The Best…..

Arjen Robben repaid some of that large transfer fee with a two goal debut for Bayern Munich against last season’s Champions Wolfsburg. That should take a little pressure off manager Louis van Gaal if only for a short time. 

There has never been a question about Robben’s ability but there have been justifiable concerns about his capacity to stay fit or to play when not exactly 100%.

After an impressive opening day showing against Siena Milan were destroyed on Saturday by a rampant Inter side. Inter tore into their city rivals and had too much power, strength, movement and pace – Milan could not live with Inter.

Many of Jose Mourinho’s new signings were prominent with Thiago Motta scoring a peach of a goal, Milito thundering home a penalty and Wesley Sneijder effortlessly filling into the playmaker’s role.

However, the best performance was by Samuel Eto’o. He didn’t show up on the score sheet but his mobility and intelligent running sent panic through the Milan defence.

A word of praise as well for Milan keeper Marco Storari – he may have picked the ball out the Milan net four times but without him the score would have been a lot  worse.

Real Madrid ran out 3-2 winners against Deportivo La Coruna but it might have easily been four. After failing to hold an Alonso drive the Depor keeper Aranzubia recovered from a prone position to parry Benzema’s follow up effort on to the crossbar and to safety. A stunning and brave save.

The best game of the weekend was perhaps Roma v Juventus. Diego was again the star for Juve as he scored their first two goals. The first was of particular note as he ran from the half way line before pocking the ball past Roma keeper Julio Sergio.  De Rossi equalized with a terrific blast from 25 yards+ after being set up from a quickly taken free kick. All-in-all a terrific game of football.

Perhaps it should not fall under the category of “best” but the resilience of Manchester United showed through again on Saturday. United struggled for lengthy stretches of the game but waited for their opportunities to come around. Giggs did little except play a splendid pass that led to the penalty award and then floated in the free kick that Diaby inexplicably headed into his own net.


Honorable mentions

We don’t get many opportunities to watch Maccabi Haifa play but even with Red Bull Salzburg providing disappointing opposition there was much to admire in the Israeli champions 3-0 win on Tuesday in the Champions League play-off second leg. Katan was outstanding in midfield – he has just been recalled to the national team squad – while 18-year-old Mohammad Ghadir looks to be an exceptional talent.

Thursday’s Champions League draw matched Maccabi Haifa with Bayern Munich, Juventus and Bordeaux and it seems unlikely that the Israeli side can move on to the last 16 by finishing in one of the top two group spots.  However, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Bordeaux should approach their games in Tel Aviv with caution.

The San Jose Earthquakes defence was certainly culpable as they backed off New England midfielder Wells Thompson. Nonetheless, Thompson’s left footed curler from the edge of the Earthquakes penalty box to the far corner was an absolute cracker.  Thompson’s goal turned out to be the game winner in a crucial 2-1 win.

Michel Bastos is enhancing his reputation with some great long range shooting. The Lyon midfielder was on target again scoring the third goal in a 3-1 win against AS Nancy.


Best forgotten…..

In the end it did not cost his team points. But Dimitar Berbatov’s miss, with only the keeper to beat in the second minute of added time, as United tried to hold off Arsenal, was shocking. As it was only an eagle-eyed assistant referee who flagged William Gallas offside saved the Bulgarian from ridicule.

A rookie coaching mistake by Milan’s new boss Leonardo against Inter in the Milan derby on Saturday? With Gattuso on a yellow card and injured Leonardo asked him to keep playing until Clarence Sedoorf readied himself for action.  Before the substitution could take place Gattuso slid in late on Wesley Sneijder and another card ensued. Milan were down 2-0 and reduced to 10-men with no way back.

How did Mike Dean manage to issue 9 yellow cards in a Manchester United v Arsenal game that hardly contained a bad foul?

Any groundskeepers out there looking for work? If so you might want to apply to the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The pitch looks like a turnip patch. 

Stat facts…..

Before their 3-1 loss to Aston Villa, Liverpool had gone undefeated in the Premier League at Anfield since December 2007 – a run of 31 games. 

Stoke’s 1-0 win against Sunderland was the 9th time in their last 17 meetings that the same final score was produced.

After beating Portsmouth 1-0 Manchester City took their run of clean sheets in this season’s Premier League to three. Combined with a 1-0 win at the end of last season this is the first time they have managed to keep the opposition off the score sheet for four straight Premier League games.

Juventus’ 3-1 win over Roma means that it is over four years since Roma last tasted a victory in this bitterly contested match. Roma’s last win came in February 2004 and in the nine matches since they have lost seven and drawn two.  

Ligue Une has earned the handle as the lowest scoring league in Europe over the last few seasons. However, it took until round four this past weekend to record the first scoreless draw of the season as US Boulogne and AJ Auxerre played to a stalemate.

What was said….

Maccabi Haifa's return to the Champions League group stage was engineered by head coach Elisha Levy.

Paulo Bento, Sporting coach - “Sometimes I give this example – what made me nervous about [the film] Titanic was when a lifeboat was going down with women and children and a man jumped into it. Courage is something that I don't miss at this moment. I feel better in the difficult moments. “
It is rarely a good idea to work the Titanic into a conversation when discussing your team’s poor start to the season.

“Ginners ease into group stages of Champions League
Arsenal eased into the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday by outclassing Celtic 3-1 to enter the draw where they will be joined by Fiorentina, VfB Stuttgart, Olympiakos and APOEL Nicosia.”
Headline from Today’s Zaman. I wonder if Wenger knows that his youngsters have been hitting the G&Ts.

Paul Doyle writes about the outstanding player of the Champions league play-off round – Lyon’s Lisandro Lopez.

Between segments of the FSR on Friday we were having a bit of fun with what might be a commentator’s nightmare – that would be Guingamp facing Sporting Gijon. Derek Taylor has now gone a step further and come up a four team friendly tournament that would test the wiliest of play-by-play men. How about Honka and Cucuta joining the aforementioned Guingamp and Sporting Gijon?

“Five things I have learned from writing this column
1 Scots do not like being referred to as Jocks. Some see no harm in it and a few even support the view that it is a relatively chummy, semi-descriptive and non-pejorative term that can be used without malice, though the ones that think otherwise do so with a vengeance. While I still do not believe it is necessarily abusive or racist, as long as others disagree it is best avoided.

2 A slighted Scotsman is a ****cat next to a slighted Scouser. Liverpudlians are the most easily offended people in the world, but do not mind being called Scousers.

3 Rugby union aficionados never refer to their sport as rah-rah and take a dim view when anyone else does. Even in jest. Especially people who cover chav-ball for a living.

4 Some people actually take the trouble to cut out and keep your predictions for the season, and post them back to you in April or May, suggesting you are a muppet. Don't believe anyone who tells you that today's newspapers are just tomorrow's fish and chip wrappers. For a section of supporters who take football just a bit too seriously, this year's newspapers are next year's ammunition.

5 There is never a good time to suggest football deserves a pat on the back for offering honest, wholesome, family entertainment. But especially not in a week when West Ham are due to meet Millwall. Back to the 70s sounded about right, except that now fences are down, post Hillsborough, and police inside grounds have largely been replaced by stewards, pitch invasions are silly breaches of trust rather than real acts of boot-boy bravado.

One hesitates to glamorize the old ultraviolence, and what happened outside the stadium was far more sinister, yet watching the action inside the Boleyn Ground it was almost possible to feel nostalgia for the days when hooligans were leaner, meaner and better looking. I'm not sure I should say that. I'm not even sure I mean it. I just did not anticipate football proving so graphically that life is becoming uglier. Even our hard boys are flabby, out of shape and all too plainly not boys. If I were a 70s hooligan, I think I might sue."

Paul Wilson with more than a few true words from his Observer column.

Paul Wilson one again, this time on the Eduardo diving controversy. Michael Grant suggests that the truth about diving and cheating comes down to one basic fact – whether your team is a victim or perpetrator. Given Aiden McGeady’s dismissal for diving on Sunday versus Hibs, Tony Mowbray’s comments very much anticipated this exact situation.

An interview with Viv Anderson and his work to help recognize football's first black professional Arther Wharton. And here in a similar vein is the story of the first balck international player Andrew Watson who played for Scotland but whose story was, like Wharton's, lost.

Coming up this week…..

Barcelona opens their defensive of the Liga when they face Sporting Gijon on Monday. With WCQ scheduled for this coming weekend there is little else of note.

Yes it is too early in the season to talk of title deciders and must win games but a Manchester United – Arsenal clash is guaranteed to get the juices flowing no matter when it takes place.

These two teams have served up some classics over the years. What’s more it will not have escaped the notice of the two managers that Arsenal’s previous wins in the league at Old Trafford have a strong correlation to the Gunners winning the title.

Arsenal have won four top flight titles in the last two decades and have only won four times at Old Trafford in the league in that time and all by 1-0 scorelines. Three of wins have been precursors to winning the league while an infamous scoreless draw in September 2003 proved to be a critical moment in their unbeaten season of 2003/04.

October 20, 1990 – Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal
This one could be regarded as the first Battle of Old Trafford. Swedish winger Anders Limpar got the only goal of the game but the match is remembered for a brawl that broke out after Arsenal left back Nigel Winterburn slide in late on United’s Denis Irwin close to the touchline.

The clash set of a donnybrook that involved 21 players (Arsenal keeper David Seaman sat this out perhaps more worried about it might affect his hair) and eventually led to both sides being docked points by the FA. United were deducted a point while Arsenal lost two and in the process became the answer to the trivia question - which team won at Old Trafford but dropped points in the process?

Arsenal lost only one league game all season and finished seven points ahead of runners-up Liverpool. United finished 6th 24 points behind Arsenal and three points below 5th place Manchester City. This was the last time that City ended a season looking down on Manchester United.

March 14, 1998 - Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal arrived at Old Trafford nine points behind Manchester United and although they had games in hand a United win might have proved to be a critical psychological blow to the Gunners. As it was, a Marc Overmars’ goal with 11 minutes remaining decided the outcome. After 38 games Arsenal had garnered 78 points, one more than Manchester United and it was enough to give Arsene Wenger his first Premier League in his first full season in charge at Highbury.

May 8, 2002 - Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal
This Arsenal win clinched the title and it was part of a run of thirteen straight wins at the business end of the season. Sylvain Wiltord scored the lone goal close to the hour mark and the league title proved to be the first leg of a second domestic double in four seasons. Manchester United finished third on 77 points, Liverpool were runners up on 80 and Arsenal ended the season with 87 points.

September 21, 2003 - Manchester United 0-0 Arsenal
This match was the antithesis of a boring goalless game. The game was always only a spark away from an explosion and with nine minutes left Patrick Vieira and Ruud van Nistelrooy applied a blow torch.

Vieira and van Nistelrooy clashed on the edge of the Arsenal penalty box and melee ensued. The Arsenal captain was sent off and the Dutchman vilified by the remaining Arsenal players. But that was not the end of it. United were awarded an injury time penalty which van Nistelrooy hammered off the cross bar.

The referees whistle was immediately blown for full time and then the party kicked off with players exchanging threats and abuse rather than jerseys. A number of players received invites to an FA disciplinary meeting shortly after.

Van Nistelrooy’s miss proved to be of historical significance as it was the closest any team came to beating Arsenal that season. They won the Premier League by an 11 point margin over Chelsea and with United a further three points behind in third place.

Old Trafford has also proven to be a graveyard for Arsenal over the last two decades.

February 25, 2001 - Manchester United 6-1 Arsenal
Thierry Henry equalized after Dwight Yorke had given United a lead in the third minute. However, it proved to be a false dawn for the Gunners as Yorke completed a hat trick with less than a quarter of the game gone.

Roy Keane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added goals before half time while Teddy Sheringham twisted the knife to make it 6-1 right on full time. Arsenal’s Latvian centre back Igor Stepanovs underwent a severe test from which he never recovered.

United cruised to the title 10 points ahead of Arsenal who were runners up.

October 24, 2004 - Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal
United went into this game trailing Arsenal by 11 points while Arsenal were enjoying a league record breaking 49-game unbeaten run. After Sol Campbell was adjudged to have tripped Wayne Rooney in the box Ruud van Nistelrooy redeemed himself for the previous season’s penalty miss by giving United the lead.

Rooney doubled the margin and put the game beyond Arsenal when he scored in the final minute of the match.

The setback proved decisive for Arsenal as they lost momentum in the following month or so. Three draws (Southampton, Crystal Palace, and West Brom) and a loss away to Liverpool encouraged an already rampant Chelsea side under Jose Mourinho.

Chelsea racked up 95 points in winning their first league title since 1955 and Arsenal had to settle for runners up spot on 83 points. Manchester United finished a further six points behind Arsenal.

Feeling lucky……
Robbie Keane likes the look of Birmingham City - six goals in his last seven starts against the team in blue.

Bolton has been a favourite target of Steven Gerrard over the years. He has scored six Premier League goals against Bolton, his second best Premier League scoring performance performance against any team other than Aston Villa.

Going into the match against Marseille this weekend Bordeaux have won their last 14 Ligue Une games – a French record.

Hexed…………
Blackburn Rovers have a very poor record against West Ham United with only a solitary win in the last 11 league meetings.

Birmingham may as well enjoy the attractions of London as they have rarely left with three points. On their last 14 trips to the English capital they have only recorded one win.

It is 36 years since Fulham last won a league game at Villa Park. Since then they lost five and drawn five.

The Best…..

Forty-two minutes of the Wigan – Manchester United game with Dimitar Berbatov breaking into the penalty box…and an absolutely brilliant tackle by Titus Bramble. It was worthy of Bobby Moore or Franco Baresi.

(The second half, however, did not turn out so well for Bramble and his Wigan mates as United tore through Wigan apart and scored five with no reply.)

Ronaldinho sets them up and Pato scores them.  That was the case on Saturday as Milan beat Siena 2-1. The second set up was particularly noteworthy. Ronaldinho sliced a perfectly weighted and angled pass inside the Siena full back for Flamini to run onto. The former Arsenal man then played the ball across the penalty box and all Pato had to do was to redirect it into an empty net. 

Lyon went on a buying spree this past summer in an attempt to regain their French title and to challenge the top dogs in the Champions League. An opening day 2-2 draw with Le Mans in Ligue Une was an inauspicious start and a 1-0 win against Valenciennes was only a slight improvement.

However, on Wednesday against Anderlecht everything clicked – particularly in a four goal first half – and Lyon ran out 5-1 winners in the Champions League play-off round first-leg. Lyon followed that up with a very comfortable 3-0 win away to Auxerre on Saturday.

Two wins in four days has Burnley fans grinning from ear-to-ear. Their team was handed possibly the most difficult start of any in the Premier League this season with Stoke (a), Manchester United (h), Everton (h), Chelsea (a), and Liverpool (a). Three games in and six points in the bag – nice going and with clean sheets against last season’s champions and the side that finished fifth. 

“Towering” and “majestic” are adjectives often used to describe headed goals. In the case of Iaquinta’s winner for Juventus against Chievo on Sunday the header was worthy of both descriptions and it was unsaveable as well.  A great free kick delivery from debut-boy Diego and a truly magnificent finish. 
 
Honorable mentions
Arsenal defender William Gallas has three goals in the first three competitive games of this season. The first was a header against Everton, the second deflected off his back and settled in the Celtic net but Saturday’s goal against Portsmouth was even stranger. Gallas managed to deflect the ball up and off his own face after Van Persie had played the ball across the Pompey penalty box. It is a skill that few have mastered!

There were three very respectable performances from the promoted clubs in Serie A. Bari shared two goals with last season’s scudetto winners Inter at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium; Livorno drew 0-0 at home with Cagliari; Parma gave away a very late equalizer and had to settle for a 2-2 draw away against Udinese.

Best forgotten…..

How many games featuring Manchester United will it take to get through an entire ninety minutes without the name Cristiano Ronaldo being uttered?

Jurgen Klinsmann was lambasted last season at Bayern Munich and considering their start this season Louis van Gaal can look forward to the same treatment. Three games into the season and he is apparently not seeing eye-to-eye with Franck Ribery, the team has drawn with Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen and on Saturday they lost 2-1 away to newly promoted Mainz.

Stat facts….

After a scoreless draw on Saturday Stoke have now failed to score in their last six meetings in all competitions against Birmingham. Meanwhile in Birmingham’s opening three games of the Premiership season there has been a total of two goals and one was from the penalty spot.

Lyon has only lost once to Auxerre in their last 19 league meetings – on Saturday they won 3-0.

After a 2-1 win at Siena, Milan are now unbeaten in their last 14 matches played  away from the San Siro on the opening day of Serie A. Ten of them have resulted in wins.

Spurs’ come from behind 2-1 win against West Ham was the first time they have won three consecutive games at the start of a Premier League season. The last time Spurs started a league season with three wins on the trot was close to half a century ago on their way to an opening run of eleven straight wins. That season they became the first team in the 20th century to complete the English league and cup double. 

The win at West Ham marked Spurs’ second away win in four days – this is the first time since 2004/05 that they have won their first two away games.

Last season over three quarters of Genoa’s goals came in the second half of Serie A games. They started the new season in very much the same vein with all their goals in a 3-2 win over Roma coming after tea and oranges.

A 3-2 win at Dallas brought a 13-game MLS winless streak to an end for New York Red Bulls.

Two late goals from Hamburg brought Wolfsburg unbeaten home run in league play to an end. The last team to leave the Volkswagen Arena with three points was Bochum on April 15, 2008. Wolfsburg then played another 20 games before tasting defeat on Sunday and the last 16 of the games were wins.

What was said….

David Lacey thinks that the best time for European Super League would have been in the 70s.

World Soccer editor Gavin Hamilton offers some thoughts on a European Super League as well.

James Eastham looks at this transfer window as the time when French football moved from a net exporter of star players to an importer.

Scottish football is in freefall and teams will pay a heavy price in future Champions and Europa Leagues.

This article is a few weeks old but given that it seems more likely every day that Landon Donovan is on his way to Europe (again) I thought it was worth debating.

Fans in Canada might want to check out this website that keeps track on what is on TV and when.

Coming up this week…..

Monday – Liverpool plays host to Aston Villa on Monday in the Premier League while Norwich who just appointed Paul Lambert as their new manager last week faces Sunderland in the Carling Cup.

Tuesday - The return legs of the Champions League play-off round. Debrecen (2-1) v Levski Sofia; Anderlecht v Lyon (5-1); Maccabi Haifa (2-1) v Red Bull Salzburg; Atletico Madrid (3-2) v Panathiniakos; FC Zurich (3-0) v Ventspils.

A close to full slate of Carling Cup matches with premier leagues sides involved in the following games – Blackburn at Gillingham; Burnley away to Hartlepool; Hull at home to Southend; Portsmouth home to Hereford; Birmingham away to Southampton; Bolton at Tranmere; West Ham home to Millwall; Wolves home to Swindon.

There are ten games in the Scottish League Cup but the teams that qualified for Europe (most of which have no further interest already!) have been excused from playing in this round.

Wednesday – More of the same in Champions league with Arsenal (2-0) v Celtic; Olympiakos (2-0) v FC Sheriff; Fiorentina (2-2) v Sporting Lisbon; Apoel v Copenhagen (0-1); Stuttgart (2-0) v Timisoara.

Seven more Carling Cup games with three more Premier teams tempting fate – Spurs (winners and finalists the last two seasons) are away to Doncaster Rovers; Wigan away to Blackpool; Stoke away to Leyton Orient. In MLS Chivas are away to Real Salt Lake.

Thursday – There are more Europa League qualifying games than you can shake a stick at while Manchester City squeeze in a Carling Cup game at Crystal Palace. Out of 12 Premier League teams involved in Carling Cup matches this week I am going to predict that at least a third will fall by the wayside.

Serie A
The last few seasons have not gone kindly for Serie A. In 2003 we had two Italian teams (Milan and Juventus) contest the Champions League final and although Milan won the trophy in 2007 the reality is that the league has taken a real kicking on and off the field.

A revival in fortune seems to be some years off especially after a summer in which the league’s two greatest stars Kaka and Ibrahimovic have moved to take up residence in Madrid and Barcelona.

Nonetheless, there have been some very interesting and exciting signings during the last six weeks and here is a rundown of some of them.
 
INTER
After a first season in charge that brought another scudetto to Inter but failure in Europe, Jose Mourinho has moved to retrofit the Inter squad. The arrival of Lucio from Bayern Munich provides Mourinho with a very different and exhilarating option in the centre of the defence.

Lucio loves to go forward and the acquisition of holding midfielder Thiago Motta should allow the Brazil captain to venture far and wide.

If Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o can hit it off Inter will have a far better balance (and more goal options) than the last few seasons when they have been heavily (read overly) reliant on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Eto’o comes with excess baggage but Mourinho can earn his entire contract in one year if he is able to use his famed man-management skills to bring the Cameroon international around.

The signing of Marko Arnautovic from Twente in the Netherlands may not have snagged the headlines to the same degree as others but in the long term the acquisition of the young and Zlatan-like Austrian may turn out to be a very important piece of business.

JUVENTUS
Signing Diego is a very exciting move by Juventus. The Brazilian has the ability to create and score and Juve’s success or otherwise this season will largely depend on how quickly Diego adapts to Serie A.

This past summer at the Confederation Cup critics and writers finally saw what anyone who regularly watched Fiorentina last season knew already - Felipe Melo is an exceptionally good player. He reads the game well, tackles like a tank when needed, has a decent shot, an eye for goal and is mean.

On defence it is a case of in with both the old and new. Fabio Cannavaro returns after three seasons with Real Madrid while Caceres comes over from Barcelona. It was only twelve months ago that Caceres moved from Villarreal with a large cheque moving in the opposite direction.

However, over last season his stock fell considerably to the point where he was overlooked for a place in the Champions League final even though Barcelona were suffering from an injury crisis (and suspensions) in their back four.  

MILAN
A few outstanding displays at the Confederations Cup by free agent USA centre back Oguchi Onyewu led to a surprise move to the San Siro. Onyewu has the intimidating physical skills for an outstanding centre back but his positional play and concentration has often been rightfully called into question. We will watch carefully to see how this one pans out.

Deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu, Milan snapped Dutch striker Klaus-Jan Huntelaar from the Madrid bargain bin. With the pace of Pato (and his rapid improvement) and Huntelaar’s ability to sniff out a goal, Milan may even improve on their league tying 70 goals of last season.

GENOA
Without a shadow of a doubt Genoa were one of the most exciting sides in Italyand in the whole of Europe last season. They played a high tempo, pressing game that more times than not wore teams down in the last quarter of a game.

They have lost some key players but they have also made some intelligent acquisitions. The veteran striker Hernan Crespo will be giving it one more shot. Crespo has lost a step but in truth he was never the quickest of forwards.

The Argentine striker instead opted for intelligent movement in and around the penalty box or playing off the shoulder of the last defender. He will score some goals if given the chance.

Unheralded but a signing that could fall into the best bargain category by season’s end is that of Houssine Kharja. The Moroccan midfielder impressed last season at Siena and could be a very astute signing.  

Another that falls into that category is the swap deal with Palermo that brought Italy international keeper Marco Amelia to the club with Rubinho moving in the opposite direction.

Some other interesting signings
Cagliari signed Nenè from Nacional in Portugal.  The Brazilian striker scored 20 goals in 27 games last season.  

Promoted Livorno moved to bring Cristiano Lucarelli back to the club after a two season absence. The striker is on loan from Parma.

Fabio Quagliarella is on the move again and this time he has landed at Napoli. This could be a perfect match. Another former Udinese player, Morgan De Sanctis, has also signed for the Naples club.

De Sanctis moved to Sevilla at the end of the 2007 season without great success and then went on loan to Galatasaray last season.  

Austrian striker Edwin “Jimmy” Hoffer is another arrival – in this case from Rapid Vienna.

Giant Romanian centre back Goian will be patrolling the Palermo back line this season.

Udinese have a well earned reputation for signing and nurturing young talent and they have dipped into the seemingly unending supply of great young players from South America once again. Young Chilean striker Fabian Orellana has been signed from Audax Italiano while Santos forward Alemao will be another new face.


Feeling lucky……
Spurs have never started a Premier League season with three consecutive wins but they have a chance to do just that this weekend when they face West Ham. In their last six league meetings against West Ham, Spurs have won five and drawn the other.

Aston Villa must be one of Steven Gerrard’s favourite opponents. He has nine goals in 17 Premier league appearances against Aston Villa and his goals have helped Liverpool to nine wins, seven draws and a single loss.  

On the face of it newly promoted Bari have their work cut out when they face reigning Serie A champions Inter and the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium this weekend.

However, Bari will be buoyed by the fact that in their last 15 league meeting Inter enjoys only the slightest edge with eight wins against Bari’s seven.

Looking to break a hex…………
Chelsea and Fulham have faced each other 16 times in the Premier League and the Cottages have only one win. The win came over three years ago when a Luis Boa Morte goal decided the game at Craven Cottgae in which William Gallas was sent off.

Wigan have yet to beat Manchester United in eight Premier league matches while only scoring four goals. Three or the four goals have opened the scoring but Wigan have yet to hang on for a single point let alone three.

Chievo can only look to two draws in 12 matches against Juventus in Serie A with the other ten finishing in defeat. It probably does not help that 37 times Juve have opened the Serie A season at home and they have yet to taste defeat - thirty wins and seven draws.

The regular Monday blog entry should be up and firing on all cylinders next week. As it is, I can only provide an abbreviated version this time around. I watched four Premier League games on Saturday but wasn’t able to catch the two Sunday games due to travel arrangements. They are recorded so they will not be missed – just delayed.

I had to head to Los Angeles on Sunday to get ready for the Champions League that starts this Tuesday on FSC and other Fox channels in the USA. The normal schedule will have me travelling on Mondays and helping with the pre, half time and post game Champions League shows.

There will also be pieces recorded for inclusion in the FSR on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when a  Champions League week comes around – which is 17 times a season if you count the final.  

Arsenal’s six goals against Everton exploded off the Saturday scoreboard garnering 85% of the headlines and attention. It was probably a case of bad news/good news for Chelsea who put in a stuttering performance against Hull City.

However, it was unfortunate if you are a Wigan supporter. The quality of Wigan’s football at Villa Park was outstanding and it has not received the praise that it deserves.

Although Villa started brightly once Wigan established their game in midfield they played some very composed football and the longer the game went on the more clueless Villa looked – they just could not find a way back into the game. 

Melchiot and Figueroa at right and left back defended solidly and when they pushed forward it was with intent rather than through curiosity. The Honduran especially played a couple of spectacular long rang passes with his left foot that caused all sorts of problems for the Villa defence. 

Rodallega’s goal was nothing short of stunning and was perhaps an indication that the positive performances from him at the end of last season were a precursor to an exciting season.

Nevertheless it was the midfield that stood out. Honduran Hendry Thomas slipped into the position left largely vacant by fellow national Wilson Palacios when he signed for Spurs last January and the newcomer did not miss a beat.

Thomas’ role along with Michael Brown (he was very lucky that the officials failed to see his stomp on Ashley Young) is to provide a launching pad for their more gifted colleagues and that is what they did.

Charles N’Zgobia must give thanks every day that he escaped the asylum that is St James’ Park while Jason Koumas’ stuttering career might finally fulfill its promise under manager Roberto Martinez.

Koumas’ skill has never been in doubt but he has often been regarded as a match-winner in the Championship but a luxury in the Premier League. He took his goal – the clincher even though there was half an hour left – with aplomb.

But it was Jordi Gomez who stood apart from all others. He may not be the quickest but every time he got on the ball then good things happened for Wigan. Given freedom to create and dictate play he was excellent.

One game does not a season make and Wigan will once again find out that when you raise your head above the parapet it is liable to get shot at. Other Premier League teams will have noticed the Wigan display against Aston Villa even if the headline writers did not.

Stats Facts
Wigan have never lost in five Premier League trips to Villa Park and four times they have blanked Villa.
It was also the first time Wigan have won on the opening day of the Premier League.