EPL Super Sunday LIVE Commentary:

Hello, and welcome to my Super Sunday LIVE Commentary Double Bill.
Yesterday, after 93 days of waiting for it, the 2012-13 EPL season started with a bang. 

• 5 star Fulham beat Norwich by 5 goals to nil
• Swansea thrashed QPR 5-0
• Reading drew 1-1 with Stoke
• Arsenal started life without RVP with a 0- draw against Sunderland
• Newcastle beat Tottenham 2-1
• West Brom shocked Liverpool, winning 3-0 at home
• West Ham beat Aston Villa 1-0.

I promised you that I would give you an update from Yesterday's match so hear it is:

Yesterday's Evening Match:

Newcastle United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1

This match was played at The Sports Direct Arena, as Newcastle went head-to-head with Tottenham.

This was new Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas' first match in charge and he wanted to start it off with a win.

Tottenham dominated the first half, with Bale and Defoe both hitting the post and the bar.
In the second half, Newcastle started to play better, and not let Tottenham have the ball. 

Striker Demba Ba scored his first goal for the club since February with a lovely curling swerving finesse shot from 22 yards out which curled over goalkeeper Brad Friedel into the net in the 56th minute. 


Today, there are two matches with Wigan vs Chelsea and Manchester City vs Southampton both in action.

Team Line-Ups:

Wigan Athletic v Chelsea:

Wigan: Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Ramis, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Figueroa, Maloney, Di Santo, Moses.
Subs: Pollitt, Kone, Jones, Crusat, Ben Watson, Gomez, Boselli.

3-4-3 formation for Wigan, with Victor Moses starting in attack along with Franco Di Santo and Shaun Maloney despite all the transfer attention from Chelsea over the past few weeks.


Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Eden Hazard, Mata, Bertrand, Torres.
Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Oscar, Ferreira, Meireles, Sturridge, Cahill.

4-2-3-1 formation for The Blues with Fernando Torres the lone man up-front with Mata, Eden Hazard and Ryan Bertrand behind him.

13:30: Wigan have kicked us off here at The DW Stadium.

1: Nice play by Chelsea before winger Eden Hazard turnes past a defender and plays a through ball towards defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Ivanovic runs into the box before keeping his head down and blasting the ball low in the corner of the net away from goalkeeeper Ali Al Habsi. 

1 minute, 1 goal: Defender Branislav Ivanovic finishes off a nice Chelsea move to give them the lead against Wigan.

Mobbed: Ivanovic is mobbed by his team-mates as he scores Chelsea's first goal of the new 2012-13 season.

GOAL!!! 
What a goal from Chelsea, nice build-up play with Ivanovic finishing the move off in style. 1 minute gone, 1 goal scored for Chelsea. 

5: Eden Hazard weaves in and out of two Wigan defenders before getting bodychecked by Evan Ramis inside the box... PENALTY!

Trouble: Chelsea new boy Hazard weaves past two defenders before being brought down by Ramis.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard steps up to take the penalty.... He shoots low and hard towards goal and SCORES! 2-0 to Chelsea, and Lampard scores yet another penalty for The Blues.

39 for Chelsea: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has now scored 39 penalties for Chelsea in the EPL.

A litle bit lucky because the keeper guessed the right way but it was too powerful a shot for him to save it.

10: Chelsea free-kick awarded after a late challenge on Eden Hazard by Wigan defender Gary Caldwell.
Yellow card after a poor challenge, in which he did not win the ball and had his studs showing.

12: Wigan pressing Chelsea, trying to get back into the match with Figueroa looking dangerous down the right wing.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech is equal to his cross and comfortably catches the ball.

15: Wigan corner, taken by Shaun Maloney into the box, but cleared away by Chelsea defensive midfielder John Obi Mikel.

16: Nice link-up play by Juan Mata and Eden Hazard down the wing before Mata gets taken out by McArthur. Chelsea free-kick taken quickly.

17: Good penalty shout by Chelsea, with striker Fernando Torres getting taken out just inside the box by defender Alcaraz.
Referee says it was a shoulder barge, and play on.

19: Wigan cross into the box by Victor Moses, for striker Franco Di Santo who heads towards goal..... OVER THE BAR!!

19: Moses with his quick feet sidesteps Chelsea defenders John Terry and Ashley Cole before getting taken out by Frank Lampard who sticks a leg out.


22: Chelsea on the ball, with Cole passing the ball to Lampard who finds Mata on the wing.
Mata passes the ball into the box for Torres, but goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi comfortably saves the ball and makes sure Torres does not have a chance to get a shot on goal.

24: Another Wigan corner comes of nothing, thanks to a block by Eden Hazard who has impressed for Chelsea so far in this match.

26: Mata finds Torres with a nice through ball but Torres takes to long to sort out whether he was going to take a shot or not, and gets swarmed by 4 Wigan defenders before losing the ball.

28: Nice patient build-up play by Wigan, but Chelsea's defence clear.
Captain John Terry looks to have a knock, and is limping uncomfortably here.

31: Eden Hazard goes down again, after getting tackled by Wigan midfielder James McCarthy. No card though for McCarthy.

34: Chelsea defender David Luiz goes in late on Wigan forward Shaun Maloney.
The referee pulls Luiz back for the foul before showing the yellow card.

He is a bit unlucky as he looked to play the ball but was late to it.

36: McCarthur is penalised for accidentally htting Hazard in the face with his arm while trying to balance with the ball.
Chelsea free-kick taken quickly by Mata to Torres, but the flag is up for offside.

37: Wigan forward Victor Moses zooms past Ashley Cole before letting a shot fly from 20 yards out towards goal... Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech gets a hand to the shot and now Wigan have a corner.

Moses has been a constant threat for Wigan oday to the Chelsea defenders. Unlucky not to score then.

39: Nothing comes of the resulting corner for Wigan again.

42: Victor Moses skills up Ashley Cole before crossing the ball into the box from the wing.. The cross is too powerful for any Wigan player to latch onto, and the ball goes out for a throw-in.

45: YET ANOTHER CORNER for Wigan, (and you know what I am going to say next don't you!) 
Nothing comes of it. 
The fourth official has signalled for two minutes of added time to play at the end of the first half.

46: Nice through ball straight to Franco Di Santo, he only has Cech to beat!!!
He takes a first touch before chipping the ball over Cech.... Defender David Luiz clears the ball away.

Di Santo should have scored there but his first touch was too much.

45+2: The referee has blown the whistle to signal the end of the first half of play at The DW Stadium.
Chelsea lead by 2 goals to nil against a Wigan side who have been threatening to score, but have not really trouble Cech apart from Moses.
Chelsea have only had to play very well for the first ten minutes of the match, and the rest were in second gear.

14:30: The second half has started at the DW.

47: John Terry has been fouled by Franco Di Santo with his studs up into his ankle as he went to clear the ball away. Chelsea free-kick, but Santo is left with a warning.

48: Wigan SUB:
Shaun Maloney OFF
Jordi Gomez ON

Maloney seems to be struggling with a thigh injury, and comes off for striker Gomez.

56: Chelsea free-kick awarded after Wigan midfielder James McArthur catches Frank Lampard's leg dangerously, and it was nowhere near the ball.

59: Wigan find space with captain Gary Caldwell finding striker Di Santo with a long ball towards the wing.
He moves past Luiz inside the box before taking a shot towards goal... WIDE!

A weak, off target shot, and to be honest, Wigan should have equalised by now with the amount of chances that Di Santo has had. 

62: Manager Roberto Di Matteo is seen talking to £25million signing Oscar on the touchline. He should becoming on the pitch soon.

63: Nice skill by Bertrand before finding Torres inside the box.... he is fighting to keep his balance before he taps the ball past Al Habsi.
The ball trickles towards goal but defender Evan Ramis runs towards the ball... AND CLEARS THE BALL OFF THE LINE!!!

65: Chelsea SUB:
Eden Hazard OFF
Oscar ON

Hazard has been impressive today, and has been one to watch for Chelsea. Well played, and now we look at £25million signing Oscar from Internacional.

66: Wigan SUB:
Franco Di Santo OFF
Arouna Kone ON

Debut for new Wigan signing Arouna Kone.

68: Oscar on the ball... takes a shot from outside the box.... JUST PAST THE POST!!!
Close by Oscar, and he looks promising aswell...

74: Wigan free-kick, taken by Jordi Gomez towards goal.... SAVED by Petr Cech!
A good save by Cech, because the ball was swerving away from him, and he had to get his body behind the ball.

80: Wigan SUB:
James McArthur OFF
Ben Watson ON

82: Chelsea SUB:
Juan Mata OFF
Raul Meireles ON

Mata has played very well for Chelsea today, and along with Hazard my man of the match today.

83: This time, a Wigan corner is taken by Jordi Gomez into the box... for Aroune Kone who heads the ball towards goal... WIDE!

From that angle and the distance from the goal... he should have scored.

85: Gomez takes a spectacular overhead kick from 12 yards out... MISS!!
Just missed the target, unlucky.

87: A Chelsea free-kick just outside the box taken by Raul Meireles towards goal before Luiz heads the ball towards goal.. SAVED and held well by Ali Al Habsi.

90: The fourth official has signal for three minutes of stoppage time to be added on. 

Team Line-ups from Manchester City vs Southampton:

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Rodwell, Toure, Nasri, Aguero, Tevez.
Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Kolarov, Savic, De Jong, Balotelli.

Strong Manchester City squad, with £15million signing Jack Rodwell starting on his debut for the club. 

BREAKING NEWS: Winger Adam Johnson has been left out of the City squad, and now surely he will leave the club?!

Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Schneiderlin, Puncheon, Rodriguez, Do Prado.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Lambert, Steven Davis, Sharp, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne.


14:02: Tevez and Aguero kick City off at The Ethiad Stadium.

2: Southampton break before City new boy Jack Rodwell clears the danger for a corner. Corner comes off nothing though.

7: Clyne tackles Aguero on the run. He has gone down injured, and he is clutching his knee in pain.

He looks to have twisted his knee badly... 

10: He is limping off the pitch, while strikers Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko are both warming up on the touchline.

11: Aguero is being stretchered off now.
Southampton midfielder Schneiderlin has a shot missed wide from close range... 

14: Southampton have been taming the EPL Champions now, giving them trouble and dominating possession in City's own half.

Manchester City SUB: 

Sergio Aguero OFF (injury)
Edin Dzeko ON

Dzeko has a chance now... will he take it?

15: Manchester City are starting to get into the match, with David Silva and Samir Nasri linking up together to make good build-up player.

16: Tevez gets the ball from Nasri, before getting tripped by Jos Hooiveld..
David Silva steps up to take the penalty.... SAVE! by Kelvin Davis.
A weak and low shot from Silva is easily saved.

16:20: I am leaving now, but I will give you an update tomorrow.... I promise.

Start of the 2012-13 season - The Weekend's EPL Fixtures Preview:

The best league in the world begins again, for the 21st season tomorrow.

Hello and welcome to my EPL Fixture Preview Blog Post once again. This is the first time that I have done this in over 3 months, as the start of the new 2012-13 EPL season begins on tomorrow afternoon.

First, let me start with the latest EPL transfers and news:

Wigan Athletic have bolstered their attacking options by signing Arsenal's young forward Ryo Miyaichi on a season-long loan.

For the future: Ryo Miyaichi has joined Wigan on a season-long loan deal to give him more first-team experience.

Newcastle United have completed the signing of Ajax full-back Vurnon Anita for around £6.5million.

New boy on the block: Left-back Vurnon Anita has completed his transfer to Newcastle from Ajax.

He will give manager Alan Pardew more options in the attacking and defending sides of his team for the next few season to come.

Manchester City have been given some bad injury news:
Defender Micah Richards has been ruled out of action for up to 10 weeks with an ankle injury suffered at the London Olympics, playing for Team GB.

LATEST - in the Robin Van Persie transfer saga:

Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie has arrived in Manchester for his medical with Manchester United.

Welcome to United: Manager Sir Alex Ferguson unveiled Robin Van Persie at a press conference earlier today.

Press conference: RVP answers questions in his first conference as a United player.

Strong strikeforce: Robin Van Persie trains with new team-mate and fellow striker Wayne Rooney.

He has completed his medical and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he fully expects RVP to make his full debut in a United shirt on Monday, when they face Everton. 

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been fined £45,000 by The FA after a comment posted on Twitter.

Sunderland have confirmed the signing of former Manchester United striker Louis Saha.
He was released by Tottenham at the end of last season, and Sunderland's lack of attacking options made them show interest in the free agent.

Adventure: Striker Louis Saha has signed a one-year contract deal with Sunderland. This will be his 6th EPL club.

Fulham have fined midfielder Clint Dempsey after he refused to play for the club ever again. 
Manager Martin Jol has confirmed that he is able to leave the club as Liverpool and Arsenal are among the clubs wanting to sign him.

QPR have confirmed the signing of full-back Jose Bosingwa on a three-year-deal. 

Staying in London: Full-back Jose Bosingwa will stay in London after a four-year spell with Chelsea.

FACT: This is QPR's 8th signing of the transfer window.

He was released by Chelsea at the end of last season. 

Liverpool have confirmed the £3million signing of 24-year-old Morocco winger Oussama Assaidi.  

Looks promising: Liverpool have completed the £3million signing of winger Oussama Assaidi.

The green light: Assaidi is put through his medical at Melwood by the club doctor.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that defensive midfielder Alex Song could be on his way out of the club, and could be moving to Barcelona for £15million.

He has confirmed that defender Thomas Vermaelen will become the new captain after RVP's departure.

LATEST - In the Luka Modric transfer saga:

Yesterday, as all of the Tottenham players returned from international duty, one notable absentee was Croatia midfielder Luka Modric.

He has missed yesterday's training session, to leave England and fly into Spain, where he will hold personal talks with Real after Tottenham accepting a £34million deal for him.


Southampton have had a club's record £11.8million bid for Bologna striker Gaston Ramirez accepted. 

They beat Liverpool and Tottenham to him.

Ramirez has confirmed to Italian media that the clubs have agreed everything and he will join, but he is yet to agree personal terms.

Newly promoted Southampton are sending a big message to the rest of the EPL by making big-money signings to highly boost their chances of staying in the EPL for years to come.

Big statement: Striker Gaston Ramirez impressed during the Football at London Olympics for Uruguay.

QPR midfielder Joey Barton is closed to joining French club Marseile on a season-long loan.

Marseille defender Stephane M'Bia would be moving to QPR.

Swansea winger Scott Sinclair has refused to sign a new contract deal with Swansea.

Interesting news: Swansea winger Scott Sinclair has refused to sign a new contract.

This news has attracted a lot of attention from Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.

The Weekend's EPL Fixtures Preview:

Saturday (15:00 unless stated):

Arsenal vs Sunderland:

'One to watch': Arsenal vs Sunderland.

The first of four 'one to watch' football matches this weekend sees The Gunners face Sunderland at The Emirates.

One of the reasons why it is a 'one to watch' match because it will be very interesting to see how Arsenal will be able to cope without their talisman last season Robin Van Persie.

Arsenal:

New signings Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski are expected to start and lead the attack, meanwhile winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and defender Laurent Koscielny are both ruled out due to injuries.

Set to start: Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla is set to make his debut tomorrow against Sunderland.

Replacing RVP: German striker Lukas Podolski should start for Arsenal tomorrow.

As to are full-back Bacary Sagna (broken leg) and midfielder Jack Wilshere (ankle rehabilitation)

Sunderland:

Meanwhile, The Black Cats have new striker Louis Saha who should start instead of Stephane Sessegnon (injury - doubt).

Defenders Wes Brown (knee ligaments), Phil Bardsley (ankle) midfielder and David Vaughan (surgery) are all on the sidelines.


Arsenal should have too much quality for Sunderland to handle at The Emirates tomorrow, even without Robin Van Persie.
We will see.

Fulham vs Norwich City:

This match will be played at Craven Cottage, as Fulham host Norwich.

This will be an interesting match.

Fulham:

Fulham have been in the football headlines recently, notably wantaway midfielder Clint Dempsey who has been left out of the squad for tomorrow's match.

Winger Kerim Frei (pelvis), defenders Philippe Senderos (foot) and Zdenek Grygera (knee) are unavailable from Fulham's selection.

Norwich:

Norwich are hopeful that midfielders Wes Hoolahan (Achilles) and Anthony Pilkington (hamstring) will be in the squad tomorrow.

Summer signings Steven Whittaker (ankle) and Jacob Butterfield (knee) will miss out, but midfielder Robert Snodgrass and defender Michael Turner should feature. 

Fulham should edge out this match, simply because they have more quality than Norwich.
But stranger things have happened...

QPR vs Swansea City:

This match will be very interesting also, because Swansea were the surprise team of the season last season.

QPR:

QPR have signed a lot of players in this transfer window including Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung, Blackburn winger Junior Holiett and West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green.

Injury news:

Midfielder Alejandro Faurlin is still lacking match sharpness following a long injury lay-off, and full-back Armand Traore (ankle) are definite absentees while striker Bobby Zamora and midfielder Samba Diakite (both knee) could also miss out.

Swansea:

Swansea will play against QPR tomorrow, with new signings including Michu, Chico Flores and Kyle Bartley all set to make their debuts for the club.

Manager Michael Laudrup is set to make a late decision over the availability of winger Scott Sinclair who has refused to sign a new contract and is poised to leave the club soon.

I'm off: Scott Sinclair will not know until tomorrow whether he will play against QPR.

The only injury problems for The Swans is that defender Garry Monk is set to miss the match with a back problem.

Swansea and QPR are both good teams, but QPR's summer spending spree should give them a slight edge over Swansea after the departure of Joe Allen and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Reading vs Stoke:

This match will be played at the Madejski Stadium as newly promoted side Reading face a tough task against tough tacklers Stoke.

Reading:

Reading have decided to include Jem Karacan in their provisional squad for the match tomorrow against Stoke.

Karacan wants to return to first-team action after breaking his leg.

Reading however, will be without winger Jimmy Kebe hamstring and striker Jason Roberts who will be serving a two-match ban.

Stoke:

Stoke defender Robert Huth could play tomorrow, despite spending last week in hospital with viral meningitis.

Winger Jermaine Pennant and Huth will both be medically assessed before the match to see whether they are 100%.

Stoke should win this match, considering that they have a lot of experience in the EPL, but Reading could pull off an upset with a win at home or take a draw.

West Brom vs Liverpool:

This match will be played at The Hawthorns Stadium where West Brom host Liverpool, who are desperate to get back into the Champions League this season after a poor league campaign last season.

West Brom:

West Ham United vs Aston Villa:

Newcastle vs Tottenham Hotspur: LIVE at 17:30pm

Sunday:

Wigan Athletic vs Chelsea: LIVE at 13:30pm

Manchester City vs Southampton: LIVE at 16:00pm

Monday:

Everton vs Manchester United: LIVE at 20:00pm

Monday Night Football comes back with a bang, and the last of my featured matches this weekend (yes, I know Monday is not in the weekend).

Last season, this match was very exciting, dramatic and was a 4-4 thriller.

This season, it will be an interesting encounter because United's attack has been significantly strenghtened with the signings of Shinji Kagawa and Robin Van Persie.