FanHouse PremierLeague

Something that often amazes me is talking to people from England, us here in the Colonies actually tend to have better access to the Premier League matches on television.

After Friday, that access is going to change in some major ways after the Premier League pulled its television package from the troubled Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports. Setanta had a £392 contract to broadcast 46 live matches in the U.K. for the upcoming 2009-10 season, but that is now open to the highest bidder and will be determined by Monday.

At a time when Americans have become somewhat of an endangered species in the England's Premier League, a bit of good news came down Wednesday when it was announced goal keeper Marcus Hahnemann was signed by newly promoted club Wolverhampton.

Hahnemann, who had spells at Fulham and Reading, was released by the Royals last month after a long stint at the club, helping them reach the top flight for the first time in their history due to budgetary concerns.

We here at FanHouse are hoping you're having a fantastic Christmas today, no matter where you might be. Many of you may be back on the job tomorrow, but in several other countries, tomorrow is a holiday called Boxing Day. Here in America, Boxing Day means putting your gifts back in their boxes and taking them back to the store to exchange them for something you really wanted for Christmas.

In England, however, Boxing Day means Association football, and plenty of it. There's a full slate of Premier League games tomorrow, including one London derby and several relegation six-pointers. As if that weren't enough, all three levels of the Football League -- the Coca-Cola Championship, League One and League Two -- will have full schedules on Boxing Day.

It's the start of a holiday season that's almost as busy for England's footballers as it is for retail workers. All 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League will play three matches in the next nine days, leading up to the first weekend in January and the third round proper of the FA Cup -- which happens to be the first round of that competition that features the big clubs.

For fans of English soccer all over the world, it's a feast that rivals the biggest Christmas dinner. Feel free to gorge yourselves silly.

Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United. So I'm watching this match and the FIFA Club World Cup title game on split screen, and I'm switching back and forth between the two. For whatever reason, this regular season domestic league game felt bigger somehow. Sure, the Boca Juniors fans were rowdy and Kaká was playing at an otherworldly level, but there was an intensity in this rivalry that surpassed the club world championship. You could hear it in the crowd -- perhaps because the crowd mics in Japan weren't turned up as high as the crowd mics in Anfield -- and you could see it in the players on the field.

Especially Carlos Tevez, who dominated this game while his beloved Boca was being dominated in Japan. Tevez found his way into the box on a brilliant corner kick play by the Red Devils at the end of the first half. Ryan Giggs sent it wide to Wayne Rooney, who sent it into the box and found Carlos Tevez to the left of the entire Liverpool defense. That proved to be all Man U needed, as all of Fernando Torres' many attempts went wide, and no other Liverpool player could get past the Red Devil backline.

The win was enough to knock the Reds back into fifth place. (For now.) But would it be enough for Man U to reclaim the Premier League lead?

Does it feel like the clubs playing in England today are in a different league than the clubs playing tomorrow?

Perhaps it's a sign of the times that the Premier League would deem England's Big Four -- Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United -- worthy of their own big day. After all, the Big Four are not only back in the top four in the Premier League, but they all advanced to the knockout stage of in the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool got through by thrashing Marseille in France on Tuesday, while the other three advanced weeks ago.

Now the Big Four play two big matches against each other on Sunday. Liverpool faces Man United in the early match, while Arsenal and Chelsea square off in a London derby at Emirates Stadium. All the clubs below them? They continue fighting for the crumbs off the Big Four's table. At some point, they have to wonder if a UEFA Cup bid is even worth the trouble. (Steve Coppell already answered that question for Reading.)

That's why I liked Michel Platini's proposal to give domestic cup winners a Champions League bid. The FA Cup has too much tradition to be reduced to a mere cash lottery for lower-division clubs who manage to survive and advance. The FA could still let a potential FA Cup underdog get that fourth bid in 2009 if they wanted, but it seems they bow to the Big Four, just like everyone else. More's the pity.

Today's Premier League scores are after the jump.

Apparently, the disturbing trend of rich superstar athletes being targets for robbery isn't limited to America. It seems to be all the rage in Liverpool as well.

Liverpool Football Club may employ security guards to protect the luxury homes of their players during away matches after a spate of burglaries by organised gangs.

The club announced it would take urgent action after Steven Gerrard, the captain, became the seventh player to be burgled on Tuesday night, while he was away leading Liverpool to victory in Marseilles in the European Champions' League.

More than half the team have been targeted in the same way, during high-profile matches.

The Gerrard burglary follows similar attacks on the homes of Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch, Pepe Reina and Daniel Agger. This has led to the running joke that Rafa Benitez' rotation system at Liverpool is a system to throw the burglars off-guard, so that they'll never know which players are home on game days.

Regardless, one Washington Redskins player is dead because of this trend. Let's hope that sad episode doesn't repeat itself in Europe.

(H/T: With Leather)
Sorry, No Photos

In news that may shock NBA and NHL fans across the country, ESPN is reportedly in negotiations to purchase the television rights to soccer's English Premier League for the 2010/11 season and beyond. One of the crown jewels of football broadcasting, the EPL currently receives between 3M and 5M per game, and the most recent deal with BSkyB and Setanta Sports was 1.7B for 3 years. The TV rights to some of the biggest clubs in Europe would be a valuable acquisition for the media giant, and has the potential to create a wave of new European subscriptions. ESPN is currently in 10M European households and such a move would increase those numbers dramatically.

Das FanHaus can only hope and pray that the Mouse House leaves the broadcasts relatively untouched. Cut-aways to sideline reporters, Berman-isms, and other forms of sports entertainment journalism forced onto the EPL audience could create an international incident. "Who's Next?" alone could cause the US to be evicted from NATO.

(H/T: BBC Sports)

Middlesbrough 2-1 Arsenal. There's going to be a party in North Yorkshire tonight, as Gareth Southgate's men helped their embattled manager keep his job for a few more weeks with a brilliant performance against an undermanned Arsenal side. The Gunners, who had beaten better teams than this without Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie, suffered their first loss of the Premier League season, and their lead over Manchester United is now one measly point.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester City. A bad weekend for one Man City fan just got worse. Jermaine Defoe finally got his revenge on Sven-Goran Eriksson for choosing Theo Walcott over him on England's 2006 World Cup squad. Defoe replaced Darren Bent in the 77th minute and scored the game-winner off a free kick in the 83rd, just after Stephen Ireland was sent off for a harsh tackle on Young Pyo-Lee. Man City may miss Elano more than Arsenal miss Fabregas.

Reading 3-1 Liverpool. Nothing else happened today worth talking about.

A small club based about 70 miles west of London, Reading F.C. had never been in the top flight of English soccer until last season, and their near-qualification for the UEFA Cup was one of the best stories of last season. After doing little in the summer transfer window and getting off to a slow start this season, though, some wondered if the Royals would stumble in their second season.

This win could put that thought to bed. Reading played their most inspired football of the season, earning their first ever victory against mighty Liverpool and possibly their most famous victory in the club's 136-year history.

An early penalty on Jamie Carragher -- and no matter what you think of the call, he was due to get whistled sooner or later -- led to Stephen Hunt opening the scoring. Steven Gerrard equalized in the 28th with some help from Fernando Torres, leading everyone to wonder if a red flood of goals was coming.

The flood, however, turned out to be blue.

Part of me was hoping things might be different in the Premier League this year. Surely, the Big Four -- Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United -- wouldn't stay on top forever. Perhaps some underdog club might sneak into that Top 4 and challenge for a Champions League spot.

Here we are, though, four months into the season, and you can see how it's shaking out. The Big Four have claimed their spots at the top of the table, and everyone else is left to fight for the UEFA Cup scraps.

Manchester City was there for a while, but their inability to score goals is ruining their chances. Portsmouth has had opportunities, but they've had too many goalless draws lately. Aston Villa could have climbed into contention yesterday, but they lost at home to an Arsenal side missing two key players -- and Liverpool's 4-0 win against Bolton today would have knocked Villa back to fifth place, anyway.

Yes, things are back to normal in the Premier League. It will get even worse in 2009, when the third-place finisher gets an automatic bid to the Champions League group stage. Maybe then, fourth place really will be the new first place. But I doubt it.