Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Coca-Cola Standings at 19


P W D L F A Pts
1 Wolverhampton 11 8 1 2 26 14 25
2 Birmingham 11 7 3 1 14 7 24
3 Reading 11 6 2 3 27 13 20
4 Cardiff 11 4 6 1 13 9 18
5 Sheff Wed 11 5 3 3 13 18 18
6 Sheff Utd 11 5 2 4 15 8 17
7 QPR 11 5 2 4 13 12 17
8 Preston 11 5 2 4 14 15 17
9 Bristol City 11 4 4 3 14 12 16
10 Derby 11 4 4 3 12 11 16
11 Swansea 11 4 4 3 14 15 16
12 Burnley 11 4 4 3 14 16 16
13 Plymouth 11 4 3 4 15 13 15
14 Crystal Palac 11 4 3 4 13 11 15
15 Coventry 11 4 3 4 13 12 15
16 Watford 11 4 2 5 16 16 14
17 Blackpool 11 3 5 3 8 10 14
18 Ipswich 11 3 4 4 16 13 13
19 Charlton 11 4 1 6 12 14 13
20 Southampton 11 3 2 6 11 18 11
21 Norwich 11 2 4 5 8 13 10
22 Barnsley 11 2 2 7 8 15 8
23 Doncaster 11 2 2 7 5 17 8
24 Nottm Forest 11 1 2 8 8 20 5

Barclays Premier League Standings at 20 October 2008

P W D L F A Pts
1 Chelsea 8 6 2 0 19 3 20
2 Liverpool 8 6 2 0 13 6 20
3 Hull 8 5 2 1 11 11 17
4 Arsenal 8 5 1 2 16 6 16
5 Man Utd 7 4 2 1 12 4 14
6 Aston Villa 8 4 2 2 12 10 14
7 Portsmouth 8 4 1 3 9 13 13
8 West Ham 8 4 0 4 14 14 12
9 Blackburn 8 3 2 3 8 14 11
10 Man City 8 3 1 4 20 14 1
11 West Brom 8 3 1 4 7 11 10
12 Sunderland 8 2 3 3 7 9 9
13 Middlesbroug 8 3 0 5 7 14 9
14 Wigan 8 2 2 4 11 9 8
15 Bolton 8 2 2 4 8 10 8
16 Everton 8 2 2 4 12 18 8
17 Fulham 7 2 1 4 5 7 7
18 Stoke 8 2 1 5 10 15 7
19 Newcastle 8 1 3 4 9 15 6
20 Tottenham 8 0 2 6 5 12 2

Champions League - Tables

Group A

P W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 2 1 1 0 4 0 4
CFR Cluj 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
Roma 2 1 0 1 4 3 3
Bordeaux 2 0 0 2 1 7 0

Group B

Anorthosis 2 1 1 0 3 1 4
Inter 2 1 1 0 3 1 4
Werder Bremen 2 0 2 0 1 1 2
Panathinaikos 2 0 0 2 1 5 0

Group C
P W D L F A Pts
Barcelona 2 2 0 0 5 2 6
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 1 0 1 3 3 3
Basle 2 1 0 1 3 3 3
Sporting Lisbon 2 0 0 2 1 4 0

Group D

Atletico Madrid 2 2 0 0 5 1 6
Liverpool 2 2 0 0 5 2 6
Marseille 2 0 0 2 2 4 0
PSV Eindhoven 2 0 0 2 1 6 0

Group E
P W D L F A Pts
Manchester United 2 1 1 0 3 0 4
Villarreal 2 1 1 0 1 0 4
Celtic 2 0 1 1 0 1 1
AAB Aalborg 2 0 1 1 0 3 1

Group F

Bayern Munich 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
Fiorentina 2 0 2 0 2 2 2
Lyon 2 0 2 0 3 3 2
Steaua Bucharest 2 0 1 1 0 1 1

Group G
P W D L F A Pts
Arsenal 2 1 1 0 5 1 4
Porto 2 1 0 1 3 5 3
Dynamo Kiev 2 0 2 0 1 1 2
Fenerbahce 2 0 1 1 1 3 1

Group H

Real Madrid 2 2 0 0 4 1 6
Juventus 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
BATE 2 0 1 1 2 4 1

Dutch KPN Eredivisie

Den Haag 2-0 Volendam
Ajax 1-0 Groningen
FC Twente 2-0 Heracles
NAC Breda 2-1 PSV
Roda 2-2 Heerenveen
Nijmegen 3-1 Vitesse
De Grafsch'p 0-2 Alkmaar
Willem II 1-0 Feyenoord
Sparta 1-0 Utrecht

Italian Serie A

Fiorentina 3-0 Reggina
Napoli 2-1 Juventus
Bologna 3-1 Lazio
Roma 0-4 Inter
Lecce 2-2 Udinese
Torino 0-1 Cagliari
Milan 3-0 Sampdoria
Genoa 1-0 Siena
Catania 2-0 Palermo
Chievo 1-1 Atalanta

Mourinho: I'll return to England

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had announced that he wants to return to coach in
the Premier League when his deal with Inter Milan expires. The Portuguese coach watched
his side return to the top of Serie A with a 4-0 thumping of Roma, and then revealed his wish to come back to England. Mourinho's contract with Inter is due to expire after the 2010-2011 season, and he said: "I have a contract with Inter, but when it finishes I will definitely return to the Premier League. "I am in love with the English league, I like it a lot. I think that's what I want to do after Inter. I'll definitely return. "Everyone says that I want to go to Spain, that I want to be the coach of my national team. It's not true. I want to return to England after Inter Milan." The 45-year-old led Chelsea to back-to-back Premiership titles before leaving in September last year following a bust-up with owner Roman Abramovich.

Spanish La Liga

Atletico 1-2 Real Madrid
Espanyol 0-0 Villarreal
Valladolid 1-1 Recreativo
Gijon 2-1 Osasuna
Betis 3-0 Mallorca
Malaga 2-1 Getafe
Valencia 4-0 Numancia
Santander 0-0 Deportivo
Bilbao 0-1 Barcelona
Almeria 0-1 Sevilla

Polish Elekstraklasa

Odra 1-1 Jagiellonia
KSP Polonia 1-1 Cracovia
Slask 2-1 Arka
LKS Lodz 0-0 Legia
Wisla Krakow 2-0 Piast Gliwice
Bytom 1-2 Belchatow
Lechia Sun Gornik Zabrze
Ruch Sun Lech Poznan

German Bundesliga scores

Bochum 2-2 M'gladbach
Cologne 1-0 Cottbus
Hanover 2-5 Hoffenheim
Hertha 2-1 Stuttgart
Wolfsburg 4-1 Arminia
Bremen 3-3 Dortmund
Karlsruhe 0-1 Bayern
Frankfurt 0-2 Leverkusen
Hamburg 1-1 Schalke

World Cup 2010 - European qualifying

Group 1

P W D L F A Pts

Denmark 3 2 1 0 6 2 7
Hungary 4 2 1 1 4 2 7
Portugal 4 1 2 1 6 3 5
Albania 4 1 2 1 3 2 5
Sweden 3 1 2 0 2 1 5
Malta 4 0 0 4 0 11 0

Group 2

P W D L F A Pts

Greece 4 3 0 1 9 2 9
Israel 4 2 2 0 8 5 8
Switzerland 4 2 1 1 7 6 7
Latvia 4 1 1 2 4 7 4
Luxembourg 4 1 1 2 3 7 4
Moldova 4 0 1 3 2 7 1

Group 3

P W D L F A Pts

Slovakia 4 3 0 1 8 5 9
Poland 4 2 1 1 6 4 7
Slovenia 4 2 1 1 5 3 7
Northern Ireland4 1 1 2 5 4 4
Czech Republic 3 1 1 1 2 2 4
San Marino 3 0 0 3 1 9 0

Group 4

P W D L F A Pts

Germany 4 3 1 0 12 4 10
Russia 3 2 0 1 6 3 6
Wales 4 2 0 2 4 3 6
Finland 3 1 1 1 4 6 4
Azerbaijan 3 0 1 2 0 2 1
Liechtenstein 3 0 1 2 0 8 1

Group 5

P W D L F A Pts

Spain 4 4 0 0 10 1 12
Turkey 4 2 2 0 5 2 8
Belgium 4 2 1 1 7 5 7
Bosnia 4 2 0 2 12 4 6
Estonia 4 0 1 3 2 13 1
Armenia 4 0 0 4 1 12 0

Group 6

P W D L F A Pts

England 4 4 0 0 14 3 12
Croatia 4 2 1 1 8 4 7
Ukraine 3 2 1 0 4 1 7
Belarus 3 1 0 2 4 5 3
Kazakhstan 4 1 0 3 5 11 3
Andorra 4 0 0 4 1 12 0

Group 7

P W D L F A Pts

Serbia 4 3 0 1 9 3 9
Lithuania 4 3 0 1 6 3 9
Austria 4 1 1 2 5 7 4
Romania 3 1 1 1 3 5 4
France 3 1 1 1 5 6 4
Faroe Islands 4 0 1 3 1 5 1

Group 8

P W D L F A Pts

Italy 4 3 1 0 6 2 10
Rep of Ireland3 2 1 0 3 1 7
Bulgaria 3 0 3 0 2 2 3
Montenegro 3 0 2 1 3 4 2
Georgia 4 0 2 2 2 5 2
Cyprus 3 0 1 2 2 4 1

Group 9

P W D L F A Pts

Holland 3 3 0 0 5 1 9
Scotland 3 1 1 1 2 2 4
Iceland 4 1 1 2 4 6 4
Macedonia 3 1 0 2 2 3 3
Norway 3 0 2 1 2 3 2

Steaua v Lyon

Steaua Bucharest boss Marius Lacatus has an almost fully- fit squad to choose from as the Romanians host Lyon in the Champions League on Tuesday. Bit-part defender Ifeanyi Emeghara is the only absentee of note for Steaua, who are yet to score a goal in two Group F matches to date. French champions Lyon welcome back Italy left-back Fabio Grosso, who is fit and available along with Kader Keita and Cesar Delgado. But Mathieu Bodmer and John Mensah miss out after joining an injury list which still features Francois Clerc and striker Sidney Govou.

Porto v Dynamo Kiev

Porto boss Jesualdo Ferreira brings back the big guns for Tuesday's Champions League Group G clash with Dynamo Kiev at the Estadio Dragao. Key midfielders Raul Meireles and Lucho Gonzalez are among six players who return having been rested for the domestic cup tie against Sertanense. Fredy Guarin, Bruno Alves, Cristian Rodriguez and Cristian Sapunaru are also back in the 18-man squad as the hosts aim to bounce back from a 4-0 drubbing at Arsenal in their last European fixture. Dynamo take a 22-man squad to Portugal as they aim for a first win of the campaign. Yuri Semin's side come into the game on the back of a 5-0 victory over FC Zorya in the Ukrainian league, and the coach is spoilt for choice in the striking department. Ismael Bangoura and Artem Milevsky will hope to continue their partnership, with Maksim Shatskikh another option.

Bayern v Fiorentina

Bayern striker Luca Toni could miss the Group F Champions League clash with former club Fiorentina on Tuesday because of bruised ribs. Toni moved from the Italian club in 2007 and scored 24 goals last term but has just three goals so far this season and is unlikely to be risked.
Miroslav Klose hurt his calf in the 1-0 win over Karlsruhe at the weekend, while Franck
Ribery was also substitutedbut both are expected to play. Fiorentina are likely to include Adrian Mutu, who has missed his side's past two Serie A fixtures after suffering a recurrence of an elbow injury.

Zenit v BATE Borisov

The visitors welcome back defender Anri Khagush, who missed the 2-2 draw at Juventus following his sending-off at Real Madrid in BATE's opener back in September. Teenage midfielder Maksim Zhavnerchik is unlikely to feature because of an ongoing dispute with his manager.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Together Toon give Taylor hope

Hometown hero Steven Taylor believes Newcastle's new-found "siege mentality" can yield a first home win in the league since August when Manchester City visit Tyneside on Monday. The Geordie defender's goal sparked a revival at Everton which saw Joe Kinnear's first game end in a 2-2 draw. And Taylor is putting the renewed spirit at St James's Park down to the influence of the caretaker manager. "The lads had been feeling a bit sorry for themselves," said the England U21 captain. "But it has been fantastic since Joe Kinnear came in - he has come to the club and lifted us all. "There is a bit of a siege mentality going on. We are all looking ahead to Man City and taking all of the confidence we have built up into that game. "We are long overdue a home win in this one. We showed the fighting spirit at Everton and now we want to see more of it. We have a good chance."