Tottenham and Arsenal square off today in the latest installment of the North London Derby, one of the world's premier rivalries, and in this case, a battle between teams with similar aspirations of being a Top Four team in the English Premier League.
Tottenham will be favored playing at White Hart Lane, and will look to punish an Arsenal defense that has had its problems in the early season. The Gunners will be looking to find a way to beat American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who has been strong for Spurs since joining the club from Aston Villa this summer.
The North London Derby will grab the headlines today, but it is just one of several prime match-ups to watch. Andrea Pirlo leads Juventus against his long-time former club, AC Milan, in a clash of top Serie A sides, while Paris St. Germain and Olympique Lyon do battle in Ligue 1.
MLS will feature a pair of important matches as well, with Philadelphia trying to move into first place in the East with a win against Chivas USA and Portland trying to grab a playoff spot by beating Vancouver.
If you will be watching today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's TV Schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
8:30am- Fox Soccer Plus- Bolton vs. Chelsea
9am- ESPN3.com- Fiorentina vs. Lazio
9am- ESPN3.com- Parma vs. Genoa
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Fulham vs. Queens Park Rangers
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Swansea City vs. Stoke City
10am- ESPN3.com- Real Betis vs. Levante
10:30am- ESPN3.com- NEC Breda vs. PSV Eindhoven
11am- Fox Soccer Channel- Tottenham vs. Arsenal
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Lille vs. Stade Rennes
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Olympique Marseille vs. Brest
11:30am- GolTV- Hamburg vs. Schalke
Noon- ESPN3.com- Atletico Madrid vs. Sevilla
2pm- GolTVB- Sporting Gijon vs. Barcelona
2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Juventus vs. AC Milan
3pm- Fox Soccer Plus- Paris St. Germain vs. Olympique Lyon
3pm- ESPN Deportes- Tijuana vs. Tigres UANL
3pm- ESPNU- Vanderbilt vs. South Carolina
3:15pm- ESPN3.com- Academica de Coimbra vs. FC Porto
4pm- ESPN2- Espanyol vs. Real Madrid
4pm- MLS Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. D.C. United
4:30pm- MLS Direct Kick- Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers
7pm- Fox Deportes- Morelia vs. Estudiantes Tecos
8pm- MLS Direct Kick- Chivas USA vs. Philadelphia Union
“The championship is quite a bit below the epl.”
Which part of the EPL?
There are quite a lot of people who will tell you the top third of the Championship on any given day, are just as good as the bottom third of the EPL.
There are EPL teams that are just “taking a break” in the Championship befroe going right back up and there are Championship teams teams that are “just visiting” the EPL before going right back down.
Birmingham and West Ham, for example , might go right back up and may not get relegated next year.
“I’m guessing a player with almost one good year in the premier league that has been out for a full year with injuries will not be that hot of a commodity. ”
If he plays really well when he comes back he might be attractive because he comparatively speaking, doesn’t make much money and is a good “character” guy.
We’ll see.
Kenny Cooper heating up…watch out for PDX if they can sneak in playoffs
Except when the starting 11…has played Arsenal near the relegation zone.
Time to shake things up some Arsene, you may have noticed whatever you’re doing sn;t working. (Of course I am assuming Arsene reads SBI : )
He is not as good as van persie and arsenal only plays one striker usually. Its not that unusual for a new signing to take time to make the starting 11.
“This assumes he comes back at all.” I’m guessing a player with almost one good year in the premier league that has been out for a full year with injuries will not be that hot of a commodity. If Bolton goes down it would be bad news for him. The championship is quite a bit below the epl.
What happened to Park Chu Young for Arsenal?
he was supposed to be a big signing…
“I fear Stu may have to come back in the Championship. :(”
Why does that worry you?
If Bolton stays in the EPL the chances of them getting Euoprean football are pretty slim anyway. In the Championship Stu will get lots of playing time in a league with a standrad not that far below the EPL.
And if he comes back really well there is a good chance some EPL team will buy him.
This assumes he comes back at all.
Spurs wasteful in front of goal, they could easily have 4 or 5. I see Gunners taking 5th or 6th spot.
Ramsey was dreadful…terrible defensive positioning (ball watched all game long), bad touches and too slow. Gervinho and Walcott were ghosts. Why not play Chamberlain? Better than Walcott.
Arsenal’s defensive positioning through midfield is absolutely atrocious. No discipline. While their backline takes a lot of abuse, it starts in the midfield.
nice lifeless performance by arsenal today. walcott, ramsey and gervinho were all just terrible. jenkinson was poor once he was forced into action. coquelin was probably the best arsenal player on the day which is not a good thing. 7 points from 7 games, very bad start to the year.
5 Minutes extra time seems awfully excessive, no?
sorry – no news, just the Soccernet report that showed Specs getting subbed out early. Even if he was playing poorly, a sub at 12 minutes in a non-tournament game usually means an injury.
Specs has been a squad player for the USMNT, so I don’t know that his absence will be crucial for our friendlies. Also, a good time (if there is such a thing) to get hurt for your club, with a two week lay-off.
tottenham 2 – arsenal 1. szczesny messed that save up but he has made a number of good ones. the whole thing was set up by terrible defending by jenkinson who was brought on when sagna was hurt.
They looked great. Good to see everyone healthy up front. Completely different side today offensively. As usual, solid defense… one of the best in the league.
Outside of playing awesome…I guess not much.
There was a book written that claimed George Gillett told Benitez he would give him cash plus whatever they got in the draft. He also thought Gerrard was gay because of a report he was marrying his long-time partner, Alex.
arsenal 1 – tottenham 1 in the 52nd minute. ramsey just equalized, he has been very poor on the day overall though
Maybe they are tanking the season to get a better draft pick? Just kidding. Bolton is a small squad, and they have so many injuries to important players this year, including Stu.
As an aside, however, didn’t Tom Hicks say something similar about draft positions during his period of terrible ownership of Liverpool?
GolTVB?
I swear companies are just inventing channels as the season goes on.
Fulham? 6? Wha?
Jozy’s squad have an early cushion at the top of the table. Jozy to UCL, c’mon!
Zamora scores – 6-0. What happened to Fulham’s goal famine? Keep it up.
Dembele set up the first goal, he’s played well.
great day for Fulham
hope it doesn’t keep him out of the USA squad
AJ with the hat trick, Murphy with the PK and Dempsey with a sweet shot. Fulham 5-0 with 20mins to play.
Oh what is Dembele doing? Put Ruiz in his spot
Dempsey got 1.
Fulham in a goalfest – Dempsey gets an easy setup inside the box for his first. Are more to come?
Frustrating 57 minutes for Altidore this morning. Venlo centerback Yoshida did a good job marking him closely and Jozy had few good touches. One run against alone against the keeper and Jozy went down too easily.
Ugh – any news on Spector injury?
Full time for Chievo – MB goes 90 and helps get a point on the road. Starting to look like he is a permanent member of the first 11. Bodes well.
The attacking quartet of Zamora, Johnson, Dembelee, and Dempsey look really good. They are running rampant today.
In the Championship, Birmingham (Spector) plays Nottingham Forrest (Robbie Findley). Unfortunatley, Findley starts on the bench and Spector gets subbed out at 12 minutes due to an injury.
thanks ken, works great!
Watch the Chievo’s game here. Kinda choppy but it’s the only link I found. He’s bald and wears baby blue #6 jersey.
www dot footballplanet dot eu/lsh1/
(replace dot with .)
Andrew Johnson scored for Fulham after 78 seconds. Whoa finally he seems to look like an actual Goal-scorer
with Swansea and QPR struggling, i’m sure Bolton may fight all season but will survive the drop
GolTVB?! who has that? i have all the soccer channels but i have never heard of this one.
Bolton getting beaten down again. I fear Stu may have to come back in the Championship. 🙁
Cherundolo’s back in the starting lineup. Hannover’s up 1-0 with a PK in the 2nd minute.