UEFA Europa League Coverage, EPL News plus UEFA Champions League and Capital One Cup Draws:

Hello and welcome to my latest EPL update, with a twist.

UEFA Europa League Coverage along with UEFA Champions League and Capital One Cup Draws also in this latest blog post:

Let me begin:

Tonight's UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round Action:

Newcastle United 1 Atromitos 0 (Aggregate 2-1)

Striker Haris Vuckic scored the only goal of the match for Newcastle in the 29th minute to secure European football for Newcastle this season. 

That's the one: Striker Haris Vuckic celebrates his first half winner against Atromitos at The Sports Direct Arena.

He hit a shot from outside the area near the wing, which swerved past the goalkeeper into the net.

Striker Demba Ba apparently hit the ball on the way in with his stud, but replays showed that there was no contact.

Newcastle got a stroke of fortune just before half-time after goalkeeper Tim Krul caught a striker with his arm inside the box, but the referee thought he was diving and gave him a yellow card.

Liverpool 1 Hearts 1 (Aggregate 2-1)

UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw:

(EPL Teams in LARGE)

Group A:
Porto
Dynamo Kiev
PSG 
Dinamo Zagreb

Group B:
Arsenal
Schalke
Olympiakos
Montpellier

Group C:
AC Milan
Zenit St. Petersburg
Anderlecht
Malaga

Group D:
Real Madrid
Manchester City
Borussia Dortmund
Ajax

Group E:
Chelsea
Juventus
Shakthar Donetsk
Nordsjaelland

Group F:
Bayern Munich
Valencia
Lille
BATE Borisov

Group G:
Barcelona
Celtic
Spartak Moscow
Benfica

Group H:
Manchester United
FC Cluj
Braga
Galatasaray

Very interesting CL groups, with Chelsea and Manchester United both having fairly easy groups (apart from Juventus and Braga) and should qualify for the Last 16, but you never know.

Arsenal should comfortably get into the Last 16, despite having the French champions Montpellier and Schalke in their group, which will be tough matches.

However, Manchester City will have trouble with Spainish champions Real Madrid, Dutch champions Ajax and tough German side Borussia Dortmund in their group.

They may be able to sneak a 2nd place, but they could get Europa League again like last season. 

Capital One Cup 3rd Round Draw:

(Ties involving EPL teams only) 

Manchester United vs Newcastle United

Manchester City vs Aston Villa 

MK Dons vs Sunderland

Arsenal vs Coventry

Crawley Town vs Swansea

West Brom vs Liverpool

QPR vs Reading

Chelsea vs Wolves

West Ham vs Wigan

Carlisle vs Tottenham 

Norwich vs Doncaster 

Southampton vs Sheffield Wednesday

Leeds vs Everton

Yesterday's Capital One Cup Match:

Everton 5 Leyton Orient 0 

New signing and £6million striker Kevin Mirallas scored twice, and set up two other goals for Everton, as they thrashed Leyton Orient and sped into the 3rd Round of the Capital One Cup.

Good buy: New Everton signing Kevin Mirallas scored twice against Leyton Orient yesterday.

I'm just starting: Kevin Mirallas celebrates his first goal on his debut in the Capital One Cup.

Back in business: Nigerian striker Victor Anichebe scores in the 35th minute against Leyton Orient.

 

EPL Transfers and News:

England manager Roy Hodgson has officially announced his squad for the upcoming World Cup 2014 Qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

Goalkeepers:
Jack Butland (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Man City) , John Ruddy (Norwich).

Defenders:
Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka (both Everton), Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole and John Terry (all Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Joleon Lescott (Man City)

Midfielders:
Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley (Man United), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Man City) and Adam Johnson (Sunderland).

Strikers:
Andy Carroll (West Ham*), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea), Danny Welbeck (Man United)


* means on loan, from Liverpool

West Ham have confirmed the season-long loan signing of Liverpool striker Andy Carroll, with a permanent deal available in the summer, if they stay in the EPL.

Shock loan deal: Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has signed for West Ham on a loan spell for the rest of the season.

QPR have confimed the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero for around £9million.
He only needs to complete his medical.

If they get relegated now, after all of the money spent on players... LOOOL


Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has reportedly flown into Italy for talks with AC Milan over a permanent transfer deal.

Going to Milan: Manchester City defensive midfielder Nigel De Jong could be on his way out to AC Milan shortly.

In other news, new Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric has already won his first trophy at the club, three days after signing for the Spainish champions.

Champions: Real Madrid (Modric second right) celebrate beating Barcelona in the Spainish Super Cup last night.

Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Spainish Super Cup yesterday (4-4 win on away goals) and Luka Modric came off the bench and played at The Bernabeu Stadium.

North-London Rivalry: Former Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric tussles with former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song for the ball.

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Bayer Leverkusen's 18-year-old forward Samed Yesil in a deal worth £1million pounds.

Welcome to Liverpool: Germany winger Samed Yesli has already represented his country at U-16, U-17 and U-18 level.

Stoke City have made a £4million bid for Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam.

Wigan and Reading are both very interested in signing Marseille striker Jordan Ayew and are both ready to launch £4million bids before the deadline tomorrow night.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that winger Theo Walcott WILL remain an Arsenal player beyond Friday's transfer deadline day and may sign a new contract deal with the club.


Fulham manager Martin Jol has confirmed the news that Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov is undergoing a medical at Fulham and should sign tomorrow on TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY.


Join me tomorrow for LIVE Commentary of Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and Transfer Deadline Day throughout Friday..

Thursday Night UEFA Europa League Action - LIVE Coverage plus EPL News:

Hello and welcome to my LIVE Coverage, in the UEFA Europa League as Liverpool face Hearts and Newcastle face Atromitos.

Plus, all the LATEST EPL Transfer and news, with 8 days left in the summer transfer window.

Next Friday:
I will do a LIVE special on transfer deadline day next Friday along with Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.

But before I start the LIVE Commentary, here is the LATEST from the EPL:

Yesterday's EPL Evening Match:

Chelsea 4 Reading 2

This match was scheduled to take place yesterday at Stamford Bridge, because of the UEFA Super Cup match for Chelsea next Friday, a day before the match was originally supposed to take place.

Anyways, enough of the technical stuff....

On to the actual match itself:

Chelsea pressed early on with winger Ramires having a shot saved by Adam Federici.

Winger Eden Hazard skilled past two defenders before being brought down inside the box for a Chelsea penalty (by the way he played very well). 

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored from the penalty spot in the 18th minute with a hard and low shot past goalkeeper Adam Federici.

Unstoppable: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scores from the penalty spot to give Chelsea the lead.

Reading passed the ball well, before a cross came into the box for striker Pavel Pogrebnyak who heading the ball towards goal, high into the top corner, and out of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech's reach to equalise after 25 minutes.

High header: Reading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak heads the ball past 'keeper Petr Cech to equalise for his new club.

What a header by Pogrebnyak high and a great equaliser.

New Reading signing Danny Guthrie had a free-kick from 20 yards out taken and it swerved powerfully towards goal. 

Petr Cech parried the ball away from himself but the ball span away from him and trickled into the net to give Reading the lead in the 29th minute. 

Out of control: Petr Cech parries the ball away from himself, but the ball is too powerful and spins into the net.

1st goal for a new club: Danny Guthrie scored his first goal for Reading against Chelsea after leaving Newcastle.

Chelsea tried to press for an equalliser with Hazard and Torres looking promising with good link-up play.

Hazard had a shot from 25 yards out over the bar, while a nice cross into the box by Hazard found Torres but his header was just wide of the goalmouth.

At half-time it was 2-1 to Reading.

In the second half, Reading were defending well as Chelsea continued to look for the all important goal.

Hazard and Torres continued to find each other with good passes before Torres passed to defender Branislav Ivanovic who had a shot from 18 yards out over the bar.

Hazard skilled a defender before passing a through bal straight to substitute and £25million man Oscar who had a shot saved by Adam Federici.

In the 69th minute, Hazard passed the ball towards defender Gary Cahill before he unleashed a long distance shot towards goal. Federici missed the ball completely and Cahilll had equalised for Chelsea with 20 minutes to go.

Long-range effort: Defender Gary Cahill equalised for the home side against Reading in the 69th minute.

Back on level terms: Cahil celebrates his goal against Reading to make it 2-2.

In the 81st minute, a new Chelsea pass and move was finished with a through ball past the box by left-back Ashley Cole to striker Fernando Torres who tapped the ball into the net easily.

Controversially, replays show that Torres was offside when he scored, so Reading will have felt hard done by.

In the 90+5th minute, Reading had a corner with goalkeeper Adam Federici coming out of his goal to run up for the corner. 
Chelsea defended well, and counter attacked with Torres, Hazard and Ivanovic running away from the goalkeeper with an open goal awaiting the ball in the net....

Hazard was unselfish by passing thae ball to Ivanovic who slotted the ball into the net to make it 4-2 to Chelsea.

This was how the match ended and despite the scoreline, Reading were robbed and played well throughout.
If only the decisions went the right way.

My Man Of The Match: 
Eden Hazard

He passed the ball well, crossed the ball to his team-mates. 
He assisted Ivanvic and won another penalty by showing his pace and skill.

Looks very promising and £32million looks like a steal now for him.

EPL Transfers and News:

Wigan have confirmed that they have accepted a fee from Chelsea for forward Victor Moses. The fee is expected to be around £9million.

Chelsea bound: Wigan's young forward Victor Moses (left) may join Chelsea soon, after a fee has been agreed.

They have given Moses permission to speak to the club and he is expected to talk to them on Friday or Saturday. 

Wolves have accepted an £10.75million offer from West Ham for winger Matthew Jarvis.

He is having a medical at West Ham ahead of a move to the London club.

Celtic have accepted a £6million fee for midfielder Ki-Sueng Yueng from Swansea, and he is going to have his medical tomorrow.

Medical: Celtic midfielder Ki Sung Yeung will become Swansea's £6million record signing at the weekend.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Michael Dawson’s £9million transfer to QPR was in danger of collapsing yesterday night, after news broke that he had failed to agree personal terms.

Sunderland have opened talks with Manchester City winger Adam Johnson over a £10million move. 

Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne is set to leave Villa for Stoke City. The transfer has been held up as he recovers from groin surgery. 

Fulham and Tottenham are both interested in Roma goalkeeper and Holland international Maarten Stekelenberg. He is available for around £6million.

  

According to Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, striker Sergio Aguero is expected to miss around one month with the knee injury that he picked up against Southampton on Sunday, and could be back in action by September the 15th.

Not as bad as first thought: Aguero will be out for a month with a knee injury but it could be worse.

Tottenham are reportedly ready to let winger Rafael Van Der Vaart leave the club for £9.5million to move back to Germany, to Hamburg. 

Arsenal are interested in Sevilla winger Jesus Navas and may be ready to launch a bid for the £20million rated player.

Sunderland and West Ham are both very interested in West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie and are ready to battle for his services.

Wanted: West Ham and Sunderland are interested in Peter Odemwingie. He has scored 27 goals in 63 matches.

UEFA Europa League 3rd Round Play-Off LIVE Coverage: 

21:35:

FULL-TIME SCORES:

Atromitos 1 Newcastle United 1

The early match in Greece saw last season's 5th placed Newcastle face a side - that to be honest no one has really heard of, apart from the fact that they are a Greek club. 

A nice through ball cross by the home side found Denis Epstein who found space on the wing before speeding past defender James Tavernier before cheekily tapping the ball away from goalkeeper Steve Harper to score in the 23rd minute. 

Deadlock broken in Greece: Epstein celebrates the opening goal in the 23rd minute with his team-mates.

Newcastle had a free-kick from 25 yards out, just on the stroke of half-time (45+1) taken by full-back Ryan Taylor towards goal which was powerful, curled and swerved past the goalkeeper into the net.

Curling free-kick effort: Newcastle full-back Ryan Taylor scores an equaliser in the 45th minute.

Crucial away goal: Newcastle celebrate Ryan Taylor's goal against Atromitos just before half-time.

We needed that: Ryan Taylor shakes hands with his manager Alan Pardew.

Newcastle had equalised, but they could not find the winner in Greece. Despite this, they have the all important crucial away goal with the second leg still to play in Newcastle next Thursday.

Hearts 0 Liverpool 1

The late evening Europa League fixture was played in Edinburgh as Liverpool's fringe squad went to Scotland to play the first leg of the play-off round.

(MORE TO FOLLOW SOON)

UEFA Europa League Last 32 Coverage:

 

UEFA Europa League Last 32 First Leg:

Tuesday's Results:

Rubin Kasan 0 Olympiakos 1
Fuster 71'

Braga 0 Besiktas 2
Sivok 37'
Simao 58'

Today's (main) Fixtures:

Live from 18:00pm (unless stated):

Lokomotiv Moscow vs Athletic Bilbao
Ajax vs Manchester United
United face a tough test against Dutch opposition in Amsterdam. 
Defender Rio Ferdinand will captain United in their last-32 first-leg tie as full-back Patrice Evra is rested following an 'emotional week'.
Ryan Giggs (ankle) misses out along with striker Dimitar Berbatov, who was injured in training on Tuesday. 
Winger Nani (foot) and defender Phil Jones (ankle) return after missing the last four matches.
Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley are also in the 20-man squad.
Danger man: Ashley Young to give Ajax problems with his pace and creativity.


AZ Alkmaar vs Anderlecht
Lazio vs Atletico Madrid 
Legia Warsaw vs Sporting Lisbon
Viktoria Plzen vs Schalke 04
FC Porto vs Manchester City: LIVE at 20:05pm
City welcome back midfielder Yaya Toure and defender Kolo Toure against Porto tonight.
They are back from African Cup of Nations duty were they came 2nd.
Striker Mario Balotelli is also in contention after serving a domestic suspension but fellow striker Carlos Tevez who is back in training after his absence in Argentina has not been registered.
Danger man: Vincent Kompany to defend City's back-line against players like Hulk and Moutinho which he has done successfully since the start fo the season.

Stoke City vs Valencia: LIVE at 20:05pm
Stoke will be without defender Matthew Upson as he was sent off in their final group stage match against Besiktas in December and has to serve a one-match suspension.

Centre-back Robert Huth is available along with Jonathan Woodgate and Danny Collins are now eligible to play.

Danger men: Jermaine Pennant and Ryan Shotton with the pace down the wings to give Valencia's back four trouble thoroughout.


Udinese vs PAOK Salonki: LIVE at 20:05pm

Results and Analysis link here: http://www.footballblogdirectory.co.uk/2012/02/manchester-clubs-1-stoke-0.html