Midweek TV Preview: 19 - 22 December

Monday 19 December

19.45 Crystal Palace v Birmingham City, Championship, Sky Sports 1/HD1

You've got to go back nearly seven years for Palace's last win over Birmingham. Current form and league position suggests this will be a draw, but Dougie Freedman really needs to address that 'Goals Scored' column at home more than anything else right now.

19.45 York City v Kidderminster, Blue Square Premier League, Premier Sports

A tasty non-league treat to get you in the festive spirit. Both teams are on good form and gunning for a play-off place; York already occupy one of the appropriate positions as things stand, but a win for The Harriers will see them in the top five too.

Tuesday 20 December

17.00 Siena v Fiorentina, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Plenty of Italian action on ESPN this week and it starts with this clash between two clubs in god-awful form at the moment. Think of it as a chance to watch them before either or both get relegated as seems likely.

19.45 Cagliari v AC Milan, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

A small chink of hope for Cagliari comes in the form of Milan's recent slip up in a 2-2 draw against Bologna recently. Unfortunately it does still require the home team to do something, and sadly they've only notched up one league win since the start of October. Three points for the Rossoneri.

20.00 Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers, Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Battle of the Bottom Two, as t'were. In a nutshell, Stoke have won more matches this season than Blackburn and Bolton put together. Armed with that information, we'll leave it up to you whether you decide to tune in or not.

Wednesday 21 December

17.00 Udinese v Juventus, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

The Monochrome Derby, as I believe they call it in Bella Italia. The winner of the last six meetings between these two has alternated consistently. If the pattern continues, the winner of this one will be Juve. And that's about as scientific as this TV Preview gets, fact fans.

19.45 Inter Milan v Lecce, Serie A, ESPN/ESPN HD

Only one win the league for Lecce since mid-September, which is why they're bottom of the Serie A table. Strangely, scoring goals hasn't been a problem for them, but against Inter's stingy defence, they've got a snowball in hell's chance of success.

20.00 Wigan Athletic v Liverpool, Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Wigan are fair hanging on by the skin of their teeth at the moment, even salvaging a last-minute equaliser against Chelsea last weekend. Liverpool are playing with more consistency than Chelsea at the moment and should comfortably avoid such a disappointing outcome here.

Thursday 22 December

20.00 Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea, Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Apparently Harry Redknapp's fronting a new TV ad campaign for Carlsberg. The slogan goes something like "Harry Redknapp doesn't criticise referees, but if he did, he'd probably be the biggest bloody hypocrite in the world..."

Chris O