Midweek TV Preview: 16 - 19 January

Monday 16 January

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

Bottom hosts top but is this fixture as cut and dried as it appears? City are having a wobble and haven't won away from the Etihad in the League for two months. Wigan of course haven't done much better, hence their position, but they could quite conceivably do enough to snatch a draw here - or get hammered - one of the two.

Tuesday 17 January

19.30 Leicester City v Nottingham Forest, FA Cup 3rd Round Replay, ESPN/ESPN HD

These two ground out a goalless draw at the City Ground and with a home tie against League Two Swindon Town both sides will fancy their chances of prgressing well in the competition. Watch it if East Midland "derbies" are your thing.

20.00 QPR v MK Dons, FA Cup 3rd Round Replay, ITV4/ITV4 HD

Mark Hughes's first game in charge showed promise for QPR fans despite nothing to show for their trip to the Sports Direct Arena. Sparky could be forgiven if he used this match to try out a few things to get to know his squad better and to concentrate on keeping his new side up - but the promise of local rivals Chelsea at home in the next round makes this a must win.

Wednesday 18 January

19.00 Athletic Bilbao v Mallorca, Copa del Rey Quarter Final 1st Leg, Sky Sports 2/HD2

Wednesday offers an explosion of domestic cup action from across Europe starting in Spain. Athletic are proving hard to beat and have been steadily climbing the table after a shaky start to the season. For the Islanders, the Copa has provided a highlight to an otherwise ordinary campaign. The second legs are next week.

19.45 Wrexham v Brighton , FA Cup 3rd Round Replay, ESPN/ESPN HD/S4C

A cracking cup tie at the Amex should have a worthy sequel here. Victory comes with the added bonus of a very lucrative televised home tie against Newcastle United.

19.45 Dunfermline Ath v Inverness CT, Scottish FA Cup 4th Round Replay, Sky Sports 1/HD1

A Jonny Hayes equaliser five minutes into injury time saved 10 man ICT's place in the Cup. The goal, that came from a fresh air clearance from Dunfermline's stand-in keeper, summed up Athletic's season with just one win in all competitions since August. The winners get plum home tie against Celtic in the Fifth Round.

20.00 Wolves v Birmingham City, FA Cup 3rd Round Replay, ITV1/ITV1 HD

This was an awful game in the original tie and it'll be an awful game this time too. Poor choice, ITV. Winners are away to Sheffield United next round.

20.00 Milan v Novara, Coppa Italia Round of 16, ESPN/ESPN HD

Should be a fairly routine win for Milan against the team that is rooted to the bottom of Serie A. There's an away trip to Lazio in the Quarter finals for the winners.

21.00 Real Madrid v Barcelona, Copa del Rey Quarter Final 1st Leg, Sky Sports 2/HD2

These two legs represent the eighth and ninth meeting of these two sides since April. In that run of games, Cristiano Ronaldo's extra time winner in the Final of this competition was Real's only victory. Still, always worth watching.

Thursday 19 January

20.00 Inter v Genoa, Coppa Italia Round of 16, ESPN/ESPN HD

These two met at the San Siro at the same stage last year and battled out a 3-2 home win. Inter went on to win the trophy and in their current form you wouldn't beat against them doing it again (yes, they're a hell of a lot better than the were at the start of the season). Napoli at home is next up in the Quarter Finals.

Graham