Arsenal vs Newcastle United Preview Premier League 19 May, 2013

Arsenal take on Newcastle Utd on the final day of the season knowing a win against the magpies would guarantee Arsene Wenger’s side a 16th consecutive Top 4 finish and finish above their North London rivals Tottenham. Newcastle Utd will rather be relaxed with Arsenal’s defeat of Wigan on Tuesday effectively sending the FA Cup Champions to the 2nd tier of English football.

Arsenal are the in-form team in the Premier League at the moment and top the form table. The gunners will look to seal the deal against an abysmal Newcastle Utd side who were beaten 3-0 by fellow strugglers Sunderland and 6-0 by Liverpool. If Arsenal manager a 2-1 victory over Alan Pardew’s side coupled with a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge then a play off for 3rd spot at Villa Park on 26th of this month will become a reality.

Olivier Giroud makes his return following suspension. Mikel Arteta is a major injury doubt. No other new injuries/suspensions are reported.

Newcastle United will be relieved having watched Arsenal beat Wigan which enables them to a rather uneventful final day of the season with Premier League status secured, it also means Alan Pardew will continue as Newcastle Utd manager. Newcastle’s home form has been poor to say the least and another demolition at the hands of Arsenal might wait. The first fixture between these two side this season at the Emirates saw Arsenal trouncing Newcastle Utd 7-3.

Steve Harper will play his final professional game. No fresh injuries have been reported.

MAN TO WATCH: Santi Cazorla

The Spaniard has been one of the best players in the league ever since making his summer move to Arsene Wenger’s side from Spanish side Malaga.

PREDICTION: Newcastle United (0) vs Arsenal FC (3)

Arsenal are going strong and will win this game by a large margin thereby condemning rivals Tottenham Hotspurs to Europa League.

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Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United Highlights, Report Premier League 28 April, 2013

Here goes another draw for the Gunners when Arsenal and Manchester United were head to head this Sunday. It was a 1-1 draw and Arsene Wenger’s men were t able to nail the game although they had a pretty good start in the field. This match was quite startling for some of the fans as this marked the return of Van Persie back into the club and right into the field. Arsenal did try to hold back the game I n the beginning but they couldn’t do so for long as Van Persie’s penalty gave United a goal just before the end of the first half. Arsenal’s main striker Oliver Giroud was missing the game due to suspension and he was thus replaced by Lukas Podolski and fortunately they tried to set a great start.

But after a the 10 minute mark, Van Persie tried to enter the Arsenal’s defense with the ball, and this time he couldn’t afford to let go, but the rash rundown of Sagna gave United the perfect chance; as otherwise it was seeming hard to score. Thus Van Persie made no mistake and made his move. However, the Gunners got a lot of pumped up after the break and tried to break the ice. They got back into the game and held the ball for at least 15 minutes until Wayne Rooney wasted a chance to shoot a header from such a close range. Another shot was stopped by De Gea when Cazorla tried to hard stomp the ball into the net. However, this draw seemed a little disappointing for the Gunners as Arsene Wenger now thinks that it’s even harder to get into the top four in the table. On the other hand, United will not be able to get the chance to eat Chelsea’s Premier League record of 95 points this season.

Scores: Walcott 1-1 Van Persie (penalty)

Van Persie and Walcott goals video

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UEFA EUROPA League fixtures for 2012-13

The fixtures for the EUROPA League have been announced and the most interesting thing is the draw which leads to the strike between Liverpool and Hearts. The first leg will be played on the 23rd. on the other hand; another main feature includes the match between Newcastle United and the Greek side Atromitos FC. 

In other draws, the Spanish club Motherwell will be playing Levante. Meanwhile, the league also includes the three times UEFA cup winners Inter Milan facing FC Vaslui of Romania. Click Here to see full fixtures.

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UEFA Champion League fixtures for season 2012/2013

The fixtures for the UEFA Champions League have been announced. This time it will be a great treat for the fans as they will be seeing Real Madrid and Manchester City in Group D facing each other. This match has always been thrilling for both the sides making the toughest possible match.

Chelsea and Juventus are also placed together in Group E which makes them playing a lot harder. Arsenal will be placed in Group B which is joined by FC Schalke.  However Manchester United will be up against Benfica and then advancing to play with Braga. On the other hand, Bayern Munich and Valencia are the teams that are to be coming out of Group F while Barcelona has been given an easy route but Celtic will be the most probable club to emerge with the Spanish Giants. Here is a complete list of UEFA Champion League 2012/13 Draw.

Click Here to see full fixtures on Uefa official Website.

Tipico

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UEFA Award for best player in Europe

After receiving most pints in a vote among sports journalists, Cristiano Ronaldo, Iniesta and Messi are shortlisted for the second edition of the individual award for the best player of the year.
These three players have acquired the most points in a vote held for 53 sports critics and journalists from each of the European football governing body’s member association.

The playmaker from Juventus, Andrea Pirlo came fourth in the election, while Xavi from Barcelona has been on the fifth place whereas he finished second in the last year’s edition. However, the remaining three players will be sent into the deciding vote in Monaco on August 30. 

Messi won the last edition of the accolade in 2011. This award was created in partnership from the ESM and the union recognizes the player as the best irrespective of his nationality.

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Italian Serie A fixtures for 2012-2013 Roundup

The Serie A fixtures timetable and schedule has been announced by The Lega Calcio. The match will be starting with the last seasons Champions, Juventus, defending their title against Parma on the home ground. This means that Sebastian Giovinco will be seeing his former employer in action.
On the other side, the runner us from last year, AC Milan will be facing Sampdoria on the last weekend of August i.e. 25th and 26th August. Meanwhile Inter Milan will be travelling to Pescara whereas Napoli will head off to Palermo. 

The most interesting phase which will have the Milan Derby will take place in the seventh round of the fixtures which begins on October 7th. However Lazio and Roma will be heads five weeks after that. After that there will be four breaks during the season on September 9th, October 14th, December 30th and March 24th. The three midweek rounds are also scheduled for September 26, October 31 and May 8. The exciting series will be closing on May 19th which will be including the face offs between Juventus hosting Sampdoria, Roma hits to Napoli and Inter meet Udinese at the Friuli.

Click here to see full matches fixtures of Serie A on UEFA official Website.

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Kompany sings longest contract at Manchester City

Vincent Kompany has signed a six year long contract here at Manchester City. This is the longest contract signed in the clubs history. This seems like a reward from the manager Roberto Mancini for leading his men to the Premier League title last year.

No doubt that the 26 year old has done a great job in the club and last season he was the key scorer against Manchester United towards the end of the campaign which was a very significant process for the title. There are also rumors that David Silva will also be renewing his contract and become the highest earner in the club.Kompany joined Mancheter City in 2008 from Hamburg and has enjoyed a magnificent time here. He became the Blues’ captain after Carlos Tevez was removed. 

Last season was very exciting for Kompany as his side made two goals in the last minute against QPR which made City leap in front of Manchester United on the score board just before the end of the season. And hence Manchester City took home the Premier League trophy.

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Spanish La Liga BBVA Fixtures 2012-2013

La Liga fixtures have been announced and they reveal something very important to every football fan; the derby matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The first Classico will take place on October 7th while the return fixture of Barcelona and Real in Santigo Bernabeu will be held on March 3rd. The league starts on August 18th and will go on till June 1, 2013. There will be only one penultimate round of the scheduled 38 set for midweek.

However the final dates may be changed if any of the teams from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or Malaga reaches the finals of the Champions League. The league will start as Barcelona will host Real Sociedad and Real Madrid plays Valencia.

Click here to see full matches fixtures on UEFA official Website.

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FIFA Approves Goal-Line Technology

Football’s international governing body has approved the introduction of goal-line technology in the game. Hawk-Eye and GoalRef are the two technologies that will be added and are approved by the IFAB after a series of tests. This technology would be introduced into the Premier League but not any sooner than the decision at the meeting in Zurich. The general secretary for FIFA said that the committee intends to bring this new technology in the Club World Cup, Confederation’s Cup and the 2014 World Cup. He also added that FIFA would be paying $250,000 US for each stadium and will leave them in place until the next match.  There is a huge concern about that as the federation wants the systems to be working at nothing less than a 100 percent efficiency. 

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Spain Won 3rd European Championship Title - Euro 2012 Review

Spain hails the greatest generation it has ever seen. A team that has won everything is on its high. Spain is the first team to win the Euro Cup three times in a row. The succession started with a 1-0 win over Germany in 2008 but now Spain thrashed Italy 4-0. This is what all critics call improvement in form and game. 

Spain Squad celebrating after winning Euro 2012 Title

And most of all, the Barca player Andres Iniesta is also described as the person who took the game to the next level and the “MVP” of the final game.

However on the other hand, the dream for Azzuri has become a nightmare. Working so hard to the finals just to watch your team lose 4-0 is something that worries the fans. Their greatest regret will be one of the miss that Antonio Di Natale’s made during the first half when it was only 2-0. Although Italy lost but their newspaper states that there is one surprising thing about Spain’s victory and that is the witnessing of re-writing of football history by Spain.

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Villas-Boas: Announced as New Boss for Tottenham

After the departure of Harry Redknapp, the manager for Tottenham Hotspurs has been changed. Villas-Boas has taken his place. Villas was the former Chelsea boss and confirmed as the new Hotspurs’ manager on Tuesday.

The club’s twitter feeds have been reported to confirm the news as “The club is delighted to announce Andre Villas Boas as Head Coach.” This is quite dramatic for the EPL as Andre was previously fired from his job at Chelsea after eight months into his three year contract. 

The major causes for the removal of Villas-Boas were behind the scenes; mutinies in the dressing room and failure of producing a good relation between the boss and the team.

However the boss will be working hard to take the spurs to the top. The near miss last season in the Champions League has been quite disappointing for the team. Nevertheless, the whole club is expecting a lot from the new boss but only time can decide the fate of the team.

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Barclays English Premier League Fixtures 2012-2013

Fixtures for English Premier League season 2012-2013 has been released. Season starts from Saturday, August 18th 2012, with Manchester City defending their title at home. The runner-ups, Manchester United have been given a difficult track comprising of their visit to Everton before Fulham visits them at home.

Arsenal will be starting at home to play with Sunderland and then Stoke and Liverpool afterwards. However the interesting part of the opening day is the match between the Europa League rivals, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspurs. Hotspurs are still without their manager as Harry Redknapp departed to St. James Park.

Chelsea, also on the trip to the Premier League title will be starting against Wigan. Newcastle will be the first visitor to Stamford Bridge. The other teams including Swansea and QPR will also be facing each other as a start whereas West Ham’s return to Premier League will get them face to face with Aston Villa. Then their remains Fulham and Norwich, who will be showing a very competitive game after a very long time after the replacement of Lambert as boss.

Click here to see full fixtures on Premier League's official Website.

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