Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
After suffering a gut-punch defeat to Liverpool, Arsenal have a chance to gather themselves up and move into first place in the English Premier League on Wednesday when they host Manchester United.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has backed his players to forget about the harsh loss last Saturday and pick themselves off the ground. Mesut Özil in particular, who drew criticism from the press, is expected to provide more for Arsenal against the Red Devils, who counter with a lineup consisting of Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata, and former Arsenal forward Robin Van Persie.
In addition to Arsenal-Man United, Fulham host Liverpool, Swansea City visit Stoke City, and Newcastle host Tottenham in a mid-table clash.
Other games to watch for on Wednesday include a Coppa Italia clash between AS Roma and Napoli, Real Sociedad facing Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey, and Hamburg hosting high-flying Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal. In the evening, the Copa Libertadores continues with four matches, highlighted by Mexico’s Club Leon hosting Brazilian club Flamengo.
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 schedule is after the jump):
2:30pm – Hamburg vs. Bayern Munich – ESPN3/Univision Deportes
2:45pm – Arsenal vs. Manchester United – NBCSN
2:45pm – Stoke City vs. Swansea City – Premier League Extra Time/NBC Sports Live Extra
2:45pm – Newcastle vs. Tottenham – Premier League Extra Time/NBC Sports Live Extra
2:45pm – Napoli vs. AS Roma – beIN Sports Play
2:55pm – Nice vs. AS Monaco – ESPN3/Univision Deportes 2
4pm – Real Sociedad vs. Barcelona – beIN Sports USA
7pm – Club Leon vs. Flamengo – Fox Deportes
9:30pm – Deportivo Cali vs. Cerro Porteño – Fox Deportes
boring boring arsenal/man u
Sturridge dove on that penalty, it was a dumb and rash tackle so I can see why it was given but he goes down before even being touched. Harsh for Fulham.
I’ve only seen two angles of it though, if anyone can give a different one I’d be interested. Really looked like he falls on the defender when he sees the tackle come in
REDS REDS REDS REDS
Yes we won 3-2. Here we come champions league
whats the deal with Crouch and Adebayor?
they’ve been scoring like MAD as of late
I would demand my money back. That ending was embarrassing.
Nobody trying to win the game? Ya, that was kinda lame. Can’t win anything like that.
Well, ManU didn’t lose…
Fulham’s best offense has been Liverpool’s center backs.
Is giroud the top four version of altidore?
Completely different player. He’s more of a Drogba/Heskey type.
Wilshere is beyond overrated for the press he gets.
Rooney is a petulant child.
Gerrards pass to Sturridge looked as good as Kolos own goal looked bad.
Need Newcastle, Fulham, and Arsenal to win.
Another goal from Altidore! He’s a man on fire today! Sund 2 Man City 0 !!!!!
And how is Colorado this time of year?
Amsterdam is splendid
Maybe Dempsey didn’t get his work permit approved, and he has to go play in Belgium.
nice move by Altidore, and GOAL BY ALTIDORE! SUNDERLAND 1 MAN CITY 0!!!!! REMARKABLE!!!
Can you loan me your flux capacitor? I can get up to 88 mph but need to plug that in to watch the same game you are watching.
im just commentating on the game being played in my head, you have to believe before you can achieve….. mental forsight
I can’t believe Altidore just missed that sitter. That would have given him a hat trick…
touché, but just wait, he’ll hit a perfect bicycle before the game’s over…. just watch, He’s owning Kompany this match
And Altidore comes through with a miraculous bicycle kick to complete his hat trick, he rips off his kit revealing an undershirt reading “suck on that ACIDBURN”!!! Sunderland 3 Man City 0! what a match!
Toure should go back to being a used car salesman. He is a crap defender.
yea let’s overlook the goal he scored….. you’re a moron petedx…
sarcasm
Even after watching the replay multiple times, it still amazes me how he did that. Considering the horrible mistake he made against West Brom, gifting them a goal, even though I usually debunk conspiracy theories, I’m starting to wonder if Toure is on the up and up.
Didn’t Fulham sign Kostas Mitroglou ? Why isn’t he playing?
Injured
Lacking match fitness. He played for the U-21’s yesterday or the day before. Scored 2 goals for them.
They need to hurry up and start playing the people they brought in to save the team before it’s unsalvageable. If they aren’t ready to roll with two months left what is the point.
It’s like, Dempsey lost all of his passion after it didn’t go well at Tottenham. Forget form, he doesn’t even try to will through the game with the grit and grind he used to do it with. It’s like he’s been coasting just going along for the ride since things went south at Spurs. He just goes along keeps the ball and try’s to earn fouls, but doesn’t try daring passes and moves like he once did when he has so much fire in his belly in the latter years at Fulham
That’s what they said about him back in 2009.
A lot of that was AVB’s style of keeping the ball and not taking chances.
he has clearly lost his passion for the game. i bet he quits soccer altogether and goes on vacation this summer instead of going to brazil. it’s all donovan’s fault — he created this culture of not even caring about the team or about soccer.
You have to be a little more zealous with your attempts in the future for the sarcasm to come off completely. I sorta got that but you need to really try and hammer home the point with a little more ridiculousness.
the name was a clue
Another person who can read minds. Please tell me how you do that.
Dempsey just needs to have a little more belief
Well done.
Dempsey, just come home. looks like FJ unused again. would like to know if this is still hand related or if he will no longer start from here on out. which would be AWFUL for us.
Well, there goes my theory that Demspey was rested against Man U after 120 minutes a few days earlier in order to be rested for Liverpool. I can find no news that Dempsey has been injured. If no injury, then only three possible explanations. 1) a bust-up in the locker room or 2) Meulensteen doesn’t rate Clint or 3) Clint said enough and pulled up stakes in London and is headed back early to Seattle.
I guess there is a 4) Lewis Holtby is bad luck for Clint.
Would be nice if SBI would make phone call to someone in the know and do a news story.
I always hoped that was the case but it never made sense.
If you have a guy on a short-term loan, you work him like a rented mule.
Not necessarily.
Not after you’ve just tied Man U. and don’t want to fix what ain’t broke.
what would you do if your rented mule can’t carry a darn thing? would you keep beating it or get another that can carry some? would you ask for your money back? probably not because the owner woudl say…”well, you rented the wrong mule, not my problem”.
I assumed it was with Holtby in and Dempsey around for only another month Rene decided to go with guys that would be around longer. If Clint had lit it up he’d have kept starting, but he was just okay. It was going to be hard for him to hit the ground running.
The day is never complete without a biff conspiracy theory. How about 5) He didn’t make an impact when he had a chance and now the manager needs to worry about gelling new players who are staying at the club the full season as they fight relegation.
It doesn’t take an SBI reporter to read between the lines.
to be fair, that sounds a lot like “2) Meulensteen doesn’t rate Clint”, just said in a nicer way.
You’re not very smart, are you, Javier? Calling someone a conspiracy theorist and then in the next sentence claiming to be able to know the facts by reading between the lines. How did you learn how to do that? Care to explain that to us? Oh, and by the way, your Explanation 5 is basically the same as his Explanation 2. You should take reading lessons. You could try vitamins also. They might help.
Your powers of deduction must be supernatural if you can narrow the possibilities to four.
Dempsey can play on a wing or up top, he’s not a one trick pony. You find a way to get him on the field, they’re not that talented even if he has to be wedged in with Holtby. The new coach was supposed to fix their issues but they just look like they’ve stalled. I took a little stick for saying Fulham blew 2 points against Man U but this is another point down the trash chute. This is the quick road to relegation.
This is disappointing, but remember Fulham brought in 4 new players in the last couple of days of the transfer window that includes Holtby, another midfielder from Man U and an attacker from Greece. He probably wants to integrate them into the team as quickly as possible. Also, let’s not forget that every single manager, except maybe Jol who came on after Dempsey had a very good year, has underestimated and under valued Dempsey at the beginning of his season. Off the top of my head, I think Hodgson, Columbus, and Mark Hughes (and his first coach whose name I can’t recall, remember he was Irish) all started Dempsey on the bench at the beginning of the season and after a month or so he was a regular starter in each case. Remember the current coach took over for Jol who appreciated Dempsey and admitted last year that they really missed him last season.
Nice to take a break from the Olympics — don’t tell my wife that they are still on, on other stations, though.
Dang Dempsey is in a world of trouble.
The Fulham-Liverpool match is not on the schedule up top……
Jozy’s match is cancelled. More prep time for the FA cup tie against Southampton.
Wow. Demspey not even on the subs bench again
It’s OK he has a contract with Seattle and no motivation.
It’s a nightmare. What will be the point of having watching him play if he’s just going to try for the foul each and every time he sees the opportunity. Is this going to be the Dempsey we see at the WC. Strip him of the armband soon if he doesn’t produce in MLS in the nxt month tbh
Cue the over reaction in 3, 2,1
Or its the fact that he only has a few more weeks left on loan, him and Holtby offer very similar roles, and the coach would rather let the team going forward mesh.
Granted, if he was playing at his top level, he’d be forcing his way onto the field, but its not uncommon to have someone leaving soon not be on the field
Still should make the bench
If there is a way he could do it, he should return to the US and start practicing with the Sounders.
Bayern Munich and Arsenal will be the best teams to watch, but Arsenal and Man U will be the best game to watch
Can’t even watch Bundesliga matches involving Bayern Munich. There so do dominant, it’s not even fun. Best fixtures in German Football are games involving Wolfsburg, Leverkusen, Schalke or Dortmund