The English Premier League takes another break this weekend as Roy Hodgson’s national team faces Slovenia in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley Stadium, today.

Chelsea, the only undefeated team after 11 matches and with the best scoring record, are the top team in the English Premier League as Southampton continue to defy the odds. The Saints are the Blues’ nearest rivals, just four points adrift.

Southampton boast the best defensive record, having conceded just five goals (one at home and four away).

Last week, Chelsea gave another clear indication of their strength after beating 2013-14 runners-up Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield with Diego Costa netting his 10th goal of the season.

It seems Costa has solved Chelsea’s scoring problems which hampered their aspirations at home and abroad last season.

Jose Mourinho remains positive on his team’s chances of winning the title even though a lot of matches still have to be played.

The critics had predicted a bleak campaign for Southampton but despite losing a host of top-notch players in summer the St Mary’s outfit are probably playing the best football in the division.

A major contributor to South-ampton’s success is their excellent youth system as they manage to introduce talented youngsters into the senior squad with constant regularity.

One also has to give praise to Ronald Koeman who did well to fill the missing parts and set the style of the new Southampton.

At Anfield, the fans cannot believe how their team is failing to produce the same kind of performances from last season as Liverpool are struggling to keep the pace with the leading teams.

Bosses to blame

Manager Brendan Rodgers is blaming the club bosses for denying him some top quality signings this summer. Liverpool’s woes were compounded as the upset to Chelsea saw the Reds slipping to 11th place.

In summer, Rodgers was unable to sign an adequate replacement for Barcelona-bound Luis Suarez with the likes of Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez all opting against moves to Merseyside.

Rodgers admitted his club will have to work harder and be smarter to tempt the world’s best to Anfield after new arrivals Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Lazar Markovic struggled to make any impact so far this season.

Champions Manchester City are another side that have failed to sparkle both in England and Europe this season.

The rich owners at the Etihad Stadium still have faith in Manuel Pellegrini’s abilities but it seems the Chilean will have little cash to spend on new players in the winter transfer window.

Pellegrini, however, is hoping he will be able to keep hold of Frank Lampard, currently on loan from New York City FC, at least until mid-March when the new MLS season kicks off.

While Louis van Gaal admits he is still searching for the best system to make the most of the Manchester United players at his disposal, Arsene Wenger has effectively surrendered the Premier League title to Chelsea just 11 games into the season.

Arsenal are 12 points behind the Blues following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Swansea and Wenger does not appear to hold out much hope of catching the leaders.

Van Gaal worked hard to implement a 3-5-2 formation after taking over at Old Trafford in summer but lately he has since changed to 4-5-1 and, in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace he reverted to 4-1-4-1.

UK soccer fixtures

League One
Coventry-Notts County
Crewe-Chesterfield
Doncaster-Sheffield Utd
Gillingham-Leyton Orient
Oldham-Crawley - 14:00
Port Vale-Rochdale
Preston-Bradford
Scunthorpe-MK Dons - pp
Swindon-Bristol City
Walsall-Peterborough
Yeovil-Fleetwood

League Two
Wimbledon-Dagenham
Carlisle-Accrington
Luton-Tranmere
Morecambe-Bury - 15:30
Plymouth-Portsmouth - 13:05
Shrewsbury-Mansfield
Southend-Hartlepool
Stevenage-Cheltenham
York-Oxford

Tomorrow:
Newport-Exeter - 16:00

Factbox − England national team striker Wayne Rooney

England striker Wayne Rooney is expected to win his 100th international cap against Slovenia at Wembley today.

Born: October 24, 1985 in Liverpool.

Club career

• After coming through Everton’s youth academy, Rooney made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2002.

Manchester United signed the 18-year-old for 25.6 million pounds in August 2004.

Rooney has won five Premier League titles, two League Cups and one Champions League with United.

He was handed a five-year contract by David Moyes in February and was given the captain’s armband after Louis van Gaal took charge at Old Trafford ahead of the 2014-15 season.

Rooney is third on United’s record all-time scoring list with 219 goals in 450 appearances. He is 30 behind Bobby Charlton’s record of 249.

England

• Made his debut as a 17-year-old in 2003, coming on as a substitute against Australia to become England’s then-youngest ever player.

Scored his first senior international goal against Macedonia in England’s 2-1 Euro 2004 qualifying victory to become the country’s youngest scorer at 17 years 317 days.

Rooney scored four times in the Euro 2004 finals before England bowed out in the quarter-finals to Portugal.

He almost missed the 2006 World Cup finals after suffering a foot injury two months before the tournament.

Despite recovering in time, Rooney looked far from his best and failed to score against Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden before his tournament ended in misery after being sent off in the quarter-final defeat by Portugal.

Lacklustre performances

• After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, Rooney had to wait until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to play in another major international tournament.

However, the striker’s lacklustre, goalless performances were criticised and England were eliminated in the second round.

Rooney helped England secure their place at Euro 2012 but was sent off in their last qualifier against Montenegro and was banned for three matches, which was reduced to two on appeal.

Missed England’s opening two games of Euro 2012 against France and Sweden but scored on his return against Ukraine before England were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Italy.

Becoming captain

• Having endured two disappointing World Cup campaigns, Rooney was determined to make amends at this year’s tournament in Brazil but he was played out of position in the opening match against Italy.

Rooney did score his first ever World Cup goal in England’s 2-1 defeat by Uruguay before they were knocked out of the tournament without a win in the group stage.

After England’s poor World Cup showing, Steven Gerrard retired from international duty and relinquished the captaincy.

Coach Roy Hodgson named Rooney as captain in August ahead of the start of England’s Euro Championship 2016 qualifying campaign.

Rooney has scored 43 goals for England in 99 appearances and is six behind Bobby Charlton’s record of 49.