Avoiding the Drop

Screw you guys, I'm going to City.

For one day, there was no place like the road in the Premier League.  Of eight matches played yesterday, 6 road teams won outright and there were no draws.  The two home winners were Chelsea, who needed a late Didier Drogba goal to defeat the game Tigers from Hull City, and Stoke City, who welcomed Burnley to the Prem with a 2-0 defeat at the Britannia.

Chief among the home victims were Aston Villa, who were completely toothless in their 0-2 defeat to Wigan, and Everton, who were squashed and humiliated 1-6 by Arsenal.  Today sees Liverpool traveling to North London to take on Tottenham Hotspur, and the three-time defending Premier League champions, Manchester United, opening with Birmingham City at Old Trafford.

Oh, I should say something about ESPN’s coverage of the Chelsea/Hull City match yesterday.  Well done, ESPN.  You didn’t interrupt the match with Sports Center in-game updates, the crawl was kept to a minimum and the best part of all, it was in High Definition.  A home run, lads.  Well done.  Keep up the good work.  (That’s probably the best thing I’ll ever say about ESPN so you all may want to clip that for later use against me.)

Links, then the telly schedule.

Your MLS winners from Saturday were Toronto, Chivas USA, Columbus, and Seattle.  Real Salt Lake and Houston drew at 0. David Beckham was ejected in the 17th minute of their match with the Sounders, in a game that saw two other red cards.  Something must be in the water out West lately, because there were two red cards in the RSL-Houston match, too.  [MLSNet]

Despite all the front-office shenanigans, Shola Ameobi netted thrice yesterday for Newcastle.  There’s only one Shola Ameobi.  Thank goodness.  [Soccernet]

Winners in the Scottish Premier League were Celtic, Dunfermline, Kilmarnock, and Rangers, while St. Johnstone and Motherwell drew at 2.  Your Ross County update:  A nil-nil with Partick Thistle.  [SkySports]

Neil Warnock has yet another reason to hate referees. [Guardian]

Oh Fergie.  You do go on, don’t you?  [Daily Mail]

Young master Altidore didn’t feature for Hull City yesterday because he’s not actually allowed in the country yet.  [SI]

The Striker That Everyone Supposedly Wants But No One Can Sign netted a brace for Bordeaux yesterday, while your other winners in France were Nancy, Lens, PSG, Lyon and Toulouse.  Lorient and Montpellier drew at 2.  [Yahoo!]

In Germany, the winners were Leverkeusen, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg.  Munich/Bremen, Frankfurt/Nuremburg and Hannover 96/Mainz were all 1-1 draws.  Copycats.  [Soccernet]

The schedule for today is as follows, with all times EDT as usual.

6:30 AM – PSV Eindhoven v. Ajax – Eredivisie – ESPN360

8:30 AM – Manchester United v. Birmingham City – EPL – Setanta

9:30 AM – Borussia Monchengladbach v. Hertha Berlin – Bundesliga – ESPN360

11:00 AM – Tottenham Hotspur v. Liverpool – EPL – FSC

11:00 AM – Nice v. Rennes – Ligue 1 – Setanta

11:30 AM – Schalke04 v. Bochum – Bundesliga – GolTV

1:00 PM – Pacos Ferreira v. FC Porto – Portugal – ESPN360

1:00 PM – Lyon v. Valenciennes – Ligue 1 – Setanta (delayed broadcast)

1:00 PM – Monarcas v. Juarez – Mexico – Fox Sports Español

1:00 PM – Pumas v. Tigres – Mexico – Telefutura

1:00 PM – Puebla v. Atlante – Mexico – ESPN Deportes

2:30 PM – Napoli v. Salernitana – Coppa Italia – GolTV

3:00 PM – PSV Eindhoven v. Ajax – Eredivisie – ESPN Deportes

3:00 PM – Kansas City Wizards v. Chicago Fire – MLS – Telefutura

3:00 PM – Marseille v. Lille – Ligue 1 – Setanta

4:30 PM – Gremio v. Flamengo – Brazil – GolTV

5:00 PM – America v. Atlas – Mexico – Univision

5:00 PM – Santos Laguna v. Cruz Azul – Mexico – Telefutura

6:00 PM – Sky Blue FC v. Washington Freedom – WPS Playoffs – FSC

Enjoy your Sundays, lads and ladies.  Thank you very much for your patronage, we appreciate the clicks!