Two teams that should know each other inside out go at it again this weekend. Liverpool and Chelsea have faced each other twenty-four times in the last five years and they have in the process built a rivalry that just didn’t exist during the first ninety-six years of competition.

With Chelsea emerging as an English powerhouse in the middle of this decade an uptick in games against the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United would have been expected.  

But the sheer scope of the rash of Chelsea – Liverpool meetings dwarfs the others by a considerable margin. Over the same period Chelsea has played Arsenal 13 times and Manchester United 15 times so it is difficult to put the greater frequency down to anything else except the luck of the draw.  

Over the five

The Best....

Only seven games into the season and Wigan have already experienced some incredible swings in performances and results. Saturday was certainly one of the highs when they put previously unbeaten Chelsea to the sword.

A couple of weeks ago Vito Mannone had to pick the ball out of his own net twice in the first four minutes of Arsenal’s Champions League game away to Standard Liege. But since then the young Italian keeper has turned back all comers. On Saturday he was the difference between a three points for Arsenal and possibly none at all. He pulled off a handful of excellent saves that left Fulham frustrated.   

Louis Saha goal against Portsmouth was a great example of lethal finishing. Saha took a long pass down – it looked as if it was with his cheek

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

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