SOCCER DIGEST:ARSENE WENGER faces a touchline ban and a fine after being charged by the English Football Association yesterday for his conduct following Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the weekend.
The French man appeared to push the fourth official, Martin Atkinson, after Darren Bent had rescued a late point for the hosts, having already sarcastically patted him on the back after the midfielder Alex Song was sent off for two bookable offences during the second half.
Honduran goalkeeper shoots reporter
AN angry Honduran goalkeeper shot at a journalist with an air gun at the weekend over criticism in the sports daily Diez. Motagua goalkeeper Donaldo Morales shot at reporter Saul Carranza with an air gun over criticism of his performances in the newspaper. Carranza was interviewing midfielder Jorge Claros after a practice at the Estadio Nacional in Tegucigalpa when Morales appeared with a gun and shot at them, hitting the reporter twice and the player once, according to a weekend report in Diez.
Tonight’s Soccer
(all 7.45pm unless stated)
League of Ireland (Premier Division) – Sligo Rovers v Bohemians.
English League Cup (Third Round)– Birmingham v MK Dons, Brentford v Everton, Burnley v Bolton, Millwall v Ipswich Town, Peterborough v Swansea City, Portsmouth v Leicester, Stoke City v Fulham, Sunderland v West Ham Utd, Tottenham v Arsenal, live on Sky Sports 2, Wolves v Notts County. League One – Dagenham Redbridge v Exeter City, Plymouth v Brighton.
Scottish League Cup (Third Round)– Brechin City v Motherwell, Falkirk v Hearts, Rangers v Dunfermline, St Johnstone v Queen of the South.
Spanish Primera Liga– A Bilbao v Mallorca, 7pm, Osasuna v Real Sociedad, 7pm, Real Madrid v Espanyol, 9pm, live Sky Sports 3.
German Bundesliga– Hannover 96 v W Bremen, 7pm, Mainz v Cologne, 7pm, TSG Hoffenheim v B Munich, 7pm, live ESPN.
Women's U-17 World Cup semi-finals– Korea v Spain, 10.15pm, Korea DPR v Japan, midnight, live Eurosport 2.
Malouda eager for tougher games
FLORENT MALOUDA has described Chelsea’s visit to Manchester City on Saturday and their hosting of Arsenal eight days later as an “opportunity to prove we are the champions”.
“Everyone talks about the City game because they do not give us credit for what we have done so far this season,” said Malouda, referring to what should be Chelsea’s first significant challenge of the season. “It could be an opportunity for us to prove we are the champions.”
Meanwhile, Spartak Moscow beat Spartak Nalchik, 2-0, in the Russian Premier League yesterday, with Republic of Ireland international Aidan McGeady involved in the second goal for the visitors.
Spartak took the lead through Ari and he scored again when former Celtic player McGeady worked the ball down the right before whipping in a cross that Ari headed home.
In the Spanish Primera Liga last night, Deportivo Coruna were held to a 2-2 home draw by Getafe.
Sandro to make Tottenham debut against Arsenal
BRAZILIAN international midfielder Sandro will make his long-awaited debut for Tottenham Hotspur in a re-shuffled side against arch-rivals Arsenal in their League Cup tie at White Hart Lane tonight ( live on Sky Sports 2). Sixteen third round ties are being played tonight and tomorrow, with Chelsea facing Newcastle United, Stoke City playing Fulham, Sunderland hosting West Ham United, Aston Villa playing Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion facing Manchester City in the other all-Premier League ties. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said he will also give a debut to Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, on loan from Spartak Moscow.
For Arsenal, goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs are all set to feature having been unused substitutes at Sunderland, but youngsters Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Benik Afobe, Chuks Aneke and Henri Lansbury are also likely to be involved.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)