The congestion of international, domestic and cup competitions is beginning to show as the injury lists grow longer. Several top stars will be missing from the Matchday 5 stage. Let's take a look at how this might impact the results and standings.

Eric Abidal D Barcelona
The 30-year-old suffered a thigh injury on international duty with France and will miss games against Athletic Club Bilbao at the weekend, Internazionale on Tuesday, and their massive derby with Real Madrid five days later.

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Stevenage embark on another FA Cup journey this weekend as they travel up to Stoke to face League 2 side Port Vale. This time last year we were preparing for another trip up the M1, that time it was to Leicester, who comfortably beat us 3-0 at the Walkers Stadium. Now though, Boro are a much improved and experienced team.

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New COS columnist Jonny Carter tries to get his head around Rafa's continued presence at Anfield.

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Part I.

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League Cup, Fourth Round Chelsea Give Wanderers The Blues

• Tuesday, Ocotber 28, 2009
• Venue: Stamford Bridge
• Attendance: 41,538
• Referee: Andre Marriner

• Salomon Kalou [15]
• Florent Malouda [26]
• Deco [67]
• Didier Drogba [89]

It was never going to be easy for The Wanderers to get a result at Stamford Bridge but who would have known that it was going to so easy for Chelsea.

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By TRAVIS CLARK

Even though it was just a Tuesday, there was plenty of action to go around in Europe today, with Cup competitions calling American players into action. Tim Howard and Brad Guzan were both starters today as the Carling Cup resumed in England.

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tonight's match really is a great opportunity for slick rick.

What I love about cup games is that you really get to see where the priorities lie for a manager depending on the squad that hits the field. You also get to see the depth of a squad, (if indeed there is any FULHAM). For me personally, I really enjoy watching cup competitions because despite the economic pedestal the league and top-tier european competition look down loftily from, the cup competitions have a certain 'je nais sais quois' that is emblematic of what football is really all about.

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Carling Cup holders Man United travel down to Oakwell to take on Barnsley in the fourth round of the cup.
Barnsley striker Daniel Bogdanovic is ready to start after coming on as a substitute against Bristol City at the weekend. Bogdanovic was Barnsley's doubt, he should be fit so they have a full squad to choose from. Click to continue reading...

Another weekend of Premier League football and another surprising set of results, proving once again that this is shaping up to be the closet league for many years and it's about time too. For us neutrals the Premier League was slowly starting to resemble it's neighbors north of the boarder, with a top four (rather then a top two) dominating both the league and cup competitions.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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With the Chuseok holidays in South Korea over, it is traditionally time for local fans to put down their overheated chopsticks and check out the race for the play-offs.
Past battles have been thrilling and this season is no different. As always, we teams that have long forgotten thoughts of merely finishing in the top six to book a place in the championship play-off series and have eyes on top spot. Click to continue reading...

Who: Manchester United v VfL Wolfsburg
What: UEFA Champions League Group Stage Game
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
When: 19:45 BST (2:45 EST)
Why: Because it's about time for the world to be introduced to the words "Edin Džeko" and "Man Crush"

The Results Thus Far: Manchester
United started off the Group Stage in style, defeating Beşiktaş 1-0 at the BJK İnönü Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.

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"And just when I was starting to blame my hair!"

It took 25 games over more than two years, but Gareth Bale was finally a part of his first Premier League win with Spurs as the club beat Burnley 5-0 on Saturday.

The match was already well in hand when Bale was brought on in the 86th minute with the goal of ending his dubious and undeserved Premier League record streak.

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Has he got it in him to make it at Anfield?

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Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez believes David Ngog has a big role to play for the side this season.

Ngog helped Liverpool reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup with the winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Leeds on Tuesday night.

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League Cup, Third Round Cheers Replace Jeers at The Reebok

• Tuesday, September 22, 2009
• Venue: The Reebok Stadium
• Attendance: 8,050
• Referee: Howard Webb

• Herita Ilunga [59]
• Kevin Davies [86]
• Extra Time
• Scott Parker [94]
• Gary Cahill [96]
• Johan Elmander [119]

With the last Saturday's boos still ringing in Megson's ears expectations were low, as was the attendance, but The Wanderers were not disheartened and made a livley start forcing a corner in less than a minute.

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Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez believes David Ngog has a big role to play for the side this season.
Ngog helped Liverpool reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup with the winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Leeds on Tuesday night.
The Frenchman has found first-team chances limited at Anfield with most of his appearances coming off the bench. Click to continue reading...

Only 18 more rounds to go until the Carling Cup final!

After glancing at Liverpool's starting eleven, there was no mistake that Rafa viewed this year's Carling Cup the same as he has every other year...despite declarations otherwise. Not to say this side wasn't talented enough to win, but as has become the case with the bastard son of top-flight cup competitions, it was clear that the Carling Cup will yet again provide an opportunity for Liverpool's also-rans and reserve stars.

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Aberdeen are knocked out of the CIS Cup by Dundee. Your normally impartial editor is not fucking happy about it. What is it with Aberdeen and Cup competitions? Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez has challenged his fringe players to show their "fight" in Tuesday night's Carling Cup third round tie at Leeds United.
The Liverpool boss is set to make wholesale changes for the clash with the high-flying League One club.
And the Spaniard insists it is a golden opportunity for those who have been out of favour to impress him. Click to continue reading...

The Seattle Sounders have a little song they sing in the locker room after a road win. It goes something like this:
"BLAH GAH GAH GAH GO BLAHHHH!!!! RAH! RAH! RAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Coach Sigi Schmid, can you be a little more specific on the lyrics? We couldn't really hear it from the hallway, loud as it was, after Saturday's 2-1 win at D. Click to continue reading...

There has been much written about this year's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, probably more than about any US Open Cup in the modern era. Unlike some johnny come lately sites who just discovered the tournament was worth their attention TheCup.us has spent years documenting every twist and turn of the pursuit of the Dewar Trophy. Click to continue reading...

Bolton Score!

• Venue: Prenton Park
• Attendance: 5,381
• Referee: Nigel Miller

• Mark Davies [41]
• Aaron Cresswell [55]

Mark Davies first goal for The Wanderers was enough to book a place in the Third Round of The League Cup.

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Kartik Krishnaiyer believes ESPN missed a big opportunity by not pushing MLS telecasts during their early morning Premier League broadcasts:

Does ESPN simply assume that viewers of the Premier League and La Liga will not watch MLS so they do not waste their time promoting it? Or is this a tacit admission that MLS has maxed out as far as viewers in its current form, and the network is more concerned about building the brand of international football entering a World Cup year?

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Newspaper sales will surge this morning as thousands of football fans keenly anticipating the big kick-off pick up a tabloid or two to get their club fix.

And they haven't disappointed. The Press is packed with analysis, observations, likely line-ups, in fact pretty much everything you'd want to know as the Arsenal head for Goodison to take on Everton in our Premier League opener. Click to continue reading...

Love him or loathe him, Gary Megson is the manager of our beloved Bolton Wanderers Football Club. Unfortunately he has not made himself popular with fans and there may to be a rebellion forming. The worst thing to happen to the club right now would be for Megson to be ousted.

The way I see it is that Bolton is only just getting over the loss of Sam Allardyce, the much loved manager who managed to get Bolton into a Cup Final and Europe.

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A trip to The Wirral for Bolton Wanderers who been drawn against Tranmere Rovers in the League Cup.

Tranmere Rovers booked their place in the second round of the competition by beating Grimsby Town 4–0.

The exact date for the tie is yet to be announced but it will take place the week beginning August 24th at Prenton Park.

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The dawn of the new premiership season is upon us and this year we might have something special on the cards. Of course the usual battle at the top will be very exciting but there is potential for something more intriguing. This season we have three clubs that have come up that could easily still be in the league when May comes around.

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The Weekend Roundup is back early because QoS got an early start to the season with Cup games the last two weekends
Colorado Rapids - After the loss to Columbus, Colorado has fallen into a tie with Chivas for 4th place in the West and with Toronto for 7th place overall. Due to the games in hand the Rapids have the edge over Toronto and DC for the next-to-last playoff spot. Click to continue reading...

If you use calendar software on your computer you should be able to add all the Bolton Wanderers fixtures for the 2009/2010 football season with ease, courtesy of The Telegraph website. Hopefully The Telegraph will keep this calendar up–to–date when fixture dates change and Bolton have long and successful cup runs this season.

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Some countries in Europe have already begun the domestic calendar, a few started their cup competitions this weekend, while other teams are wrapping up their preseason schedules. Here's a few notes from the past few days:

• Michael Bradley and Borussia Mönchengladbach got past FSV Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal Cup.

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"Michael Owen has won the FA Cup all by himself..." 2-1 to the 'Pool! SEASON SUMMARYIn 2000-2001, Liverpool FC did the unthinkable. They won all three cup competitions they were involved in... the first and so far only time this has ever happened in England. LFC first won the League Cup, thanks to a glorious volley [. Click to continue reading...

From www.usopencup.com:

Since 2003, USOpenCup.com has been the only place fans have gone to get in-depth information about one of the best kept secrets in not just in American Soccer, but in American Sports: the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. While the site is not affiliated with theUnited States Soccer Federation� (USSF) in any way, it has always been approached professionally, in an effort to fill the void in media coverage for this great tournament.

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England striker Theo Walcott revealed the pretty football Arsenal are renowned for may not be enough next season as the squad must learn to "win ugly", if required.

He told Arsenal.com:

I think we need to do the dirty things right.

Sometimes it's not just about pretty football, we need to grind out the results sometimes and get the win, get the three points.

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English Premier League is one of the most difficult competitions in football and this especially stands for the teams promoted from the Championship. Only once in the Premiership history have all three promoted teams survived their first season and that happened in 2001/2002 when Fulham, Bolton and Blackburn all avoided the drop.

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World Cup wild cards?

It's world cup year, so all international teams will be on the lookout for that surprise performer, playing well at just the right time, and England are no different. So which player could surprise us all with an England call-up and possibly cap?

The criteria for my selections are as follows; The player can't have been called up for the England squad before (i.

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