Tell me why I don't actually mind Mondays

'The Boomtown Rats' famously proclaimed the opposite in their hit single back in 1979, and few are placed to criticise the wisdom of Bob Geldof in such matters. However, thanks to Sky Sports newly-branded and typically swanky Monday Night Football coverage, everyone's least favourite day of the week has become a tad more entertaining. Despite some irksome elements, it's off to a good start. 

2010/11 saw the broadcaster recapture the rights for Monday top division fixtures from ESPN, and in classic fashion, Sky have pulled out all the stops to flog their newest asset. Just like their sister Super Sunday 'brand', the blockbuster movie-like trailers flood the advertising space almost as much as bicep-enhancement specials on The Shopping Channel.

This US-influenced format is evident still as the show begins, with the evergreen Richard Keys and his partner in crime, Andy Gray, transmitting from a room draped in so many shiny gadgets that it could be mistaken for an ITV game-show studio.

Keys gets the ball rolling by introducing the previous weekend's action. With an hour to go until the live match kicks off , there's plenty of time for him to test the limits of Gray's rage with his inciting questions. On a weekend like this, with Nani scoring the sort of goal that gets Gray shaking with excitement, there's no danger of running out of content. Like a boy on Christmas Day, he obsesses over his favourite toy, the 'SkyPad', to take viewers through every possible match scenario by circling, looping and moving men around like players on a new-age Subbuteo board.

Over twenty minutes into the programme, Keys finally introduces the match they're all there for; Blackpool v West Bromwich Albion. A quick matey chat with co-commentator Clarke Carlisle, a footballer whose journalistic stock his risen exponentially by virtue of softening Jeff Stelling on Countdown, preceded a great feature on Premier League strikers and interviews with both managers.

For this, Keys and Gray leave their 'SkyPad' seats and stand like worshippers to an unnecessarily large screen, which bears Roberto Di Matteo and Ian Holloway in such a way that you can't help but compare it to that episode of The Apprentice where Alan Sugar addressed his charges via a screen in an iMax cinema. For all this visual hilarity, however, Keys and Gray have worked together for so long that they rub along brilliantly, and they see the show through to the match with their well-honed balance of patter and professionalism.

Half-time comes with plenty to talk about; West Brom have had two men sent-off and conceded a penalty, and these are the sort of incidents that brings Gray into his element. Fifteen minutes is hardly enough time for the acid-tongued Scotsman, but post-match air time allows him to wrap things up with characteristic authority.

Although Sky's insistence on doing everything 'big-style' (to use another American term) does tend to override the content focus of their programming, Monday Night Football is an enjoyable watch nonetheless. Keys and Gray have got their game down to a tee, there's no doubt about that.