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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Live - Thursday football

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1918: So, who's feeling confident? Yes, Tottenham and Fulham fans are, obviously. And Hearts supporters clearly aren't. The ties involving Celtic and Rangers are in the balance, though, and the same can be said for Birmingham and even Stoke. As for our Carling Cup tie, we wait to see how many changes Newcastle boss Alan Pardew will make. My money is on at least eight.

DNIPRO v FULHAM (agg 0-3, 1930 BST)
Marc Higginson reports: "Matthew Briggs might have been the star man in the first leg, sealing an England under-21 call-up to boot, but he is dropped to the bench tonight as Martin Jol favours the experience of John Arne Riise. As expected, Bobby Zamora is sidelined through injury, meaning Andy Johnson leads the line with support from Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey. They might be 3-0 up, but this is a strong Fulham team out on the field tonight."

1910: BREAKING TOTTENHAM TEAM NEWS
No sign of Luka Modric, who is not even on the bench. Tottenham go for a youthful line-up, as promised by boss Harry Redknapp. More news on that in a tick.

FC SION v CELTIC TEAM NEWS
Annie McGuire reports: "The team news for Celtic may delight and dismay their fans in equal measure. Gary Hooper returns to from injury to start up front: but he's been paired with Georgios Samaras who has frustrated the Parkhead faithful of late. Beram Kayal, Kelvin Wilson and Joe Ledley also return to the starting XI."

Dnipro v Fulham line-ups
Dnipro: Lastuvka, Inkoom, Cheberyachko, Mandzyuk, Denisov, Kravchenko, Giuliano, Boateng, Konoplianka, Kalinic, Shakhov. Subs: Kanibolotskiy, Kulakov, Oliynyk, Strinic, Zozulya, Rotan, Antonov.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Hangeland, Hughes, John Arne Riise, Dempsey, Murphy, Sidwell, Duff, Johnson, Dembele. Subs: Etheridge, Kelly, Kasami, Senderos, Gecov, Etuhu, Briggs.
Referee: Tom Harald Hagen (Norway)

RANGERS v NK MARIBOR TEAM NEWS
Andy Campbell reports: "Maurice Edu, Carlos Bocanegra and Kirk Broadfoot return to the Rangers line up at the expense of youngsters Ross Perry and Jordan McMillan and the suspended Steven Naismith."

Rangers v Maribor line-ups
Rangers: McGregor, Broadfoot, Goian, Bocanegra, Wallace, Juanma Ortiz, Davis, Edu, Wylde, Jelavic, Lafferty. Subs: Alexander, Fleck, Healy, Kerkar, Perry, Bendiksen, Hutton.
Maribor: Handanovic, Potokar, Rajcevic, Arghus, Viler, Ibraimi, Mertelj, Filipovic, Mezga, Beric, Volas. Subs: Radan, Milec, Tavares, Cvijanovic, Trajkovski, Majer, Gabriel. Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (FYR Macedonia)

FC Sion v Celtic line-ups
FC Sion: Vanins, Dingsdag, Adailton, Vanczak, Buhler, Mutsch, Sio, Obradovic, Die, Feindouno, Afonso. Subs: Fickentscher, Goncalves, Rodrigo, Prijovic, Ketkeophomphone, Crettenand, Mrdja.
Celtic: Forster, Majstorovic, Kelvin Wilson, Cha, Mulgrew, Ledley, Brown, Kayal, Ki, Samaras, Hooper. Subs: Zaluska, Matthews, Stokes, Mark Wilson, Commons, McCourt, Forrest.
Referee: David Fernandez Borbalan (Almeria)

RANGERS v NK MARIBOR (agg 1-2, 1930 BST)
Andy Campbell reports: "It's a crucial evening for Rangers and their manager Ally McCoist. Having made an exit from the Champions League at the qualifying stages, McCoist's men have to turn around a first-leg deficit against Maribor to make the Europa League group stages and maintain European football until the end of the year at least."

FC SION v CELTIC (agg 0-0, 1930 BST)
Annie McGuire reports: "It doesn't go un-noticed when Celtic fail to win two matches in a row: and after Saturday's home loss to St Johnstone in the SPL, it is fair to say there's pressure on Neil Lennon ahead of tonight's second leg against Sion. The first leg at Parkhead was fairly turgid stuff, so Lennon will be hoping his misfiring strikers will return to form. Sion fielded four players whose eligibility is under question by Fifa so, regardless of the result tonight, we may yet see this tie settled in the courts."

DNIPRO v FULHAM (agg 0-3, 1930 BST)
Marc Higginson reports: "Fulham hammered a lacklustre Dnipro side last week, meaning they head into tonight's game with a three-goal cushion. The Cottagers have conceded just one goal on their three previous trips to the Continent this season - hardly music to the ears of their Ukrainian opponents who took until the 80th minute to get a shot on target in the first leg."

1853: Even without glancing at the aggregate scores below, I'm sure you hadn't forgotten that last week's first legs were pretty miserable for the three Scottish clubs in the Europa League. Their record was *coughs* P3 W0 D1 L2 F1 A7. Will tonight be any different? Here's some facts that might help you make your mind up:
Rangers have fought back to reach the next round only five times in 29 European ties in which they have lost the first leg.
Celtic have won only one of their last 28 European away games.
Hearts lost the first leg 5-0, at home (I didn't really need to put much effort into that one).

1845: It is not just the likes of FC Spartak Trnava, AEK Larnaca and Karpaty Lviv who are in action, of course. So too are Roma, PSG and Lazio, and SEVEN British sides. A place in the group stages is up for grabs, and the draw for that is on Friday. If you are in it now, you want to be in it then, don't you? Don't you?

1841 BST: Forget the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo. Luis Figo, Sir Bobby Charlton and Ruud Gullit, you are not needed here. Yes, banish the Champions League draw from your minds, because from now on tonight is all about the far earthier surroundings of the Europa League. Care to join me for a journey to some of this continent's footballing outposts?

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