Pointless trio face daunting away matches

West Ham United, Stoke City and Wigan Athletic are three clubs still in search of their first point after two matches. The three of them will be on their travels this weekend as Stoke clash with Chelsea, West Ham go to Old Trafford to meet Manchester United and Wigan are away to Tottenham.

The Premier League has produced a spate of high-scoring victories with Chelsea hitting six goals past West Brom and Wigan while Arsenal and Newcastle also had 6-0 wins over Blackpool and Aston Villa respectively.

The most shocking result was Aston Villa’s 6-0 rout at promoted Newcastle. The Villans, who are still under caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, tomorrow play hosts to Everton, who have one point to their credit. US coach Bob Bradley has been linked with the managerial vacancy at Villa Park.

In their last five trips to the Midlanders’ den, the Toffees have failed to record a single win.

Chelsea, the early leaders, will combat Stoke at Stamford Bridge.

The critics have been impressed by the ease with which Chelsea have plundered the goals in their first two outings.

French winger Florent Malouda is playing a big part in the Blues’ entertaining brand of attacking football. Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti said the English players have been showing great motivation after their country’s World Cup demise.

Sir Alex Ferguson was left fuming after Manchester United surrendered their lead in the 2-2 draw against Fulham last Sunday. This afternoon, the Red Devils remain at Old Trafford to host West Ham.

Wayne Rooney is set to return after recovering from illness. The evergreen Paul Scholes scored the 150th goal of his United career at Fulham.

West Ham’s back-to-back opening defeats left manager Avram Grant speechless but the Israeli noticed an improvement in his side’s performance in the second game.

Wigan have conceded 10 goals in their first two league outings and the fans turned against Spanish boss Roberto Martinez. Although he has received support from his chairman, Martinez’s days look numbered.

This afternoon, Wigan face another uphill struggle at Tottenham who thrashed the Latics 9-1 at White Hart Lane last season.

The Londoners, having qualified to the group stages of the Champions League after a 6-3 aggregate win over Swiss side Young Boys, are determined to gain another top-four finish. William Gallas, formerly of Arsenal, has joined the Spurs on a one-year contract.

While the Blackpool fans were over the moon after their opening 4-0 win at Wigan, they came back down to earth with a bang after a 6-0 rout to Arsenal.

Manager Ian Holloway will be hoping that his side improve on their home debut in the top flight, against Fulham. The Cottagers showed grit and courage to force a draw against Manchester United.

West Brom, led by Roberto Di Matteo, were delighted after chalking up their first points of the season with their home win over Sunderland. Tomorrow, the Albion will play at Liverpool who went down 3-0 to Manchester City last Monday.

The Liverpool fans, unhappy about the continuous upheavals in the club’s boardroom, can’t wait for the transfer window to close on Tuesday as some of their top players are still being chased by big clubs on the continent.

Wily Walcott

Arsenal, who have found their scoring rhythm, will be hoping to maintain their positive start when they visit tough side Blackburn this afternoon.

Arsene Wenger will have been pleased with Theo Walcott’s sprightly display against Blackpool as the English winger scored a hat-trick.

Blackburn are on the verge of a takeover and manager Sam Allardyce remarked that he would need a transfer kitty of more than £100 million to boost his team’s chances of challenging for a top-four finish.

Like most of the leading Premiership sides, Wolves are playing first-touch football and showed a never-say-die spirit to rescue a point at Everton. Yet, the dressing-room unity could be the key to a positive season for Mick McCarthy’s team.

At Molineux, the gold and blacks entertain Newcastle who are buoyed by their 6-0 win over Aston Villa. The happiest Magpie was striker Andy Carroll who scored a hat-trick.

Rookie manager Chris Hughton continues to confound his critics as Newcastle showed a marked improvement after their defeat at Manchester United.

Manchester City, on a high after their 3-0 win over Liverpool, travel to the north east to cross swords with Sunderland. Italian manager Roberto Mancini has a big squad and faces a tough task to keep all the players happy.

Irish goalkeeper Shay Given is seeking pastures new after losing the no.1 jersey to Joe Hart at City. Stephen Ireland, who has joined Aston Villa, warned James Milner that he will find thorns among the roses at Eastlands.

After their loss at West Brom, Sunderland’s boss Steve Bruce told his players to pull up their socks if they want to avoid a relegation battle.

At the Reebok Stadium, Bolton’s Owen Coyle will encourage his side to add to their four-point tally in the clash with Birmingham. The Blues also have four points.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster is determined to be a hit at Birmingham but he has a tough act to follow in Hart who impressed for the Blues before returning to Manchester City.