Premier League TV Schedule – November 28-29

There are some good games on tap this weekend. The biggest one is probably the Arsenal/Chelsea match Sunday afternoon. Both squads have been playing well and winning. Arsenal is eight points back from first place Chelsea, but is definitely capable of knocking off the leaders. On Saturday, fourth place Tottenham plays away to fifth place Aston Villa in a game that could have major top four implications. And of course, there’s the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton, which is always a hard fought match.

Saturday, November 28
Blackburn vs. Stoke – 8:30 p.m. ET/Setanta (Delayed)
Fulham vs. Bolton – 5 p.m. ET/Setanta (Delayed)
Manchester City vs. Hull – 9:55 a.m. ET/Setanta (Live)
Portsmouth vs. Manchester United – 9:45 a.m. ET/ESPN2 (Live)
West Ham vs. Burnley – 10 a.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Wigan vs. Sunderland – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Aston Villa vs. Tottenham – 12:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)

Sunday, November 29
Wolves vs. Birmingham – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Everton vs. Liverpool – 8:25 a.m. ET/Setanta (Live)
Arsenal vs. Chelsea – 11 a.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)

Wednesday’s Champions League results

Bordeaux 2 (Fernando 54 , Chamakh 90+4)
Juventus 0

Bayern 1 (Olić 62)
Maccabi Haifa 0

CSKA Moskva 2 (Necid 58, Krasić 66)
Wolfsburg 1 (Džeko 19)

Manchester United 0
Beşiktaş 1 (Tello 20)

Real Madrid 1 (Higuaín 21)
Zurich 0

AC Milan 1 (Borriello 10)
Marseille 1 (Lucho 16)

Porto 0
Chelsea 1 (Anelka 69)

APOEL 1 (Mirosavljević 5)
Atletico Madrid 1 (Simão 62)

Liverpool out of Champions League

The big news out of Tuesday’s contests is that Liverpool has crashed out in the group stage for the first time in six years.  Despite the fact that the Reds notched a 1-0 win over Debrecen, Fiorentina managed a win over Lyon to book their spot in the knockout stage.  Here’s hoping Liverpool will be able to do some good things in the Europa League. Arsenal joined Fiorentina in the knockout stage with a 2-0 win over Standard, while Barcelona helped their cause greatly with a 2-0 win over Inter Milan.

Tuesday’s Results
Debrecen 0
Liverpool 1 (Ngog 4)

Fiorentina 1 (Vargas 28-pen)
Lyon 0

Rubin Kazan 0
Dynamo Kiev 0

Barcelona 2 (Piqué 10, Pedro Rodríguez 26)
Inter 0

Rangers 0
Stuttgart 2 (Rudy 16, Kuzmanović 59)

Unirea 1 (Dragutinović 45-o.g.)
Sevilla 0

AZ Alkmaar 0
Olympiacos 0

Arsenal 2 (Nasri 35, Denilson 45+2)
Standard 0

Wednesday’s Schedule
Bordeaux vs. Juventus
Bayern Munich vs. Maccabi Haifa
CSKA Moskva vs. Wolfsburg
Man. United vs. Beşiktaş – . 2:40 p.m. ET/Setanta (Live); 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Real Madrid vs. Zurich – 5 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
AC Milan vs. Marseille – 2:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Porto vs. Chelsea
APOEL vs. Atletico Madrid

Crunch time in Champions League

This week’s Champions League games will go a long way in deciding the final spots in the knockout stage.  Liverpool need a miracle, namely they need to beat Debrecen and they need some Lyon (who’s already in) to beat Fiorentina.  If Fiorentina wins or draws either of their final two games, Liverpool is out.  The Reds will be without Fernando Torres, who’s still battling a groin injury.  Fellow striker Ryan Babel also picked up an injury in the draw with Manchester City this weekend. Defending champion Barcelona finds themselves in a similar boat.  They need to beat Inter Milan at home to keep their chances at advancing alive.  Barca will likely be without Lionel Messi due to injury.  Several players are also ill with the H1N1 virus.

Tuesday’s games
Rubin vs. Dynamo
Arsenal vs. Standard – 9 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
AZ vs. Olympiacos
Barcelona vs. Inter – 7 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Debrecen vs. Liverpool – 2:40 p.m. ET/Setanta (Live); 5 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Delayed)
Fiorentina vs. Lyon – 2:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer (Live)
Rangers vs. Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni vs. Sevilla

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup

Real Salt Lake stunned the LA Galaxy on penalty kicks to win its first MLS Cup.  RSL won 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Salt Lake goalie Nick Rimando came up huge, making two saves in the penalty shootout, while Landon Donovan put his kick over the bar.  Robbie Russell scored the title-clinching PK in the seventh round. Backup LA goalie Josh Saunders also made two saves in the shootout.

It was the first title for Real since the team joined the league as an expansion club five years ago.  Real also has the distinction of becoming the first professional sports franchise in the US to win a title after finishing the regular season with a losing record. Mike Magee gave LA the lead in the first half – scoring after some excellent work from David Beckham and Donovan.  Robbie Findlay equalized for Salt Lake in the second half.

It was a hard fought game by both sides, and it’s always unfortunate that a close contest like this has to come down to penalties.  In my dream world, they would just keep playing until there was a goal, even if it took all night.