Football live blog – 19 August | Scott Murray and Barry Glendenning

• Hit F5 to refresh or turn on the automatic widget below • Email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • The best matches and bets in the Football League 11.55am: Max Boyce is to sing a rendition of Hymns and Arias at the Liberty Stadium ahead of Swansea City’s first ever Premier League fixture , against Wigan tomorrow. Here he is wheeling out his act at the Millennium Stadium: Mike Harding wants to get on the phone to Rochdale ahead of next week’s Hartlepool game, there’s clearly a few quid to be made in this racket. 11.45am: Paul Wilson is at Carrington for Sir Alex Ferguson’s press conference. Fun and games at Carrington this morning. Fergie started his press conference a few minutes early, catching out a few reporters who were actually on time but still had to creep in quietly while he was speaking. The United manager broke off at one point to berate one hack in particular, who was just returning from a ban. “What’s the matter, did you oversleep or something?” Cool as you like, the journalist had a riposte ready. “No,” he said. “I’d forgotten how to get here, that’s all. I went to the Cliff first but there was nobody there.” Fergie had no comeback to that, except to laugh along with everyone else. 11.40am: A dispatch from our man at London Colney. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Dominic Fifield! En route to Arsenal’s press conference today with the same old issues nagging away: possible incoming transfers; Samir Nasri’s departure for Manchester City; team selection for an awkward game against Liverpool given the injuries and suspensions that appear to have eaten into Arsene Wenger’s options; maybe even some thoughts on his new captain, Robin van Persie. Liverpool’s visit to the Emirates last season, when Arsenal led in stoppage time but shipped an equaliser to an 111th minute penalty, rather summed up the fragility that has undermined this squad too often in recent times. Will be intriguing to see how this patched up side copes with the fixture this time around, particularly given the money Kenny Dalglish has spent on his own squad over the summer and the likelihood that these clubs are competing directly for a place in the top four. And you can clearly add frustration at Uefa’s disciplinary proceedings to that list now. 11.35am: Uefa are to start disciplinary proceedings against Arsene Wenger, for using the phone. Wenger is in hot water for circumventing – i.e. brazenly flouting – his touchline ban against Udinese. There’s a moral compare and contrast to be made with Jose Mourinho getting away with that eye-popping brouhaha at the end of Thursday morning’s el travesto , no doubt, but not by this Football Live Blog hack. Jose’s clearly been awarded points for artistic merit, and deservedly so. He’s a very entertaining man. 11.25am: A reminder that Lincoln City’s Keith Alexander Memorial Tournament takes place this weekend at at Cherry Willingham Community School, Lincoln, tomorrow . Other events: Premier League Saturday Sunderland v Newcastle United (12pm) Arsenal v Liverpool (12.45pm) Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers (3pm) Everton v QPR (3pm) Swansea v Wigan (3pm) Chelsea v West Brom (3pm) Sunday Nowrwich City v Stoke (1.30pm) Wolves v Fulham (2pm) Bolton v Man City (4pm) Monday Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur (8pm) The Championship Brighton v Blackpool (3pm) Bristol City v Portsmouth (3pm) Burnley v Cardiff City (3pm) Coventry v Watford (3pm) Derby County v Doncaster Rovers (3pm) Hull City v Crystal Palace (3pm) Nottingham Forest v Leicester (3pm) Reading v Barnsley (3pm) Southampton v Millwall (3pm) Peterborough v Ipswich Town (5.20pm) 11.15am: It’s the Tyne-Wear / Wear-Tyne derby tomorrow, and Shola Ameobi is set to start . Also from the official Newcastle website (www.sportsdirect.com/firesale) is this Peter Lovenkrands goal celebration wallpaper . It’s computer wallpaper, not the real stuff you hang on your walls. Although if you are desirous of PC-generated interior decoration, this report is the literary equivalent of beige, and would probably do for the downstairs lav at least, the hallway at a push. 11.05am: HOT TRANSFER CHAT. You’ve heard this one before, of course: Samir Nasri is heading for Manchester City. But Roberto Mancini is upping the ante this morning: he’s confirmed a deal is “very close”. Having said that , he also keeps saying “I don’t know, I don’t know” a lot on Sky Sports, so make of that what you will. 11am: Some reading matter for your morning tea break. Do people still have tea breaks? Maybe you’ve just woken up. Anyway, James Dart’s Football League Weekender , the nearest we’ll get to a Flowered Up reference all morning, mentions all the upcoming key matches, players to watch, goals of the week, best bets, and stuff you may have missed from off of the internet. It’s on! [flute solo] 10.55am: Fergie’s all upset about the state of Scottish football, it seems. (And no wonder; Hearts were abysmal last night, as good as Spurs were. From our people on the ground: Manchester United are playing Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and proud Scot Sir Alex Ferguson has just admitted he was surprised at the ease with which Spurs demolished Hearts in the Europa League first leg in Edinburgh. “I didn’t think they would win by that sort of score, the margin of victory was a surprise,” the United manager said of Spurs’ 5-0 away win. “They just had too much class for Hearts, even without Luka Modric. Class always tells in these situations, and Tottenham had so much more of it than Hearts.” 10.45am: OK, here’s the first job of the day for anyone who loves either football or social justice, and we all tick both boxes, no? The eejits at the Cabinet Office are opposing the full disclosure of documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster. Please, in the name of all that’s good and proper, put your name to this e-petition so its motion will automatically have to be heard by parliament. Here’s the obligatory celebrity angle: social networking’s Joey Barton is leading a Twitter campaign in support of the petition . 10.30am, and the first bit of breaking news on what promises to be a rollercoaster day (if your idea of freewheelin’ fun is staring at the Sky Sports News ticker until your eyes start spinning round in their sockets like the ball bearings in a washing machine drum): Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out for four to five weeks with a calf injury, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed. The back four against Spurs on Monday could be an inexperienced Smalling-Jones-Evans-Evra. But then again, it is against Spurs, who haven’t won against United at home since 1872. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to our new weekly live football blog. We’ll keep you up to date with all the latest fixture news ahead of this weekend’s action, as well as breaking news and updates from the Premier League teams ahead of what is supposed to be the opening weekend of their season the second weekend of the season. Barry Glendenning Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.