Official 2012/13 Premier League thread

[Colly]

Not so bothered about the kickoffs, but I'm also skint so as many aways as possible on tv would be great. 4 aways to 2 homes so far, liking it.

[Adam]

Eh? I've never, ever seen a team play in Europe on Thursday and then have to play Saturday as well in the league. Why wouldnt either body just move one of the fixtures!?

[Colly]

Eh? I've never, ever seen a team play in Europe on Thursday and then have to play Saturday as well in the league. Why wouldnt either body just move one of the fixtures!?

Because we did too well last year

[Lineker]

Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has vowed to "keep fighting" against his leukaemia.

Petrov, who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in March, said the past few months had been very tough.

But he said he now felt much better and, with a few more months of chemotherapy remaining, believed the "hardest bit is over".

"I am just not going to stop fighting. I have always been a fighter and I will just keep fighting," said Petrov.

Petrov, who was confirmed as club captain by new Villa manager Paul Lambert, added that he would remain patient and was confident he would recover.

"I've been a strong character since the start of my career," he told Aston Villa's official website.

"I always believed that you need to be patient and you need to believe in things, and I believe I will get better.

"I know I've got a few more months of chemotherapy and I need to go through it, but I think that the hardest bit is over and from now on I just need to wait for the result to be positive."

Petrov visited his Aston Villa team-mates on his 33rd birthday and received a warm welcome, including a rendition of Happy Birthday.

"It is great to see the boys. I'm OK," he said.

"I had a tough three months but I'm over the hurdle at the moment.

"It is a good day and I hope I will keep receiving these messages for a few more years - a good 50 years!"

Petrov was also keen to praise Aston Villa masseurs Andy Smith and Alex Butler, who are cycling from Celtic Park to Villa Park in September to raise funds for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.

"It is great what they are doing for the leukaemia research and for me as well," he said. "It is going to be tough for them but they have been working really hard.

"I said to them if I go in remission and I can do a bit of training I can do one of the stages with them."

Match of the Day 2 will move to BBC One from the start of the 2012-13 season.

The programme will be shown at 22:25 BST on Sundays, while viewers will still be able to watch Match of the Day on Saturday evenings as usual.

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One, said: "As a huge fan of Match Of The Day I'm thrilled MOTD2 is moving to BBC One.

"The audience response to the BBC's coverage of Euro 2012 has been fantastic, meaning that this is the perfect moment to make this move."

[Colly]

Petrov is amazing. MOTD2 news is boring, especially since I couldn't even remember what channel it was on in the first place.

[Summers]

[Lineker]

Stan really is the man

[Colly]

Can any of you stats folks find anything to back up this claim I've read on a Newcastle fansite? Apparently the last time a team has been forced to play in Europe on a Thursday then Premier League on a Saturday was... Newcastle v Palermo in 2006. Did Chelsea have to play two games in quick succession last season as league and two cups piled up? For it to happen second week of the season is just pitiful planning.

[IAceI]

If I'm to go to an early away game it's between Arsenal and West Ham, now - do I go to the Emirates and sing funny songs about "Robin Van Persie, he leaves when he wants" or do I go to the Boleyn Ground where we might actually win a match (but probably won't)?.

[stokeriño]

Did Chelsea have to play two games in quick succession last season as league and two cups piled up?

Obviously there were a couple of months in the spring where we had both weekend and midweek games every week for ages. The closest together any two matches came was:

Saturday 7th April v Wigan Athletic (PL)

Monday 9th April v Fulham (PL)

...Having also played Benfica on the prior Wednesday, of course.

[Johnny Drama]

I figured the Villa game would be on Tv with the Lambert factor. Shame its an early kick off as with the time difference no bar will be open.

[EddieG]

Can any of you stats folks find anything to back up this claim I've read on a Newcastle fansite? Apparently the last time a team has been forced to play in Europe on a Thursday then Premier League on a Saturday was... Newcastle v Palermo in 2006. Did Chelsea have to play two games in quick succession last season as league and two cups piled up? For it to happen second week of the season is just pitiful planning.

To be fair, injuries and tiredness happen later on in the season, so you'd be better off having 2 games close to each other early in the season as opposed to later.

[Colly]

I agree, I'm just thinking in terms of actual fixture planning though, you can expect a bit towards the end if you're still in a few competitions since that's when they start cramming them in.

[stokeriño]

Chelsea's first two league fixtures this season are only 3 days apart actually (Wigan away, Sunday 19th - Reading home, Wednesday 22nd)...but that's purely because the latter got moved forward from the end of the month to make space for the Super Cup against Atletico.

[Colly]

Three days is fairly common isn't it, whether Saturday to Tuesday or Sunday to Wednesday for Champions League or occasional midweek league fixture?

[stokeriño]

I know. We're just starting as we mean to go on. The Club World Championships will make things...interesting. Particularly since it'll cause a fixture pile-up right in the middle of Chelsea's now-customary November to February "when everything goes to shit" period.

[Colly]

My heart bleeds when 'everything going to shit' leads to two trophies...

[stokeriño]

That's because Di Matteo is magical and lives on a diet of powdered unicorns.

Or alternatively, Chelsea have now also developed a customary March to May "holy fuck what?" period as well.

[Twist]

Newcastle and UEFA statements regarding the fixture congestion.

NUFC issued the following statement on this matter:

Prior to the TV selections being made, and in accordance with normal procedure, the Club made an application to move the Chelsea game to Sunday, 26th August.

Unfortunately the Metropolitan Police refused this request on the basis of other scheduled activities in and around London at this time.

The Club and the Premier League subsequently made representations to UEFA to request that our Europa League match be moved from the Thursday to the Wednesday in order to avoid the team having to play two games in three days.

UEFA unfortunately rejected this request.

Update: Sky Sports reported subsequent clarification from UEFA as follows:

"In principle, Uefa is not in a position to change the requested fixture from Thursday to Wednesday or Tuesday.

"However, after the draw ceremony for the play-offs, if the opponent agrees to re-schedule the match date to the Tuesday, August 21 before 1830 CET, the UEFA administration will be open to consider the request.

"Written approval is required from the opponent club as well as the respective national associations of both teams.

"Please note that should Newcastle United FC be drawn to play the match on August 23 and the opponent does not agree to change the match date, the match will be maintained as such."

[Colly]

I think we should just hold a silly carnival in Newcastle whenever it would help our league position. Stupid London, "yeah we can do the whole Olympics, but a carnival and a football match on the same day?!?".