Fixture November 1, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
16:00 UK	Birmingham	v	Manchester City	St Andrews Stadium

Fixture October 31, 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
12:45 UK	Arsenal	v	Tottenham Hotspur	Emirates Stadium
15:00 UK	Bolton Wanderers	v	Chelsea	Reebok Stadium
15:00 UK	Burnley	v	Hull City	Turf Moor
15:00 UK	Everton	v	Aston Villa	Goodison Park
15:00 UK	Fulham	v	Liverpool	Craven Cottage
15:00 UK	Portsmouth	v	Wigan Athletic	Fratton Park
15:00 UK	Stoke City	v	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Britannia Stadium
15:00 UK	Sunderland	v	West Ham United	Stadium of Light
17:30 UK	Manchester United	v	Blackburn Rovers	Old Trafford

Results October 24 & 25, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1 - 1	Aston Villa	Molineux Stadium (28,734)
FT	Birmingham	2 - 1	Sunderland	St Andrews Stadium (21,723)
FT	Burnley	1 - 3	Wigan Athletic	Turf Moor (19,430)
FT	Hull City	0 - 0	Portsmouth	Kingston Communications Stadium (23,720)
FT	Tottenham Hotspur	0 - 1	Stoke City	White Hart Lane (36,031)
FT	Chelsea	5 - 0	Blackburn Rovers	Stamford Bridge (40,836)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Bolton Wanderers	3 - 2	Everton	Reebok Stadium (21,547)
FT	Liverpool	2 - 0	Manchester United	Anfield (44,188)
FT	Manchester City	2 - 2	Fulham	City of Manchester Stadium (44,906)
FT	West Ham United	2 - 2	Arsenal	Upton Park (34,442)

Rooney a major doubt for Anfield trip

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Wayne Rooney remains a major injury doubt for Sunday's trip to Anfield to face arch-rivals Liverpool.

The United striker has been sidelined with a calf injury since England's World Cup qualifier in Ukraine a fortnight ago and is unlikely to recover in time.

Ferguson still harbours a slim hope that Rooney will feature but his star forward faces a fitness race along with Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher.

"On the injury front I can't give a clear picture, there are still some doubts about Rooney and Fletcher," Ferguson said.

Veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs is poised to return after suffering a knock in last week's defeat of Bolton Wanderers and Patrice Evra has overcome a heel problem.

Liverpool go into Sunday's match having lost four games in a row - the clubs worst run of form in 22 years - but Ferguson said that will count for little when the two arch-rivals clash.

"Derby games are derby games and anyone can win it," Ferguson said. "It has happened so many times and strange things can happen.

"I am not interested in their league form, I am more pleased with the kind of form we are in. We are consistent and consistent is important."

With Liverpool's star duo of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard unlikely to be fit for the United match, a loss this weekend could prove terminal for manager Rafa Benitez's ambitions on Merseyside.

Source: ESPN Soccernet, October 23, 2009

Fixtures October 24 & 25, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
12:45 UK	Wolverhampton Wanderers	v	Aston Villa	Molineux Stadium
15:00 UK	Birmingham	v	Sunderland	St Andrews Stadium
15:00 UK	Burnley	v	Wigan Athletic	Turf Moor
15:00 UK	Hull City	v	Portsmouth	Kingston Communications Stadium
15:00 UK	Tottenham Hotspur	v	Stoke City	White Hart Lane
17:30 UK	Chelsea	v	Blackburn Rovers	Stamford Bridge

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
13:30 UK	Bolton Wanderers	v	Everton	Reebok Stadium
14:00 UK	Liverpool	v	Manchester United	Anfield
15:00 UK	Manchester City	v	Fulham	City of Manchester Stadium
16:15 UK	West Ham United	v	Arsenal	Upton Park

Results October 17, 18 & 19, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Aston Villa	2 - 1	Chelsea	Villa Park (39,047)
FT	Arsenal	3 - 1	Birmingham	Emirates Stadium (60,082)
FT	Everton	1 - 1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Goodison Park (39,319)
FT	Manchester United	2 - 1	Bolton Wanderers	Old Trafford (75,103)
FT	Portsmouth	1 - 2	Tottenham Hotspur	Fratton Park (20,821)
FT	Stoke City	2 - 1	West Ham United	Britannia Stadium (27,026)
FT	Sunderland	1 - 0	Liverpool	Stadium of Light (47,327)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Blackburn Rovers	3 - 2	Burnley	Ewood Park (26,689)
FT	Wigan Athletic	1 - 1	Manchester City	DW Stadium (20,005)

Monday, October 19, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Fulham	2 - 0	Hull City	Craven Cottage (22,943)

Fixtures October 17, 18 & 19, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
12:45 UK	Aston Villa	v	Chelsea	Villa Park
15:00 UK	Arsenal	v	Birmingham	Emirates Stadium
15:00 UK	Everton	v	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Goodison Park
15:00 UK	Manchester United	v	Bolton Wanderers	Old Trafford
15:00 UK	Portsmouth	v	Tottenham Hotspur	Fratton Park
15:00 UK	Stoke City	v	West Ham United	Britannia Stadium
15:00 UK	Sunderland	v	Liverpool	Stadium of Light

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
13:00 UK	Blackburn Rovers	v	Burnley	Ewood Park
16:00 UK	Wigan Athletic	v	Manchester City	The DW Stadium

Monday, October 19, 2009

Time	Home		Away	VENUE
20:00 UK	Fulham	v	Hull City	Craven Cottage

Van der Sar close to return

Edwin van der Sar is certain he will be ready for Manchester United's Premier League clash with Bolton on October 17, after missing the start of the season through injury.

The veteran Dutchman has been out of action since breaking a couple of fingers in a pre-season encounter with Bayern Munich in July.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson had previously offered encouraging reports of Van der Sar's recovery and the former Holland skipper returned to action in last night's reserve team triumph over Everton.

The 39-year-old is confident he will be available to face Gary Megson's side as United look to get their campaign back on track after Saturday's disappointing 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford.

"I will be ready for Bolton,'' he told MUTV. "I feel good and I haven't had any reaction. The match is still 10 days away so I have more training to do, then I will be ready for my first start of the season.''

Van der Sar's return is likely to mean a period in exile for Ben Foster, who despite being billed as a permanent replacement for the Dutchman has struggled for form.

Ferguson put his faith in the former Stoke keeper following his dismal performance in last month's Manchester derby but Foster was again at fault, for Sunderland's second goal on Saturday.

The United boss will not want to drop any more points, especially with trips to Liverpool on October 25 and Chelsea on November 8 looming fast.

And for Van der Sar that offers another chance to test himself at the highest level having cast doubt on the general assumption that he will retire in the summer.

"Of course I could train but there are a lot of lads away on international duty so there are not many players around,'' he said. "I just felt this was the ideal opportunity to get some action in a real game.''

Meanwhile, another even longer-term injury absentee, Owen Hargreaves, is desperate to run out at Old Trafford again. The England midfielder is now inching towards a full recovery from tendinitis operations on both knees.

Hargreaves has been sidelined for more than a year. However, now he is back at Carrington and about to embark on work with the ball. Providing there are no complications, the Calgary-born star could be back in action early next month.

"I can't wait to get back involved in it all,'' he told the club's official website. "I can't wait to play again for United, to be able to pull on the shirt and have an effect on games. "Running out at Old Trafford will be a big thing for me. It will be amazing."

Source: ESPN Soccernet, October 7, 2009

Portsmouth second take over is confirmed

ESPN Soccernet can announce that billionaire Saudi Arabian oil-rich brothers Al-Faraj have completed the second takeover of Portsmouth inside 42 days, with chief executive Peter Storrie describing it "a minor miracle we've got it all down so quickly."

Peter Storrie gave ESPN Soccernet the first interview after the completing the new takeover of Portsmouth, as we asked him whether the south coast club will become the new Manchester City.




Ali Al-Faraj has led the takeover by his oil-rich Saudi family, and the billionaire Arab is sure to make the Premier League clubs believe they have another Manchester City on their hands.

But Storrie told ESPN Soccernet: "I'm not sure whether we'll become the next Manchester City, we shall have to wait and see. But Ali and his family are serious players alright, but to start with they want to stablise the club and we need to pay the players and pay the debts. I am sure they will then do whatever is needed to take this club forward, but first comes the job of stablising the club.

"Ali has taken on 90 per cent of the club, he's a big football fan and he will come on the board but he doesn't want to be up front and will leave the day to day running of the club to us.

"But he will want to see Portsmouth blossom. We shall go ahead with the new stadium and the new training ground and he will take a look to see what is needed in the January transfer window. The whole business of sorting this out has been hard work, time consuming and its been a minor miracle we have got it all done so quickly.

"I would anticipate that the club will be refinanced within a couple of weeks. The takeover is all completed, and I am delighted."

Source: ESPN Soccernet, October 5, 2009

Result October 5, 2009

Monday, October 5, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Aston Villa	1 - 1	Manchester City	Villa Park (37,924)

Result October 4, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Arsenal	6 - 2	Blackburn Rovers	Emirates Stadium (59,431)
FT	Everton	1 - 1	Stoke City	Goodison Park (36,753)
FT	West Ham United	2 - 2	Fulham	Upton Park (32,612)
FT	Chelsea	2 - 0	Liverpool	Upton Park (32,612)

Result October 3, 2009

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Status	Home	Score	Away	VENUE (ATT.)
FT	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0 - 1	Portsmouth	Molineux Stadium (29,023)
FT	Burnley	2 - 1	Birmingham	Turf Moor (20,102)
FT	Hull City	2 - 1	Wigan Athletic	Kingston Communications Stadium (22,822)
FT	Bolton Wanderers	2 - 2	Tottenham Hotspur	Reebok Stadium (21,305)
FT	Manchester United	2 - 2	Sunderland	Old Trafford (75,114)

More injury woe for Clarets

Burnley have been dealt yet another injury blow with the news that striker Jay Rodriguez will be out of action for three months with a fractured ankle.

Rodriguez was injured in last night's reserve-team match against Hull City when he landed awkwardly following an aerial challenge.

The 20-year-old underwent a scan on Thursday and manager Owen Coyle confirmed the damage.

"We are devastated for the lad and our primary concern is for him," Coyle said. "He's obviously an integral part our first-team squad and it's another blow to lose him for three months on the back of the other injuries we have had.

"However, I know Jay will get the best possible care under our team of physios and we look forward to him coming back as soon as possible to play a part in the remainder of our season.''
Rodriguez is the third Clarets player in a fortnight to be ruled out for three months, joining striking colleague Martin Paterson and midfielder Chris McCann on the injured list until Christmas, both with knee injuries.

Source: ESPN Soccernet, October 1, 2009

Adebayor escape another ban

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been handed a suspended two-match ban and £25,000 fine by the Football Association for his controversial goal celebration against Arsenal last month.

The Togo striker ran the full length of the pitch at Eastlands to toast his goal in front of the Gunners' travelling support, provoking ugly scenes in the stands.

He apologised after the match and claimed his celebration was a reaction to the constant abuse meted out to him by the away fans throughout the game.

He has already missed three games after he was charged with violent conduct by the FA for a clash with Robin van Persie.

The Dutch forward appeared to have his face raked by Adebayor's studs. Cesc Fabregas also complained of rough treatment at Adebayor's hands during City's 4-2 win.

But now he has received a suspended sentence, Adebayor will be available for City's game with Aston Villa, which is live on ESPN UK on Monday night. As part of the verdict, he could be banned if he contravenes FA rules before December 2010.

City manager Mark Hughes said he was delighted with the verdict. "There has been a lot said and written about Emmanuel's goal celebration. We are just glad to put it all behind us now and I am relieved he will be able to play at Aston Villa on Monday night. Manu was in great form before his suspension and having him available again is a huge boost to us."

An FA statement read: "Emmanuel Adebayor has been fined £25,000 and given a suspended two match ban. At a Regulatory Commission hearing, Manchester City forward Emmanuel Adebayor was fined £25,000 and given a suspended two match ban.

"Adebayor admitted a charge of improper conduct relating to his goal celebration during City's match against Arsenal at the City of Manchester Stadium on 12 September. In reaching its decision the Commission took into account his admission of the charge, public apology and the extremely provocative nature of the abuse he received.

"However, the Commission also stated that players have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a proper manner and that such celebrations are unacceptable and have the potential to cause a serious public order incident. The two match ban was suspended until December 2010 and will be activated in the event of a similar breach of FA rules."

Source: ESPN Soccernet, October 1, 2009