Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Round of 16 Squads

Group A
  1. Tottenham
  2. Inter Milan
Group B
  1. Shalke 04
  2. Lyon
Group C
  1. Manchester United
  2. Valencia
Group D
  1. Barcelona
  2. FC Copenhagen
Group E
  1. Bayern Munuch
  2. AS Roma
Group F
  1. Chelsea
  2. Marseille
Group G
  1. Real Madrid
  2. AC Milan
Group H
  1. Shakhtar Donetsk
  2. Arsenal

Arsenal 3-1 Partizan Belgrade

Arsenal moved into the last 16 of the Champions League with a laboured 3-1 win over Group H whipping boys Partizan Belgrade at Emirates Stadium.

Successive away defeats to Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga had left the Gunners - who opened their European campaign with three straight victories - still needing a result to secure safe passage through to the knockout stages for the 11th successive season.

After a lacklustre start, Robin van Persie fired the home side ahead from the penalty spot - his first goal of the season - and after Cleo had netted a shock equaliser, substitute Theo Walcott volleyed Arsenal back into the lead before man-of-the-moment Samir Nasri swept home a third.

Arsenal finished the game with 10 men when defender Bacary Sagna was shown a red card for a professional foul on 85 minutes.

Marseille 1-0 Chelsea

Marseille piled more pressure on Chelsea's under-fire boss Carlo Ancelotti as a second-half goal from Brandao brought their unbeaten Champions League run to an end.

Having already won Group F, the Blues were lethargic and passionless despite Ancelotti's call for a return to the free-flowing football they produced at the start of the season.

Although the game had nothing riding on it apart from pride, the English champions looked a shadow of the side that took defences apart with ease last season.

The Blues have now recorded just two wins out of their last eight games in all competitions and the storm clouds will continue to gather over Ancelotti until they reverse their alarming slump.

Olympique de Marseille v Chelsea FC Press Kit

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
2010/11 SEASON
MATCH PRESS KIT
Olympique de Marseille Chelsea FC
Group F - Matchday 6
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
Wednesday 8 December 2010
20.45CET (20.45 local time)

Arsenal Fc v FK Partizan Press Kit

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
2010/11 SEASON
MATCH PRESS KIT
Arsenal FC FK Partizan
Group H - Matchday 6
Arsenal Stadium, London
Wednesday 8 December 2010
20.45CET (19.45 local time)

Twente Enschede 3-3 Tottenham

Tottenham capped an unforgettable Champions League Group A campaign with another thriller as they secured top spot despite a draw at FC Twente.

No matter how Harry Redknapp's men fare in the knockout stage, the manner in which they have gone about getting there has been both entertaining and dramatic and it was no exception on Tuesday.

Needing to win to be certain of finishing above Inter Milan, Spurs led three times through a calamitous Peter Wisgerhof own goal and Jermain Defoe's first strikes since August.

Each advantage was quickly cancelled out, through a controversial twice-taken Denny Landzaat penalty and goals from Roberto Rosales and Nacer Chadli, but a draw proved enough as Inter lost at Werder Bremen.

Harry Redknapp kept to his word to field some fringe players, with Vedran Corluka making his first appearance for more than two months and Niko Kranjcar handed a rare start, while there were recalls for the fit-again Jermaine Jenas and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Manchester United 1-1 Valencia

Manchester United lost their perfect Champions League defensive record but still managed to claim top spot in Group C thanks to Anderson's second-half equaliser.

United had the better of an entertaining contest but a succession of failures in front of goal looked set to cost them dear when Pablo Hernandez rifled the visitors in front after half an hour.

It was the first goal United had conceded in this season's Champions League and might well have proved very costly had it pitched them into combat with one of Europe's heavyweights in next Friday's draw.

But they found an unlikely hero in Anderson, who netted only his second goal for the Red Devils when he latched onto the rebound after Vicente Guaita had saved Park Ji-sung's thunderbolt.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Manchester United v Valencia Projected Starting XI

Projected Starting Lineups for Man U v Valencia:

Projected Starting Lineups for Tottenham v Twente

Starting XI (projected):

EPL Table December 7, 2010

2010-2011 English Premier League Table
  Overall Home Away  
POS
TEAM P W D L GS GA W D L GS GA W D L GS GA GD Pts
1 Arsenal 16 10 2 4 34 18 5 0 3 19 10 5 2 1 15 8 16 32
2 Manchester United 15 8 7 0 35 16 7 1 0 24 6 1 6 0 11 10 19 31
3 Chelsea 16 9 3 4 30 11 6 1 1 18 4 3 2 3 12 7 19 30
4 Manchester City 16 8 5 3 21 12 4 3 1 8 5 4 2 2 13 7 9 29
5 Tottenham Hotspur 16 7 5 4 24 21 4 3 1 13 8 3 2 3 11 13 3 26
6 Bolton Wanderers 16 5 8 3 28 23 3 4 1 17 11 2 4 2 11 12 5 23
7 Sunderland 16 5 8 3 20 18 4 4 0 10 5 1 4 3 10 13 2 23
8 Liverpool 16 6 4 6 20 19 5 2 1 15 6 1 2 5 5 13 1 22
9 West Bromwich Albion 16 6 4 6 23 27 4 2 2 11 10 2 2 4 12 17 -4 22
10 Stoke City 16 6 3 7 21 21 4 2 2 12 9 2 1 5 9 12 0 21
11 Blackburn Rovers 16 6 3 7 21 25 4 2 2 11 6 2 1 5 10 19 -4 21
12 Newcastle United 16 5 4 7 24 25 2 3 3 16 10 3 1 4 8 15 -1 19
13 Blackpool 15 5 4 6 23 29 2 2 2 11 11 3 2 4 12 18 -6 19
14 Birmingham 16 3 9 4 17 19 3 4 1 8 6 0 5 3 9 13 -2 18
15 Everton 16 3 8 5 18 20 2 3 3 10 12 1 5 2 8 8 -2 17
16 Aston Villa 16 4 5 7 17 27 3 4 1 12 9 1 1 6 5 18 -10 17
17 Fulham 16 2 9 5 16 20 2 4 2 10 11 0 5 3 6 9 -4 15
18 Wigan Athletic 16 3 6 7 13 28 2 4 3 8 17 1 2 4 5 11 -15 15
19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 16 3 3 10 17 30 3 2 3 12 13 0 1 7 5 17 -13 12
20 West Ham United 16 2 6 8 14 27 2 3 3 10 12 0 3 5 4 15 -13 12