With the exception of Aston Villa fans and a handful of prognosticators, there weren't many people who could have seen Aston Villa have the type of season it is currently enjoying.
Brad Friedel and Villa is currently tied for third place in the English Premier League and can take sole possession of third with a win against Arsenal on Sunday in the weekend's top match.
The EPL is the lone top league in action this weekend so the TV schedule is on the light side this time around. That doesn't mean there aren't good storylines. You've got Marcus Hahnemann and suddenly streaking Wolves taking on Liverpool as well as Fulham facing Tottenham in a London Derby showdown on Saturday before taking on another London club, first-place Chelsea, on Monday.
Here is this weekend's schedule of matches on TV, including some Monday tilts:
SATURDAY
7:45am- ESPN2- Birmingham City vs. Chelsea
8am- FSC/FSE- Fulham vs. Tottenham
8am- Setanta USA- West Ham United vs. Portsmouth
10am- FSC/FSE- Sunderland vs. Everton
10am- Setanta USA- Manchester City vs. Stoke City
10am- Setanta Xtra- Wigan vs. Blackburn
12:30pm- FSC/FSE- Liverpool vs. Wolves
1pm- Setanta USA- Leicester City vs. Sheffield United
2:30pm-FSC- Burnley vs. Bolton (Delayed)
2:30pm- FSE- Fulham vs. Tottenham (Delayed)
3pm- Setanta USA- Wigan vs. Blackburn (Delayed)
3am- FSC- Sydney FC vs. Adelaide United
SUNDAY
8:30am- Setanta USA- Arsenal vs. Aston Villa
11am- FSC/FSE- Hull City vs. Manchester United
1pm- Telemundo- Catalonia vs. Argentina (Taped)
11pm- FSC- Hull City vs. Manchester United (Delayed)
MONDAY
7:30am- FSC/FSE- Tottenham vs. West Ham
10am- FSC- Blackburn vs. Sunderland
10am- Setanta USA- Chelsea vs. Fulham
10am- Setanta Xtra- Everton vs. Burnley
12:20pm- ESPN360.com- Newcastle United vs. Derby County
1:45pm- Setanta USA- Chelsea vs. Fulham (Delayed)
2:45pm- ESPN2- Wolves vs. Manchester City
8:45pm- Setanta USA- Everton vs. Burnley
—————–
What matches will you be looking forward to?
Share your thoughts below.
Rangers playing Hibs this weekend; Beasley a good bet to start.
He scores with his left,
He scores with his right,
That boy Clint Dempsey,
Makes Drogba look shite!
Hey Ives,
apparently (according to that fabulous news source, Bild)Hertha BSC wants to let Bryan Arguez go this winter. Have you heard anything about this?
Does he have any suitors in MLS?
(SBI-His agent told me a while back that he was going to be released by Hertha Berlin. As for DC still having his rights, that may not be entirely true. If D.C. United spent the transfer fee it earned for him then it lost those rights.)
I believe DC United would still own his MLS according to the current CBA
Thanks. I thought you might have mentioned that once way back. Wasn’t sure, though.
Thought he looked pretty decent with the under 21′s.
Can’t say much positive about the coaches he’s had, but at least he has been able to train with some really good players (Simunic, Friedrich, Pantelic). That’s really the only positive things I can say about Hertha. Obviously they were punching way above their weight class, last season. Favre was a good tactician, but did not really give the team much of a positive aura.
In contrast, Bradley’s coach may look like hard man, but in interviews he sounds very astute, thoughtful, and even kind.
By the way, would love to see something here about the coaches of some of our yanks abroad. Could be interesting.
You’d better believe I’m getting up to see that Birmingham-Chelsea game. It’s one of the few good fixtures ESPN bought this year and I’m not missing it; especially since the Fulham is playing in a little bit afterwards.
lets see how my reds f up this game against wolves tomorrow…
Ives,
You seem to be missing FSC’s 7:30AM Tottenham v. West Ham match. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
I just saw The Damned United (a great flick if you haven’t checked it out yet) so now I want to see Derby County.
Definitely excited about Spurs versus Fulham. Two teams playing good football at the moment.
Would be even More excited if I saw Jozy getting time versus a patch-work Manchester United defense!
Off subject, someone wrote, “F*ckin’ Awsome” in the snow at Red Bull Arena.
link to earthcam.com
PeteinLA – I saw Arguez in his first friendly with Hertha, and for a youngster, he showed much promise followed by some BL action. However, as you know, for a Yank to make it in the BL, he must establish himself with every opportunity and he failed to take advantage of those limited opportunities. Life is tough for Yanks in the BL, but with hard work and determination, i.e Bradley and Dolo, persistance can pay dividends.
Hertha has already indicated they will part ways with him. He has a promising future, but this is all part of maturing process. He needs to chalk this up to experience in one the top leagues in Europe and move on.
Lets see if Spector can re-establish himself in the starting LB in one of the 2 west-ham games. I know its terrible, but i almost wish something ill fated would happen to Ilunga.
I just looked at your info. So do the GI’s mostly follow Hoffenheim, or Frankfurt?
I think ESPN was only able to get the first game on Saturday and the game on Monday when there is one scheduled. They didn’t choose the matchups but rather the game time, which worked well in the fall because it was over before college football. Most of the good epl machups are played at night in primetime and thus ESPN got mainly poor machups from the early day game.
Nice! Pulled a screen shot of it before it melts. Good catch.
Dempsey just STRUCK it off the crossbar. free kick from 35-40 yards out. sooo sick
damn! got a working stream?
Dempsey beats the keeper from about 25 out off a set piece, but hits the crossbar.
atdhe.net kiidd
that’d be fulham/tottenham. hammers player pompey.
Finally something good coming out of RB headquarters!!!
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Fulham has looked very good, not confident enough on the ball to work it around like Spurs can. Dempsey should have scored, and the same could be said for Duff’s volley, and Gera’s unbelievable back-heel.
Come on you Whites.
And as I type that Fulham kick it around like Barcelona and Dempsey should have done better with the shot. Would have been a great team goal.
Defoe just came off the bench, must be nice…
Any other streams?
What is the story on Spector? I thought he looked pretty good for West Ham, but see that he is in the 18 but on the bench. I think this is two games in a row.
Why is American actor James van der Beek starting in goal for Birmingham?
Everton’s midfield is garbage, absolute garbage, they hold the ball fine, but then in the final third its like they don’t know what to do. They have so many pass back sally’s.
Howard with a great save to deny Paulo da Silva and keep Everton within striking distance.
ESPN did not buy fixtures, but the “packages” offered by the Premier League that came available after the collapse Setanta’s operation in England (differentiated from their continuing operations in Ireland and North America).
The first package is the Saturday “lunch-time” fixture (occasionally a later kick-off when there is not a “lunch-time” game). The second package is the Monday night game.
ESPN has no control over the games they get to show, as the PL determines the fixture list, which is constantly evolving due to Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, and League Cup games…
Maybe they’re filming the new season of Dawsons Creek, Birmingham
It will be interesting to see how Donovan fits into Everton. Will he play on the wing where Pienaar and Bilyaletdinov are really his only competition for playing time or will he play up top in a support role (the role Osman seems to be playing today) behind Saha, Jo, or Yakubu?
Everton was clearly the better side, 1-1. Sunderland played like an away side waiting for a counter. Saha is in very poor form, and Yakubu can’t run at all.
They aren’t anywhere near garbage but I understand your point and I agree with you. As good as Cahill and co are, only player with any creativity is Pienaar. The problem is, Donovan really isn’t that creative either.
swap landycakes for yakubu and everton will be golden. madmax is right. watching yakubu run today made my hamstrings yell at moyes to substitute him
Arteta is on his way back, and Landon will be on Merseyside in less than a week!
liverpool playing like liverpool this season at home against wolves. first 15 was great, now they tailed off into nothing by halftime. second half must be better to get the guaranteed 3 points today…
Liverpool wouldn’t have a guaranteed 3 points with a League 1 club this season.
yea, right…that’ll be the day.
i know, what the hell is going on??
stevie g saves the day
as he always does. still a little pessimistic as they didnt show any promise until stephen ward got sent off. a win is a win tho, lets build on this!!
more like 4
Frankie Simek went the full 90 for Sheffield Wednesday today against the Magpies. For those who have access Espn360 you can watch a replay there. Game ended 2-2
Can Frankie be the answer at LB?
Landon might not be incredibly creative, but he likes to pull the trigger and shoot, which will draw defenses out to close down on him– hopefully that opens up some passing lanes for Everton.
minor quibble: the statement “Brad Friedel and Villa is currently tied for third place in the English Premier League…” is incorrect (and not just because of the grammar). they are tied on points with arsenal, but well behind in goal differential. if the season ended today, aston villa would be playing in the CL qualifiers next year while arsenal got to stay home until the group stage.
holy uptight sphincters batman!
been looking at highlights of various uncapped americans and saw this highlight of jeremiah white… who else other than dempsey, davies and probably benny could pull this off?
link to youtube.com
Just saw the Sheffield game, and no answer my own question, no, Frankie Simek is not the answer at LB.
I’ve come to conclude that, it’s Bob’s understanding that anyone who can’t deliver a decent cross with their left foot isn’t going to get time at LB. And after evaluating Frankie’s performance, it can definitely be seen that Frankie Simek is a pure RB through and through. He’s relies on his right foot for just about everything, whenever he comes into possession and lacks the technicality and skill to compensate for his lack of a “left foot”.
With that said, after seeing Frankie Simek mark, cover and battle with the likes of Andy Carroll, Ameobi, Marlon Harewood and Jonas Gutierrez, all very gifted player in their own rights, at his natural RB position, I can say that this man deserves a spot on our 23 man squad heading to South Africa.
His hustle and work rate are comparable to that of Frankie Hedjuks (minus the recklesness), while at the same time he boasts an overall more complete game. You won’t cringe at the sight of a horrible first touch, yet neither will you be awed with his cross, yet his service is to be respected. He’s not spectacular with his offensive play, but he knows how to keep possession and play smartly and in my opinion, this is the exact type of backup we need on 23 man roster heading to South Africa. With Spector seeing less and less minutes at West Ham, and more minutes at CB with the Nats, I think Frankie Simek is going to be a reinsurance that’ll ease some depth problems for us.
Based on today’s performance, its seems more likely that Sean McAuley at Wednesday will keep playing Frankie. Drawing with Newcastle today certainly didn’t hurt his chances of keeping him in the lineup
Wasn’t to big a deal, but trust me, theres a whole nation of us out there who are wondering why White hasn’t been called up (and another lot who are pissed he wasn’t called up against Denmark in his own turf!). Well, if White does indeed sign with the Union (they’ve had talkes, but it kinda sounds as if White would prefer the cash in Europe) he can make a case of his quality against the rest of the MLS nats.
Anyone can do it, would anyone actually complete it in a game?
If he has to wait until the mls season starts to show his form, it’s too late. I suppose he has to hope for an injury to someone in training, maybe he’ll get the nod then.
is SetantaUSA on Time Warner or only PPV? Can anyone suggest a place to watch Chelsea vs. Fulham in San Diego, CA?
Pete – I have followed Bayern since growing up in Jersey and watching Soccer made in Germany and the Cosmos when I was a kid. I love German football and think it is the way football was meant to be played. As for the rest of us GIs here in Germany, not sure how many if many at all follow football here. But we do live near Hoffe, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern–those are the teams GIs would likely watch. As for me I follow the entire league and my heart is always with Bayern.
I will be at the Hoffe-Gladbach match in March at the new Rhien-Neckar Arena to watch Bradley.