Premier League Day 1 - Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur

The Premier League is back and this is the day that football fans all over the country have been waiting for. With seven games on show today there will be plenty of excitement and goals to talk about. Arsenal host Sunderland and new boys Reading and West Ham are both in action on their top-flight return. Managers Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool), Chris Hughton (Norwich City), Michael Laudrup (Swansea City), Steve Clarke (West Brom) and Paul Lambert (Aston Villa) take control of their respective sides for the first time. However the pick of the day has to be the late kick-off at St James' Park between Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, last season's fifth and fourth place finishers.

Newcastle surprised many last season as they went the first ten matches unbeaten before losing 3-1 at eventual champions Manchester City. Spurs on the other hand stormed out of the blocks and at one point looked to be mounting a serious title challenge before faltering during the back end of the season to finish fourth, missing out on a Champions League spot as a result of Chelsea's win in that competition. Both clubs will have ambitions of reaching Europe's elite tournament this year but Newcastle will once again be outsiders. It is not expected that Spurs will reach the top four but they are definitely in with a shout after finishing there twice in the last three seasons.

The Magpies have not made any marquee signings this summer but have secured the arrivals of mid-fielders Romain Amalfitano and Gaël Bigirimana while Sylvain Marveux will return from a long injury absence. Spurs have brought in Icelandic centre midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson who impressed while on loan at Swansea City during the second half of last season. Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen has joined from Ajax but new boss Andre Villas-Boas will be desperate to sign a striker before the transfer window closes. For this match he only has one senior striker to pick, Jermain Defoe, but he has hinted that he is looking to include young forward Harry Kane this season.

Last campaign this fixture finished as a 2-2 draw after a brilliant late equaliser by Geordie favourite Shola Ameobi. Once again this term he will not be the focal point of their attack and this mantle will fall on Senegalese pair Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba who both hit double figures in the league last season. French winger Hatem Ben Arfa will be the man tasked with providing the deliveries for the top two and he flourished towards the back end of last year. 

This match should be closely-fought in front of a home crowd that will be as over-expectant as ever this season. Newcastle have a good side, as do Spurs, but as the London club have yet to sign a striker and with  Luka Modric destined to leave, Pardew's men may just pip them this time out. 

Prediction: 2-1 Newcastle United

England Beat Italy In Euro 2012 Re-Match

Two of Europe's biggest footballing nations met in the Swiss capital of Berne in a re-match of their Euro 2012 quarter-final. On that occasion in Kiev Italy out-passed and out-classed England but only just ended up winning in a penalty shoot-out. This was always going to be a low-key affair but it was pleasantly entertaining as both sides, although under-strength, looked to attack as much as possible. Roy Hodgson's men produced an encouraging display in their first match since that agonising defeat as they won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Phil Jagielka and Jermain Defoe.

The Three Lions fielded a youthful side that included 19-year-old Birmingham City goal-keeper Jack Butland and Team GB representatives Ryan Bertrand (substitute) and Tom Cleverley. New £12 million Manchester City signing Jack Rodwell failed to get off the bench after his new team-mate Adam Johnson started the match. In what was always going to be an experimental game manager Roy Hodgson took the chance to tinker as he named ten players that did not travel to Ukraine two months ago in the squad. 

England started the first half brightly and big Liverpool striker Andy Carroll headed over from a corner early on. However it was the European runners-up who took the lead after a quarter of an hour through a powerful Daniele de Rossi header from an in-swinging Alessandro Diamanti set-piece. England responded well and continued to pass the ball crisply and equalised 12 minutes later when Everton centre-back Phil Jagielka smashed home. Both sides had more attempts before half-time to complete an exciting first 45, but the break came with the scores level.

Hodgson made two changes at the interval as he swapped the brute aggression and heading ability of Carroll with the speed and clinical finishing attributes of Jermain Defoe. The goal-keepers were also swapped as the original third-choice keeper for Euro 2012, John Ruddy, replaced the man who took his spot on the plane in June, Butland. Ruddy was forced into an early stop as he got down well to thwart Roma forward Mattia Destro. Italy boss Cesare Prandelli only used one of his changes at half-time and it was the man he brought on who almost regained the Azurri the advantage on 57 minutes. Atalanta left-back Federico Peluso broke into the area but could only hit his shot on the slide into the side-netting as Ruddy closed the angle.

With the Premier League starting on Saturday the England manager would have felt under pressure to keep his players in top condition. On the hour mark he brought on Manchester City duo Joleon Lescott and James Milner for Ashley Young and goal scorer Jagielka to try and make an impact. England appeared to have taken the lead in the 66th minute thanks to a thumping Gary Cahill volley but the strike was ruled out by Swiss referee Sascha Kever for an apparent push by Lescott. 

Italy came close to breaking the dead-lock came in the 78th minute as a miss-kick by Destro fell kindly for substitute Verratti whose drive was well tipped away by Ruddy. From the resulting corner Bertrand had to head off his own line with his first touch of the ball, but in doing so set up an England counter-attack led by James Milner. Milner found Defoe who turned his man on the left corner of the box before firing into the top corner with plenty of panache. In the closing stages it was England who looked the more likely to score on the counter-attack and a low James Milner cross almost found Defoe who would have had a simple tap-in had the ball reached him.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian