Football, football everywhere. Yet another seven days are in front of us and once more we have to find at least one quality (or not so much) game for you all to watch this week. And boy, there are some thrillers in the offing for you.
Tuesday 19 September
The League Cup is where my love of Luton Town started, and one day we might even still be in it come October. Not this year though. Tonight is chocker block full of games, some of them almost interesting. Bournemouth and Brighton get another crack at each other after the Cherries won on Friday. How about Aston Villa and Middlesbrough for two Championship clubs that have spent way too much on players over the summer? Not that you’ll see many of them on show tonight, as even the Championship clubs rest their first team for this competition now. Roy Hodgson will hope that his Crystal Palace side can beat Huddersfield score against Huddersfield whilst Jurgen Klopp will be warning his Liverpool team of the dangers of a bouncing ball against Leicester City. If you want to move away from English football, Rangers travel to Partick Thistle in the Scottish version, Barcelona play Eibar in La Liga or you could dabble in a bit of Bayern vs Schalke or Bologna vs Inter in Germany or Italy, if that’s your thing.
Wednesday 20 September
Those kind people at the League Cup didn’t want us to overdose on Tuesday night so kept back the delights of Arsenal U18’s vs Doncaster, Chelsea Academy against Nottingham Forest, the players Jose really doesn’t like vs Burton Albion, Jonny Evans vs Manchester City and Ronald Koeman praying for a win against Sunderland. God, imagine if Everton actually lost that. Celtic are in Scottish action, sticking six past Dundee and the rest of Serie A get it on, with Lazio against Napoli looking almost mouthwatering. Real Madrid play Real Betis and Hamburg entertain Dortmund in La Liga and the Bundesliga. We are spoiling you, eh?
Thursday 21 September
After all that, you might expect Thursday to let you down but NO! La Liga high fliers Real Sociedad are back in action against Levante and Aberdeen have a trip to Motherwell to look forward to in the Scottish League Cup. What a week of football!
Friday 22 September
The fixture that leaps off the page for me is the 3pm kick off in Scotland. On a Friday? Do these people not have jobs to go to? It’s the Scottish Cup where Spartans play Vale of Leithen. However, you are probably more interested in the League Two clash between Forest Green and Swindon, no? OK, what about Wimbledon against MK Dons? I can’t imagine why the TV cameras are at that one. You can’t keep Bayern off the TV this week and they are at it again against Wolfsburg and there’s a load of Friday night Ligue One stuff too. That’s France, love.
Saturday 23 September
Seriously, Dave guides you through the weekend stuff too? Are you incapable? West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur looks vaguely interesting but it is Manchester City vs Crystal Palace that was caught my eye, mainly as it will be six Premier League games without a goal or win for Palace come the final whistle. Pretty much every other league in the world has some matches as well, so knock yourselves out.
Sunday 24 September
Nobody wants to watch Brighton play Newcastle, so go all Football Italia and party like it’s the mid-90’s with a double Milan helping of AC Milan playing Sampdoria (close your eyes and imagine Gullit, van Basten, Baresi, Vialli and Lombardo) and then Inter against Genoa. There’s a load of other games in Ligue One, Bundesliga and La Liga as well.
Monday 25 September
See, this is where you need us. To help guide you through the tricky Monday night after a weekend full of matches. This is where we earn our money. Arsenal vs West Bromwich Albion and Real Betis vs Levante. Actually, you could have probably worked that out for yourself.