By DAN KARELL
It’s amazing how much can change in just five months.
On August 17, Arsenal faced Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium in the English Premier League opening game of the season. What happened over the next 90 minutes caused much consternation to the Arsenal faithful and joyous glee to Aston Villa supporters as the visitors rolled over Arsenal 3-1.
Just over a week later, Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil and since then, they’ve been either in first place or in the top three since. Both Ozil and Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud are back in the Arsenal squad today for the re-match against Aston Villa, who will hope for strong performances from Gabriel Agbonlohor and Fabian Delph.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Inter Milan look to move into the top five in Serie A when they face 16th-placed side Chievo. Inter have won just once in their last six league matches, so they’ll be looking to get back to winning ways at home. Also in Spain, Villarreal take on Real Sociedad in La Liga action.
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):
3pm – Aston Villa vs. Arsenal – NBC Sports Network
3pm – Inter Milan vs. Chievo – beIN Sport USA
4pm – Villarreal vs. Real Sociedad – beIN Sport en Español
Can’t stand most of these British color commentators. They say absolutely nothing for 30 minutes, then disparage the skill of the goal scorer. All I can picture is a surly neanderthal with a microphone, angry that he never had any skill when he played so he has to bash others that do. Beautiful takedown and goal by Giroux and all he can say is, “bit of a lucky bounce off his knee.” I generally like the play-by-play guys but the color guys are mostly complete tools. What’s their purpose?
Mr.G,
I did not see the Arsenal-AV match so I don’t know who the color commentator you are upset with is.
I’ve seen most of the NBC telecasts and most of the color commentators I’ve seen are former players like Graeme Le Saux or Lee Dixon. Those two, at least, have credentials that tell me they don’t have to be in awe of any of the players in the Aston Villa Arsenal match. Besides, I saw both play.
British commentators like them as a general rule, expect a very high standard of play, probably higher than most American fans, There is probably more than a little of the generational gap there and I have found that they are not particularly shy about expressing their opinions. I get the feeling though that they tone it down for American audiences but still, in general I have found them brutally honest to a fault. Mostly I find them amusing.
If you don’t like it just turn off the audio. Think of it as a USMNT match that is only on Univison and only in Spanish.
It seems as if Villa had 8 people behind the ball and still gave up two goals.
Holy cow. Villa give up 2 goals in like a minute.
Go Villa!