The Premier League unveiled it 2011-12 fixture list and champions Manchester United will start the defence of their Premier League title with a trip to West Brom on 13 August.

Arsenal begin with a match at Newcastle, while Chelsea, last season's runners-up, travel to Stoke and Liverpool host Sunderland.

Bradley doppelganger: In a welcome contrast to his predecessor, Jurgen Klinsmann wore his heart on his sleeve during his USMNT coaching debut Wednesday against Mexico (AP Photo).

I have returned (sort of) and so has the USMNT (sort of, too) after Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Mexico in Philadelphia.

Chelsea's new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, seems very eager to prove that he is different from his mentor, Jose Mourinho, despite of the similar career path that Vilas-Boas has followed so far.

After claiming he has a different tactical approached compared to Mourinho, the 33-years-old tactician recently added that he also doesn't like to use mind games that the current Real Madrid's coach usually does to Chelsea's rivals managers, especially Sir Alex Ferguson.

Jurgen Klinsmann faces this!Jurgen Klinsmann ain't no Bob Bradley. He's younger, has slightly more hair and has won more World Cups albeit by the narrowest of margins, 1-nil.
Now Klinsmann is further burdened by having to coach Bradley's boys. Y'know, the team he molded into Gold Cup and Confederations Cup finalists.

Gameweek 5 gives us yet another batch of Fantasy Football excitement as ManU and Chelsea go against each other in English Premier League. Before we get to that, though, let's see what went on in GW 4.
Fantasy Premier League once again showed us, that having player from a team that has a lot of great players is not only a blessing but a curse for players of Premier league fantasy football.

The final of the Champions League at Wembley Stadium is almost upon us. The iconic twin towers of the old Wembley may be gone but the arch of the latest, rejuvenated and reinvigorated Wembley Stadium is all set to become just as famous.

Saturday 28th May 2011 will the biggest day in the new stadiums life to date.

He's played against the very best in the world for years, yet Ashley Cole will not have had a harder afternoon's work than he did at Old Trafford last Sunday. For the last decade, against the best the Premiership, European and International teams have had to offer in the shape of right wingers, he has more often than not, dealt with consummately.

SINGAPORE, 20 January 2011: The Singapore Olympic team will take on their Malaysian counterparts on Monday, 24 January, at the Jalan Besar Stadium, in preparation for their upcoming Olympic Qualifiers first-leg away match against Yemen on 23 February.

The Malaysian Olympic team will be travelling with seven players from the Tigers' AFF Suzuki Cup winning squad featuring the likes of defender Mohamad Muslim Ahmad and industrious full-back Mahali Jasuli who scored in the Tigers 5-1 win over Laos during the group stages.

By Chris Wright

Of course, it's only 'half-time'. Yes, Arsenal have still got to face Barcelona on their own patch and, by jove, they'll only be taking a precarious one-goal advantage to the Camp Nou in a fortnight's time, but until then Cesc Fabregas and his minions can revel to their heart's content in having beaten the 'best side in football's history' at their own soddin' game.

Liverpool stalwart Jamie Carragher says he is fine after his horror injury sustained against Arsenal at the Emirates and insists that team-mate Dirk Kuyt is the man to deal with high pressure situations following the Dutchman's penalty which secured a point with the final kick of the match.
Carragher left the play in a neck-brace halfway through the second-half after an ugly clash of heads with young full-back John Flanagan – an incident of which the 33-year-old has no recollection.

That's the sad part of the biggest game of the season I guess. One of the two teams will go home as winners. I am finding it hard to pick a team to support and that will make watching the game that much more difficult.

When the same sides met each other three years ago it was easy to support Barcelona.

The 11th week of the MLS season brought us some major surprises, and also served to remind the league's 18 teams that there is no such thing as an un-winnable road trip.

Portland's Jeld-Wen Field and Real Salt Lake's Rio Tinto Stadium were both considered impenetrable before last weekend, but both the Timbers and Real Salt Lake suffered shocking home defeats at the hands of D.

The US came out hungry to pay Panama back for the loss they suffered in the group stage. Unlike the first time around, the US came out and played as the much better team. The Americans had control pretty much from the opening whistle, but struggled to create clear cut chances against the Panamanians for a majority of the game.

While there is more speculation today over an approach for Sandro – this time from Villareal – the player himself is ignoring it and looking forward to next season.

Speaking in this month's Hotspur, Sandro said,

"I believe I am well adapted for the characteristics of the English game because football here is for a tough and strong type of person.

Liverpool have signed AS Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club said on Friday as manager Kenny Dalglish continued his close-season rebuilding.
Doni, who has 10 caps for Brazil, has been brought in as back-up to Liverpool's current number one Pepe Reina.
A statement on the club's website (www.

You'd have to be seriously weird not to prioritise this level of cuteness over a boring trophy, surely? Image: Getty Images/Daylife

You might have noticed that Arsene Wengers 'policy of youth' at Arsenal in recent years has led to the occasional barb of criticism being flung in his direction. However, we don't follow the line of traditional football theory on this site (as you've probably noticed) and Wenger's practice of fielding the youngest, gonkiest, bunch of Adorkable boys he can find in big games has been an unqualified success in our book.

Park Ji-Sung has put an end to any rumours linking him with a move away from the club after signing a new two year deal.

"I have enjoyed every minute of my time at United," said Park. "I'm delighted to be part of the club during this latest stage in its history with another exciting young team being built.

It's been just over a day since I posted the match report for the Stoke game. It creates an uncomfortable feeling that this game is coming too soon after the previous one. Is it the same for most of the clubs? Somehow I doubt it.

This proximity of fixtures will make Wenger's job tougher. Given the injuries, especially in defence, Le Boss would probably have appreciated a chance to use one or two regulars in a game like this.

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In this week's predictions battle we feature two matches from the Asia Cup, games from Italy and some more big games from the Premier League. Can you guess the scores to these games from around the world?

Time to ask for forgiveness? Apologise for being a doubter? Time to all hail, hail Neil Lennon?
Back in December I predicted that Lennon's reign as Celtic manager was facing a January of intense scrutiny, a month that could shape the destiny of his managerial career:
"I wrote after the Old Firm game that Lennon was displaying a worrying habit of losing big games as manager.

By Chris Wright

A week or so after proclaiming him to be the future of English football, the best young player in the known universe, the new (but slower) Claude Makelele and the saviour of everything that is good and holy, England manager Fabio Capello has ladled yet more crushing expectation onto Jack Wilshere's young shoulders by directly comparing him to some of the greatest players to have ever graced the game.

This week saw tickets go on sale for our home game against AC Milan in the Champions League on 9th March. Having beaten their neighbours Inter earlier this season, there can be few Spurs fans not frothing at the mouth in anticipation at the thought of taking on the Serie A leaders.

In short; it's a hot ticket and everyone wants one.

The fourth Old Firm game of the season is almost upon us. And what a season defining game it could be.
In the first of the Scottish Football Blog's three part preview I'm pleased to welcome Michael Gunn from TicTacTic - described by The Guardian as "an excellent tactical analysis overview site of Celtic" - to give us the hooped view.

What a run we are on! Can our East London neighbours stop the momentum this team is building? If Arsenal were to lose today would it have a knock on effect for the rest of the season? What do you think?

I know what I am about to write will be as popular as a root canal treatment but I can see advantages to our suffering a cup upset.

Danny Wilson confidently declared ahead of Liverpool's return clash against Sparta Prague: "I relish playing on the big stage!"
The teenager could be given the nod again by Kenny Dalglish tomorrow night for the tie against the Czechs.
The defender gave a solid display last week in the Generali Arena when the Reds played out a 0-0 draw in the Europa Cup.

Steven Gerrard is hoping to make his return from a groin injury in Liverpool's next game against West Bromwich Albion.
The midfielder underwent a groin operation earlier in March and was initially expected to be sidelined for a month.
The injury forced Gerrard to miss England's Euro 2012 qualifying win over Wales on Saturday, but he is ahead of schedule in his recovery.

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A huge week in football sees el Clásico between Real and Barcelona being played twice: once in the league and then in the Spanish Cup final next Wednesday. Also on Wednesday Spurs take on their fierce rivals Arsenal in the North London derby, while there are also big games from the FA Cup semi-final as well as a relegation battle from the Premier League.

Today we wrap up the polls with a fantastic guest post by nate of Oh You Beauty.

After a week of this nonsense, I reckon yet another introduction's unnecessary. Don't worry, there's only one more week left. On Monday, we'll start revealing the results, starting with Young Player of the Season on Oh You Beauty.

Monday saw two big games in the run-in to the race for the 2011 Torneo Clausura title in Argentina. After Vélez Sarsfield had been beaten by Tigre on Sunday, their pursuers Godoy Cruz and Lanús had chances to close the ... Continue reading →

The big question this summer apart from potential signings after having it confirmed that Didier Drogba will be staying at the club, will be how do we get the best out of Drogba and Torres?. Following on from yesterdays post, I wanted to look at Chelsea as a whole and the fact that maybe it's because we are set up, with the players we have, to play 4-3-3.

Chicharito, our Little Pea, has superseded any expectations our fans, players and manager had of him. After signing for United, he left the World Cup as the fastest player of the competition, having scored goals against Argentina and France. He had given us plenty to be excited about but having spent his career in Mexico and not having the build you would think necessary for English football, it was hard to imagine he would make much impact during his first season.

Chicharito, our Little Pea, has superseded any expectations our fans, players and manager had of him. After signing for United, he left the World Cup as the fastest player of the competition, having scored goals against Argentina and France. He had given us plenty to be excited about but having spent his career in Mexico and not having the build you would think necessary for English football, it was hard to imagine he would make much impact during his first season.

"Luka will not go to Manchester United and he will also stay at Tottenham because I know that president Daniel Levy will not let him go."

Mario Mamic.

It's the quote that debunked a thousand rumours. For this week anyway. I'll wager it won't be too long before some tabloid nurk hauls the corpse out of the ground again, slaps a dress and a bit of lippy on it and tries to pass it off as breaking news.

The Premier League unveiled it 2011-12 fixture list and champions Manchester United will start the defence of their Premier League title with a trip to West Brom on 13 August.

Arsenal begin with a match at Newcastle, while Chelsea, last season's runners-up, travel to Stoke and Liverpool host Sunderland.

Manchester United have been missing a special player in the centre of the park for sometime. Gennaro Gattuso, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and Mesut Özil are amongst some of the top class players we've missed out whilst our midfield has gradually deteriorated.

Gone are the days when we could afford to have players of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes' quality in the team, then still splash £28m on someone like Juan Sebastián Verón.

Also file under: Seeing things as they are, not how you want them to be

There is an Irish bar near my house that once fit our area splendidly, a locally owned joint inside an old building in a slightly funky ‘hood. Then new owners who drive fast cars and have backgrounds in nightclubs took over.

photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

PASADENA, Calif. - Since making his debut for the U.S. men's national team in May 2006, Michael Bradley has played in 58 matches at the international level. Bradley has played in numerous big-stage friendlies, World Cup qualifiers, Gold Cup and Confederations Cup games and World Cup matches.

Amy gets to train in beautiful Palm Beach. How does she prep for the big games in Germany and get ready for her wedding at the same time?

A lot of weekend stories on PSP. In case you missed them: We interviewed Jordan Harvey, asked for your thoughts on the Union tie, gave our mid-season grades, and tried to figure out exactly what allocation money is good for.

USA USA USA

101greatgoals.com has a ton of great links to highlights from the USA's incredible win over Brazil in the Women's World Cup quarterfinals.

Twenty-one year old center back Chris Smalling is adamant that he can fill the gap left by injured defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Smalling has faith in the abilities of himself and United's other young defenders, and is confident that they can step up to cover for their teammates.

Sir Alex Ferguson spent all summer building yet another exciting, young side, and Smalling already impressed his coaches and fans alike with a stellar first season at Old Trafford.