The FA's 150th / Clasico & Revierderby / Saturday Football Open Thread

Sadly, I'll be missing most of today's intriguing football due to a Spartan Beast and then a subsequent Halloween party - my Jose Mourinho mask arrived just in the nick of time! - but I'll try to catch at least some of it as I hatch a plan to survive the half marathon obstacle race with a sprained thumb.

Oh, and before we get to the matches, let's wish the wonderful bunch of tw...inkies at the Football Association a happy 150th birthday. A humble little organization, the FA only takes credit for pretty much all of the football in all of the world as it is today in their official statement on this occasion.

So let's see what wonderful football we were gifted on this day by the FA's actions 150 years ago. On the domestic front, Crystal Palace will be hoping for a non-embarrassing scoreline when Arsenal visit in the early game, while later Manchester United will be hoping to not implode (again), this time at home vs. Stoke City. The late match is sixth place Southampton (sixth!) vs. Fulham and that amazing Kasami who did this last weekend. Aston Villa vs. Everton, Liverpool vs. WBA, and Norwich vs. Cardiff complete the Premier League Saturday schedule.

In Spain, the big one is of course El Clasico, fought without Mourinho for the first time in what seems like forever. But now we get to root for another ex-Chelsea manager and his glorious eyebrows, although I've been known to enjoy me some Neymar on occasion.

Finally, in Germany, the big one is the Revierderby, the Ruhr derby between Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund. And despite the latter's recent successes, Schalke actually hold a distinct advantage in the derby, losing only five, winning twelve, and drawing another eleven since 1999. Last year, the royal blues did the double over the black-yellows. Must be the color. Football!

Discuss.