GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!

Written by Patrick Kamanga

GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!





Diego Costa's aggressive play and clever runs were a handful

In the EPL’s first London versus Merseyside matchup of the season, Chelsea drew first blood and overcame a doggedly determined Everton side 6-3.
Despite the huge score line, this was a game that Chelsea never really had control until the last ten minutes with Blues' Coach Jose Mourinho and every Chelsea fan apprehensive and on edge throughout considering the misery that the Toffees have repeatedly inflicted on the Blues the last few seasons with Goodison Park a terribly difficult hunting ground for the London side. The end to end action with goals raining in on either end uncannily resembled a similar fixture between these two teams at Goodison Park in the December 2006 during the 06/07 season save for the fact that on that occasion it was Chelsea who did the chasing coming from behind twice to tie the game before Didier Drogba scored arguably the goal of his career, a 40 yard volley over and beyond a retreating Tim Howard to complete a famous comeback and save Chelsea’s blushes. 

This time round it was the Blues who dropped the gauntlet early by shocking the Toffees with two quick goals in the opening 3 minutes of the game. Diego Costa opened his goal account and increased his haul for the season by beating Sylvain Distin from a through pass and clinically sliced the ball under an advancing Howard.

Costa,  a tailor made remedy for Chelsea’s goal scoring malaise from last season, was a menacing threat throughout with his intelligent runs into space a dream for any midfielder, with his ability to hold the ball well and also constantly harassing and bullying defenders into either making mistakes or surrendering possession.
If he stays healthy and maintains his fitness it’s not hard to imagine him terrorizing defenses in the division throughout the season with most Premier League managers probably already scratching their heads trying to formulate solutions on how to stop him. Despite missing two clear chances, his second goal was a beauty! He shuffled the ball under his feet; a nutmeg that took out and left both an advancing Howard and the chasing Distin sprawled on the turf off an Obi Mikel through ball for Chelsea’s sixth goal.

Coming off a great World cup in Brazil, American Tim Howard was guilty of poor goalkeeping and displayed one of his worst performances in recent memory with 3 of the 6 goals he conceded simply coming off poor spatial awareness and positioning, mistakes that Costa and company only gladly took advantage of!

Tim Howard had a game to forget, here losing his cool with Diego Costa

Chelsea on their part however were guilty of switching off when they sat back on going two up early which only played into Everton’s strengths. They ceded space and possession which the Toffees only gladly took advantage of camping on Chelsea’s half at the end of the first half before Kevin Mirallas' header from a cross flew beyond Courtois' flailing hands to half the deficit at the stroke of half time.

On a fair assessment both teams uncharacteristically made horrendous mistakes defensively and to be honest, all the nine goals scored were basically conceded off basic defensive lapses and blunders with the match seemingly resembling a Play Station game!

Diouf orchestrated the season's first major upset

In an earlier game involving the other title favourites, defending EPL Champions Manchester City simply had a bad day in office! They lost by a solitary goal to Stoke City from a solo run by Senegalese international Mame Biram Diouf for the first major upset of the season.
After a demolition job that saw them  crush Liverpool earlier in the week, this was simply one of those days that no matter how good a team is, every endeavor simply fails or falls short and in this case whatever Man City threw at Stoke simply wasn’t effective enough and the little that Stoke did offensively, well worked!

Di Maria gave a good account of himself

If Man City were having a bad day, cross town rivals Manchester United had agony piled on top of their misery when they were held to a nil nil draw away to the newly promoted Burnley. After a humiliating 4-0 midweek lose to third tier MK Dons, Red Devil fans cannot be blamed for expecting some redemption especially after the record breaking signing of Argentine forward Angel Di Maria from Spanish giants Real Madrid. Di Maria had a great game but it was the defensive side of things as has now become the norm that gave Man U fans anxious moments and probably has had them rushing to the pharmacy for anti-acids and painkillers to counteract the emotional stress caused by their beloved team.
Man U never looked like winning this tie and was lucky to have walked away with a draw. With the fear factor that was the Red Devil’s trademark for eons under Sir Alex Ferguson now a thing of the past, nowadays even minnows fancy their chances and routinely come ready to trade punches and take the game to Old Trafford outfit.

The entire Manchester United fraternity simply has no choice but to be patient and accord new manager Louis Van Gaal time and support to maneuver the team out of the current quagmire.

After their lose to MK Dons, the entire British Press trained their ire and threw barbs at Man U’s former iconic Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson blaming him for the club’s current situation and rightfully so. His post Cristiano Ronaldo signings were castigated, with his transfer policy in particular coming to question and is the reason, most now believe, that the club finds itself in its current predicament. 

Roy Keane's harsh inclinations and vilification of his boss' policies finally vindicated

Former iconic Captain and club legend, Irishman Roy Keane has thus been proven right, albeit a decade later. His harsh criticism then of his manager’s transfer policy deemed as treason was the reason for their fallout which led to his being booted out of the side engendering his early retirement from the game. His tough vilification at the time was due to signings which he deemed of low quality and undeserving of a place in a club of Manchester United’s caliber such as Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher, Wes Brown, O’Shea etc.
While I agree with this assessment Man U’s last signing of real quality was Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov although he flopped during his time at the club and didn’t live up to expectation.

With Sir Alex’s signings and transfer policy to blame which set up his successors for failure, it’s still a mystery how he was able to continuously milk out the best off the same squad, winning four Premier League titles and a Champions League within the period in question. Was he simply a great man manager and a motivator who brought out the best in his charges even the poorest of talent, or was it the so called “Fergie time” and the fear he instilled upon referees who yielded to his every wish and whim among other advantages as most rival managers long implied? 

LVG requires all the patience that Man U fans can muster

Only time will tell, in the mean time patience is of the essence as LVG masterminds a revival against near impossible odds and shepherds the club back to glorious ways.
In my humble opinion, even though Sir Alex Ferguson played a big part in the creating the current problems, I believe the acquisition of Manchester United PLC by the Glazer family was the root of the whole problem. On buying out the majority shares, they transferred all their debts from across the Atlantic putting Man U in a precarious position which limited Sir Alex Ferguson's options in the transfer market as far as having the ability to regularly fight it out with likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and later Man City (whom he christened the noisy neighbours) and PSG.

Liverpool did further damage at the White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspurs’ fans must by now be sick at the sight of Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool team that once again strutted into the White Hart Lane with their chins high and took the home side to the cleaners with a controlled performance, winning 3-0.
The return fixture last season which ended 5-0 in favour of the Merseyside outfit was the final straw that broke Tottenham’s back forcing the club to end Andres Villas Boas short tenure after a series of humiliating defeats. For a team seeking to redeem its pride, Spurs’ defending was simply shambolic and the Londoners were lucky not have conceded more goals. The mercurial Mario Balotelli made his long awaited debut missing a few close chances. On their part the Liverpool defense produced an improved performance from their horrors against Man City, shutting shop and providing Spurs with little space to maneuver. 

Leicester celebrate their shock equalizer

In the weekend's last EPL game before the league sojourns for the international break, despite having most of the possession Arsenal were held to a one all draw by one of newly promoted sides, Leicester away at the King Power Stadium. Leicester looked comfortable and seemed the least threatened or intimidated by their more fancied opponents. Leicester have proven a hard nut to crack in their first two games drawing Everton and pushing Chelsea all the way at Stamford Bridge so Arsenal's draw is not such a bad result.
With Giroud out due to an ankle injury that may see him make a return no sooner than November, a young Yaya Sanogo led the line and with Alexis Sanchez assuming a wide role on the right, a combination that didn't offer much of a punch and went cold after Sanchez's opener. The result and manner with which the game panned out however was further proof of Arsenal’s frailties and need to add strength and further depth with Arsene Wenger’s lack of urgency at the transfer market confounding most Gunners’ fans.

GAME OF THE WEEK: MANCITY DISPATCH BELOW PAR LIVERPOOL

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

MANCITY DISPATCH BELOW PAR LIVERPOOL

The red hot Stevan Jovetic flaunted City's embarrassing riches upfront

Manchester City subdued an enterprising Liverpool team dispatching them to the curb with a 3-1 win in the much awaited clash between last seasons’ top two EPL finishers.

Despite the score line, Liverpool were the more attacking of the two sides for most of the game and to emphasize how important Luiz Suarez had been to the Reds, they posed little threat offensively because they lacked the devastating focal point that the Uruguayan provided.

From the back on forward Liverpool’s movement was fluid and flawless for large swathes of the game but disintegrated in the last third largely due to City’s defensive formation and also new signing Fernando who as anchorman alongside Yahya Toure did quick work of disrupting the Red’s forays.

To emphasize City’s attacking strength, their first two goals scored by Stevan Jovetic came against the run of play with City on the back foot with the Reds pushing forward. 

Lovren's defending was woeful

Another interesting observation that should obviously unnerve Reds’ Coach Brendan Rodgers was the fact that his new central defensive signing Dejan Lovren, brought in to instill some steel was partly to blame or straight up culpable in all the three goals Liverpool conceded which would imply that they are far from resolving the defensive frailties that dogged them last season. Liverpool also urgently requires the services of a natural defensive midfielder as Captain Steven Gerrard is simply not a cut out for this role. If new signing, the mercurial Italian Mario Balotelli settles in and is able to keep his focus on the game, it will go a long way in providing the lethal precision required of a striker playing for a team at this level, Daniel Sturridge will simply not be able to carry the team on his own and provide goals the way Suarez did. 

Balotelli's signing should go a long way in helping Liverpool infront of goal

The one positive that Liverpool can take from this lose is that theirs is a team of the near future and the choice of bringing in a handful of new signings provides more of a potential than an instant readymade solution to their current situation. Lazar Markovic’s late substitution for Coutinho in particular sharpened the Red’s attack and instantly brought life. He showed plenty of promise with his intelligent runs as well as passes and his inclusion was the reason they got the consolation goal via Ricky Lambert who missed the opportunity to further cut City’s lead with easiest of chances when he came one on one against Joe Hart.

City barely shifted gears and the manner with which they won this clash implies that it will take a massive effort from the other title contenders to dethrone them from the summit.

Diego Costa broke down a stubborn Leicester

In other matches involving the other top four contenders Chelsea overcame a stubborn Leicester with two second half goals. After a subdued first half, the Blues came out firing on all cylinders after a half time dress down by Jose Mourinho.

Giroud scored the late equalizer but was guilty of many near misses

Arsenal gave a late fight coming from the jaws of death after conceding two first half goals away to Everton at the Goodison Park. With Lukaku as the tormentor in chief, the ease with which the Gunners conceded both goals suggests that further urgent work needs to be done in the transfer market before the close of the transfer window. A lumbering Jack Wilshire as anchorman in particular provided plenty of anxious moment with his lethargic play often losing concentration, barely provided accurate passes or any surge and was quite lucky not to have received a straight red card for a late studded lunge on Everton’s Garreth Barry. 

Wilshire's erratic form a problem area for the Gunners

Olivier Giroud’s inclusion for new signing Alexis Sanchez created focus with a big target man upfront but despite scoring the Gunners second goal and late equalizer, he fluffed three clear chances, two of which were one on one against Tim Howard in goal. If Arsenal is to challenge for the title, Wenger urgently and unreservedly needs to open the coffers and bring in more signings to strengthen his squad.

The one positive that the Gunners can take from this game is a new found fighting spirit and resolve which saw them come back from a near impossible position and salvage a point, important for the team’s overall character. If you consider the fact that Naysmith's second goal for Everton was a clear offside, Arsenal could perhaps have boasted of a famous comeback at the hostile Goodison Park!

Jack Rodwell's free header highlighted the Red Devil's defensive frailties

Manchester United on their part fought tooth and nail to achieve a one all draw away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Lights. Juan Mata scored an early goal against the run of play but it was the manner and ease with which the Black Cats equalized via a Jack Rodwell header from a corner that ominously illustrated how far Man U has fallen. A couple of seasons ago it would have been unfathomable to imagine scoring a free header against a resolute Red Devil defense.

Despite the impending signing of Real Madrid’s Argentine forward Angel Di Maria who will obviously add class and quality upfront, it’s the Red Devil’s defense that is giving Coach Louis Van Gaal sleepless nights and should be the priority before the close of the transfer window. What Manchester United requires urgently is a box to box midfielder, a holding midfielder and one more world class defender.

THE MOST INTRIGUING PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON YET!

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

MOST INTRIGUING PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON YET!

Jubilant Arsenal players after their Community Shield triumph over Man City

Arsenal won their second major title in 3 months when they systematically demolished and buried the defending English Premier League Champions Manchester City in the season opening Community Shield game last Sunday. Arsenal’s resounding 3-0 defeat of their more illustrious opponents not only asked many a question of the other title challengers but sent out their strongest statement of intent since their record setting title triumph way back in 2004.

With Manchester City winning the title last season at the wire, after a busy summer transfer period however, Chelsea comes in as many Premier League pundits’ title favourites and the team to beat in the new season. 

Chelsea's summer transfer bounty

Adding five big signings to a squad already bursting at the seams with a host of world class players, the blues have by far been the EPL’s busiest bodies at the transfer market bringing in Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Luiz Filipe, with loanee goalkeeper Thibout Courtois and club legend Didier Drogba both making a return to the club, which saw the Blues spend a staggering £80 million.

In the 25 year old Diego Costa, the blues have brought on board one of the top strikers in world football, whom along with Drogba and Fernando Torres complete a formidable trio giving the club plenty of options upfront and expected to curtail their impotence in front of goal last season. So deep was Jose Mourinho’s admiration of the Atletico Madrid squad and the compact nature of their Argentine Coach Diego Simeone’s style that if he could, he would have brought over most of the squad. He raided the Atletico camp and made off with left back Filipe Luiz, who comes in as a replacement for left back Ashley Cole who left for Italy’s Roma after an 8 year stint with Jose’s eyes still trained on Atletico’s central defender Miranda before the transfer market comes to a close. 

Blues in safe hands

 

Chelsea’s squad also boasts of three of the best goalkeepers in the world with the return of young Belgian Thibout Courtois who joins Peter Cech and Aussie Mark Schwazer thus ending his three year loan stint at Atletico, where he broke several records as well as ensured the title returned to the red side of the Spanish capital after an 18 year hiatus at Real and Barcelona. Mourinho’s predatory nature served the club well when he snapped up perhaps their biggest and most important purchase in former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Cesc is one of the best box to box midfielder in Europe, with a keen eye for goals and is one of the best passers of the ball in the modern game. He may well be the missing link, a creative spark that was so sorely missed throughout last season by the Stamford Bridge outfit as the Blues struggled to break down teams that sat deep and defended in numbers.

With the albatross of the “Financial Fair Play rule” hanging over their neck, Chelsea also maneuvered the high wire of the balance sheet by selling off world cup flop David Luiz for a record breaking £50million and ridding themselves of a nagging problem in the unpredictable and blunder prone defender as well as young Belgian Romelo Lukaku. Lukaku who has had run-ins with Jose as well as Belgium’s World cup coach Marc Wilmots was sold off to Everton for £28 million.

With Mourinho giving plenty of excuses last season, his “Little Horse” as he repeatedly referred to his team, is surely now a Championship winning “thoroughbred race horse” in the run up to the new season and he’ll have no-where to hide this time round if he fails to deliver on the ruthlessly demanding club owner, Russian Oligarch, Roman Abramovich’s huge investement!

No room for failure, there will be no-where to hide for the "special one"

Manchester City will be Chelsea’s biggest challengers with a squad oozing class and beaming with world class players. Adding to an already potent squad, the Sky Blue’s Chilean Coach Manuel Pelligrini snapped up the chance to bring former Gunner right back Bacary Sagna on a free, who deferred on a contract extension at Arsenal. 

 

Sagna’s quality will surely improve City’s back line which shipped in a huge amount of goals last season affecting their overall goal difference, partly due to their ultra-offensive style that mostly ensured they outscored most of their opponents. Though missing a few of their star players such as Captain Vincent Kompany and deadly striker Sergio Aguero, the team that paraded out for the Community Shield game was good enough to have given the Gunners a game to think about, many would argue but the manner and ease with which Arsenal carved open City implied something else. 

City's ageing squad in need of revamping

Under the Al Mansour family, the Abu Dhabi oil tycoons’ millions have continuously bankrolled City’s big money signings over the past several seasons, engendering their meteoric rise from also runs to the EPL’s summit in record time ensuring their second title in three years. Their preferred pickings have largely been the experienced, mature and proven players of quality from other teams at a premium. This simple tactic has however come back to bite them with the club incurring continental body U.E.F.A’s wrath, with heavy financial penalties and even transfer restrictions on new signings after defaulting on the Financial Fair Play rule.

This has left them no choice but to bring in Sagna on a free transfer as well as former Chelsea legend Frank Lampard who opted for an interim loan move before he embarks on an M.L.S career in New York next March. The take home message from their Community Shield lose is that City’s squad is ageing and desperately requires some serious infusion of youth, and soon!

Gunners are two players short of a serious title challenge

With their recent treasure trove of trophies, Arsenal comes in as the third best team overall after an impressive pre-season with the long suffering Gunner fans now near bursting with expectation after a long torturous decade that has seen them endure a long trophy drought.

Revenge is a dish best served cold as the saying goes. Arsenal lost out on their coveted signing of controversial Uruguayan striker Louis Suarez from Liverpool at the beginning of last season after Suarez allegedly got talked out of a potential move to the Emirate Stadium by team Captain Steven Gerrard.  Well, Liverpool’s lose in Suarez’s subsequent £70 million sale to Catalan giants Barcelona is Arsenal’s gain because the Uruguayan’s arrival at the Nou Camp meant that there would be no room for talented Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez, who would have fallen further down the pecking order. Sanchez quickly jumped at the opportunity to join Arsenal for £32 million, snubbing a move to Liverpool in the process opting for the glamour of the Capital rather than the Merseyside Port City.

Alexis Sanchez’s signing is a game changer and with Arsenal’s Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis assuring club fans last week that his signing is just but a tip of the ice berg with more movement expected before the close of the transfer market, with cash available after the club paid off the debt owed from the construction of their home ground. 

Alexis Sanchez, Gunner's X factor

Most connoisseurs of the game have assessed that Arsenal are two signings away from a Championship team and I couldn’t agree more! Wenger requires one world class central defender and an anchorman of equal caliber to guarantee a serious title challenge. A tough tackling and robust left back to cover for the feeble Kieran Gibbs would also help matters.

These three signings would ensure that the Gunners match the big boys who took them to the cleaners last season where Arsenal conceded a total of 17 goals against the top 5 teams with the holding midfielder and central defense as their most glaring weakness. Arsenal’s offensive depth will certainly send chills down the spine of most teams with Wenger spoilt for choice. With the likes of Wilshire, Ramsey, Carzola, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Giroud, Sanogo, Campbell and Sanchez, Arsenal’s offense will definitely turn most opposing managers red with envy! 

Acquisition of top fitness expert Forsythe, should resolve Arsenal's perennial injury woes

With nagging and niggling injuries the norm and an impediment in the past, Arsenal’s biggest and most important signing however is their summer acquisition of American fitness and conditioning expert, Shad Forsythe from World Champions the Die Manschafft! Forsythe had been one of a four member backroom team contracted by the German DFB from American Fitness experts EXOS for the World cup in Brazil. EXOS’ decade long association with the German national team introduced personalized systems and revolutionized their fitness, training, nutrition, and recovery methods, a major contributing factor in their World cup win in Brazil.

The Red Devils ready to prove the doubters wrong

Manchester United is an unknown quantity after last season’s tribulations and comes fourth alongside Liverpool. After a successful pre-season, where they won all their matches Man U’s biggest and most significant summer signing is their acquisition of Dutch Coach Louis Van Gaal. LVG brings with him a proven coaching acumen and a winning track record equaled by few. He has been triumphant on two stints at Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Ajax, AZ Alkmaar and the Dutch national team. 

Fresh from a World cup assignment where he masterminded one of Holland’s best ever showing guiding the “Oranje” to the World Cup semi-final, a proven motivator and strict disciplinarian, his rigid and no-nonsense style mirrors that of the long serving Coach Sir Alex Ferguson and is guaranteed to produce results.

With a host of experienced ageing players mainly defenders leaving and others coming on board, LVG has down played the Red Devil’s title credentials and instead emphasized patience on the part of their fans as he embarks on a massive reconstruction project. One area that he urgently needs to work on is rebuilding the defense after losing Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra. The trio’s combined experience surpasses 2000 games and has left a huge vacuum.

What will work to Man U’s favour will be their lack of continental commitments which means that they will garner all their energy on ensuring a top four finish at the very least. It will be interesting to see how LVG executes his preferred 3-5-2 system.

LVG's mentorship of Giggs, a big win win for the Red Devils

Another long term win for the Old Trafford outfit will be the positioning of the club’s longest serving player Ryan Giggs as LVG’s assistant. Under Van Gaal’s mentorship, Giggs will be learning from the best as Chelsea’s Mourinho can attest. The Portuguese tactician came out of his mould when he served as LVG’s assistant during his second stint at Barcelona, a transition period that brought on great players such as Xavi and Iniesta ushering in a new era at the Catalan club at the turn of the previous decade.

Liverpool almost brought the house down last season

Liverpool is treading on shaky ground after they sold their best player Louis Suarez to Barcelona. As the EPL’s top scorer and best player, Suarez single handedly carried the team scoring phenomenal goals as well as setting-up numerous assists for Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling. Even though the huge sale facilitated a hefty transfer war chest, replacing a player of Suarez’s quality is impossible!

Suarez impossible to replace

The other challenge for Liverpool will be that the many new players they’ve brought on board will need time to gel into the squad and with the club involved in both domestic and continental duty, the sheer volume of games will be their bane which may see them suffer as the long season takes its toll. Their transfer activities have seen them acquire quality players such as Dejan Lovren, Markovic, Emre Can, Ricky Lambert and most importantly Southampton’s talented England winger Adam Lallana. 

Barkley has thrived under Martinez

Everton and Tottenham will fight it off for the fifth place. Everton had an exceptional season the last time round as they were involved in the dog fight for the top four spots until late in the season. With Spaniard Roberto Martinez revolutionizing their game by building upon predecessor David Moyes’ defensive style and introducing a more care free, expressive and attack laden style that saw players such Belgian pair Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas and England’s best young attacking prospect Ross Barkley thrive and win admirers across the board in the process. 

Chelsea's lose is Everton's gain

Martinez grabbed on a great opportunity during the summer transfer window signing experienced anchorman Gareth Barry and the lethal striker Lukaku after both completed successful loan spells from Manchester City and Chelsea last season. The club’s form will also partly depend on the long term fitness of their ageing core of Gareth Barry, Steven Pienaar, Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin where playing on Thursday night in the Europa cup will surely test their mettle.

Much will depend on the fitness of Everton's ageing core

Tottenham went through one of their most turbulent periods finishing sixth last season. The protracted sale of star player Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record breaking £85 million facilitated the acquisition of a host of players for the then Coach Andres Villas Boaz. AVB’s attempt at introducing a passing, pressing game with a high defensive line akin to Barcelona was an experiment that went horribly wrong!

 

This saw the Portuguese tactician get fired before the Christmas period with his assistant Tim Sherwood shepherding them to safety.

Their acquisition of Argentine Mauricio Pochettino’s as Coach from Southampton is expected to spark the North-Londoners to a much coveted top four finish. Pochettino recently led Spurs to a successful pre-season where they went undefeated. His relative success at Southampton has created plenty of expectation with Spur’s obvious superior squad quality compared to his previous employers the reason for the new found optimism.

Spurs biggest summer signing, Coach Pochettino

At the other end of the spectrum the newly promoted sides Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City and Burnley will make things quite interesting. The second tier Championship league winners Leicester will bring along a squad short on Premier league experience. If they maintain the form that saw them surmount the Championship scoring a blistering 83 goals, winning 31 games in the process, then they will ask many a question of the more established teams. One of their key players to watch will be Kasper Schmeichel, son of Man U legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who has matured into a fine specimen in his own right.

Burnley will face a baptism of fire when they face the full might of title favourites Chelsea who visit the Turf Moor Stadium on Monday night. Burnley has a strong team mentality and plays a compact pressing game. Considering how Chelsea struggled against teams that sat back and packed numbers, Monday’s game will be quite interesting and will be a strong test and an indicator as to whether the Blues have resolved their striking problems. 

Rednapp and Hoddle two of the best football brains in English football

Of the three promoted teams, Queens Park Rangers have the best prospects with former Manchester United Captain Rio Ferdinand as their big signing reuniting with his former Coach at West Ham Harry Rednapp. Another interesting acquisition is that of former England star and World cup Coach Glenn Hoddle who along with Rednapp completes a formidable bench full of experience that should steward QPR’s return through the turbulent waters of the Premiership.