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This is the fight that has had most boxing fans excited for some time and it finally happens on Saturday night (25th May) at the O2 Arena in London. The re-match between Carl Froch v Mikkel Kessler will be a unification bout as Nottingham boxer Carl Froch puts up his IBF super-middleweight title while great Dane Mikkel Kessler has his WBA super-middleweight title on the line.

The last time these two fought was back in April of 2010 in Herning, Denmark. Then Froch lost his WBC super-middleweight title after an intense 12 rounds of raw boxing. If you’ve never seen the fight I’d advise doing a youtube search to understand why it’s talked about in such high regard.

Since that loss in Denmark, Carl Froch (30W, 22KO, 2L) went onto win back his WBC belt which he lost to Kessler by beating Arthur Abraham in the Super Six series. He eventually lost it again in the final against American Andre Ward.

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The Dutch face the English in 02 Arena on Thursday night as the last four remaining arrow men battle it out for Premier League Darts glory. The excitable Michael van Gerwen will face James Wade while Raymond van Barneveld goes head-to-head with old foe Phil Taylor as the PlayOffs takes centre stage in the Nations capital.

Michael van Gerwen topped the Premier League table, 1pt ahead of RVB, 4pts in front of Taylor and a huge 7pts margin between himself and Wade.

He’s the first person ever in Premier League history to finish above Phil Taylor in the league table format!

It’s no wonder the bookies favour the 24 year old Dutchman, he’s best betting odds of 11/8 with SportingBet to win the Premier League crown at his first time of asking.

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The domino managerial cycle continues after Sir Alex Ferguson announced he was finally retiring as Manchester United boss after 26 years in charge of British football’s biggest club. The Old Trafford board were quick to announce David Moyes as his replacement which has prompted Bill Kenwright to stick a situation vacant sign up over the entrance doors to the Goodison club.

Wigan’s Roberto Martinez was the early favourite but his odds have now drifted out to 7/2 with William Hill after a spate of bets were put-down against current Celtic boss Neil Lennon.

The fact that Lennon currently leads the race for the Everton job, he’s a best bet of 9/4 with BetVictor is probably due to the Northern Irishman taking the Scottish champs into the Last 16 of the Champions League with a squad costing just less than £11M to put together… To put it in context that’s about the price Chelsea paid for Fernando Torres’s left leg or about a year and half’s salary for Wayne Rooney.

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It seems one of the most unlikeliest football rivalries around but make no mistake there is very little love lost between Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion. For nigh on forty years these two warring factions have disliked each other and sometimes its spilled over into ugly scenes both on and off the park. Now Palace and Brighton will go head-to-head once more to contest for a Championship PlayOff Final place at Wembley next week.

Ian Holloway’s Palace delivered when it mattered most last Saturday, securing their PlayOff semi-final with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Peterborough which doomed The Posh to League One football next season.

It was Palace’s first win since March the 5th, their first win in ten games in which they also suffered a 3-0 loss away to Friday night’s opposition – Brighton.

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26 years, 13 league titles, nine domestic cups, two European Cups and one Cup Winners’ Cup – Sir Alex Ferguson’s incredible success at Manchester United may never be repeated. His impressive ability to continually evolve his side, often ruthlessly discarding former first-teamers, means selecting his best players is a difficult task – but here is Ferguson’s greatest starting XI.

Goalkeeper

Between the posts, there is simply no debate that Peter Schmeichel was Manchester United’s greatest goalkeeper under Sir Alex Ferguson. Signed for just £500,000 from Brondby – where he’d scored two goals in his four-year spell – Schmeichel became the Premier League’s most celebrated goalkeeper. He was a superb shot-stopper, excellent at commanding his box, and received many plaudits for his excellent overarm throws, before distribution became a key feature of a goalkeeper’s game.

Edwin van der Sar is the only other major success story – Fabien Barthez had moments of brilliance but also made errors, while Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi and Tim Howard were less successful, with David De Gea improving encouragingly, but isn’t yet at Van der Sar’s level.

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It may be a football cliché but Hull City’s destiny is in their own hands or rather at their feet as they prepare to take-on Championship title winners Cardiff City at the KC Stadium in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday. A win propels Hull into the Premier League stratosphere where untold riches await…

Of-course if things go pear-shaped for Hull on Saturday and they have the promise land of the Premier League snatched from their grasp by Watford they always have the PlayOffs safety net to cushion the blow.

But one does wonder just how Hull would compete within the PlayOffs being so close to automatic promotion and failing at the final hurdle… Would they wilt and die, infected with the disease of being ‘nearly men’ or do they have the steel and determination to fight their way through the PlayOffs to reach their goal?

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The magnitude facing Dortmund tonight in the Bernabeu in front of 85,000 screaming Real Madrid fans will all soon become apparent. They might be three goals to the good but many teams in the past have come to Madrid and crumbled.

Let’s just remind ourselves this is Real Madrid we’re talking about here… They’re past-masters of European football, they’ve won the most prestigious prize in club football competition more times than any other side – nine to be exact – and here we have the situation of them being 4-1 down and everyone is still thinking “I fancy Real Madrid can still qualify for the Champions League final tonight?”

First-off lets not take anything away from Borussia Dortmund as they played some fantastic football last week. Jurgen Klopp has assembled a talented young side and if anything else they deserve to walk out at Wembley in the Champions League final in May.

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Chelsea are on-course to win Europe’s second-tier cup but they’ll have to overcome Spurs’ conquerors – Swiss side FC Basel – in the 1st leg of their Europa League semi-final tonight. No easy feat when you consider that Basel haven’t been beaten at home in 6 Europa League matches this season (W4 D2).

Chelsea’s Interim boss, Rafa Benitez, will welcome back Ashley Cole and Gary Cahill back into the squad though neither look likely to start. With Demba Ba ineligible and Brazilian forward Oscar doubtful with a groin injury the sole responsibility for heading Chelsea’s frontline will fall onto the shoulders of Fernando Torres.

The ‘man in the mask’ understands the enormity of last year’s Champions League winners ending-up with no silverware at all this season. Torres has scored in Chelsea’s last three European games and wants to keep that record running in Switzerland tonight.

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Is it really as simple to predict that the winner of this Champions League semi-final tie will come down to home form? That statement might ring true when we speak of Barcelona whose away form this campaign has been seriously under-par. Bayern have been a staunch side to beat at the Allianz Arena and their Catalan counterparts could find themselves in some difficulty tonight.

They are undoubtedly the most in-form team of current European football having wrapped-up the tough Bundesliga in record time. Bayern are 40 points clear of nearest rivals Dortmund with a goal difference of 75+ and it’s no wonder their 6/5 with Ladbrokes to beat Barcelona tonight.

Bayern easily seen-off Juventus in the Quarter-finals (4-0 on agg) and have suffered just two defeats during this Champions League campaign. The 1st was a 3-1 defeat to Bate in the Group stages and then an unexpected 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal in the Last 16.

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There’s not very often an undercard fight generates so much attention but the fight between the Commonwealth super-featherweight champion Liam Walsh and Scott Harrison at Wembley Arena tonight is a comeback story worthy of the big screen itself.

Liam Walsh is a rising name on the boxing scene at the moment and he’s won all 13 of his fights, 10 by knockout and the bookies have his as odds-on to win tonight with 2/5 from Ladbrokes the best betting option available.

As for Scott Harrison, he’s a former two-time champion and his battles with depression and alchohol meant Harrison spent time behind bars in Spain and the infamous Barlinnie prison in Glasgow.

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