Mancini and Ancelotti duel at Eastlands
Chelsea had an astounding start to the current Premier League season, having earned maximum points from their first five matches and scored 21 goals in all. Yet, many are contending that the Blues’ first real test is scheduled for Eastlands this...
Chelsea had an astounding start to the current Premier League season, having earned maximum points from their first five matches and scored 21 goals in all.
Yet, many are contending that the Blues’ first real test is scheduled for Eastlands this afternoon when the champions play away at Manchester City.
So far, Chelsea have beaten West Brom (home 6-0), Wigan (away 6-0), Stoke (home 2-0), West Ham (away, 3-1) and Blackpool (home 4-0). They are leading the standings, four points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United. Man. City are seven points adrift.
City manager Roberto Mancini is facing problems with injuries to key players and his Italian counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti, who saw a second string Chelsea ousted from the League Cup by Newcastle, will again have Frank Lampard out.
Crown pretenders City will be keen to close the gap and boost confidence levels following their upset in the League Cup in midweek. They have won two of their five league outings, drawing twice and losing at Sunderland 0-1. Their draws came at Tottenham and home to Blackburn.
In the last five league duels at City’s patch, the home side beat Chelsea once (2-1 last season) and lost the remaining four.
Arsene Wenger was frustrated by the officials’ time-keeping following Sunderland’s last-gasp equaliser last week. Ten-man Arsenal were leading 1-0 but Sunderland levelled the scores deep into stoppage time.
Today, Arsenal play hosts to West Brom who climbed to 10th place thanks to a fine 3-1 win over Birmingham. The Baggies, through to the next round of the League Cup after beating Man. City, had Peter Odemwingie again in fine form. His goal turned the match on its head.
After the 3-2 win over rivals Liverpool, Manchester United travel to Bolton.
Dimitar Berbatov hit all three goals that buried Liverpool. The Bulgarian striker looks to be at his best and while Alex Ferguson said that United should have scored more goals, by contrast Reds’ skipper Steven Gerrard remarked that his team deserved a point.
In their last league outing, Tottenham showed their true mettle as they came from 0-1 down to topple Wolves 3-1. Today, the Spurs will be involved in their first league derby of the season when playing rock bottom West Ham.
On Wednesday, Tottenham were dumped out of the League Cup after a 1-4 upset to rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane.
After their first away win of the season (at Everton), Newcastle climbed to sixth place and tomorrow they entertain Stoke at St James Park.
In their only Premier League encounters, in 2008-09, Newcastle and Stoke shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium and 2-2 in the north-east.
Latest capture Haten Ben Arfa (Marseille) netted his first goal for the Toon, in the 1-0 triumph at Everton.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s misery persisted and after the 2-3 defeat at Old Trafford they were eliminated from the League Cup by lowly Northampton.
The club’s hierarchy continues to sweat to find the right buyer and nobody is in the known what will happen of Liverpool on October 6, the deadline when millions in debt will have to be settled with the bank.
Today, the Reds play Sunderland at Anfield.
The Black Cats are undefeated in their last three league matches, including a win over Manchester City and a draw against Arsenal, both at home.
Fixtures
Tomorrow
Bolton-Man. Utd (13:00)
Newcastle-Stoke (17:10)
Wolves-Aston Villa (15:05)
Standings: Chelsea 15; Arsenal, Manchester United 11; Manchester City, Tottenham 8; Newcastle, Fulham, Aston Villa, Blackpool, West Brom 7; Sunderand, Birmingham, Bolton 6; Blackburn, Wolves, Liverpool 5; Stoke, Wigan 4; Everton 2; West Ham 1.
The Championship
Cardiff-Millwall (13:00)
Burnley-Bristol City
Coventry-Preston
Derby-Crystal Palace
Leeds-Sheff. Utd
Norwich-Hull
Nottm Forest-Swansea
QPR-Doncaster
Reading-Barnsley
Scunthorpe-Ipswich
Watford-Middlesbrough
League One
Bournemouth-Carlisle
Brighton-Oldham
Bristol Rovers-Notts County
Charlton-Dagenham
Colchester-Tranmere
Hartlepool-Walsall
Peterborough-MK Dons
Rochdale-Plymouth
Sheff. Wed.-Southampton
Swindon-Huddersfield
Yeovil-Exeter
League Two
Cheltenham-Bury
Crewe-Oxford
Gillingham-Burton Albion
Hereford-Southend
Lincoln City-Stevenage
Morecambe-Barnet
Northampton-Bradford
Port Vale-Accrington
Rotherham-Chesterfield
Stockport-Aldershot
Torquay-Macclesfield
Wycombe-Shrewsbury