Feed the Yak- Along with Danny Graham and Grant Holt, Yakubu is one of the top three value-for-money forwards in the Fantasy Premier League. Available at £5.9 million, he has scored more league goals than either Balotelli or Dzeko. He is an automatic starter at Blackburn and a consistent penalty-taker. Last week, his headed goal […]

Two centerbacks, two fullbacks. The modern convention of "four at the back," is so standard that any time a team adds or subtracts a back, it tends to be towards the end of the match when a team either wants to go for it or protect their advantage. This season, however, two teams in particular […]

Pre-season predictions are a dangerous game especially when it comes to tipping the relegation candidates. A safe bet is to always look around the teams from last year and the newly promoted sides. This is something BBC’s chief football writer Phil McNulty did when in his pre-season predictions he placed Norwich City in 17th and Swansea […]

News Corp., the parent company of FOX Soccer, is considering an idea to launch a U.S. sports network to rival ESPN that could launch as early as 4Q 2012, according to reports in Bloomberg News. "News Corp. is assembling the required rights from pay-TV carriers and sports organizations, said the people, who requested anonymity because talks […]

Liverpool today officially announced their 2012 summer tour of the United States. The much anticipated visit by Liverpool, which was reported by EPL Talk more than two months ago, will see a welcome return for the Reds to America — their first visit in 7 years. Currently, Liverpool has announced only one date of their […]

The word "football" in Australia may be interpreted in recent years as an oval shaped ball played on a oval pitch with four large poles. This game called AFL has been an infatuation of Australians everywhere. However, football — known as soccer in these parts — has gone from strength to strength. The Australian World […]

Over the last season or so, I've been considering the impact of statistics on the sport of soccer, and especially how we might use the numbers to exemplify Major League Soccer and its teams. If you've read this blog for awhile, I had a post last year which talked about SABR and the way that […]

Aston Villa has had a very lackluster season and it’s a season that in my mind is going to end in relegation. They are a side that is in serious trouble. After announcing near £54 million losses last month, the team now sit just 8 points outside of the relegation zone. For any team this […]

The summer of 2012 promises to be a very English summer in the United States. Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have already officially announced friendlies in the US this summer. And now Aston Villa has joined the trio in announcing their summer Stateside tour. Plus, don't forget about Liverpool who will be touring America this July […]

Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep. The morning breaks, and that scenario described by the recently departed Davy Jones in the song, "Daydream Believer," unravels. The feet are placed on the floor, maybe a stretch of the arms, and then it hits you. ", why do I feel like a zombie? Oh yeah...we.....lost...." This has been a periodic ritual […]

It’s no mere coincidence that the rejuvenation of Tomas Rosicky’s Arsenal career has come just as the Gunners are enjoying their best run of the season. In fact, Rosicky has arguably been one of the main reasons for Arsenal’s recent resurgence in the Premier League. During his time at Borussia Dortmund, Rosicky picked up the […]

Tonight the U.S. was dumped out of the 2012 Olympics in heart breaking fashion, giving up a very late goal in stoppage time that knotted the score at 3-3. The U.S. finished third in Group A and, as a result, does not advance to the semifinals. Earl Reed,Chris Webb, and I chatted about the result […]

Chelsea today officially announced the first two dates of their 2012 US summer tour, more than 3 weeks after we leaked the news courtesy of the Chelsea In America supporters group. The 2012 US summer tour kicks off with Chelsea playing Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, July 18 at CenturyLink Field. This will be Chelsea's third […]

[NB 1 This is the first of what we hope will become a popular weekly column about MLS. There are many places you can go to get a rote review of the weekend, along with who won and lost. Our goal for this column is to put the entire weekend in perspective, as well as […]

This season's version of Europe’s most prestigious club competition has thrown up surprises and shocks along the way, with a number of sides in the last eight exceeding expectations and defying Champions League odds (read: what is sports betting?).. However, the usual suspects and biggest teams in Europe remain, with four mouth-watering ties having their […]