Emirates Cup, 2009. Arsenal v Dinamo Kiev Champions League, 2009. Arsenal v Manchester City Barclays Premier League, 2009.

Old Trafford will witness the first Big 4 clash of the 2009/2010 Barclays Premier League season. The second plum fixure of this weekend pits Manchester United against Arsenal. Already the press is building up the historical rivalry between Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. This is a testament of the great start that Arsenal have made this season.

Dublin may soon be without a big time employer.

Setanta Sports is struggling to make a £3m installment to the SPL for TV rights. The deadline is tomorrow. The following week an even bigger sum of £35m is needed to payoff the Barclays Premier League.

It looks increasingly likely that Setanta will declare bankruptcy unless negotiations for an ESPN buyout succeed or some sort of overall contract restructuring takes place with the leagues.

The 09/10 Premier League season starts in 2 weeks and the inaugural Football Media Fantasy Football league is now open for business.

There are a host of prizes to win, it's free to join and it's based on the popular and very easy to use premier league fantasy football game.

How To Play

1.

Week 3 of the Barclays Premier League has just concluded. And what a week it has been, full of events, talking points and incidents. We have had pitch invasions, stabbings, world class diving and finally the all-conquering Barcelona capturing another trophy, this time the UEFA Super Cup.
So, it was good to get back to the mundaneness of Week 3 in the Barclays Premier League.

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.

It's a simple question, yet the question does not have a simple answer.For anyone who has lived under a rock for the past three months, let me sum this story up for you. First, Irish based network Setanta Sports lost one half of its Barclays Premier League TV contract. We quickly saw everyone question if Setanta Sports was going to be a viable network going forward with only one package of games

Hot off the internets!

As has been widely reported in various media channels, Setanta Sports has today had its agreement to broadcast 46 Barclays Premier League matches in the UK terminated.
This development does not affect our channels and other services in the US.

Barcelona have made a £37million bid for Spain striker David Villa as they prepare for life without Manchester City target Samuel Eto'o.

Barca's summer spending budget is only around £25m, meaning they would need to sell Eto'o to fund a move for Villa on top of their other targets.

I can't believe this guy is still kickin' around. Don't get me wrong, I know the poor sod is only 29ish, but he's more injury prone than a grandmother on mechanical bull ride, so at best I expected him to be missing an appendage. I'm also surprised that he passed the United medical and was fit enough to sign a contract.

Steven Gerrard has underlined his desire for glory with Liverpool FC as the Reds prepare for their second pre-season friendly on Sunday against Rapid Vienna in the Austrian capital.
The Liverpool FC skipper has made it clear that he wants the Barclays Premier League title, another Champions League success and a World Cup victory with England before he considers coaching and management at the end of his career.

Is this a joke?

Hull City have been linked with a move for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Negredo.
The Barclays Premier League club have failed to land a number of strikers and are now ready to fight the likes of Roma in a bid to sign the 23-year-old Spaniard, according to Spanish newspaper Marca.

The Daily Mirror and Simon Bird are reporting today that Mike Ashley is poised to take Newcastle United off the market, after 14 weeks, and stay in charge for another year. Mike Ashley to keep Newcastle? Prospective owner Barry Moat has been struggling for weeks to prove to Barclays Bank he can service Newcastle's overdraft.

I was on a job site all day, so I wasn't quite able to put in the research I would have liked. However, I did have time to jot down some random thoughts. So, without further ado, my abbreviated preview (disclaimer: I'm writing this while Terminator 2 is on television, so some random references may come into play.

Premier League Team News - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetThe news is slow to come in to SoccerNet today but I'm in off-site planning meetings for 2010 as part of my day job so I'm getting a head start of things. Arsenal - I'm not going to repeat the entire injury list because I just don't have the time.

Fernando Torres has told arch rivals Manchester United that the Champions League means more to Liverpool than the bitter title race.
The two giants are involved in a dramatic scrap as the battle at the top of the Barclays Premier League reaches boiling point.
United leapfrogged Liverpool to regain pole position after Federico Macheda's sensational last-gasp goal in the 3-2 victory over Aston Villa yesterday.

Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has been ruled out of Saturday's Barclays Premier League trip to West Ham.
The Spain star suffered severe bruising in the tackle that brought Joey Barton a red card - and subsequently censure from his manager Alan Shearer - in last weekend's 3-0 win over Newcastle.

Three stories which appeared at first unrelated all seem to be coming together at the same time.
Story 1 - Philadelphia Union's Nick Sakiewicz, stated on Glenn Davis's show that they were pursuing a high profile coach who would also serve the role as manager. One whom they had to wait for.

Every year the IFFHS releases its ranking list of the top football leagues in the world. The Barclays Premier League won the honor for 2008, thanks largely to the fantastic performances in the Champions League from English clubs. This ranking was released in April, but on the eve of the Premier League season, I figured this would be a good time to revisit the list from last year.

Liverpool Reserves enjoyed a winning start to life at Prenton Park as Bolton were swept aside in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North.
Gerardo Bruna, Jordy Brouwer and Alex Kacaniklic were on target as the Reds bounced back from their defeat at Blackburn.
They took the lead after 15 minutes when Nikola Saric was tripped on the edge of the box and Bruna stepped up to slam in the free-kick.

This is one of the best things to have been published on the internet when it comes to player analysis and team performances. For the latest in stats and soccer analysis, go to Castrol Rankings. The rankings are a little dated (next update expected on 15/12) but still valuable information.
The top 20 best performing players in the world are currently:
Nine Barcelona players are listed in the top 10, the best club side in world football at the moment.

* with a nod and HT to the Light of Saba...
We're back, s*ckas. !Y ahora en el twitter, tambien! In the words of The Special One, "Do it."
True story: So the other day I'm pondering the general abundance of negative vibes swirling around DC United fans, media, observers, etc.

It would be a pretty shit feeling being Damien Duff right now... not only was he credited for the deflected goal that Gareth Barry scored, but in doing so he also had his team relegated to Championship football, where he'll no doubt finish off his career and take a massive pay cut.

Rafa Benitez will step up his efforts to finance a deal for Glen Johnson over the weekend and hopes to unveil the England right back as his first summer signing in the next few days.
Manchester City and Bayern Munich have enquired about Johnson, but Chelsea are Liverpool's chief rivals for his signature after having a £17million bid accepted by Portsmouth, as revealed in Sportsmail last week.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has allayed fears that first choice left Fabio Aurelio will be out for the rest of the year after confirming the extent of the Brazilian's freak injury.
There were fears that Aurelio would be missing for the rest of the year after he suffered damaged his knee in a kickabout in his back garden.

The Barclays Asia Trophy tournament began its 2009 edition on Wednesday with two semifinal matches. Tottenham Hotspur faced West Ham United while Hull City played against Beijing Guaon. Here's a recap of both matches along with video highlights.

Tottenham Hotspur edges West Ham 1-0 Video Highlights

Tottenham defeated fellow Premier League club West Ham 1-0 on a Jermaine Defoe goal in the 75th minute on Wednesday.

Gallery, Images, Photos & Pictures of Arsenal's Alexandre Song 2009/2010 Season. Teams/Clubs: Arsenal Players/People: Alexandre Song Events/Matches: Arsenal v Hannover 96 Friendly Match, 2009. Arsenal Training Session, 2009. Arsenal v Villareal Champions League, 2009. Wigan Athletic v Arsenal Barclays Premier League, 2009.

Gallery, Images, Photos & Pictures of Arsenal's Samir Nasri 2009/2010 Season. Teams/Clubs: Arsenal Players/People: Samir Nasri Events/Matches: Arsenal v Atletico Madrid Emirates Cup, 2009. Arsenal Training Session, 2009. Arsenal v Manchester United Champions League, 2009. Arsenal v Villareal Champions League, 2009.

The 09/10 Premier League season starts in 2 weeks and the inaugural Football Media Fantasy Football league is now open for business.

There are a host of prizes to win, it's free to join and it's based on the popular and very easy to use premier league fantasy football game.

How To Play

1.