Midweek TV Preview: 24 - 27 October

Monday 24 October

17.00 Dinamo Moscow v Rubin Kazan, Russian Premier League, ESPN/ESPN HD

Funny how the slogan of ESPN’s current UK marketing campaign is ‘Miss nothing’ given that they’ve failed to show any Russian Premier League coverage since June 22nd. Cynical, but worth pointing out, we feel.

19.45 UCD v Shamrock Rovers, Airtricity League, Premier Sports

Premier Sports continuing coverage of the Atrocity League brings this clash between two sides located just south of Dublin but situated at either end of the table at present. We reckon it'll take you no more than three minutes to work out which one is 37 points better off than the other.

20.00 Brighton v West Ham, Championship, Sky Sports 2/HD2

West Ham’s grip on a top-three place has proven stronger than Brighton’s but though they may be eight places below The Hammers at time of writing, they could overtake them with a home win tonight.

Tuesday 25 October

19.00 Granada v Barcelona, La Liga, Sky Sports 3/HD3

Granada face the mighty Barca for the first time in the league since 1976. Granada have found the top flight a bit of a struggle so far with only one win over Villareal to shout about. Shame to say it, but El Graná are almost certain to find themselves the subject of a feeding frenzy here.

19.45 Aldershot v Man Utd, Carling Cup 4th Round, Sky Sports 2/HD2

The Shots’ brilliant run in the League Cup this season stands every chance of being extended following United’s utter capitulation against rivals City last weekend and the likelihood of Ferguson putting out a second string of Berbatov, Giggs, Ji-Sung and... oh, who are we kidding...?

19.45 Juventus v Fiorentina, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Both teams have seen their league form impeded by a proliferation of draws just lately, in fact each team played out 2-2 draws at the weekend. Juventus need all three points here if they’re to get back on top of the league having been knocked off by Udinese and Lazio in the Sunday fixtures.

Wednesday 26 October

19.15 Hibernian v Celtic, Scottish Communities League Cup 4th Round, BBC1 Scotland

Celtic remain the odds-on favourites to win the League Cup out of the eight teams remaining, and winning it might just give a lift to a somewhat uninspiring season thus far.

19.45 Napoli v Udinese, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Fifth-versus-Second. The bookies have Napoli down to win this one, but Udinese are unbeaten in eleven (UNDICI) matches stretching back to the end of August. Worth a punt on an away win, given Napoli’s recent unpredictable form.

19.45 Wolves v Man City, Carling Cup 4th Round, Sky Sports 2/HD2/3D

It seems some Wolves fans are unhappy at their club’s circumstances at present. At least they haven’t conceded six goals for four-and-a-half years, they’re not in the bottom three of the Premier League and they’re not as unpopular as Mario Balotelli on an oil rig.

21.00 Real Madrid v Villarreal, La Liga, Sky Sports 3/HD3

An ample opportunity for Real to keep the pressure on league leaders Levante. And once again, in case you didn’t quite catch that: An ample opportunity for Real to keep the pressure on LEAGUE LEADERS LEVANTE.

Thursday 27 October

12.50 Universidad de Chile v Flamengo, Copa Sudamericana Round of 16 2nd Leg, Premier Sports

Something of a dead rubber, this. La U won the first leg 4-0 at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange last Wednesday so expect to hear the phrase ‘park the bus’ (or its Spanish equivalent) plenty during this match.

16.00 Zenit St Petersburg v Volga, Russian Premier League, ESPN/ESPN HD

Why ESPN, you’re spoiling us... This second offering of Russian Premier League action in the space of one week (after months of pretending it didn’t exist) sees the newly-promoted and soon-to-be-relegated-on-current-form Volga visiting the league leaders. Home win all the way.

19.45 Palermo v Lecce, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Palermo are the St Paul’s Cathedral protesters of Serie A. Sitting in sixth spot, you know they’ve done well to be where they are for so long and what they’re doing is very noble, but long term they’ll lose interest and eventually drift away before Christmas.

Friday 28 October

19.45 League of Ireland Season End, Premier Sports

The Aircritity League finsihes with a whimper rather than a bang> Shamrock were crowned Champions on Tuesday while Sligo and Derry are secure in their Europa League positions. At the foot of the table, Galway were secured in the relegation play-off spot a long time ago with just one win all season - Rogue Trader, Nick Leeson stepped down as Chief Executive of the club in February, but is still on the board.

Chris O