Brian Reece

For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness. As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed […]

The Valencian Derby between Villarreal and Valencia jumps out as the headline match of the weekend in La Liga. Since Villarreal rose to La Liga for the first time in 1998, their record at home against their neighbors Valencia is an impressive 7-2-2, including winning five of their last six meetings. While Villarreal lost 3-1 […]

It’s the North London derby this weekend. Arsenal, who are fast becoming serious title contenders play Host to Tottenham. The Gunners sit second, 2 points behind Chelsea. Tottenham find themselves seventh after a much needed win against Blackburn last weekend. Three points for either side would see them make significant strides up the Premier league […]

A select few matches each season define the league in terms of pecking order and/or overall footballing ability. Obviously, the two editions of El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona usually determine the fate of La Liga's crown. More specifically, in the past five seasons, the team that won the most points in El Clásico […]

The highlight match of the weekend will occur at the Camp Nou, where Villarreal will want to display their résumé as a legitimate threat to a dominion currently ruled by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. After a topsy-turvy month of results where they looked somewhat hapless in away fixtures at Hércules and Sporting Gijón in […]

It’s been a busy week in the Premier League and the fun just doesn’t stop. Game Week 13 is here already and we have another full fixture programme to look forward to. It’s at the foot of the table where the excitement and the points are to be had this weekend. The bottom three are […]

Barely have you had chance to draw breath and it’s time to do it all again. There’s a full midweek programme of Premier League fixtures, game week 12 is upon us already, and it’s going to be tricky selection wise as several managers may opt to shuffle their packs. Tie of the week has to be […]

As with most local derbies (national derbies such as El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain, De Klassieker between Ajax and Feyenoord, etc. excluded), the derby means a little more to one club than the other. While Arsenal always wants to defeat their north London neighbor Tottenham Hotspur, […]

In Atlético Madrid's 1-2 win in the UEFA Europa League over Rosenborg in Norway on Thursday, Rosenborg enjoyed long spells of dominance over their Spanish opponents but could not convert more than once on their many scoring opportunities. Atlético capitalized on two of their only three chances in the match and escaped with a valuable […]

Phew!! Well what can I say? If it hadn’t been for the antics of Nani and the reliable consistency of Charlie Adam, last week’s effort would have been disastrous. This could end up being a cryptic tips column where doing the exact opposite will prove the most rewarding! I have always been taught to hold […]

UEFA Champions League While Real Madrid and Barcelona can earn their spots into the knockout round with wins against AC Milan and FC København, respectively, and will likely qualify even without victories in Matchday 4, Valencia does not have that margin of error as they play their reverse fixture against Rangers on Tuesday night. Ever […]

With the reinstitution of the Galáctico policy following Florentino Pérez's return as President of Real Madrid last summer, Pérez wasted no time in the second construction of his universe-beating side. Lost in the shuffle of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, and Xabi Alonso joining the club, Karim Benzema quietly transferred from Olympique Lyonnais to Real Madrid, if […]

For a seemingly middling, 13th placed promoted team from La Liga Adelante with a 2-3-3 record, Hércules Club de Fútbol has debunked the increasingly popular theory that there is little competitive balance in Spain's top division. A two-goal victory at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona, a 2-0 win over Sevilla, a 2-2 draw against […]

Hello and welcome to EPL Talk’s new weekly Fantasy League tips column. If you are constantly experiencing selection problems ahead of the weekends fixtures this is the column for you (hopefully!). Every week I will do my best to not only pick out the weeks potential points grabbers but also suggest who might benefit from […]

The first year of the post-Manuel Pellegrini era commenced with a startling thud, as through seven rounds last season, Villarreal propped every other Primera División team up at the bottom of the table. This smooth, plucky team from the Valencian Community had not felt such futility since they made their maiden voyage to La Liga […]