Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Half of the debt owed by European football clubs is owed by British clubs, the Nyon-based European football association Uefa is expected to say in an upcoming report, The European Club Footballing Landscape. A copy of the report has been seen by the Guardian, the newspaper writes in a lengthy article that looks at football club budgets. It says that “When it publishes the report in the coming weeks, Uefa will present it as authoritative evidence of the need for its Financial Fair Play rules, agreed in principle by the major clubs and leagues, which will require clubs to break even financially from 2012-13.”
Wolverhampton, England (GenevaLunch) - Didier Drogba scored two more goals for Chelsea as they extended their lead to four points at the top of the Premier League. The striker from Ivory Coast has now scored 25 goals for Chelsea this season. In the early kick-off game Everton beat Manchester United 3-1 to spoil Wayne Rooney’s return to his old club. Arsenal beat Sunderland 2-0 to keep up their challenge for the top spot. Portsmouth sank even deeper into the mire with a 1-2 loss to Stoke. They have been refused permission to sell players as they struggle to avoid bankruptcy.
Links to other sites: Premier League, The Sun
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) - Chelsea took back the leadership of the Premier League as Didier Drogba scored twice to beat their local rivals 2-0. It was the second consecutive loss for the Gunners, following on the 3-0 loss to Manchester United last weekend. Man United briefly topped the table after crushing Portsmouth 5-0 with the help of two or three own goals by the unfortunate visitors, currently on the brink of bankruptcy. Liverpool won their deby match against Everton 1-0 to reclaim 4th place while Spurs played out a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa and Man City lost at Hull.
Barcelona maintained a five point lead in La Liga after beating Getafe 2-1 while arch rivals Real Madrid won 3-0 against RCD Espanyol.
Links to other sites: Premier League, La Liga
Chelsea, London, England (GenevaLunch) - Chelsea put on a superb show to crush Sunderland 7-2 despite having their star striker away at the African Nations Cup. Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard each got two while Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack scored the others. Meanwhile Didier Drogba scored for Ivory Coast as they beat Ghana 3-1.
Manchester United beat Burnley 3-0 to stay second in the Premier League. Cesc Fabregas was in fine form as Arsenal won 0-2 at Bolton. Spurs stay fourth despite a dull 0-0 draw at home to Hull. Everton beat Manchester City 2-0 and Liverpool again conceded a late goal as they were held 1-1 at Stoke, increasing the pressure on manager Rafael Benitez.
Links to other sites: Premier League
Hull, England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester United pulled back two precious points on leaders Chelsea when they won 1-3 at Hull City with a powerful display led by Wayne Rooney. Chelsea were held to a goal-less draw at Birmingham on Saturday and face a tough game on Monday 28 December against Fulham.
Fulham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester United lost another Premier League game when they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Roy Hodgson’s Fulham. The London manager, who once coached the Swiss national team, took full advantage of the shaky Manchester defense which was weakened by many injured absentees. Chelsea were only able to manage a 1-1 draw at West Ham, and this was thanks to a dubious penalty decision. Frank Lampard took it three times before the referee was satisfied. Chelsea now lead Man United by four points.
Manchester City won 4-3 against Sunderland but it was not enough to save the job of manager Mark Hughes, who is being replaced by Roberto Mancini, ex-manager of Inter Milan. Arsenal beat Hull 3-0 to take third place while Aston Villa are next after beating Stoke 1-0.
Links to other sites: Premier League, Times, UK
(video) Chelsea, London (GenevaLunch) - There were five score draws, two away wins and only one home win in a weekend of upsets in the Premier League. Chelsea displayed unusual frailty in defense as they allowed Everton to take a 3-3 draw, the same score that Manchester City managed at Bolton Wanderers. Manor Figueroa scored the best goal of the day for Wigan against Stoke with a free kick from inside his own half. Saturday’s results left Manchester United with the chance of taking the top spot but they lost 0-1 at home against Aston Villa. Arsenal came from behind to win 1-2 at Liverpool.
In Spain, Real Madrid won 2-3 at Valencia to stay five points behind Barcelona with a game in hand.
Links to other sites: Premier League, Guardian
Manual Figueroa scored the best goal of the day:
(GenevaLunch) - Tottenham moved up to fourth spot in the Premier League with a stunning 9-1 victory over Wigan. Peter Crouch opened the scoring for Spurs but it was an amazing five-goal spell by Jermain Defoe, including a seven minute hat-trick, which determined the match. At the top of the table Chelsea maintained their five-point lead with a routine 4-0 win over Wolverhampton while Manchester United beat Everton 3-0 to take second place. Arsenal lost 1-0 at Sunderland while Liverpool could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City. Hull City and West Ham played out a 3-3 thriller.
The Swiss missed out on a second world title when their beach football team lost to Brazil in the final.
In the Swiss Cup Lausanne beat Lugano 2-1 while Neuchatel Xamax lost to Young Boys 0-1.
Links to other sites: Premier League, The Sun.
(GenevaLunch) – Chelsea snatched a 1-0 win over Man United to go five points clear of their great rivals in the Premier League. The game was evenly balanced, with Manchester slightly ahead on points, but John Terry struck for Chelsea in the 76th minute after a number of bizarre referee decisions in favour of the home team.
England (GenevaLunch) - Liverpool ended their four-game losing streak, their worst for two decades, in the best possible way with a 2-0 win over current champions Manchester United. Liverpool deserved their win, which came from goals by their Spanish striker Fernando Torres and David Ngog in a game which degenerated in the second half as each side had a man sent off.
(GenevaLunch) - Manchester United beat Bolton 2-1 to move back to the top of the Premier League. Chelsea lost 2-1 at Aston Villa. Liverpool also lost going down 1-0 at Sunderland to a freak goal which rebounded off a beachball and went into the net. Tottenham are in third place after beating Portsmouth 1-2, a result which leaves Pompey at the bottom of the Premier League. Arsenal moved into fourth place with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham.
Fifa announces eight teams’ playoffs
The eight countries facing a playoff to determine whether they go to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 found out Monday 19 October their opponents:
Republic of Ireland-France
Portugal-Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece-Ukraine
Russia-Slovenia
Links to other sites: Fifa, Premier League
Chelsea, London, England (GenevaLunch) – Chelsea had a double bonus this weekend as they beat rivals Liverpool 2-0 and saw the current champions Manchester United draw 2-2 with Sunderland. In fact Sunderland almost won the game, conceding a deflected own goal in injury time.
England (GenevaLunch) – Chelsea lost their 100 percent record as they lost 3-1 at Wigan after goalkeeper Petr Cech was sent off and conceded a penalty for tripping Hugo Rodallego. Manchester United moved to the top of the Premier League with a one goal advantage over Chelsea as they won at Stoke 0-2. Liverpool thrashed Hull 6-1 with the help of a superb hat-trick from Fernando Torres. Robbie Keane did even better for Spurs as he scored four goals in the 5-0 thrashing of Burnley.
At the bottom end Portsmouth set a new Premier League record by losing the first seven games of the season.
Details: Premier League
Premier League, England (GenevaLunch) - Chelsea are now the only team in the Premier League with a 100% record. They beat their London rivals Tottenham 3-0 in a game where the only real controversy was when the referee refused to award Spurs a penalty that might have brought them back to 1-1. The Manchester Derby was a much more exciting affair as Man City travelled to Old Trafford to see how the newly assembled team would fare against the current champions.
England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester City won a bad-tempered duel with Arsenal 4-2, showing they have the talent to challenge the traditional big four teams but also revealing a nasty streak that may cost the team. Emmanuel Abedayor, transfered from Arsenal for £25 million at the end of last season, was involved in two incidents which are likely to be investigated by the FA authorities: the first was when he appeared to kick Robin Van Persie in the face, the second when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans after scoring at the other end.
Premier League, England (GenevaLunch) – Chelsea moved to the top of the table with a convincing 3-0 victory over Burnley. Tottenham are also on 12 points from four games after beating Birmingham 2-1 with a late goal from Aaron Lennon, following a Peter Crouch header, which gave Spurs a 2-1 win. They lost Luka Modric to injury, apparently a fractured bone in his leg which will put him out of action for a few months.
Premier league, England (GenevaLunch) -Tottenham, Chelsea Arsenal and Man City are the only teams to have won all their games so far this season. Spurs and Chelsea have won three to top the table. Man United came back from an earlier loss to crush Wigan 0-5, Arsenal beat Portsmouth 4-1. Five teams have yet to score a point.
Details: premierleague.com
Premier League(GenevaLunch) – Newly promoted Burnley celebrated their first home game in the top division by beating current champions Manchester United 1-0. Man United were appalling, with a much weakened defense in the absence of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, while Michael Owen was completely out of touch at the front and was substituted in the second half.
(GenevaLunch) – Arsenal top the table after the first round of the Premier League following a 1-6 thrashing of Everton, which included two goals by Cesc Fabregas. Chelsea also won but only with a large slice of luck as Didier Drogba scored with an attempted cross in the 6th minute of extra time which gave them a 2-1 victory over Hull City.
Wembley, London, England (GenevaLunch) – Chelsea gave their new manager Carlo Ancelloti his first trophy when they beat Manchester United 4-1 on penalties after the game ended at 2-2. The Community Shield features the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup and is the traditional opening of the new football season.
Manchester scored first, when Nani drove the ball past Cech in the 10th minute.
The world of Premier League football is looking financially healthy in 2007-08, reports Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance, with revenues climbing 26 percent overall. “Football proves recession resiliant,” the review states, noting that British football clubs have regained their status as the world’s most profitable, after an earlier dip in fortunes. British clubs saw their revenues increase from £1.5 million to £1.93m in a year, and while high salaries for top players pushed up the overall salary figure, revenues increased more rapidly. BBC
(GenevaLunch) – The top four Premier League teams, Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, all won their games to leave the top of the table unchanged. For once, however, the action at the bottom was more important. West Brom was already relegated but four teams were fighting to avoid filling the other two relegation spots.
(GenevaLunch) - Manchester United won their third successive Premier League title and equaled Liverpool’s record of 18 League wins. They were held to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford by Arsenal but one point was all that was needed. Liverpool won 0-2 at West Brom to strengthen their hold on second place and send their opponents down. Chelsea beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 and could still take the second spot if Liverpool lose their last game.
(GenevaLunch) - The two losing semi-finalists from the European Champions league met at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium but Chelsea took the honours with a comprehensive 1-4 win. This means that Chelsea will definitely qualify for one of the three elite places in Europe next season while Arsenal will take fourth place in the Premiership and have to compete in a preliminary knock-out round.
(GenevaLunch) – Man United edged a little closer to the Premier League title with a straightforward 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, while Liverpool kept up the pressure as they strolled past Newcastle 3-0.
(GenevaLunch) - Manchester came back from two goals behind to beat Spurs 5-2 and now lead the Premier League by three points from second placed Liverpool, and have a game in hand. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo each scored twice but for many observers the key change was when Carlos Tevez came on and added new energy to the team.
(GenevaLunch) - Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all won their weekend fixtures to leave the top of the table unchanged. However with only seven games left, Manchester’s hold on the top spot is looking stronger.
(GenevaLunch) – Federico Macheda, a 17-year-old Italian playing in his first senior game for Manchester United, scored a dramatic last minute winner as the Reds came back from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-2. Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals for Man U but the defense conceded twice to leave Villa a goal ahead with 10 minutes left.
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~1598249,00.html
(GenevaLunch) – Fulham wrecked Man United’s hope of a simple run-in to the end of the Premiership season with a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage. Paul Scholes was sent off for hand-ball and Danny Murphy converted the penalty.
(GenevaLunch) – Liverpool put on the style as they beat Champion and current leaders Manchester United 1-4 at Old Trafford.
