Bottom of the table Derby County face an uphill task when they travel to Anfield to meet five time European champions Liverpool in the Premiership on Saturday.

Derby, newly promoted from the Championship, have had a torrid start to the season. They started off with a 2-2 draw against Portsmouth before suffering three consecutive losses on the trot- a 0-1 defeat against Manchester City, a 0-4 against Tottenham, and a 1-2 against Birmingham City. Out of all those teams, Liverpool are most likely going to be like Tottenham. Spurs played brilliantly against the Rams, scoring twice in the first six minutes and never allowing them to settle. Given the form Liverpool are in, Derby have a back to the wall job in store. Plus a midweek league Cup exit at the hands of Blackpool would certainly not have lifted spirits at Pride Park. Rightback Tyrone Mears is expected to return after suffering a thigh strain against Spurs. The same goes for defender Claude Davis, who missed the league Cup tie. Benny Felhaiber is a doubt with an ankle injury. Pacy Giles Barnes is most certainly out, as is David Jones. Dean Leacock and Eddie Lewis have toe and groin injuries respectively and are expected to take a late fitness test. Winger Lee Holmes and  fullback Michael Johnson are expected to sit out the game. Manager Billy Davies will have his task cut out, and will look to captain Matthew Oakley to provide inspiration to his low on morale side. Without Giles Barnes, Derby lack the kind of pace they need to launch lightening quick counter attacks. The way they conceded early goals against Tottenham and Birmingham would be a cause for worry for Davies. Craig Fagan, Robert Earnshaw and Gary Teale will be the main men going forward.

Liverpool have seven points from three games, and would have possibly had nine had it not been for Rob Styles’ refereeing error against Chelsea. They have also advanced to the group stages of the Champions league, handing French side Toulouse a 5-0 thrashing over two legs. Rafa Benitez has assembled a squad which has tremendous bench strength and is not affected by the lack of a couple of star players. Steven Gerrard will not play as he has a hairline fracture in his toe, but Benitez can choose from Alonso, Mascherano and Sissoko for the two spots in central midfield. Jamie Carrgher’s injury against Sunderland will see him miss this clash. That means that we will most likely see Hyypia/ Arbeloa and Agger in central defence. Harry Kewell and Fabio Aurelio are still not fit enough to play. It is also a tossup between Yossi Benayoun and Jermaine Pennant for the right wing spot. Upfront, we might see Torres and Kuyt/ Voronin. Rafa might also choose to try out a Torres/ Crouch pairing. Whatever be the side, Liverpool will walk into this game firm favourites. Torres will prove a handful with his pace and strength for the Derby defenders. The Liverpool backline has been formidable, and Derby do not look like the team which will penetrate it, although the absence of Carragher has made that task a little more probable.

Liverpool to win this by three goals. Say 3-0 with Torres, Babel and Alonso on the scoresheet. After Liverpool, Derby face Arsenal and Newcastle. Derby will have to play out of their skins if they are to avoid defeat.

Somewhere in the distant future when Sir Alex Ferguson decides to call it quits at Manchester United, loads of names will be brought up to replace him as the manager of the club which he has served for so long with dignity. One name that is almost sure to crop up is of the former United legend Roy Keane. And Ferguson will battle it out against this United legend when he brings his Sunderland side to Old Trafford for one of the most eagerly awaited clash of the new season.

Manchester United notched up their first win of the new season last weekend thanks to a piece of magic from their new recruit Nani. Nani was supposed to play the role of an understudy to Ronaldo and Rooney but the sudden spate of injuries and suspensions had given him a chance to come to the forefront. Ronaldo is still suspended for the red card he earned at Pompey. Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville are still nursing their injuries while the ‘baby-faced assassin’ Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has retired from competitive football. Louis Saha is set to make his first start of the new season. Also, Anderson is likely to play some part in the game.

Roy Keane was famous among the supporters for his tenacity in the midfield and his players will have to show the same fight if they have to take anything away from this trip to Old Trafford. New signing Kenwyne Jones is likely to partner the impressive Michael Chopra up front. Another new boy Danny Higginbotham has a slight hamstring strain and is doubtful for the game. Greg Halford is banned and there are injury doubts over  Kieran Richardson and Paul Mcshane.  Another United star Dwight Yorke  will play in his new role  as a  defensive midfielder but you cant put it past him to score on the very ground he knows like the back of his hand.

Verdict: Fairytales are a commonplace in football. But no fairytale for Sunderland tomorrow. A thorough thrashing. 3-0. Goals from Nani and a brace for Tevez.

On Tuesday three of the big series between first and second place teams got rolling and the big showdown between the Mariners and the Angels continued to roll. It was a night when mostly the second place teams had the better end of things, which means each of the divisions got a little closer.

The one division showdown that was won by the first place team on Tuesday was the game in the American league West. The Anaheim Angels beat the Seattle Mariners for a second straight game. The Angels won this time by a score of ten to six. That means the Angels are now up by four games on the Mariners. The Mariners will try to salvage one game when they wrap-up the series on Wednesday.

The other showdown in the American league pitted two arch rivals against each other: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This really isn’t that big of a showdown because the Sox come into the series leading the division by eight games. However, the Yankees were able to win on Tuesday night to trim the division lead to seven games. To have any chance of winning the AL East, the Yankees were definitely have to seep this series.

In the National league East, the Mets lost to the Phillies on Tuesday. That trims the Mets lead to four games. That means the Mets have now lost three straight games. And what was a seven game lead just three days ago is now just a four game lead. If the Phillies can somehow sweep this series things will become very, very interesting in the NL East.

Finally, in the National league West, the San Diego Padres won a big game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. That win pulls the Padres to within one game of the D-Backs.

About a week ago it looked like the D-Backs may run away with this division. Now the Padres are threatening to retake the lead in the division that they led for most of the summer. If somehow the Padres can sweep this series then they will be leading the division heading into the first weekend in September.

All of the above teams will continue to battle it out tomorrow. And each of these games will figure majorly in which teams will go to the playoffs and which team won’t go to the playoffs.

On Monday the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees wrapped up their four game series. And the Seattle Mariners and the Anaheim Angels began their big series in Seattle.

Both the Detroit Tigers and the Anaheim Angels got great pitching performances from their starting pitchers. The Tigers got a great start from Justin Verlander while the angels got a great outing from starting pitcher John Lackey. The performances by Verlander and Lackey help their teams to easy wins.

The Detroit Tigers thumped the New York Yankees sixteen to nothing. The win earned the Tigers the series win three games to one. It was the first series victory for the Tigers since they swept the Twins way back in the middle of July. Perhaps this series can propel the Tigers into playing good baseball again. They’ll certainly have the opportunity to keep things rolling as they now head to Kansas City for a three game series with the Royals.

The Los Angeles Angels easily beat the Seattle Mariners by a score of six to nothing on Monday. The win puts the Angels three games ahead in the American league West. So now even if Seattle wins the last two games, the Angels are still assured of carrying the lead in the division with them into the weekend. However, if the Angels can win one more game then they’ll have a somewhat comfortable lead on the weekend and if they happen to win both and sweep the series then they’ll have a pretty decent lead of five games heading into the first weekend of September.

So you see how important every game is, especially when two teams are battling it out for one spot in the division.  Winning one game – as the Angels did on Monday – can result in a two game swing. So, instead of the Mariners winning and pulling within one game of first place, the Angels won and extended their lead to three games in the American league West.

Tomorrow the Angels and Mariners will play again. Then there will also be big games between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers, the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres.

Sunday all the teams in Major league baseball continued to battle it out for the playoff spots that are up for grabs. The Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees continued their battle, and all the battle in the National league continued too.

The Tigers scored five early runs on the New York Yankees’ Phil Hughes and then the Tigers held on to win five to four. It wasn’t a bad outing by the young Yankee pitcher but he threw a few bad pitches and the Tigers made him pay for it.

The Detroit Tigers weren’t able to gain a game on the Cleveland Indians though because the Indians won again. This time (on Sunday) the Indians won their second straight game over the Kansas City Royals by a score of five to three.

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees lost another game in the American league East to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won their fourth straight game as they beat Chicago White Sox eleven to one. Now the Yankees trail the Red Sox by seven and a half games.

In the National league West the Arizona Diamondbacks extended their lead by another game. The D-Backs now have a three game lead over the San Diego Padres.

On Sunday the D-Backs beat the Chicago Cubs by a score of five to four. Meanwhile the San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies fourteen to two.

So the scene is set for several big series to take place this week. One of them will be the Padres and the D-Backs. Another one will be the Yankees taking on the Red Sox (after the Yanks wrap up their series with the Tigers on Monday).

Also starting on Tuesday will be a big series in the National league Central between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs. But there are two other big series as well.

In the National league East the New York Mets are going to take on the Philadelphia Phillies and in the American league West the Anaheim Angels are about to battle the Seattle Mariners.

All of these series will give the first place teams a chance to extend their leads in each division. However, the games also offer the second place teams the chance to gain ground on the first place or possibly even pass the first place team in the standings.

On Saturday the St. Louis Cardinals continued to draw closer to first place in the National league Central and the Cleveland Indians widened their lead in the American league Central by another game.

The St. Louis Cardinals used a huge five run fifth inning to beat the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. The Cards won five to four as the Braves scattered their runs to one run in each of four innings. Because the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers also lost, the Cardinals were able to make up a game on both teams in the National league Central.

The Chicago Cubs lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of three to one.  Arizona used a very strong pitching performance from Doug Davis to win the game. It was Davis’ eleventh win of the season.

Meanwhile the Milwaukee Brewers continued to struggle. They lost to the lowly San Francisco Giants by a score of six to two.

So now in the National league Central the Chicago Cubs lead the Milwaukee Brewers by a game and a half. Meanwhile the St. Louis Cardinals are now just three games behind the Cubs. So this division is getting even tighter.

In the American league Central the Cleveland Indians earned back their two and a half game lead. The Indians won on Saturday. They beat the Kansas City Royals by a score of nine to four.

The Detroit Tigers lost to the New York Yankees seven to two on Saturday. It was a rough outing for the Tigers’ Jeremy Bonderman and it was a good outing for the Yankees’ Chin Ming Wang.

The Indians have a great chance this weekend of extending their lead in the AL Central. They are playing the Kansas City Royals while the Tigers are playing the Yankees. Logic would say that the Indians have a much better chance of beating the Royals than the Tigers do of beating the Yanks. But we will see.

This is the last weekend in August and games become more meaningful with each passing day. With the close division races in the American league Central and the National league Central the games mean even more. There are only about thirty games left and a loss or a win could be the difference between making the playoffs or not making the playoffs.