After this Monday's Premiership weekend ends, we'll have no more Premiership matches for almost two weeks. During that time, we'll get to see several Euro 2008 qualifiers. The England matches are only available on pay-per-view through commercial establishments. Scotland versus France will be shown on Setanta (in addition to many other matches), while Fox Soccer Channel's most interesting match of note is Northern Ireland against Denmark.

After the Premiership returns on October 14th, we'll be able to see the English teams in action in the Champions League just a few days later:

Tuesday, October 17, 12:25pm ET:
CSKA Moscow v Arsenal (Setanta Sports and Setanta Broadband)

Tuesday, October 17, 2:30pm ET:
Manchester United v Copenhagen (ESPN2)

Wednesday, October 18, 2:30pm ET:
Chelsea v Barcelona (ESPN2)
Bordeaux v Liverpool (Setanta Sports and Setanta Broadband)

Many of you may not know who Phil McThomas and Tony Wildey are, but you should. They're the co-hosts of Soccer Shout, the daily podcast about British football. Each episode is 30 minutes, so it's the perfect listen on your weekday morning commute.

The podcast sums up the latest news of the day, analyzes results and gives previews of upcoming matches.

If you haven't had a chance, be sure to listen to an episode today. The latest one is where I guest co-hosted with Phil (sorry for the audio technical difficulties), but their next new episode will be on Sunday when Tony returns.

Editor's Note: During the episode, Phil and I gave our predictions for this weekend's matches. Out of the nine matches, I got all of the predictions correct except for two matches. I thought Chelsea would beat Villa 1-0 or 2-0. And I thought Blackburn v Wigan 0-0 or 1-1. Not too shabby.

By Dan Horlock, EPL Talk Correspondent
From Cordoba, Argentina

The arrival of two World Cup stars to an English team renowned for work ethic and devoid of any big name players came as a huge surprise to the majority of football fans around the globe.

Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano have had a little over three weeks to acclimatise to the hustle and bustle of the English Premier League but already they have shown an indication of their quality, even if results have not gone their way.

The interest generated by the Argentine pair when they put pen to paper in London was extraordinary, as the media scrambled to catch a glimpse of the duo. Press conferences were full and rumours were rife as to the intricacies of the deal.

However, the new fascination the English press and English Premier League followers have with Tevez and Mascherano is nothing in comparison to the response back home in Argentina.

Already the West Ham shirt has become a must have item for those following Argentine players overseas, as Villarreal, Corinthians and Barcelona proved before.

But for the major impact one need look no further than the television channel Fox Sports, the host of English Premier League football in Argentina.

The coverage in the pre-Tevez/Mascherano era was comparable to a 1970’s version of Match Of The Day, a presenter with dark, shaggy hair, Juan Manuel Pons, fronting a dark blue background with white spots that regularly gave the viewer a headache.

The show was produced on a tight budget and as a consequence English football in Argentina – against its Spanish and Italian rivals on ESPN – undoubtedly appeared inferior.

However, since the arrival of the Argentine pair in London, Pons, and his co-commentator Christian Bassedas, the former Newcastle player, have been given, amongst other things, a professional news desk from which to work.

The studio is now decorated in a modern, light blue colour and the commentators are surrounded by plasma screens showing action from previous games that would not look out of place on Sky Sports – highlighting the channel’s expectancy of higher viewing figures.

In regards to the coverage, ‘Bambino’ Pons, as he is more commonly known, still likes to sing tribute songs to the scorer after each goal and provides an irritatingly biased account of the game on behalf of his countrymen; his insistent begging of Jose Mourinho last season to bring Hernan Crespo into the action mirrored that of a child pleading for their parents attention.

But his behaviour is merely representative of a country that is desperate to see their players achieve in football’s upper echelons.

For example, in the newspaper ‘Ole,’ the country’s biggest selling football daily, they scoffed at Alan Pardew’s reasoning for Carlos Tevez’s substitution against Newcastle United, when he said, ‘We needed goals.' An entire page was allotted to the apparent ludicrousness of the statement.

Argentine media and fans alike share a fierce sense of loyalty towards their players, demonstrated by the fact that in both quarters West Ham has become known as Tevez and Mascherano’s team.

This season, the satellite provider, DirectTV has also introduced a new channel that provides exclusive footage of all the Premier League’s major games with English commentary, featuring the likes of Alan Parry and John Champion. Together with Fox Sports, the two channels have English football completely covered.

The weekend’s action generally begins on Saturday at 8.45 (12.45 GMT), followed by the 15.00 kick-off (11 AST) with the day’s football concluding at 13.15 or (17.15 GMT). Fox Sports usually broadcasts two of the three matches.

Depending on the quantity of games, Sunday and Monday’s action normally sees just two matches. Sunday at 12.00 (16.00 GMT) on DirectTV and Monday at 16.00 (20.00 GMT) on Fox Sports.

However, while English football has changed beyond recognition in Argentina a glance at ESPN’s coverage of the Champions League first fixtures demonstrates that there is still much to do for the most popular league in the World to win over Argentine and South American audiences.

While Liverpool were visiting PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea were playing host to Werder Bremen, Argentine viewers were being treated to Barcelona’s 5-0 demolition of a very poor Levski Sofia side or as an alternative, Sporting Lisbon’s 1-0 victory over Inter Milan.

The same was true on the second day of the Champions League. At the same time as England was enjoying the thrills and spills of the Battle of Britain between Manchester United and Celtic, ESPN in Latin America preferred to screen AC Milan’s 3-0 thumping of AEK Athens and Real Madrid’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Lyon.

In this continent, Spain’s La Liga is King and to replace it as the most popular European League, the English Premiership will have to change its language, culture and history.

However, overtaking Italy’s Serie A, which has been relegated to ESPN + with only the major games being shown, the English Premier League is at last beginning to show its teeth in this part of the world.

Tevez and Mascherano may well be household names in England now but their impact over the other side of the Atlantic reaches far beyond a few more West Ham shirts being sold on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Courtesy of the ‘Hammers,' the English Premier League has finally arrived on Argentine television.

Let's take a step back for a minute regarding this Premiership season, and consider how many matches we've seen on TV that have been absolutely enthralling matches where both teams produced a fantastic competitive display.

So the question is, what have been the most memorable matches so far this season? And have there been fewer entertaining matches than in previous seasons?

Share your opinion by clicking on the 'Comments' button below and telling us what you think.

For me, the best match of the season thus far was the 1-1 draw between West Ham and Aston Villa that marked the debut of Carlos Tevez. The match was played at a frenetic pace with both teams playing an attacking style of play. There were several goalline clearances, a header that hit the bar. But, overall, the style of play was brilliant.

The 3-0 Everton win against Liverpool was entertaining, but it doesn't count in my book because Liverpool didn't show up to play that day. Reading against Manchester United was entertaining, but the first half was lukewarm. Liverpool against Newcastle featured some wonderful goals, but again, the first half was uneventful, and the match was far from being a classic in the usual Liverpool v Newcastle calibre.

Chelsea against Liverpool left a bitter taste in my mouth especially during the first half with lots of fouls and the Blues just walking across the pitch in slow motion.

The only match, other than West Ham against Aston Villa, that I can consider a classic was the Man United versus Arsenal match. There was the penalty incident, and Jens Lehmann getting hit in the face by the ball. Plus there were several other interesting subplots. While it wasn't a classic in its purest form, it's the only other match that can come close to rivaling the Hammers against Villa.

Thoughts?

If you're playing EPL Talk's Champions League Fantasy Football, you'll be a happy man today if you have Didier Drogba on your team as captain. After his hat-trick for Chelsea against Levski Sofia, the Ivory Coast striker earned 28 points alone.

The latest top five out of the 20 teams playing thus far is:

1 INTER ROCKFISH David Griffith, 133
2 ouryear07 Hannah Lee, 117
3 gratefullawyer Wayne Novick, 106
4 Bloody Yanks Jeremy Lay, 103
5 FC Epikoinos Eric Anderson, 102

Drogba is also doing well in the Premiership fantasy league.

To join the EPL Talk Premiership Fantasy League, go here for more details. And if you're interested in joining the Champions League one, you still have plenty of time. Read this post for more information.

It's been an excellent week for English teams in Europe this week. Chelsea had a convincing 3-1 win against Levski Sofia tonight with Drogba getting a well-deserved hat trick in a tense Bulgarian stadium. Anyone notice the huge amounts of armed police (or were they soldiers) lined up alongside the pitch?

Liverpool meanwhile has finally started to score some goals in Europe. The Reds are really finding their form with Rafa Benitez's rotation system paying dividends with both Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch scoring goals of late. In fact, Crouch's volley tonight was absolutely spectacular.

Speaking of spectacular goals, Arsenal did well to overcome Porto with Henry again getting a header. We discussed Man United's crucial win against Benfica in yesterday's blog.

Lastly, while you never want to see players get injured, Chelsea fans have to be relieved to see that Samuel Eto'o will be out for 2 months and will miss the two Chelsea against Barcelona matches.

Here are some important updates from EPL Talk:

>> I'll be the guest co-host on the Soccer Shout podcast tomorrow night. The episode will be available via iTunes or from http://www.soccershout.com late Thursday night.

If you haven't had a chance to listen to Soccer Shout, now is your perfect opportunity. The (usually) daily show focuses on British and European football. Thursday night's episode will preview this weekend's Premiership matches.

>> In other news, EPL Talk is pleased to welcome TicketsNow.com as its latest advertiser. There are links to the ticket site located on this blog (on left column) and on the EPL Talk Podcast (right column). The site sells those rare, hard-to-find tickets for the biggest events. Plus they sell MLS tickets too.

>> More exciting news. EPL Talk welcomes World Soccer Shop as its newest partner. We'll be announcing more details in the coming days. Plus we'll be offering you a chance to win a free World Soccer Shop T-shirt.

BBC America has a form on its web site where you can vote for programs you'd like to see added to their network. One of them includes BBC's "Match Of The Day."

I wouldn't think that BBC would have the rights to show the highlights show in the U.S., but whether they do or not, feel free to let BBC know you're interested.

If you want to see more football, go ahead and vote today at http://www.bbcamerica.com/about/contactus_suggestion.jsp

In Week 6 of the Premiership, the race for the EPL Talk Fantasy Football League is heating up. Here are the current top five (out of the 63 in the league):

1 ROCKFISH UNITED David Griffith 341
2 Gratefullawyer Wayne Novick 326
3 Yantai FC Michael Trubey 307
4 Beerlovers F.C. Deryk McDowell 304
5 The Gaffer Christopher Harris 303

And to make sure the teams at the bottom of the league don't get too discouraged, here are the bottom five:

60 BlackLodge Alan Wigodski 193
61 MadhamFC Matt Mitterko 167
62 Death Wolves Samarth Ghorpade 160
63 The Lards Matthew Larson 130

If you'd like to join the EPL Talk Fantasy Football League, go here for more details.

A good win for Manchester United tonight in a match that was always going to be difficult against Benfica. It wasn't the most beautiful thing to watch, and there were moments where I was reminded why Portugal was despised so much during the World Cup. In this one, Benfica's diving and overacting was extremely disappointing.

Louis Saha showed a touch of brilliance as swayed to the left, picked up speed and sent a curving left footed shot in over the keeper. Wayne Rooney, on the other hand, was extremely poor -- as he has been since he returned from suspension. I'm really surprised Sir Alex Ferguson keeps faith with Rooney. Instead, he should be playing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer more often who has showed class every time he comes on the field.

That said, this was an important three points for United. They're in pole position in their Champions League group. Plus, they can now focus on their next match which will be this Sunday at home against Newcastle United (9am ET, Setanta Sports). It's imperative that United pick up the points against Glenn Roeder's team to keep the pressure on Chelsea and to stay near the top of the pack.

The Guardian's Paolo Bandini just published a fantastic account of his visit to Emirates Stadium. To savor the atmosphere and experience, read his post here: Guardian Unlimited: Sport blog: Sport Safari: Arsenal's Emirates Stadium

Okay traditional football fans, I need your feedback. If you're very observant or perhaps a Newcastle fan, did you notice in yesterday's Everton match at St. James's Park that there was a "Fox Soccer Channel" advertising board behind the goal when Ameobi "beat" the offside trap and scored that cheeky goal for Newcastle?

It's not easy to see, but if you go back and watch the match, you may notice it. This is the first time I've noticed it, so the advertising signboard may have been there much longer. Or has it?

Why FSC decided to advertise and why at St. James's Park, I'm not sure. The majority of Geordies would have no idea what it is, but the TV viewers at home (throughout North America, the Middle East and now Jamaica) would -- but they're probably subscribing to Fox Soccer Channel already.

Editor's Note: I contacted Fox Soccer Channel to find out more information, and here's their answer. They've been adding signage at EPL games so FSC viewers like you and me would get excited about seeing it during matches. Last year they had board graphics at St James' Park and the City of Manchester Stadium. This year, Fox has entered a deal whereby they can have signage at two spots per game at St James' Park, Bolton's Reebok Stadium and Blackburn's Ewood Park. These were chosen based on matches that will be aired for North American viewers.

I need your help to determine what are the top 10 Premiership goals so far this season. Here are the obvious candidates, but let me know which ones we're missing. These, right now, are in no particular order:

• Drogba's scintillating twist, turn and rocket for Chelsea against Liverpool.
• Xabi Alonso's wonderful long-range lob from 70 yards for Liverpool against Newcastle.
• Arsenal's beautiful interplay between Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and goalscorer William Gallas for the Gunners against Sheffield United.
• The one-two between Tim Cahill and Andrew Johnson for Everton against Watford, which led to AJ's precise goal.
• Ivan Campos long-range daisycutter for Bolton against Spurs.

Add your votes and feedback by clicking the 'Comments' link below.

Scott Coonfare owns a sports restaurant in downtown Tampa, not far from the Buccaneers stadium (Tampa Buccaneers that is, not Manchester). The appropriately named "Coonfare's Sports Cafe" has jerseys from Premiership clubs framed on the wall, features a Union Jack flag outside and serves fish-n-chips (alas without the mushy peas, according to Scott).

At Coonfare's Sports Cafe, Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports are always on. "It's amazing how many EPL fans there are in Tampa," says Scott. "It's like an underground group of people who are very true to the sport."

To keep his hungry soccer fans updated on all of the news about the Premiership, Scott has been promoting the EPL Talk web site in unique ways. So unique, in fact, that he's the winner of the autographed "Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos" poster signed by Giorgio Chinaglia and Shep Messing. Here's how Scott is getting the word out about EPL Talk:

• Scott created a free weekly newsletter, in the form of a flyer, named EPL Buzz and leaves it outside his restaurant for people to read a schedule of what matches will be shown on the restaurant's big screen TVs. Plus, the newsletter features the top Premiership headlines and informs readers that they can "find out more at epltalk.com."
  
  
• Outside the front door of Coonfare's Sports Cafe, Scott has placed two signboards for passerbys to see. The first has the daily specials. The second has the top Premiership headlines (taken from the news ticker at the homepage of EPL Talk), and the epltalk.com address. See picture here.
  
  
• Scott also prints copies of the EPL Talk Magazine, and puts them out by the front door for restaurant patrons to read.
  

If you find yourself in Tampa anytime soon, be sure to visit Coonfare's Sports Cafe. They offer 50 beers, many of which are British. They've got an extensive menu of over 100 items. Plus they have Fox Soccer Channel on one of the 24 TVs and two wide-screen TVs. View pictures of his restaurant here.

And if you're interested in spreading the word about EPL Talk and earning free prizes, sign up today for free to join the EPL Talk Buzz revolution.

The EPL Talk Blog has moved. Be sure to visit epltalk.com and update your bookmarks!

  

// posted by The Gaffer @ 4:35 AM 6 Comments Links to this post