Manchester United fans will be unhappy seeing Michael Owen again in a Liverpool shirt next month.

He has agreed to turn out in Jamie Carragher’s testimonial a week on Saturday.

Owen’s motives are honourable, of course, as his appearance against an Everton XI will help to raise money for Carragher’s chosen charity.

Nevertheless, hardline United fans will be less than impressed. The rivalry between the two clubs is as fierce as ever, despite Liverpool’s recent struggles, and many United supporters will take a dim view of the fact that he has agreed to wear a Liverpool shirt.

It is understood that Owen will play 45 minutes in front of the Kop at Anfield on September 4 after his former team-mate personally asked for his presence in his Liverpool XI line-up.

The former England striker has been given permission by his United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to play in the game and the Scot will hope that the run out will help Owen find some kind of form, says the Daily Mail.

It is clear the former Real Madrid man is going to have to find some form and fitness if his contract at Old Trafford is to be extended beyond the current campaign.

Many United fans have never really taken to Owen, largely because of his association with Liverpool but also because his contribution to the United cause has been so modest since arriving on a free transfer from Newcastle United.

On Sunday a new name will be engraved on the football world cup, as Netherlands are set to take on the European Champions Spain make sure you don’t miss the Live football as over 1 billion people will be watching. Neither side has ever won the most prestigous award and for spain it is their first ever Wolrd Cup Final. Netherlands have twice reached the final only to be beaten by west Germany and Italy but this time around they will be hoping its third time lucky. Spain went into the the tournament as favourites to lift the cup but with them known as the perenial under achievers not many peeople actually thought they would do it, but here they are in the final and with it they go in red hot favourites to end the Dutch 22 match unbeaten run and claim the World Cup. For Holland to overcome the Spanish machine they will need to play smartly and play more to spains weaknesses than their own strengths.

If both teams play there own style of the beautiful game there will be only one winner, Spain haven’t let any of the teams they have played against have a kick of the ball for the majority of the match and they will do to Holland what they have done to Portugal, Paraguay and Germany on their way to the final and pass them into submission, by just wearing them down over the course of the 90 minutes using their famous tippy-tappa style of play.

Key Battles

Ramos/Capevilla v Robben
Arjen Robben is possibly the most effective player on the football pitch at the moment and it will be down ot either Capedvilla or Sergio Ramos to stop the flying Dutchman. In the last game Uruguay played their right back at left back and their left back on the left wing to try and stop Robben but he still managed to cause havok. Spain will surely be weiry of the 24 year old, but if they can keep the ball from getting to Robbe they should have no problems. On the other hand when Spain have the ball (which will be most of the match) one of the full backs should be free as Robben doesn’t like defending.

Xavi v Sneijder
Possibly the 2 best midfielders will go head to head in Sundays final, Wesley Sneijder has had a fantstic season with Inter picking up the treble and being tipped to be the World Player of the Year, but what will he cope like without much of the ball, no doubt he will have to defend more than attack. Xavi on the other hand will probably be the player to see the majority of the ball and it will be down to himself, Iniesta and Xavi Alonso to open up the Dutch defence.

Villa v Mathijsen

What mre can be said about David Villa, he performs on the biggest of stages as well as at club level, he is currently joint top scorer at this years competition with Seijder who both have 5 goals. Villa has scored 3 of the the last 4 Spanish goals which ahve got them through to this final, if he get a sniff of a goal you can bet the Barcelona striker will take it and with it the world cup. Mathijsen is possibly the weakest player in the dutch team and he will dred facing the inform spaniard, no doubt having nightmares of the problems he gave him in the Europa League earlier in the season.

Good Luck to both teams and i hope they put on a great Spetical for the football fans across the world.

Spurs know that a win would guarantee they secure fourth spot in the Barclays Premier League – a massive achievement given they would have beaten mega-rich City and Liverpool.

And Redknapp has raised the temperature ahead of the crunch showdown by claiming he would rather keep all of his current players than swap them for any of City’s.

The Spurs boss told ESPN Soccernet: ‘We have Aaron Lennon coming back, and what a player he is, with his pace. Even behind him, there is Gareth Bale, who has come on in such leaps and bounds and has become an attacking force.

‘I wouldn’t swap our players for any of theirs. We have a terrific group of players, and that’s a nice position to be in.’

Redknapp has also questioned the value of Carlos Tevez, saying he agrees with Sir Alex Ferguson that the former Manchester United striker was over-priced.

He added: ‘There is only one point in it in for the race for the title, and that’s the fine dividing lines these days and, let’s face it, he has achieved that without Cristiano Ronaldo or Tevez.

‘To be fair to Sir Alex, he probably thought that £45million – or whatever the true cost for Tevez was – was a bit much, plus his wages  of £180,000-a-week, when he wasn’t even a regular in the United team last season, spending most of his time coming off the bench.

‘Sir Alex has spent £30m on Berbatov and he had Rooney and, at the start of the season, he would have thought that was enough, and so would most people.’

The showdown between Manchester City and Tottenham on Wednesday at the city of Manchester stadium is a winner takes all match, The looser will be in the Europa league whilst the winner will be in the champions league for the first time ever. Be sure to place a bet on the crunch game, as long as you check out the odds comparison before hand.

Clasico 2010

Saturday could possibly be the decider for the title race in La Liga as Real Madrid host the champions Barcelona in round 30. The teams are currently separated by goal difference with Real being 3 goals better off. The game could be one by one of many individual talents but each player has a high quality opposition who they must get the upper hand on to give their team the best chance of winning. Here are a few key battles that could decide the game depending on which player wins:

1)  C.Ronaldo v Leo Messi – This is possibly the most crucial battle on the field, with each player being able to produce  a moment of brilliance that could win the game for their respected team, this showdown is surely one not to be missed. The little Argentine is currently being hailed as best player in the world, if not the best player ever which i am sure the hot headed Portuguese star will not like hearing as he was the World player of the year in 08 and is the most expensive player in history. Both players have an amazing goal scoring record this season, Ronaldo has 18 goals in 20 games, where Messi leads the goal scoring chart with 26 goals in 22 games. These 2 players are sure to light up the pitch at some point during this massive encounter.

2) Xavi Alonso v Xavi – The two conductors of each team, both these players will try and run the game from the centre of the park, Alonso from just inside his own half trying to play 30 yard passes and Xavi from just inside the opposition half with intricate 1, 2’s and little 5 yard balls. Both forms of passing game is affective and these two are the supply lines to both teams attacking players.

3)Iker Casillas v Victor Valdes – Just like the previous 2 battles these players could be the difference in the game, one mistake or great save could turn the game. With Casillas being the Spanish number 1, and seemingly under no threat for his position Valdes will be trying to out shine his international companion. Valdes is expected to be the 3rd choice keeper at the world cup for Spain but as it stands he has currently the best stats in La liga and if he ends the season with these then it will be the 2nd year in a row. He must feel a little hard done by not to be first choice by now.

Watch the classic match Real Madrid v Barcelona live on Skysports 1

I posted an article last week about the key battles which were going to take part in the 1st leg of the Quarter-final. The battles were intense and for atleast an hour of the game Barcelona won every single battle, how they were only 2-0 up at 60 minute mark only they know. The tie looked as if  it was over as a contenst and that the 2nd leg would be a fomality for the Catalan giants as they cruised into a 2 goal lead just after half time. But after bringing Theo Walcott on, the game turned on its head.

Arsenal got 2 goals late on to end the game 2 – 2. Now the tie is poised on a knife edge, but both teams suffered major blows in the 1st leg, with Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Andre Arsharvin all getting injured meaning they won’t take part for the rest of the season, and Barcelona loosing both of their center backs to suspensions.

The 1st leg didnt dissapoint and i’m, sure that the 2nd leg will be even better. Arsenal will look to get an early away goal and try to stop an onslaught from Barcalona, if it’s anything like the 1st leg Arsenal may come away having been comprehensively beaten at the hands of Pep Guardiola and his formidable barca team.

Here are the live football highlights just to wet your appetite

Fast Tube by Casper

Tonight is the night that possibly the best 2 footballing teams on the planet go head to head. Arsenal will host the first leg of the tie at the Emirates against the European champions Barcelona. Both teams could be without some key players, none more so than Cesc Fabregas and Andres Ineista both key members of either sides midfiled. Putting this to one side here are the Key battles which will take part on the pitch tongiht

Key Battles

Bendtner v Puyol
The sometimes brilliant Bendtner will have to be on top of his game tonight if he is to get the better of the Catalans skipper. Puyol is one of the best center backs in the world at the moment and will relish the taks of playing against the young Dane. If Bedtner plays tot he best of his ability he could give Puyol something to worry about, Puyol isn the quickest and can sometimes be caught out of posistion, i am sure the Danish striker will get a few oppurtunities to score,the only question is will he have his shooting boots on?

Arsenal Defence v Messi
It may seem a bit farfetched to say Messi can take on the whole defence but he has proven more than once this season that he can do it. Unless Arsene decides to try and set one man on the little argentine you can bet he will play against every single one of the back for at one point or another during the game, this is due to the way Barcelona will play, all 3 of their front 3 are interchangable. For Arsenal to have  any chance in the tie they must make sure they  keep Leo Messi off the ball as much as possible.

Fabregas (if fit) / Denilson v Busquets
This is one of the match-ups i think arsenal could have an advatage in espically if Fabregas is passed fit. Busquets is not the complete defensive midfielder yet, he is a tad on the weak side and is certainly not the quickest on the pitch, but he does have agood knoledge of the barcelona game plan as he is a like for like model of their coach Pep Guardiola. If fabregas plays i think Arsenal could really exploite this area of the pitch, Denilson will play in this role if Cesc isnt ft and even the young Brazillian could pose a threat to the Catalan giants. To stop this i personally feel Yaya Toure should be playing but i ma sure Pep will stick to his useuall line-up.

I want Arsenal to do well in this leg to make it an interesting leg in Camp Nou, but i really can’t see much further than a Barcalona win. I will be watching the live football game at livegoals.com