Weekend TV Preview: 14 - 15 January

Saturday 14 January

12:30 St Johnstone v Rangers, Scottish Premier League, ESPN/HD

The title race between the Old Firm has contained a few twists this season. Ally McCoist’s men recovered from a two-game slump in the last round with 3-0 win against Motherwell. St Johnstone are in decent shape themselves so it’s set up nicely for a close encounter at McDiarmid Park.

17:00 Watford v Reading, npower Championship, Sky Sports 2/HD2

Their last round defeat to Cardiff interrupted an impressive run for Reading and bouncing back against a notoriously truculent Watford will present something of a challenge. Despite their low league position, The Hornets have lost only four times at Vicarage Road.

20:00 Mallorca v Real Madrid, La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Honoured hero of the tactical revolution, Jonathan Wilson wrote an interesting piece on the rise and fall of football dynasties and speculated that Barcelona may be ever so slightly on the wane. If so then Real Madrid are capitalising and enjoy a five-point gap over their Catalan rivals. Mallorca are fourteenth.

21:00 Valencia v Real Sociedad, Spanish La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Sociedad are unbeaten in six league games yet sit two points above the relegation zone. Now they played third-place Valencia in a fixture that they have not exactly owned down the years.

Sunday 15 January

11:30 Lazio v Atalanta, Serie A, ESPN/HD

Lazio have a resurgent Inter breathing down their necks and are winless in three. Atalanta have only one win in five so a draw would make a reasonable coupon entry.

13:00 Newcastle v QPR, Barclays Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Shorn of Demba Ba, The Magpies welcome Mark Hughes for his first game as QPR coach. Not quite sure why Hughes is so disliked. While he may have been a bit previous with his departure from a club that erected a statue of Michael Jackson, the fact is he's done a good job at everywhere he's been with the possible exception of City and we all know what happened there.

14:00 Juventus v Cagliari, Serie A, ESPN/HD

There is a cracking title race on the cards in Italy this season, isn’t there? Milan have recovered the ground over the reborn Juve and who is to say that Inter can’t bridge the gap to the top three. This match is the second of a Serie A triple header ending in crucial derby to round off the weekend.

16:00 Swansea v Arsenal, Barclays Premier League, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Swansea’s decent home record and high possession tactics gets a big test against one of the nation’s top teams. One for the purists, yes, but this game may be a bit low on goalmouth action.

19:00 Sporting Gijon v Malaga, Spanish La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Malaga are in a bit of a slump but have an opportunity to regain some momentum against a poor Sporting side.

19:45 Milan v Inter, Serie A, ESPN/HD

The Big One. Locked in a Tevez tug of war off the field and with a little more than civic pride at stake this promises to be close contest and a must watch.

21:00 Barcelona v Real Betis, Spanish La Liga, Sky Sports 1/HD1

Home win and a more interesting game on the other side.

Terry