Weekend TV Previews: 2 - 4 October 2009

(All times - UK)

Friday 2 October

19.30 Schalke 04 v Eintracht Frankfurt, Bundesliga, ESPN
An intriguing one this. While Schalke lie fourth, they desperately need to improve matters at home having lost five of their last six matches at the Veltins-Arena. United, meanwhile, are unbeaten on their travels, picking up seven points from a possible nine so far this season.

Saturday 3 October

04.00 LA Galaxy v Chicago Fire, MLS, ESPN
The business end of the regular season brings two sides sitting second in their respective conferences and both stumbling towards a play-off spot. A draw will pretty much end either side's (albeit faint anyway) Supporters' Shield ambitions.

12.45 Preston North End v West Brom, Championship, Sky Sports 1/HD1
Third place hosts second but both teams suffered surprise defeats midweek (as much as any result in the Championship can be deemed a surprise). For Di Matteo's men it was their second loss on the spin after going down 1-0 at home to Palace - they need to bounce back and anything other than a win for the Baggies could see Newcastle open a five point lead at the top.

17.30 Manchester Utd v Sunderland, Barclays Premier League, ESPN/HD
Steve Bruce faces Sir Alex for the 13th time as a manager. All he has to show for it so far is a couple of home draws while at Birmingham. Don't expect that to improve here.

19.00 Barcelona v Almeria, La Liga, Sky Sports Xtra/HD3
100% Barca shouldn't have any problems here. They scored five in the opening 37 minutes in this tie last campaign.

19.45 Inter Milan v Udinese, Serie A, ESPN
Udinese have hit a run of form after a shaky start to the season thanks almost entirely to the goals of Antonio Di Natale. His eight goals match Eto'o and Milito's combined tally, and they haven't exactly had slouchy starts. Pick of the Italian offerings this weekend.

21.00 Atletico Madrid v Zaragoza, La Liga, Sky Sports Xtra/HD3
Five games into the season and Atletico are still looking for their first win but will have to do it with an 18-year-old in goal with their first choice keeper at the World Under-20s Championship (coverage of which continues on Eurosport) and his replacement currently injured.

Sunday 4 October

11.00 Lokomotiv Moscow v Rubin Kazan, Russian Premier Liga, ESPN
A few weeks ago Rubin looked like they'd slipped into cruise control and were going to romp away with the title, but along came the Champions League and since then it's all gone a bit pear-shaped. Pressure is coming from Zenit, who were for so long languishing mid-table but are now putting together a late challenge. Lokomotiv are unbeaten at home, Rubin are unbeaten away - should be a good one.

12.30 Rangers v Celtic, Scottish Premier League, Sky Sports 3/HD3
Rangers, without a win in three, could slip seven points behind their bitter rivals if they lose this one. Both come into this on the back of another round of disappointing European ties. According to figures from Strathcylde police this week, Glasgow now has more sectarian parades than Belfast. Twats.

13.30 Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers, Barclays Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1
Both of Arsenal's home fixtures this season have seen them net four goals. That, and the fact they've won this fixture on the last six occasions should give them plenty of confidence going into this.

14.00 AS Roma v Napoli, Serie A, ESPN
Roma, still unbeaten under Claudio Ranieri, play a Napoli team desperate to find some form. They've lost all three of their away games so far this season and will do well to get anything out of this one.

16.00 Chelsea v Liverpool, Barclays Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1
Last time these two met was the amazing 4-4 Champions League quarter final last season. Probably won't get the same high jinks here, but Liverpool will certainly be looking to repeat their win here in the league last season that brought an end to Chelsea's 86 game unbeaten home record.

16.30 Hertha Berlin v Hamburg, Bundesliga, ESPN
More woes for Hertha. The Berliners have lost their last six games, conceded more goals than anyone else and are currently managerless. Hamburg are top and have scored more than anyone else. You can see where this is going, can't you...?

19.45 Palermo v Juventus, Serie A, ESPN
Juve will be hoping that Diego is fit for this one because without him they really aren't as dangerous as their early season results suggest. Although failing to add to their opening day win, Palermo are still unbeaten at home.

20.00 Sevilla v Real Madrid, La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1
Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to play despite limping off midweek in Real's Champions League match against Marseille. Both teams go into the game in terrific form with Real still 100% and Sevilla having won their last six in all competions. Well worth watching.

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #133

Caught playing with their balls
10 People That Participated In The FA Cup Draws Of The 2006/07 Season

1. Neil Back (former England rugby union player)
2. Roger Black (former Great Britain athlete)
3. Darren Campbell (former Great Britain athlete)
4. Mike Gatting (former England cricketer)
5. Graham Gooch (former England cricketer)
6. Will Greenwood (former England rugby union player)
7. Ricky Hatton (British boxer)
8. Amir Khan (British boxer)
9. Hope Powell (England women's football team coach)
10. Faye White (England women's football player)

Just One Scudetto: Matchday 6 - It's in the stars

Leo (23 July - 23 Aug) The full moon in Aries signifies more disappointment as work colleagues fail to pull their weight and burden you with the blame. Bad news comes from a media tycoon with a glint in his eye.

More pressure has fallen on Milan coach Leonardo after he watched his team lose to Zurich at home in the Champions League. Following the embarrassing 4-0 home defeat by Inter, Milan have failed to win their last three games in all competitions and more worryingly have only scored three Serie A goals.

The trouble is Milan look like a team at the end of a long fruitless campaign not at the start of one. This time last year I saw them tear apart the current table toppers, Sampdoria, at the San Siro... has so much changed since then? Of course the retirement of Maldini and the departures of Kaka and Ancelotti would affect any team, but - on paper at least - Milan still have a very strong squad, a squad Leonardo will need to get the best from if he is to keep his job.

Also under a little pressure is Jose Mourinho (or Mou as they like to call him out there) who watched his side come from a goal down to draw against Russian champions Rubin Kazan. By the time they play Kiev in the next round of fixtures, it will be 12 months since their last Champions League victory. Worrying times ahead all round as the Bundesliga breathes down Serie A's neck for third spot on the UEFA coefficients - the last position to give four Champions League qualifiers.

Of course, doing the business for Italy were Fiorentina who beat Liverpool 2-0 with first half goals from the Montenegrin Messi Stevan Jovetic, while Juventus slugged out a 0-0 in Munich in Group A.

As mentioned, Sampdoria lead the way in Serie A - on merit too after beating the Champions Inter 1-0 in the Saturday evening kick off, retaining top position as second placed Juve failed to beat Bologna the following day. The defeat leaves Inter two points off the top with Fiorentina, and two clear of the improving Udinese. After a shaky start, Udinese are now stringing results together - though they're still over-reliant on Di Natale's goals - their latest win a 2-0 victory over early pace-setters Genoa.

Genoa have slipped down to sixth, though were unfortunate not to take all three points in their midweek fixture against Juve. A late (and offside) goal from sub David Trezeguet equalising goals from Mesto and Crespo for the home team after Iaquinta's early opener. Level on points are Parma who after back to back wins against Palermo and Lazio, lost at home to Cagliari.

There are four teams on 8 points - all won two, drawn two, lost two - however, that's good news for two of the teams and bad news for the others. Chievo are unbeaten in four, as are Roma under new boss Claudio Ranieri. Lazio on the other hand have failed to win in four, and we've already touched on Milan's woes.

Next is Bari, who added to Leonardo's problems by clinching their second San Siro point of the season. They were unlucky not to get more from the game as they ran Milan ragged for the opening 45. Cagliari are also on seven points ahead of Napoli on goal difference who managed to register just their second win of the season at the weekend at home to 17th placed Siena.

Above Siena, Palermo have added three draws to their opening day win. Bologna will hope they've turned a corner after celebrating their first win of the campaign in the mid-week card against bottom-placed Livorno and following it up with previously mentioned draw away to Juve. Livorno along with Catania and Atalanta are all awaiting their first win, though with Atalanta hosting Milan this weekend they might be forgiven for feeling confident enough to take three points.

That's it. Full results and table here.

Jeu du Jour Week 7: And then there were two

Lyon and Marseille are making Bordeaux's Ligue 1 title defence rather too easy this season. While Bordeaux continue to churn out one victory after another (and not always comfortably so), their main title rivals seem all too happy to drop points to ensure a safe passage for Laurent Blanc's men.

Prior to last weekend's matches, four teams had an unbeaten start to 2009/10, but two of them slipped up on Saturday and Sunday. One was Marseille (who now find themselves five points behind the leaders) and the other was Rennes - beaten by the leaders.

Bordeaux can look back on a more than satisfactory weekend having dominated their 1-0 win over Rennes and seen Marseille drop to fourth in the table. Brazilian defender Wendel headed in with the winning goal after 23 minutes to maintain Les Girondins' incredible unbeaten run, but despite the failings of the other top teams in the league, they still have one or two doubts of their own to address.

Having scored eleven goals in the first three games of their Ligue 1 campaign, Laurent Blanc's men have now scored just five in their last five. Admittedly one of those was in the Champions League against Juventus, but even so, this is proving to be a fairly barren spell for Bordeaux.

An additional worry is the goalscoring drought currently being endured by star striker Marouane Chamakh. The Moroccan, recently linked with a move to Arsenal and West Ham amongst others, has now failed to hit the target in any game since mid-August. Just as well Bordeaux's defence has been equally stingy of late too.

Marseille, for all their high-flying antics fell 3-2 to a Valenciennes side that, having lost their first three games of the season, have now picked up ten points from their last twelve. The meeting of these two teams brought back memories of a previous encounter in the early 90's where three Valenciennes players were said to have, how can we put it… 'not gone all out to win'.

Such memories were blown clean away on Saturday, however, as Valenciennes came back from behind twice before grabbing a late winner to take up their place in the top half of the table. Morientes and Niang (current top scorer in the league) scored the goals for Marseille while Bisevac, Ducourtioux and Schmitz got the all-important goals for the home side.

Completing the charge of the top three was Lyon who beat Toulouse 2-1 to remain the only other team apart from Bordeaux with an unbeaten record. Lyon were without Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos and the lack of attacking quality in the side was all too apparent in the first half as they trailed 1-0 from a 9th minute Moussa Sissoko strike.

Come the second half, however, Lyon came to life. Exposing the absence of all Toulouse's regular line-up of defenders, 18-year-old substitute Yannis Tafer equalised for Lyon after 52 minutes before Bafetimbi Gomis grabbed his sixth goal of the season 19 minutes later to win the match. Gomis is very much a man on form, as he proved last night by scoring one of Lyon's four goals without reply against Debreceni in the Champions League.

Squeezing into third place in the table are Montpellier who obviously weren't unduly affected by their 4-2 defeat to Marseille last week. Even a 4-3 League Cup defeat in extra time against Lens midweek couldn't derail Rene Girard's men, but they had to fight hard to scrape a 1-0 home win against fellow Ligue 2 promotees Boulogne.

Boulogne's stout defensive tactics frustrated Montpellier but a goal eleven minutes from time by Nenad Dzodic ensured all three points to maintain a terrific start for the team labelled 'Most likely to go straight back down again' by us before the season started.

Sadly for Boulogne, their promising start is now unravelling in a big way as they fall to 14th in the table, without a win in four games. Fingers crossed that they'll soon pull the cord on the parachute where their freefall's concerned.

Speaking of good form long since passed, we reach the inevitable 'Grenoble Moment' where we check to see if there's still a zero in the 'Won' column. Yes, there is. This week, the team from near the Alps visited Auxerre who were also in the soft and smelly up until a few weeks ago. Auxerre, however, have found a rich vein of form and are now, thanks to their 2-0 win over Grenoble on Saturday, unbeaten in four and up to twelfth place.

Pretenders-in-waiting to the crown of supreme incapability are Nice who haven't won since their opening day victory Saint Etienne. They at least arrested their run of four straight defeats in the league by drawing 1-1 against Lille, and to be honest we're not sure if this constitutes a good result or not. Given Lille's usual high standing in Ligue 1, we'd normally be able to say that this was a well won point, but Lille themselves have been so poor this season that we can't really say for certain.

The upshot of the result, however, means both teams go into next week's matches in the bottom four and Lille will consider themselves fortunate with that, given their 89th minute equaliser against Nice.

In other news, there was a rare win (and a good one at that) for Saint Etienne away to Monaco. Bakary Sako and Gonzalo Bergessio scored a goal at either end of the game for Les Verts while Sebastien Puygrenier headed in an equaliser just after the restart. 2-1 it was to Saint Etienne which gives them their first away win of the season and Monaco their first home defeat.

The only promoted team yet to be mentioned, Lens, continue to slide following a one-sided 3-0 defeat away to Le Mans. Lens are now down to 14th position and are without a win in their last four league games. Nancy, on the other hand, ended a run of four without a win by beating Sochaux 2-1. Sochaux have been inconsistent at best this season and fairly dire at worst, and this defeat finally sees them drop into the bottom three with a predictable sense of inevitability.

Last but not least, PSG picked up their second draw on the trot after their game away to Lorient ended 1-1. PSG have still lost only one game so far this season and remain in touch with the top teams by ending the week in sixth place.

And that's just about all for this week. You can catch up on all the results and the latest tables here. Until next time, though, it's à bientôt!