Derby games are always passionate affairs and they generate a lot of excitement but the match itself tens to disappoint the viewers, mostly because the managers are always too cautious and they prevent the players from giving their attacking best. The games between Lyon and Marseille have not been exception to this rule in the past and no wonder nobody expected too many goals when these sides met on Sunday, but we saw a remarkable match and no less than 10 goals, five on each side.

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Enough Liverpool bashing has been done to keep me sated for a month now. There are only so many Voronin jokes and beach ball jokes you can make before it gets a bit stale. Fortunately for us Arsenal fans, fresh meat has arrived in the form of the scum. North London derbies are always a special occasion (if you're an Arsenal fan all the more so, barring the one obvious time).

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From Gazza's Wembley howitzer to an infamous off-field result, here are half a dozen memorable north London derbies. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur
English Premier League
Emirates
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Kick-off: 1245 GMT

With both sides residing in the top-four for much of the early season, one of the country's oldest and fiercest derbies takes on added significance as Tottenham make the short trip down the Seven Sisters Road to face familiar foes Arsenal.

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Flamengo v Fluminense, Brazil

Over the coming weeks we'll be giving you the run down on the World's most passionate and fiercest rivalry in football. We start our list with two Brazilian giants.

History
Known as ‘Fla-Flu' this is Brazil's most passionate rivalry, dating back to 1911 when 9 Fluminense players quit the club to form Flamengo, which at the time was just a rowing club, any one for Pimms old boy?

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.... Lots of it. After looking like the virtual champion of Campeonato Brasileiro, Palmeiras lost points and the chances of confirming the title. And with that, 4 clubs have now the chance of taking the title away from the side headed by Muricy Ramalho. In the 31st round of Brasileiro, Atletico-MG, Inter, Sao Paulo and Flamengo won their matches and are just a few step away from jumping to first (something that can happen in the next round).

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Another Premier League weekend is now in the books, and with some key match ups and exciting derbies now past us, here are the things that we learned from this weekend of Premiership action.

10Boring as Hull. Anyone who watched the Hull City v Portsmouth match on Saturday will know exactly what I mean.

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This has been a fantastic weekend to hate somebody and wish him ill almost everywhere around the world. As Daryl pointed out earlier, this weekend's fixture calendar was overflowing with big derbies and heated rivalries including three different flavored clasicos, inter-city and intercontinental matches. Click to continue reading...

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There is reason to be concerned.

If AZ Alkmaar was a foreshadowing, the Gunners did their best to not heed the warning. Â Anyone who has watched this team over the past five years knew what was coming, both in the Netherlands and at Upton Park. Â It's just too predictable.

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Maybe it was because it looked and felt like Autumn had truly arrived in England (i.e. blame it on the weather), but Saturday's Premier League matches were the first boring day of the season thus far in my opinion. Let's hope Sunday's crop of games will raise the bar a little because Saturday's matches left an unsatisfying taste.

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I know I know, no blog yesterday, very naughty. But it's ok, I slapped myself earlier so you don't have to worry about doing that. I'll not go into it, but i'll just say one word WORK. If you don't get what I mean, at least I know Jamrock will. And if it makes you feel better, I just sat through Wolves v Villa which was a significant punishment. Click to continue reading...

We have three big derbies happening this weekend: We have El Súper Clásico in Mexico, the Superclásico in Argentina and what I'd consider the equivalent in England when Liverpool host Man Utd (can we call it The Super Classic?) Here's a quick lowdown on the three big games, and a question: Which game or games will [. Click to continue reading...

We've waited more than five and a half years. So another 37 hours is just about manageable.
But the sense of anticipation surrounding the return of Aston Villa to Molineux encapsulates exactly why we all want to follow a Premier League club.
Liverpool at Anfield, Man Utd home and away, and Villa at Molineux - the four games that make my season, make me thrilled to be a Wolves fan in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

So yes I realise I've been a horrible horrible blogger recently. And I apologise profusely for letting you down. I play for a rugby club in my spare time, which does not leave much time for the lengthy research and writing that this blog requires, but don't dismay! My rugby season will probably be over after this weekend (I can almost hear your sighs of relief, it's touching), so I'll be posting much more regularly.

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 I apologize to the joker for stealing that quote but it fits in well with this mini review of the match against AZ Alkmaar.

We've now played three games and collected 7 points. Most often than not, 9 points usually does the trick with regards to qualification. We have two home games, one against Alkmaar and the other against Liege.

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Two wins from two games so far in the Champions League. Given our excellent form, the third one looks likely tomorrow against Alkmaar. They might be the Champions of Holland but they just lost at the weekend and are 6th in the table. The Dutch League isn't as strong as it was a decade ago.Â

Now most of you know that Walcott won't be playing tomorrow.

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A team effort; Vancouver has built an organic club culture

In 2010 Major League Soccer will welcome the Philadelphia Union to its ranks as the fifteenth club to join the division, and thus far the club has been bolstered by strong ticket sales. The league office will hope Philadelphia's inclusion will create a strong east coast rivalry with New England, New York, and D.

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It was a dramatic World Cup qualifying day in South America, with Argentina scraping into the direct qualification places at the last gasp with a 1-0 away win over...Uruguay. The Charruas thus go into their third successive cross-confederation playoff, while Diego Maradona avoids the humiliation of being the first Albiceleste coach to fail to make the big event since 1970. Click to continue reading...

In England, Liverpool is beaten 2-0 by a powerful Chelsea side which moves to the top of the Premiership.
In Italy, Italian champions Inter Milan move to the top of the Serie A beating Udinese 2-1 with a late winner by Sneijder in stoppage time.
In Spain, Real Madrid is taken down by Sevilla 2-1, while Barcelona struggle with Almeira winning 1-0 with Pedro scoring. Click to continue reading...

Ray Gatt and his team at the Weekend Australian have done some great work and uncovered that FFA registered Sydney Rovers FC name, colours and trademark some weeks before saying that this Sydney bid had the 12th license. Ooops. Of course the other bidders are cheesed off. The Sydney Rovers bid seems to have been given the inside track and has a real paradise club feel. Click to continue reading...

Scottish football may have fallen behind some of the other European leagues in recent years but no one can deny that the Old Firm is one of the hottest contested derbies in world football. Both Rangers and Celtic have a massive fan base who create an intense atmosphere and Sunday's Old Firm at Ibrox should be a tight and hard fought contest.

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So, another derby lost. That makes it the first time we've lost two derbies in a row in about ten years. Not a good sign.

Not many positives to take from this game, both sides played some pretty poor football. I'm not going to bother writing much as there is little to say. Firstly, our forwards still can't score.

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(All times - UK)
Monday 28th September
20:00 Manchester City v West Ham Utd, Barclays Premier League, ESPN & HD
One of the games of the weekend. City are through to the next round of the Cup and will be anxious to continue their programme for World Domination (local derbies not withstanding). Click to continue reading...

After such an eventful weekend, it would be easy to lose sight of some of the Premier League's lesser lights but away from the glitz and glamour of the Manchester and London derbies a strange thing happened – all three promoted teams won. Stranger still, it wasn't the first time such an event has happened this season.

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Bellamy & Garrido More amazing video clips are a click away

After one of the most exciting Manchester derbies ended yesterday, tempers flared again after an alleged Manchester United supporter ran on to the pitch and was then tackled by stewards. However, while the stewards held the offender, Manchester City's Craig Bellamy walked over and punched him in the face.

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Manchester United have defeated Manchester City in one of the most memorable Manchester derbies of all time. Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen were all on top form which saw...
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Sir Alex Ferguson on the win:

"We gave three goals away today. It could have been an embarrassment - we could have won 6-0 or 7-0 today. But in the end we still we won one of the best Manchester derbies. We have a neighbour, and sometimes neighbours are noisy, but we showed our power today and we get on with life.

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If there was ever a doubt that the Premier League is the greatest league in the world, then tell the non-believers to watch today's Manchester derby. What a game. What a game!

The match is an instant classic and a brilliant advertisement for football and the Premier League. Played at a blistering pace at times and with plenty of sensational goals, this game had everything.

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This has to be the most eagerly anticipated derby in years, nay decades. Well certainly in my lifetime anyway.

City's start to the season, culminating in the 4-2 defeat of Arsenal last weekend, will have surely seen United supporters with even the deepest of hatred towards our city neighbours at least acknowledge that they have, thus far, looked impressive.

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Come the revolution, the Premier League will be no more – of that you can be certain. As clubs attempt to regain control of their upwardly spiralling finances, the top flight will break up into smaller regionalised leagues, thereby reinforcing the weakening notion of local derbies and local rivalries. Click to continue reading...

These derbies have not been as one sided as portrayed. Even as Sir Alex foams in the mouth about "cocky" Man City with their SEVEN center forwards, there is enough evidence that City has beaten them in the past with lesser lights. This includes a double in 2007-2008. But here is Nicholas Anelka and Shaun Goater laying them low in 2002.

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By Gareth Freeman

Derby day in Manchester is always a special occasion but this year the stakes are higher than they have been in many years. For over a decade now United's dominance of the Premier League has cast a shadow over City. The stakes have risen somewhat now Manchester's other team have squillions to spend and have enjoyed a terrific start to the season.

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3 perfect scores last week has given Damian a healthy 5 point lead over Damon while our guest predictors are already in danger of falling by the wayside. This week there are some big games to predict including 2 derbies from the Premier League that feature the top 4. We also have a top of the table clash in Germany, as well as games from La Liga and Serie A

This week's guest predictor is Marco who is a Juventus fan living in London.

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Be it a clash in the World Cup finals or a domestic under-17 game, Argentina versus Brazil always gets the pulse racing. The two nations line up this weekend in the north of Argentina for a match which holds the key for the hosts making it to South Africa for next year's World Cup.

The two proud countries have enjoyed contrasting fortunes ahead of this clasico.

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I may as well get this out in the open straight away: I'm a York City fan. One who is aiming to get to every single one of our Conference league matches next season, starting on Saturday. Those two sickening revelations out of the way, it's only fair to tell you that I'm planning to do the whole thing on my pushbike.

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