On Sunday January 11th of this year Chelsea traveled to play Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Premier League. By early evening Chelsea had been taken apart in a manner not seen for many a season.

The final score may have been 3-0 to United but the score line flattered Chelsea so resounding was the home team’s performance.

It was to be a game that marked the beginning of the end for Chelsea boss Luis Felipe Scolari. Chelsea struggled to beat Stoke the week after – needing two late goals from Belletti and Lampard – before another less than impressive display in dispatching relegation bound Middlesbrough.

A 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield made a parting of the ways close to inevitable while a scoreless draw at home to struggling Hull City sealed the Brazilian’s

The Best…..

Liverpool’s opening goal against Manchester United was wonderfully constructed and decisively executed. The move went from box to box and included five players. But the key moment may have been when Kuyt had a late change of mind and instead of sending a difficult through ball to Torres he played it square to Benayoun – albeit while stumbling to stay upright. Benayoun had a far better angle and was able to play in Torres who timed and directed his run quite beautifully.

Not many teams go to the Nou Camp and escape with a point let alone three. Although they were badly outshot Rubin Kazan made their two shots from Aleksandr Ryazantsev and Gökdeniz Karadeniz count as they beat Barcelona 2-1 and turned Group F in Champions League upside down.  

Can

Crisis is such a relative term – particularly in soccer. How else can you explain Burnley, with 12 points sitting in 9th position and a goal difference of –10, being regarded as a success while Liverpool are two positions and three points better off and enjoy a goal difference of 9 but are currently the crisis club of the Premier League?

Much of it comes down to the old adage about under promising and over delivering. Burnley supporters have seen their side return to the top flight after a trek through the Football League wilderness that lasted just short of a record set back in biblical times. For Burnley this season, survival equates to success.

However, for Liverpool supporters and many media pundits this was going to be the year that Liverpool won the Premier League for

The Best…..

Some may focus on a sub-par performance from Manchester United but nonetheless Sunderland played some very good soccer on Saturday at Old Trafford. They moved the ball nicely with an impressive midfield of Malbranque (my man-of the-match), Cana, Cattermole and Reid doing the spade work. With Bent and Jones meshing nicely up front this Sunderland should have no trouble finishing in the top half of the Premier League this season.

Didier Drogba was the difference once again for Chelsea. His delivery from the left to Nicolas Anelka for the opener against Liverpool was exquisite. Two weeks he did the same from the right side to set up Ashley Cole.

Palermo inflicted a first Serie A loss on Juventus by a score of 2-0 and it could have been a lot worse. The Sicilian club entered

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

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

<sup>The start of the new Premier League season is only days away and over the next five days I will preview all twenty clubs. It is an opportunity to stick your own neck out as well. Criticize my picks and the picks of others as much as you like – but be ready to back up your statements with your own predicted finishes. No trolling – instant red card.  You can also predict the first manager to leave their post as well as the three teams that will come up from the Championship.

Prediction contest rules are:
1. Five points for every exact finishing position predicted correctly.</sup>

^{2. Bonus points for correctly predicting the following:
           Champion 25 points
           Runner}