Positional top fives - Centre back

Up next in my positional top fives is centre back, sorry for the wait for this one as I had university work to finish and I was moving back home for a few weeks for Christmas!

Fabio Cannavaro captaining Italy

First up is Fabio Cannavaro. What Cannavaro lacked in stature, he made up for in strength, anticipation and positioning. He was given the nickname 'Muro Di Berlino' (The Berlin Wall) during his time in Italy because of his ability in the tackle. He made 690 career league appearances for seven clubs - Napoli, Parma, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al-Ahly scoring 19 goals. He is the record cap holder for the Italian national team after he surpassed Paolo Maldini's record in 2009. He announced his retirement from international football in 2010 after a poor Italy campaign, having amassed 136 caps, scoring two goals. Cannavaro won two Coppa Italias in his time at Parma, along with one Supercoppa Italia and a UEFA cup. He won two La Liga titles with Real Madrid as well as a Supercopa de Espana. With the Italian national team he won World Cup 2006 and due to his performances in the World Cup he won the 2006 Ballon D'or making him the oldest recipient of this title and the second centre-back ever to win it.

Franco Baresi turning out for AC Milan

Second is Cannavaro's countryman, Franco Baresi. Baresi played as a sweeper for AC Milan - the club at which he spent his entire career, making 719 appearances and scoring 33 goals. Oddly for an Italian defender, Baresi would often venture forward and become an attacking outlet for his team, though he would never neglect his defensive duties as he was part of what was known as one of Europe's meanest defences alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta and Massimo Tassotti. During his career, Baresi won six Scudetti, two Serie B titles, two intercontinental cups, four Italian Supercups and three Champions League titles. After 20 years with AC Milan, they retired his shirt number of 6 due to his excellent service to the club.  He also managed 81 caps for the Italian national team, scoring just a single goal and winning the 1982 World Cup. In 1999, he was named as the greatest AC Milan player of the century, he was also named Italian player of the 20th century by FIGC. He is also praised for helping to develop Costacurta and Maldini into the great players they became during his later years.

Bobby Moore in his iconic pose after winning the 1966 World Cup

Third up is a man who all England fans will hold dear to their hearts, Bobby Moore. He captained West Ham United for over 10 years, also making appearances for Fulham and later on in his career at San Antonio Thunder & Seattle Sounders. He made 699 appearances, scoring 26 goals. He won an FA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup but his greatest exploits were for England. He is the only player to captain England to World Cup glory, and it seems he will remain the only player to captain England to World Cup glory for the foreseeable future. Pele named him as the greatest defender he had ever played against and during his World Cup winning campaign he was voted the best player of the tournament by his fellow professionals. Franz Beckenbauer also called him the best defender of all-time. He won a total of 108 caps for England, which at the time was a national record until Peter Shilton broke it with 125 caps. Moore was the record holder for outfield players until David Beckham broke his record in 2009 with 109 caps, but unlike Beckham, Moore played every minute of every game he played in. Moore was posthumously inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.



Ronald Koeman playing for Barcelona

The penultimate player in my list is Ronald Koeman. Koeman was a defender who was not only known for his defending but his exploits going forward too, he had exceptional long-range accuracy, especially from free-kicks and an uncanny eye for goal. With 193 league goals in 533 league matches he is the highest scoring defender of all-time, a record which was helped by his set-piece mastery. He won four Dutch league titles, three Dutch cups and a European Cup during his time in Holland with Groningen and Ajax. During his time at Barcelona he won four La Ligas, one Copa Del Rey, one UEFA European Cup, one European Super Cup and two Supercopa Espana's. He also holds the record for the most successively converted penalty kicks with 25. He won 78 caps for Holland, scoring 14 goals. He won the 1988 European Championship with Holland. He is also the only player ever to score in two different consecutive European finals after he scored a free-kick in the 1992 Champions League victory.

Beckenbauer lifting the World Cup as captain of Germany

Last up is probably the greatest defender of all-time, Franz Beckenbauer. Nicknamed 'Der Kaiser' (The Emperor) because of his elegant and leadership and his dominance of any football pitch he stepped foot on, Beckenbauer is generally regarded as the greatest German footballer of all time and one of the most decorated footballers in history. Beckenbauer was a versatile footballer who could play as a centre midfielder as well as centre-back where he was most coveted, he is also often credited as having invented the modern sweeper role. Beckenbauer made 670 club appearances in his career, scoring 94 goals. He won five Bundesliga titles, four German cups, a Cup Winners' Cup, and three consecutive European Cups in his time in Germany, with Bayern Munich and Hamburg. He also won an NASL Championship during his time in America with New York Cosmos. He is the only player to win three consective European Cups as captain of a club, he is also the only player to have won the World Cup as both a captain and manager. He made 103 appearances for the German national team, scoring 14 goals. He won the 1974 World Cup, which followed a European Championship success in 1972. As an individual, Beckenbauer was a four-time winner of German footballer of the year as well as being a two-time Ballon D'or winner. He was voted the third greatest player of the 20th century, as well as second in the European player of the 20th century. He is also a member of the National Football Hall of Fame. His success at Bayern and for the German national team led him to later becoming the president of Bayern Munich.

Top five left-backs of all-time!

Up next in my positional top fives is left-back:



Roberto Carlos turning out for Brazil

First up is probably my favourite left-back of all-time, Roberto Carlos. The recently retired left-back is my favourite left-back of all-time simply because of his ability in both attacking and defending and he managed to epitomise the modern day full-back. Roberto Carlos greatest assets were his speed, long throw-ins and his unbelievable shot. He managed 606 career league appearances, scoring 75 league goals but he was best known for his spell at Spanish giants Real Madrid, who he was at for 11 years. At Real Madrid, he amassed 584 appearances in all competitions, scoring 71 goals (370 league appearances, 46 league goals). He played 30 or more league matches for 10 consecutive seasons and was one of the best and most consistent defenders in the world during this time. In 2006, he set an all-time record for Real Madrid for the most league appearances from a non-Spanish born player by making his 330th appearances, breaking Alfredo Di Stefano's previous record of 228. Roberto Carlos won 20 club trophies over his career: with Palmeiras, two Brazil Serie A's, two Campeonato Paulista, one Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo; Real Madrid, four La Liga's, three Spanish Super Copa's, three UEFA Champions League's, two Intercontinental cup's, one UEFA Super Cup and he won two Turkish Super Cups with Fenerbahce. Carlos is one of 19 players to have played 100 or more Champions League games. He also made 125 appearances for the Brazilian national team, scoring 11 goals, he also won two Copa America's, one Confederations Cup and World Cup 2002. Carlos' most famous individual moment was probably his 'banana shot' free-kickagainst France in 1997 in which he managed to score from 35 metres from just to the right of centre, hitting it with his left foot, which looked to be going well wide but managed to swing back into the net, leaving Fabian Barthez rooted to his spot. He also managed to score a goal from a seemingly impossible angle (pretty much next to the corner flag) against Tenerife in a Copa Del Rey match.

Paolo Maldini captaining AC Milan

Coming second is probably the most loyal footballer ever to grace the beautiful game. Paolo Maldini was the ultimate one-club man, spending 25 seasons at AC Milan, amassing a total of 903 appearances and scoring 29 goals. Maldini's ability to perform phenomally for 25 seasons make him recognized as one of the best defenders of all-time. During the 1990's he was able to form a formidable defence alongside Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta & Mauro Tassotti which is known as one of the best in Italian football history. Following Baresi's retirement, Maldini was able to form a successful partnership with Alessandro Nesta until his retirement. With Milan, Maldini was the receiver of seven Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, five Super Coppa Italiana's, five UEFA Champions League titles, five UEFA Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cups. Maldini made 126 appearances for the Italian national team, scoring 7 goals but he retired trophyless in 2002 as Italy's most capped player of all-time. In February 2008, he reached 1,000 career matches for Italy and AC Milan combined when he entered a match as a substitute against Parma. AC Milan retired the number 3 shirt in memory of Maldini's unbreakable loyalty to the club, but it can be brought out of retirement should one of his sons (who are signed to AC) make it into the first-team and pick their fathers famous shirt. Maldini's key strengths on the pitch were his ability to read the game expertly and make interceptions with his great speed which obviously dwindled the more he reached the twilight of his career. His strong leadership and influence both on and off the pitch made him the ideal candidate for Milan and Italy captain during his career.

Ashley Cole lining up for England

Third up is not one of my favourite footballers, because of obvious reasons. Ashley Cole is a left-back who is, for me, not just one of the greatest left-backs ever but England's greatest left-back ever. Despite multiple off-the-pitch controversies, Cole has continued to go from strength to strength in his career. Cole has so far made 504 career league appearances for Crystal Palace, Arsenal & Chelsea combined, scoring 17 goals. He broke into the Arsenal squad in 2000 and made 228 appearances for Arsenal in six years until he left for Chelsea after the "tapping-up" scandal in 2006. He was also involved in the Arsenal team that went 49 games unbeaten. During his time at Arsenal, Cole won two Premiership titles, three FA cups and two Community Shield's. Cole went on to join Chelsea in 2006 and has continued to cement himself as the best and most consistent left-back the Premiership has ever seen, so far making 276 appearances for the Blues and winning a further one Premiership title, four FA cups, one League Cup, one Community Shield and his most cherished of trophies, the Champions League which Chelsea managed to secure in May 2012. Cole has the most FA cup winners medals of all-time, having won it seven times. Cole is also a permanent fixture in the England national team set-up, having made 99 appearances so far. Cole's style of play is seen as the way of the modern full-back, using his terrific pace and energy to get involved in both attack and defence, but Cole has never been a player to shun his defensive duties for forward forays.

Giacinto Facchetti

Fourth up, is Giacinto Facchetti, who is the oldest left-back on this list. He is another one-club man, but unlike Paolo Maldini, he played for the blue and black half of Milan, playing 634 official games for Inter and scoring 75 goals. He is remembered as one of the first truly great attacking full-backs and one of the greatest in the position. Facchetti began his career as a forward but his first manager at Inter Milan launched him as a full-back, which ultimately turned into an excellent decision after the change of roles saw Facchetti turn into one of the most effective defenders in Italian football. With Internazionale, Facchetti won four Scudetti, one Italian cup, two European Cups (Champions League, for those who aren't sure) and two Intercontinental cups and he was part of the Inter team that was known as 'Grande Inter'. Facchetti was capped 94 times for Italy, (a record at the time which has since been overtaken) scoring three times and wearing the captain's armband 70 times. He was part of the Italian team that won the 1968 European Cup. Despite his position, Facchetti was only sent off once during his entire career, one he received for sarcastically applausing the referee. After his death in 2006 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Inter posthumously retired Facchetti's number 3 shirt.

Andreas Brehme lining up for the German national team

Last up is Andreas Brehme, who is best known for scoring the winner for Germany in the 1990 World Cup final. He is known to be one of the best set-piece takers and delivery specialists of all-time, also being equally adept at playing with both feet, making him a valuable outfield asset. He was one of the only players who would take penalties with his right-foot and free-kicks and corners with his left, which is now being utilized by both footed players to this day. Brehme racked up 509 career league appearances and despite being a defender he had a knack for scoring goals, finding the net 65 times and scoring for every club he played for; he played for Saarbrucken, Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Real Zaragoza.With Kaiserslautern, Brehme won the Bundesliga and the German Cup, he won an additional Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich and another German Supercup. Upon his move to Inter Milan he won one Serie A, one Italian Supercup and the UEFA cup. Brehme made 86 appearances for the German national team, scoring eight goals and winning the 1990 World Cup, in which he the only goal of the game in the 85th minute with a penalty kick. In 1996, after returning to Kaiserslautern three years prior, he scored an own goal which subsequently got the team relegated, but after sticking with them and helping them win promotion he was a key asset as they won the Bundesliga in 1998.

My positional top 5's - beginning with goalkeeper!

I've been thinking of new material lately and came up with doing my top 5's in every position, I'm going to do top five ever, then move on to my top five Premiership players in each position once the first series has finished. Starting us off are my top five goalkeepers of all-time! (These are in no particular order) Obviously these are up for debate, they are just my opinion:

Lev Yashin making a save at the 1966 World Cup

First up is the oldest goalkeeper on the list and one many of you might not have heard of. Lev Yashin was a goalkeeper who was a one club man, playing 326 games for Dynamo Moscow between 1950 and 1970, winning the USSR football championship five times and USSR cup three times. In 1953, he also won the USSR ice hockey cup as goalie for the Dynamo ice hockey team. He was capped 78 times for the USSR national squad and it is rumoured he kept around 270 career clean sheets, also saving around 150 penalties. At 6 foot 2, he was best known for his imposing stature between the sticks, he also had a superior athleticism despite his large frame and this led to his world renowned nickname 'The Black Spider' (Black because of the all black footballing kit he used to wear when playing), he was also known for making amazing reflex saves. He is the only goalkeeper to date to have won the European Football of the Year Award and the Ballon D'or, awards he won in 1963, He was also voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by IFFHS. He was the innovator of the 'sweeper keeper' role which many goalkeepers to this day utilize when a ball is threaded through past their defence. After his retirement he spent many years at an administrative role for Dynamo, his years of service to the club were recognized when a bronze statue of Yashin was erected at the Dynamo Moscow stadium.

Gordon Banks

Second is the second oldest goalkeeper and one whose name all of you will recognize. Gordon Banks is best known as one of England's best ever goalkeepers, he is of course the only England keeper to date to have played and won in a World Cup final but his career was so much more than that (even though obviously that was an outstanding achievement). Banks played 632 career games over a three club, 14-year span; he played for Chesterfield, Leicester City and Stoke City, he also won two League Cups - one with Leicester and one with Stoke. He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 and is widely renowned as the greatest goalkeeper England has ever produced. One of Banks' finest moments outside of the World Cup triumph came during England's defence of the World Cup in 1970 in a match against Brazil. Jairzinho sped past Terry Cooper and swung a cross in which Pele met with a downward header which seemed destined to be a goal, Banks had other ideas and flew across his line and managed to palm the ball over his crossbar. Pele, who had begun to celebrate a goal when he headed the ball, described it as the greatest save he had ever seen. He was voted as the second best goalkeeper ever by IFFHS, behind Yashin.

Peter Schmeichel mid-flight for Manchester United

Third up is Peter Schmeichel, a goalkeeper who shot to fame during his time at Man United after being signed for what Sir Alex Ferguson called 'bargain of the century' at a fee of just £500,000. After finishing as a runner-up with Man United in the league in 1992, he helped the club to win their first ever League Cup, but this was not his peak of success for that year. Schmeichel won the 1992 European Championship with Denmark as their starting goalkeeper and his finest moment came when he saved a semi-final penalty kick from Marco Van Basten. Schmeichel went on to win five Premiership titles, three FA cups, four Charity Shields and he was also involved in the Man United team that so famously won the Champions League in 1999. Schmeichel made 740 career league appearances spanning six clubs - Hvidore, Brondby, Manchester United, Sporting CP, Aston Villa & Manchester City. He also won three league titles with Brondby and a Portuguese Superliga with Sporting CP. He is the most capped Danish player of all-time with 129 caps and also, bizarrely, managed 11 goals in his career including one for his national team. He holds the record for the greatest clean sheets-to-games ratio in the Premier League with 42% of league games he played in ending with his team not conceding. He was famous for his intimidating physique, at 6 foot 3 and 16 stone he was certainly a physical presence, even going up for corners when his team were behind. Schmeichel was named UEFA goalkeeper of the year on four separate occasions and was also inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Dino Zoff turning out for Italy

Fourth is Dino Zoff, a goalkeeper who is famous for being the oldest ever winner of a World Cup at the age of 40 years and 4 months. He sits fourth in Italy's all-time appearances list with 112 caps. He holds the record for the longest playing time without conceding in international tournaments, he set the record of 1142 minutes between 1972 and 1974. He was the second goalkeeper to ever captain a World Cup winning side, behind Giampiero Combi, a feat which was later repeated by Iker Casillas at the 2010 World Cup. He made 642 career league appearances combined in Italy for Udinese, Mantova, Napoli and most prominently for Juventus who he appeared for 330 times. He won five Serie A titles, two Coppa Italias and a UEFA cup title in his 11 year stint at Juventus as well as the 1982 World Cup and 1968 European Championship. He was voted as the best Italian player of the last 50 years in November 2003 by the Italian Football Federation. Zoff was well-known not just for his prowess between the sticks but also for his modesty, respect for his opponents and his ice-cool composure. He was voted as the third best goalkeeper ever by IFFHS behind two of my previous selections - Yashin & Banks.

Iker Casillas captaining Real Madrid

Last, but certainly not least, is current Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Casillas has made 646 appearances for Real Madrid, he was able to become their most capped goalkeeper by the age of just 27. He has won five Spanish league titles, one Spanish Cup, four Spanish Super Cups, two Champions Leagues and one UEFA Super Cup during his time so far at Real Madrid. He has also been capped 143 times for Spain - making him Spain's most capped player ever, he also holds the record of most international clean sheets, as well as becoming the first player ever to reach 100 international wins. At Euro 2012 he managed to beat Dino Zoff's long-standing record of 494 minutes without conceding a goal at the European Championships, setting a new record of 509 minutes. He is the only goalkeeper to be crowned IFFHS goalkeeper of the year four times and he was part of the historic Spain team which won three major championships in a row - World Cup 2010 and European Championships 2008 and 2012, becoming the third goalkeeper to ever captain a World Cup winning team, he was also the first keeper-captain to lift the European Championship trophy in 2008. In August 2012 he was the only Spanish captain to ever win all three domestic titles. He is also the most capped goalkeeper of all-time in the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea - "We know what we are"

"We know what we are" is a chant that reverberates from Chelsea supporters mouth's following their Munich penalty shoot-out triumph in May after being heavily written off throughout their Champions League campaign. They came back from the dead to down Barcelona at the Nou Camp and Bayern awaited them in their home stadium - the rest as they say, is history.

The Champions League victory which came against all the odds followed an FA Cup victory which Chelsea seemed relatively comfortable in, downing Tottenham in a controversial semi-final and then beating Liverpool in the final. These victories cemented Roberto Di Matteo his job as full-time Chelsea manager after an initial spell as interim manager, in June after his trophy-winning exploits, Di Matteo signed a 2-year contract and the future looked seemingly hunky-dorey for the Italian and Chelsea, with Di Matteo being labelled the 'greatest caretaker of all-time', guiding Chelsea to the trophy which Roman Abramovich has spent over a billion pounds in investment trying to win. Chelsea then went on a typical summer spending spree, spending over £75million on the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marko Marin & Thorgan Hazard. The season started off well, with Chelsea's attacking midfield trio of Oscar, Hazard and Juan Mata inter-linking like they'd been playing together for years and the season started off well for the usually mis-firing Fernando Torres, it looked like Chelsea had well and truly moved on from the loss of Didier Drogba and the twilight years of John Terry & Frank Lampard, the future was being looked at with rose-tinted spectacles.

But where did it all go wrong? John Terry's court charge with racism after last season's spat with Anton Ferdinand provided what seemed to be the launchpad for a Chelsea downfall, Ashley Cole added his unwanted two cents by calling the FA a "bunch of twats" and then the Clattenburg-Mikel incident took place, making Chelsea probably the most unfavourable club in England. The media negativity seems to have thrown Chelsea into disrepute, they haven't won in their last four Premiership games and their only win in the last six was a last-gasp victory of Shakhtar. Another catalyst in their turn in form was no doubt the contoversial 3 - 2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United, the game which famously turned referee Mark Clattenburg into the most hated man in Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's decency has been questioned in the media, with the club refusing to apologize to Clattenburg and personally I think it was a claim made purely out of Chelsea's discontent at Clattenburg's (and the officials as a whole) decision after sending off two Chelsea players and allowing a blatent off-side goal to stand.

Di Matteo's controlling of his players (similar to AVB) was questioned, with top names being lost in the dressing room and his man-management skills being tested, which managed to run parallel with the loss of form. What of the future now for Chelsea? As we've seen, after Abramovich dishes out a cheque to get rid of a manager and a new one has been brought in it has bred success. Even though he has spent £86million on paying-off sacked managers it has led him to three Premiership titles, three FA cups, two league cups and the most coveted of all - the Champions League it seems it is almost impossible to satisfy Abramovich's unquenchable thirst for glory. He has invested over £1billion on making Chelsea a football juggernaut and their achievements since his arrival have been nothing short of incredible, taking them from the doldrums of near administration to European champions in just under a decade was surely something that even Chelsea fans (both old and new) couldn't imagine in their wildest dreams. It is also common knowledge that if you double-cross Abramovich you won't last long in the job, Jose Mourinho discovered this when an argument over big-money flop Andrey Shevchenko's place in the team added fuel to a burning fire of power struggles and rifts, it managed to result in 'The Special One' seemingly losing his job overnight - despite being Chelsea's most successful manager ever.

This leaves Rafa Benitez in a worrying position while he is interim manager, Chelsea have swung from one extreme to another - the most popular caretaker of all-time to the most unpopular are two quite different sides of the spectrum and it is clear that his entrance into the Chelsea hotseat isn't the one a lot of fans would have chosen. Liverpool fans have every right to feel a bit aggrieved but he did give the Merseysiders their best team in about a decade and also their most successful spell since the turn of the century. But for Chelsea, they are getting a manager with a strong pedigree, he is not their first-choice, but that isn't his fault. The only way Benitez can win over the Chelsea fans is proving his commitment to the cause and breeding further success, but the Chelsea guillotine will forever be hanging over his head because in the Chelsea managerial position it seems that no-one is safe.

Matchweek 12 Preview

Sorry about the two week gap between posts, I was going to do a matchweek 11 preview but I got chosen as a news-week editor for Staffslive and that sort of took priority over this past week or so, not to mention a night-out in Leeds last week too, but let's get started!

The lunchtime kick-off on Saturday is the highly anticipated North London derby where Arsenal will welcome fierce rivals to Tottenham to the Emirates Stadium. Last season's encounter saw Tottenham breeze into a 2 - 0 first half lead and it looked as if Arsenal's poor season would continue, but Bacary Sagna & Robin Van Persie goals before half-time got Arsenal level and after the break a goal from Tomas Rosicky and a Theo Walcott brace got Arsenal's season back on track and they ultimately toppled Spurs from third spot on the last day of the season.
Arsenal can welcome back Jack Wilshere who returns from a one-match suspension after picking up two yellows cards against Manchester United two weeks ago but Arsene Wenger will sweat over the fitness of Olivier Giroud (calf/hamstring), Theo Walcott (leg), Mikel Arteta (hip) and Bacary Sagna (leg) who will face late fitness tests but goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is close to returning from the ankle problem which has kept him out. Gervinho (ankle), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Abou Diaby and Kieran Gibbs (both thigh) all stay on the sidelines.
Tottenham will be without Mousa Dembele again as the midfielder continues his recovery from a hip injury. Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe and Kyle Walker are all struggling with hamstring problems and will face late fitness tests while long-term absentees Scott Parker (Achilles), Younes Kaboul & Benoit Assou-Ekotto (both knee) continue their rehabilitation.

Liverpool welcome Wigan to Anfield looking for their third win of the season and looking to extend their seven match unbeaten run while Wigan will be looking to repeat their famous win at Anfield last season.
Pepe Reina is set to return in goal for Liverpool after missing the last four league matches with a hamstring injury. Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is fit after a thigh problem while centre-back partnership Daniel Agger (groin) and Martin Skrtel (illness) are expected to be fit.
On-loan winger Ryo Miyaichi is available after missing five games with a hip injury. James McArthur is a doubt due to a dead leg while Albert Crusat (knee) and Antolin Alcaraz (groin) are still out.

High-flying West Brom will welcome third place Chelsea to The Hawthorns with the Londoners looking to return to winning ways after picking up just two points in their last three matches.
Steve Clarke will be without Ben Foster who is recovering from groin surgery and Gareth McAuley is a doubt after picking up a hamstring injury on international duty. The Baggies will be hopeful that Youssouf Mulumbu will be fit after a hamstring injury of his own while on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku is not eligible to face his parent club.
Chelsea could welcome back Ashley Cole after missing two games with a hamstring injury, John Terry will be out for around three weeks with a knee injury he picked up after colliding with Luis Suarez in the 1 - 1 draw vs. Liverpool. Frank Lampard is a doubt with a calf injury and Roberto Di Matteo will assess all players who travelled with their national teams in midweek.

Aston Villa will travel to the Etihad Stadium looking for their second win in 14 games to face a Manchester City team that are unbeaten in the league this season.
The defending champions can welcome back James Milner and Joleon Lescott who have recovered from hamstring and back problems, respectively. Gael Clichy may also be fit after missing France's midweek international with a back injury of his own and Samir Nasri has recovered from illness. Italian striker Mario Balotelli could be in contention after being dropped last weekend but rumours surfaced of yet another rift between him and Roberto Mancini. Jack Rodwell (hamstring) and Micah Richards (knee) are not ready to return yet.
The Villains can welcome back defenders Eric Lichaj & Nathan Baker who return from suspension & injury respectively. Darrent Bent, Chris Herd, Richard Dunne, Charles N'Zogbia and Joe Bennett are all still out.

Newcastle United welcome Swansea to St. James' Park with the Swans having never won a Premiership match in November.
The Magpies could be without Papiss Cisse after complications over registering a back injury with the Senegal national team and they could invoke the FIFA five-day match rule, ruling the striker out of the match against Swansea. Alan Pardew will be without Yohan Cabaye (groin), Jonas Gutierrez (knee), James Perch (thigh) and defender Fabricio Coloccini who is suspended. But Newcastle can welcome back Danny Simpson (shoulder) and Demba Ba (shin) and Cheick Tiote who has served his three-match ban.
Swansea will be without summer signing Ki-Sung Yeung who will miss out with a hamstring injury, while Kemy Agustien is struggling with a toe injury. Leon Britton could miss out with a knock while winger Pablo Hernandez is recovering from an ankle injury, but Chico Flores could return from a dead leg.

Southampton travel to face QPR at Loftus Road in what is a proverbial six-pointer for the two bottom clubs, with QPR still searching for their first league win of the season.
On-loan Man United defender Fabio is back from his hamstring injury but club captain Park Ji-Sung (knee) is unavailable. Bobby Zamora is doubtful with a hip injury while Ryan Nelsen and Jamie Mackie should both be fit despite missing international games during midweek. Hogan Ephraim is available after a hamstring problem and Kieron Dyer could return from yet another injury. Andy Johnson is still out with a knee problem while Stephane M'Bia is still suspended.
Southampton will be withou Frazer Richardson and Richard Chaplow but Guly De Prado could return to the Southampton squad.

Reading will play host to Everton at the Madejski Stadium still looking for their first win in their return season in the top-flight while Everton will look to keep up their early season fight for a Champions League spot.
Reading could be without winger Jimmy Kebe who has a thigh problem, while Brian McDermott will definitely be without Alex McCarthy (shoulder), Danny Guthrie (thigh) and Jem Karacan (knee).
Kevin Mirallas will miss out with a hamstring injury, as will Darron Gibson who has a thigh injury. Victor Anichebe (hamstring) and defender Tony Hibbert (calf) are doubts.

Norwich welcome Premiership leader Manchester United to Carrow Road with a good home record having won three of their last four but Manchester United will be bouyed after coming back from two goals down against Aston Villa in yet another comeback.
Norwich will be without Russell Martin who has a back problem but Alex Tettey should be available after a back problem which kept him out of Norway's midweek friendly. On-loan striker Harry Kane continues his recovery from a broken metatarsal.
Forward Wayne Rooney (ankle) is a major doubt for Man United as is defender Johnny Evans (groin). Robin Van Persie is expected to be fit after missing Holland's friendly in midweek.

The only fixture on Sunday sees Fulham welcome Sunderland to Craven Cottage with Martin O' Neill's team looking to end their torrid run.
Kieran Richardson won't be fit to face his former club after picking up a hamstring injury in the 3 - 3 draw against Arsenal. Simon Davies (hip) misses out, as does Chris Baird who is suspended while Mahamadou Diarra (knee) and Mickael Tavaras (hamstring) are big doubts.
Steven Fletcher (calf) and Kieren Westwood (thigh) missed their respective internationals in midweek and are doubts for the Black Cats while Phil Bardsley (hamstring) and Lee Cattermole (knee) remain doubts.

The Monday night game will see West Ham welcome this season's draw specialists Stoke City to Upton Park with the high-flying Hammers looking to maintain their good start to the season.
James Collins could return to the West Ham starting line-up with Guy Demel also pushing for a start. Matthew Taylor has returned to training following a calf problem while Jack Collison (knee) and Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) are still out.
Tony Pulis is monitoring the fitness of Glenn Whelan who limped off during Ireland's friendly with a hamstring problem. Dean Whitehead is missing out due to suspension and Rory Delap (hernia) and Marc Wilson (broken leg) are definitely out. Michael Owen is a doubt for the Potters with a hamstring injury but Stoke manager Pulis will be hopeful that Jon Walters and Charlie Adam will be fit after both picked up knocks.

Matchweek 10 Preview

The 12:45 kick-off on Saturday sees Manchester United welcome old rivals Arsenal to Old Trafford where Arsenal will be looking to improve on their poor record at Old Trafford and hoping to avoid a repeat of the 8 - 2 demolition at the beginning of last season. Man United will be looking for their fourth straight league victory.
Man United have no fresh injury worries, Chris Smalling is making good progress on his recovery from a broken metatarsal but the game against the Gunners will come too soon for the defender. Phil Jones (knee) is also not quite ready while United are still without Shinji Kagawa (also knee) while news broke today that club captain Nemanja Vidic is likely to be out until Christmas with a knee injury of his own.
Arsenal also have no fresh injury concerns, Bacary Sagna and Jack Wilshere came through their comeback games last weekend unscathed. Theo Walcott may have to settle for a place on the bench after playing the whole 120 minutes in Tuesday's 7 - 5 thriller against Reading. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has reportedly suffered an injury setback which is set to keep him out for two weeks while Kieran Gibbs (thigh), Wojciech Szczesny (ankle), midfielder Abou Diaby (thigh) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) are all still sidelined. Gervinho is also set to miss out for around three weeks with his ankle injury sustained in the 1 - 0 win over QPR.

Chelsea travel to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea looking to recover from their controversial 3 - 2 defeat to Man United at Old Trafford last Sunday. Although the league leaders will be looking to carry on their unbeaten away run in the league this season. Michael Laudrup's team will be looking to build on their strong home form.
Swansea have had to be patient with defender Chico Flores after he picked up a dead leg in the win over Liverpool in midweek, Ashley Williams will captain the side despite an ankle problem with Michel Vorm (groin), Neil Taylor (broken ankle) and Kyle Bartley (thigh) all out.
Chelsea could be without Juan Mata (hamstring) and David Luiz (ankle) who picked up injuries in their epic 5 - 4 win over Man United on Wednesday. Ashley Cole returns from an ankle knock and Fernando Torres & Branislav Ivanovic will return from their one-match suspensions. Frank Lampard (calf) is still sidelined and John Terry will serve the final game of his four match ban.

Tottenham host Wigan at White Hart Lane looking to stay above Arsenal & Everton with three points while the Latics are looking for their second win at White Hart Lane.
Mousa Dembele is unavailable due to a hip injury while Emmanuel Adebayor is in contention after recovering from a back injury and illness. Jake Livermore is a doubt after suffering an ankle injury in Wednesday's defeat to Norwich. Scott Parker (achilles), Younes Kaboul & Benoit Assou-Ekotto (both knee) remain long-term absentees.
Roberto Martinez expects to be without on-loan Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi again as the winger continues his bid for fitness following a groin problem which has seen him miss the last three games. Still sidelined are Albert Crusat & Antolin Alcaraz (knee and groin problems, respectively).

Everton travel to Craven Cottage to face a Fulham team who have won three of their last four games at home. Everton will be looking for their first win since September.
Martin Jol is likely to stick to the same team that played in the thrilling 3 - 3 draw against Reading last weekend, however Bryan Ruiz is likely to step in for Dimitar Berbatov should the Bulgarian striker not recover from a rib problem. Alexander Kacaniklic is likely to miss out again.
Everton will be without Kevin Mirallas who picked up a knock in the Merseyside derby last weekend. Steven Pienaar is liekly to return after serving his one-match ban. Darron Gibson is the Toffees only other injury worry but may return to the squad.

Sunderland will entertain Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light with both sides looking to halt their underwhelming starts to the season.
Martin O' Neill has no more players to add to his injury list, although Wes Brown has suffered a set-back in his return from injury which will keep him out for a couple more weeks. Titus Bramble remains a doubt with a hip injury.
The Villans can welcome back left-back Joe Bennett who served his one-match suspension in midweek but midfielder Karim El Ahmadi will have to serve a one-match ban of his own after incurring his fifth booking of the season in the Capital One Cup match against Swindon. Defender Chris Herd may also miss out after being substituted with a knee injury in the match against Swindon.

Norwich City face Stoke City at Carrow Road looking for their third successive home win in all competitions while Stoke haven't won away in 14 league matches.
Defender Russell Martin has made a good recovery from his back injury and could be fit. Harry Kane is still a long-term absentee but could be back before Christmas following foot surgery.
The Potters will be without midfielder turned full-back Marc Wilson who is set to be out for three months after sustaining a fractured fibula in last week's 0 - 0 bore draw with Sunderland. Glenn Whelan wasn't deemed fit enough for the match against Sunderland but has given Tony Pulis a 'good problem' by being declared fit enough to be available for selection again.

West Ham will welcome champions Man City to Upton Park and will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing away defeat to Wigan while Man City play their second away evening kick-off in a row.
Sam Allardyce has no new injuries but cannot welcome back any players either. Guy Demel (hernia) and Matthew Taylor (calf) are both hoping to be in contention in a couple of weeks. Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) and Jack Collison (knee) remain long-term absentees for the Hammers.
Man City can welcome back James Milner who served his suspension picked up against Fulham, Pablo Zabaleta and Javi Garcia who have recovered from hamstring & thigh injuries respectively. Roberto Mancini will be without Micah Richards for about a month after the defender sustained a knee injury in the win against Swansea. David Silva, Jack Rodwell (both knee) and Maicon (foot) remain sidelined.

Reading travel to Loftus Road to face QPR looking to recover from their Capital One Cup capitulation in midweek with both sides being the only two without a win in the Premiership.
QPR captain Park Ji-Sung is a major doubt having not trained all week due to a knee injury. Bobby Zamora suffered a hip injury which could keep him out while Armand Traore is also struggling with a leg injury. Stephane M'bia start a three-match ban after his foolish sending off against Arsenal while Fabio (hamstring) and Andy Johnson (knee) remain sidelined.
Reading will be without Danny Guthrie because of a thigh strain and Jem Karacan is still sidelined with a knee injury that could keep him out until December.

Liverpool welcome Newcastle United to Anfield with the visitors looking for their third win on the trot and their first win at Anfield in 18 years. Capital One Cup holders Liverpool will be looking to bounce back from being knocked out of the cup they hold at the hands of Swansea in midweek.
Jose Reina and Glen Johnson remain injury doubts for Liverpool but the latter has a better chance of playing with both being assessed ahead of Sunday.
The Magpies could welcome back top scorer Demba Ba who has been recovering from a calf injury, but they will still be without Ivorian midfielder Cheick Tiote who serves the second of his three-match ban.

Monday night's game sees West Brom host Southampton at The Hawthorns with the Baggies looking to continue their impressive league run. Southampton currently hold the worst defence in the league.
Club captain Chris Brunt & defender Billy Jones have recovered from hamstring and knee injuries respectively and are in contention to start. Steve Clarke is hopeful Shane Long will recover from a hamstring injury while Claudio Yacob could also return.
The Saints could welcome back record signing Gaston Ramirez after the 21-year-old trained all week following his thigh injury. Frazer Richardson (groin) and Jack Cork (knee) remain sidelined but Tadanari Lee could make his league return after he featured in the Capital One Cup clash against Leeds in midweek following his elbow injury.

Luis Suarez - The good, the bad, and the very ugly.

Luis Suarez is the biggest enigma in football in my opinion. Off the pitch, he is supposedly a calm, humble and outgoing human being who's very kind, but as he crosses the white line to enter a football pitch he must turn into another person, a bit like Jekyll & Hyde if you like, without all the medicine.

The spotlight has been on Suarez a lot for the past year or so after the whole Patrice Evra racism affair, Suarez has claimed his innocence ever since the incident claiming it as a 'cultural misunderstanding' (which is still debated due to Evra's testimony inwhich he claims Suarez called him a 'negro' five times) - which is understandable, if in Uruguay you can call someone a 'nigretto' as Suarez claims, and it's not construde as racist or offensive then that's all well and good, but we are not in Uruguay, we are in England where racism has been a problem that's been highlighted for a while, especially in football. The issues with Anton Ferdinand & John Terry has exclaimed the point that the 'Kick It Out' campaign, while being well meaning, hasn't really quite nailed home the idea of the campaign which was to get racism out of football. Rio Ferdinand and Jason Roberts recent refusal against the campaign by not wearing the t-shirts is further evidence that the campaign hasn't quite worked as the FA had hoped. The problem surrounding Serbia in recent weeks following Danny Rose's sending off after his reaction to racial abuse to the England U-21's squad has shown that it is not just a problem in England but in Europe as a whole.

Suarez's career has been blotted with sour incidents though, not just the Evra saga; the many times he's been criticised for diving and unsportmanship - the many dives he's been booked for or fouls that haven't been given in his favour due to him being seen as the boy who cried wolf, not to mention the shocking dive he performed against Stoke in a 0 - 0 draw a few weeks ago, the mock dive celebration this weekend against Everton after David Moyes' comments in midweek & Suarez also received a seven-game ban in 2010 for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal's shoulder, at the time Suarez also had a one-game suspended ban hanging over his head following a red card in July 2010's Dutch season opener - the Johan Cruyff Bowl.

Now I would like to concentrate on Suarez's footballing aspects because there is no doubting he is a world class footballer. He is probably Liverpool's most effective and dangerous player going forward, his playing style is fast, powerful and he is a direct player who likes to make things happen. His creativity and unpredictability make him one of the toughest players to face but he has one fatal flaw in his game, his conversion rate for chances since he joined Liverpool has been pretty poor. He has scored 29 goals in 65 games for Liverpool but had his ability to take chances been better, that number could be a lot greater. He has the versatility to play behind the target-man or as a lone striker, but for me Suarez would be a player who could be greater utilised as a winger, because of his low-centre of gravity and ability to beat opponents with consummate ease with pace and trickery. If Liverpool could sign a striker with an outstanding eye for goal, it could be the perfect catalyst for Suarez and Liverpool to hit the dizzying heights of old. He also has a manager who can utilise his style of play in Brendan Rodgers, Rodgers being a manager whose philosophy is to play the ball on the floor and build up play as well as the fast counter-attacking play everyone witnessed from his time at Swansea, which suits Suarez down to the ground. The players around Suarez are varied in talent, on the down side you have players like the ineffective Stewart Downing and overpriced Jordan Henderson, but if Liverpool could build their team around good, solid players such as Joe Allen, Raheem Sterling and their centre-back pairing then they have the potential to challenge once again.

If Suarez can cut out the negativity which seems to follow him on a football pitch and Liverpool can make more signings to suit and compliment him while playing then Liverpool have every chance of challenging, and Suarez could have the potential of being the best player in the league.

Pre-game jitters

Right, as many of you (if not all) will know, I am an Arsenal fan, and some might say a pessimistic one (I say realist). I'm not expecting much from this season, maybe an F.A or Capital One Cup, a standard get out of the Champions League group stage and get knocked out at the quarter-final & a fourth, maybe third place league finish.

Coming up on Saturday is possibly Arsenal's biggest game of the season against long time league rivals Manchester United, despite not being anywhere near Arsenal in a geographical nature, Man United have always been Arsenal's rivals in terms of silverware and league standings, apart from in the last few years where the North Londoners have slowed down somewhat while Man United have kicked on while Sir Alex carries on in the twilight of his career winning trophies left, right and centre.

Yes, I am a pessimist, both at watching Arsenal play and in life itself, but whenever Arsenal play Manchester United I never expect anything else but a loss for some reason, mainly because Man United are Arsenal's top four bogey team, when the only victories I can remember over Man United in recent years add up to a grand total of about three (since 2006-ish). There seems to be something about Sir Alex's men that Arsene Wenger & company just can't seem to suss out. It's like there's a mental barrier and lack of confidence around the team, just like the one that eminates whenever Arsenal have the sniff of a trophy in their collective nostrils.

The thing that really gets me and that I'm scared of is not that Man United will beat Arsenal, because that in itself isn't a huge blow. Arsenal were never going to challenge for the title and it's been obvious that Arsenal are not on Man United's level (as much as it pains me to say it), but if Robin Van Persie scores against Arsenal I don't think I would be able to stomach such a blow to my Arsenal heart. The man had one good season for Arsenal, after Arsenal showed all the faith in him throughout his injury-ravaged time at the Gunners and the first sniff of a move where he would get more money (and arguably a better chance at a trophy) he ups sticks and moves to a rival - the line which must not be crossed in football. He claimed that it was the 'little boy' in him that cried out for a move to Man United.. wait, the little boy in you supported Arsenal, didn't it Robin?

When Van Persie signed for Man United it was like a dagger in every Arsenal back on the planet, but he has joined a team with undoubted class. With the likes of Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez & Danny Welbeck joining him upfront it can be understood that Van Persie has joined a team with a good pedigree. Going forward is not where Man United have a problem though, it is at the back that Arsenal's misfiring frontline might actually be able to take advantage. Man United's defence has been uncharacteristically leaky this season with Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra among others have been culpable for mistakes which have cost goals, the big question is will Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud & co be able to take advantage of the Red Devils shakiness at the back? Signs so far this season can suggest not with Arsenal struggling to score in a lot of games this season, despite their build-up play and overall play being good, they simply have not been clinical enough in finding the net.

Arsenal's defence has improved notably from this time last season where they made their leakiest start to a Premiership season ever (conceding eight in this very game didn't help matters), but this will be another test on the scale of Man City and Chelsea than the tough last couple of games against the QPR's and Norwich's of this world (with all due respect). Arsenal's defence played well in the games against Chelsea & Man City but their zonal marking wall was reduced to rubble due to all three goals conceded in those two games being from set-pieces, despite Arsenal's improved defence in open play, they still look shaky at set-pieces.. which is something Sir Alex may no doubt look to exploit.

Obviously any team who go to Old Trafford see a draw as a good result because it is one of the strongest fortresses in the Premiership. But if Arsenal manage to grab any kind of result against Man United this weekend I will be ecstatic to say the least, not least due to Arsenal's staggering form lately.

What a weekend in the Prem!

Now I'm going to review the games from this weekend, new territory, woo! I'll start with Arsenal because I'm ecstatic that they actually managed to win, despite it being against the bottom team; when QPR finished with 10 men and with the aid of an offside goal. Arsenal still struggled to hold on with Jamie Mackie nearly popping up at the end with a barnstorming run but to be denied by Vito Mannone. Arsenal didn't attack convincingly, with Olivier Giroud and Cazorla among others missing a host of chances and Julio Cesar having his best game in a QPR jersey so far, but the result is what matters for Arsenal, especially with a mammoth game coming up next weekend against rivals Man United. Gooners will be hoping Arsenal can gather even more momentum with a win in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday in what will be a tough away game against Premiership rivals Reading. Another talking point was Stephane M'bia's red card, what was the fool thinking?!

Onto probably everyone's biggest talking point of this weekend, Stoke City vs Sunderland. No, I joke, Chelsea vs Man United which is probably the biggest clash of the season so far and it didn't disappoint anyone with a game that had nearly everything, red cards.. not one, but two. Dodgy refereeing, an offside goal, a comeback and an own goal! Chelsea went 2 - 0 down through a David Luiz o.g and a Robin Van Persie goal (surprise, surprise) but fought back through Juan Mata's goal just before half-time gave Chelsea some hope going into the second half, Ramires made it all square just after half-time with a towering header. But that's as good as it got for Chelsea as 10 minutes later Branislav Ivanovic was sent off when he clipped Ashley Young who was racing through the middle, then five minutes later Fernando Torres was shown a second yellow card for simulation despite replays showing contact from Jonny Evans, even though Torres should maybe have seen red for his first booking alone. Man United took full advantage of 9-man Chelsea (and the linesman's dodgy eyesight) as substitute Javier Hernandez tapped in the eventual winner. Chelsea shouldn't feel too downhearted though because they are still top of the league (only by a point, but hey, still top right?)

Everton and Liverpool played out a typically fiery Merseyside derby in the earlier kick-off as Liverpool went 2 - 0 up, Leighton Baines got an unfortunate own goal after Luis Suarez fired the ball across the box which ricocheted in off the England full-back, Suarez then decided to heighten tensions further by doing a mock dive celebration in front of Everton manager David Moyes who made mid-week comments about the Uruguayan front-mans play-acting. Suarez was the hero for Liverpool again as the striker bagged a goal of his own after 20 minutes after he connected with a Steven Gerrard free-kick. Liverpool couldn't hold onto their priceless two-goal lead as Everton fought back with goals Leon Osman and Gary Naismith ensuring a pulsating first-half. The matched stayed 2 - 2 but Liverpool and Suarez were denied another goal in the last minute, it is unsure whether it was denied for a foul by Sebastien Coates on Phil Jagielka or whether Suarez was deemed offside, if it was the latter it was a wrong call because the Liverpool striker was level with the last man before stabbing home what could have been the winner. The main talking point from a Liverpool game again is Suarez, the man is an undoubted footballing talent but his simulation & history of unfair play is held against him in many quarters, which is a huge shame because he is now the footballing version of the boy who cried wolf.

Tottenham got their first win over Southampton at St. Mary's in six attempts with former Saint Gareth Bale coming back to haunt his former club. Bale gave Spurs the lead in the 15th minute with Clint Dempsey grabbing his second league goal for Spurs six minutes before the break. Jay Rodriguez gave Southampton a glimmer of hope in the 66th minute and Spurs had to survive a late Southampton onslaught but they held on to collect three good points from Southampton who have been leaking goals for fun in the Premiership so far this season, conceding the most goals with 26 so far already. Tottenham managed to move into the top four with the victory.

Newcastle secured a late, late win over West Brom at St. James' Park, Demba Ba opened the scoring with a 34th minute volley which was his 7th goal of the season, but that was cancelled out in the 55th minute by on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku for the Baggies with a good header after racing onto Zoltan Gera's cross. Papiss Cisse & Gabriel Obertan joined the fray as a response to the equalizer and Sammy Ameobi came on for the injured Ba. It was Ameobi who's shot was heading wide of goal in the 93rd minute, the ball deflected off Cisse, whose touch took it away from the stranded Ben Foster and into the net for Cisse to claim his first Premiership goal of the season and for the first time for Newcastle, Ba and Cisse have scored in the same match.

The stand-out game of Saturday was Reading vs Fulham, with both sides sharing six goals equally, Reading took the lead through an amazing Mikele Leigertwood strike (yeah, you heard me.) in the 26th minute. Fulham responded in the second half with substitute Bryan Ruiz turning well on the edge of the box and firing an unstoppable shot into the top corner, Fulham then took the lead 16 minutes later through full-back turned goal-scoring midfielder Chris Baird, who then injured himself two seconds later after colliding with the advertising boards. Reading equalized in the 85th minute when Garath McCleary pounced onto Jason Roberts loose touch in the Fulham box, Fulham then took the lead again three minutes later when Dimitar Berbatov was allowed the space and time to finesse (RB/R1 for those who don't know) the ball into the bottom corner to give Fulham what should have been the winner. The Londoners must have been wondering what they needed to do to win the game when in the 90th minute Hal Robson-Kanu poked home a close-range finish to give the game a stunning finale.

Champions Man City struggled to overcome Swansea at the Etihad, the match itself was a rather drab affair with both sides struggling to really make anything in the first-half. City started the second half with gusto, maybe Roberto Mancini gave them a bit of a hairdryer talking at half-time. They were rewarded for their good start when Gael Clichy laid the ball to Carlos Tevez who drilled the ball into the bottom corner from all of 30 yards. Swansea never gave up and gave a good account of themselves and 12 minutes of stoppage time were given due to injuries to Michel Vorm & Micah Richards, but Swansea couldn't get an equalizer and the match finished 1 - 0 to City, after Chelsea's loss to Man United City are now just a point off top, on 22 points with rivals Manchester United.

Wigan surprised a few pundits and fans alike by beating in-form Londoners West Ham. Ivan Ramis gave the Latics an 8th minute lead with a spectacular volley from the edge of the box from a Jean Beausejour corner. James McArthur doubled the hosts advantage with a half-volley two minutes after the restart after Jussi Jaaskelainen shanked a routine clearance to concede possession. James Tomkins hit the bar late on with a deflected volley but then gave West Ham hope in the 92nd minute with a solid header but it was only a consolation goal as Wigan held on to claim all three points.

Aston Villa and Norwich played out a 1 - 1 draw in the early Saturday kick-off, Christian Benteke justified his inclusion with a fine touch and finish in the 27th minute. There were three Bennett's on the pitch and Aston Villa's left-back Joe was sent off for a second bookable offence after he upended namesake Elliott. Chris Hughton's side finally found an equalizer in the 79th minute when summer signing Michael Turner headed in a Wes Hoolahan cross to deny former Canaries manager Paul Lambert a win over his former club.

Stoke and Sunderland played out one of the most boring matches I've ever witnessed at the Britannia, the draw specialists justified their tags with a bit of a bore draw.

Matchday 9 Premiership preview

Seeing as I had a bit of fun doing last weeks one I'm going to continue this as a weekly post, bearing in mind that the Premiership is on, that is.

I will go in chronological order as I did last time and the first match up this week is Aston Villa vs Norwich at Villa Park. Norwich will be looking to build on their first win of the season against Arsenal last week by getting their second win on the trot whilst Villa will also be looking for their second win of the season. Paul Lambert will come up against his former club trying to grab Villa's second win in 18 games.
Villa will again be without centre-back Richard Dunne with a groin injury and could potentially face a centre-back crisis with Nathan Baker (ankle) and Ciaran Clark (knee) facing late fitness tests. Matt Lowton could start at centre-back should Baker and Clark fail their fitness tests while Eric Lichaj is in contention to start.
Chris Hughton has no new injury concerns with Steven Whittaker and Mark Bunn back in training and in contention to face Spurs in midweek in the Capital One Cup. On loan striker Harry Kane is on target to make a return from his broken foot before Christmas.

Arsenal welcome QPR to the Emirates Stadium as they try to recover from two limp defeats on the trot in which they've failed to score while QPR still search for their first win of the season.
French full-back Bacary Sagna could make a return to the squad after recovering from a broken leg sustained in May, while midfielder Jack Wilshere could also make a return after coming through another U21's game unscathed. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain faces a fitness test after limping off nine minutes after coming on against Norwich after taking a knock to his hip while Kieran Gibbs (thigh), Theo Walcott (chest), Wojciech Szczesny (ankle), Abou Diaby (thigh) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) all remain sidelined.
QPR captain Park-Ji Sung is a doubt after suffering a knee injury in last week's 1 - 1 draw against Everton. Ryan Nelsen and former Gunner Armand Traore are both available to Mark Hughes but Andy Johnson (knee) and Fabio (hamstring) are still out.

Fulham travel to Madjeski Stadium to face a Reading team who are yet to win in the Premiership so far this season but will be looking to kick-start on home soil while Martin Jol's Fulham team are just two points off the top four.
Striker Noel Hunt could make a comeback from a heel injury while Reading gaffer Brian McDermott will have to make a tough call on who to choose between the sticks with both Alex McCarthy and Adam Federici available. Jem Karacan is remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Winger Damien Duff is available to Fulham after recovering from illness. Simon Davies is still out with a hip problem.

Stoke City welcome Sunderland to the Britannia Stadium looking to maintain a 10-match home unbeaten run while Sunderland will be looking to secure their first away win of the season.
Stoke could be set to welcome back Glenn Whelan after the Irish midfielder recovered from a hamstring problem.
Black Cats captain Lee Cattermole is set to return after missing the last three matches through suspension. Phil Bardsley has the chance to make his first appearances of the season after being an unused sub in the derby draw with Newcastle following an ankle injury. Titus Bramble (hip) is a doubt while Wes Brown (knee) is definitely ruled out.

Wigan will face West Ham at the DW Stadium looking to end a six match winless run while West Ham could move into the top four with a win.
The Latics could be without on loan Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi who is suffering from a groin problem. Roberto Martinez will definitely be without the services of winger Albert Crusat (knee) and defender Antolin Alcaraz (groin). Martinez admitted that Alcaraz won't be available until Christmas time.
West Ham can welcome back midfielder Joey O' Brien after he has recovered from a hamstring injury suffered earlier this month. Matthew Taylor (calf) and Guy Demel (thigh) could return to first-team action soon but West Ham manager Sam Allardyce will be without Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) and Jack Collison (knee) for the long-term.

The dinner time game on Saturday sees Manchester City face Swansea at the City of Manchester Stadium. Man City will be looking to recover from their crushing 3 - 1 midweek defeat to Ajax by keeping up their outstanding home form.
Man City will again be without playmaker David Silva who misses out with a hamstring injury he sustained on international duty. Defenders Pablo Zabaleta (hamstring) and Maicon (foot) will miss out, as will midfielders Javi Garcia (thigh) and Jack Rodwell (hamstring). James Milner will miss out as he starts the suspension he picked up after his red card against West Brom.
Swansea have no new injury concerns with the absentees Kyle Bartley (thigh) and Neil Taylor (broken ankle) being the only injuries.

The Sunday games kick off with a mouthwatering Merseyside derby as Everton welcome rivals Liverpool to Goodison Park as David Moyes comes up against Liverpool for the 24th time, looking for just his fifth win.
Moyes will be hoping that Marouane Fellaini will be passed fit to play in the derby, while Tony Hibbert is expected to be fit after recovering from his calf problem. Playmaker Steven Pienaar will sit out this game after picking up a one-match ban after his sending-off in the 1 - 1 draw with QPR last week.
Liverpool will monitor the fitness of goalkeeper Jose Reina after he continues to nurse a hamstring injury he picked up on international duty with Spain two weeks ago. There are no fresh injury concerns for Brendan Rodgers with Martin Kelly (knee), Lucas Leiva (thigh) & Fabio Borini (broken foot) all sidelined.

Newcastle will welcome in-form West Bromwich Albion to St. James' Park looking to kick-start their so far limp campaign as they look for just their third win of the season.
Newcastle will be without Ivorian midfield Cheick Tiote who starts a three-match ban after being sent off in last week's Tyne Wear derby as Alan Pardew will welcome back the nine players he rested in the Europa League in midweek.
West Brom have been monitoring the fitness of Claudio Yacob who suffered a hamstring injury during last weekend's 2 - 1 home defeat to Man City. Captain Chris Brunt (hamstring) and Billy Jones (knee) have resumed training and may be in contention to make the squad.

Tottenham will travel to Southampton looking having lost on their last six visits to St. Mary's.
Southampton will be without record signing Gaston Ramirez again as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury. Defender Frazer Richardson (groin) and midfielder Jack Cork (knee) are both out but Tadanari Lee has recovered from his elbow injury and is in contention.
Gareth Bale has returned from paternity leave to face his former club, the Welsh midfielder has missed the last two games after the birth of his first child. Emmanuel Adebayor could make a return after suffering from back pain and he will be joined by Mousa Dembele who has been struggling with a hip injury. Michael Dawson will be assessed because he has been struggling with illness, while Scott Parker (achilles), Benoit Assou-Ekotto & Younes Kaboul (both knee) are all sidelined.

League leaders Chelsea will be involved in the biggest game of the weekend again as they welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will be looking to stay top and the signs are good for Chelsea as they are unbeaten in 11 Premier League games against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, a run stretching back to 2002. You will remember the astounding comeback in this fixture last season as Man United came back from three goals down to draw 3 - 3.
Chelsea will be without influential midfielder Frank Lampard as he will be out for at least two weeks with a calf problem. John Terry will serve another game of his four-match ban but Chelsea can welcome back midfielder Marko Marin after he recovered from injury.
Shinji Kagawa will be out for about a month after he suffered a knee injury in the 3 - 2 victory over Benfica, Sir Alex Ferguson that he could have been back sooner had the Japanese playmaker not carried on playing with the injury. Chris Smalling has recovered from a broken metatarsal but Phil Jones, Nemanja Vidic (both knee) & Anders Linegaard (thumb) all miss out.

Premiership weekend preview

The first game of the weekend incidentally seems to be the biggest with Chelsea travelling to Tottenham for a highly-anticipated London derby. Both clubs will be looking to continue their good run of form with Tottenham looking to extend their winning streak of four games and Chelsea looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season which has seen them shoot to pole position, Chelsea will also be looking to win their first league game at White Hart Lane in seven meetings.
 Andre Villas-Boas will be looking to settle a few scores after his failed spell in West London and it will probably pain him to welcome Chelsea to White Hart Lane as European Champions which is a title he thought he could give to them himself before his spell came to an end in March.
Tottenham will be without club captain Scott Parker until Christmas, the 32-year-old hasn't played since England's Euro 2012 quarter-final exit at the hands of Italy. AVB will also be without long-term absentees Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul who both have knee injuries but he will welcome the returns of Jake Livermore and Kyle Naughton to training this week after recovering from groin and ankle injuries respectively.
Chelsea will be without John Terry as he starts his four-match ban for misconduct but Chelsea gaffer Roberto Di Matteo will be able to welcome back midfielder Frank Lampard and left-back Ryan Bertrand after both players missed England's World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland, Lampard has recovered from a calf injury and Bertrand has shaken off an illness which saw him leave the England camp.

Manchester United will welcome Stoke City to Old Trafford with Stoke looking to grab their first points at Old Trafford since their return to the top-flight and their first win at Old Trafford since 1972. Man United will be hoping that Robin Van Persie can keep up his good record against Stoke, the striker has scored six goals in his five league games against The Potters.
Manchester United can welcome back winger Ashley Young after a two month absence with a knee injury and could be in contention to make a return against Stoke. Sir Alex Ferguson also may choose to put Chris Smalling to use after he is closing in on a return to full fitness after his foot injury.
Stoke manager Tony Pulis has been monitoring the fitness of both Glenn Whelan and Michael Owen. Midfielder Whelan, who limped out of Stoke's 0 - 0 draw against Liverpool with a hamstring problem missed Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Faroe Islands and is rated as '50-50' by Pulis. He also expects that striker Owen, who missed the Liverpool game due to a groin tweak, to be fit for the bench to face his former club. Defender Andy Wilkinson is available again after a 3-match suspension.

Champions Manchester City will be travelling to the Hawthorns to face a West Brom side who have started the season in good form, currently sitting 6th in the table. Man City will be hoping that Tottenham can get a result against Chelsea so that City can catch up to the Premiership leaders while the Baggies will look to extend their best home start to a top-flight season in 92 years but will no doubt face a tough game with their hardest home game of the season yet.
The Baggies may be without midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu, the Congo international picked up a niggle on international duty. On-loan striker Romelu Lukaku should be fit to return after a minor ankle problem but both Steven Reid & Chris Brunt (both hamstring) won't be available while Billy Jones and Boaz Myhill are both out with knee and thumb injuries respectively, long-term absentee Jerome Thomas is still not ready to return to first-team action.
The champions are without David Silva who suffered a hamstring injury just 12 minutes into Spain's 1 - 1 draw against France, while Jack Rodwell is also missing after suffering a hamstring injury of his own while on international duty with England-U21's. Midfield new-boy Javi Garcia is still on the sidelines due to a thigh problem and Maicon is also still missing due to a foot injury.

Liverpool will welcome newly-promoted Reading to Anfield and will be looking to add to their solitary win so far this season, the home side have made their joint-worst start to a Premier League season and sit 14th in the table. Reading will be looking to pick up their first win of the season.
Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina will face a late fitness test on a minor hamstring problem he picked up while on international duty with Spain, striker Fabio Borini has been ruled out for three months with a fractured foot he picked up with Italy U-21's but defenders Jose Enrique and John Flanagan returned to training this week. Jonjo Shelvey is also available again after his three-match suspension.
Reading forward Noel Hunt is a doubt because of a heel problem but midfielder Mikele Leigertwood
has been passed fit after recovering from a dead leg.

Fulham will face an Aston Villa side at Craven Cottage who have made their worst ever start to a Premier League season while Fulham will be looking to build on their good start to the season.
Martin Jol can welcome back strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Mladen Petric who have recovered from hip and calf problems respectively. Midfielder Mahamadou Diarra has also recovered from his knee injury which means he could be in contention for a starting place, however Simon Davies (hip) remains out and Bryan Ruiz is a doubt with a groin injury.
Villans midfielder Stephen Ireland has returned to the squad after missing three games with a broken arm. Manager Paul Lambert will assess the situations of Brad Guzan, Brett Holman & Karim El Ahmadi after long-haul midweek trips playing with America, Australia and Morocco respectively. Full-back Joe Bennett is expected to be fit after suffering a leg injury in Villa's 2 - 0 loss to Tottenham. Richard Dunne remains a long-term absentee.

Swansea face Wigan Athletic at the Liberty Stadium with both teams failing to pick up a win in their last five attempts.
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup could name an unchanged side from the one that came from 2 goals down against Reading to draw 2 - 2. Danny Graham looks set to start up front despite being withdrawn at half-time against The Royals, record signing Ki-Sung Yeung could keep Jonathan De Guzman out of the side. Kemy Agustien is back in contention after a calf problem but Neil Taylor is a long-term absentee with a broken ankle.
Wigan will be without Antolin Alcaraz who has not played since August because of a groin injury, winger Albert Crusat is missing after sustaining a knee problem and Latics manager Roberto Martinez will be monitoring the fitness of Maynor Figueroa & Jean Beausejour after long international trips with Honduras and Chile respectively.

West Ham will welcome a Southampton team to Upton Park who are looking for their first clean sheet of the season, while West Ham will be looking to bounce back from their last home game where they suffered a 3 - 1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal.
Defenders Guy Demel (thigh) and Winston Reid (back) are West Ham's main injury concerns and will both face late fitness tests to prove their fitness while forward Ricardo Vaz Te has undergone surgery on a dislocated shoulder sustained in the loss to Arsenal.
Southampton will be missing record signing Gaston Ramirez after the 21-year-old was ruled out for four weeks, while Frazer Richardson is also sidelined due to a knee injury. Jack Cork, Danny Butterfield (knee) & Tadanari Lee (elbow) are also out, while Nathaniel Clyne is set to return.

The evening kick-off on Saturday sees Arsenal travel to Carrow Road to face a Norwich team who are seeking their first win against the Gunners in 11 attempts while Arsenal will look to keep their strong start to the season going.
Norwich will hope to have Robert Snodgrass back after he returned from international duty with Scotland with an injury, defender Steven Whittaker has returned to full training after sustaining a pre-season ankle problem. On loan Tottenham striker Harry Kane is sidelined by a broken metatarsal.
Arsenal will be without defender Laurent Koscielny who sustained a back injury while on international duty with France, defender Kieran Gibbs will miss out with a thigh injury after he limped off in the second half of the win over West Ham & Theo Walcott will also miss out after he sustained a chest injury after a nasty collision in England's win over San Marino. Emmanuel Frimpong could be in the squad after returning from a long-term knee injury and Jack Wilshere will be in the squad after 15 months out with an ankle injury but it is not likely that he will make an appearance. Wojciech Szczesny (ankle), Abou Diaby (thigh), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) & Bacary Sagna (broken leg) all remain sidelined but the latter has made appearances for the U21's. Lukasz Fabianski set for three months out after rupturing ankle ligaments.

Sunderland will host rivals Newcastle United at The Stadium of Light in the 147th Tyne-Wear derby with Newcastle looking to extend a five-game unbeaten run against their rivals.
Sunderland winger James McClean is back in contention after shaking off a groin injury which kept him out of Republic of Ireland's international friendlies. Full-back Phil Bardsley has featured for the U21's and could make the squad after he recovered from an ankle injury which has kept him out since pre-season. Titus Bramble is a doubt with a hip problem and captain Lee Cattermole completes his three-match ban.
Alan Pardew could welcome back defenders Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini. Taylor damaged his calf in the 2 - 2 draw against Reading and Coloccini has missed the last seven games with a hamstring injury. Goalkeeper Tim Krul could make a return after recovering from an elbow injury he sustained on international duty with Holland & Danny Simpson could be in contention to start after his hamstring injury after he sat out the 3 - 0 defeat to Man United last time out.

Struggling Londoners QPR welcome an Everton side to Loftus Road who have started the season impressively. QPR manager Mark Hughes will be under pressure to get his first win of the season after making some significant signings during the summer.
Jose Bosingwa and Anton Ferdinand are both fit but Hughes will be without Fabio Da Silva who will have a scan on a hamstring injury while Armand Traore is battling for match fitness. Midfielder Samba Diakite returns from a one-match ban while striker Andy Johnson remains a long-term absentee with a knee injury.
Everton will be without midfielder Marouane Fellaini which will be seen as a huge blow to Everton manager David Moyes who is hopeful the Belgian won't be injured for too long after he suffered a knee injury against Wigan. Defender Tony Hibbert (calf) is being considered but Darron Gibson (thigh) will not be available. New signing Thomas Hitzlsperger will not be considered at this stage.

The season so far..

Seeing as I can't get back into my room with my laptop due to an eight-legged monster deciding to make my room his lair, it looks like I will be doing this post from my front room.

So the season is well underway and some teams have been living up to expectations while others have been performing well above levels of expectation, and others have been performing well below the standard which was initially expected of them.

1. Starting off at the top, Chelsea have caught the eye of everyone so far this season with a free-flowing attacking mentality which has seen them shoot to the top of the table, scoring the joint second most goals in the league. The thing with Chelsea is when you spend as much as they did in the summer, a certain level of success should be expected, especially when they bought in stars like Eden Hazard & Oscar for huge prices, but the new players have lived up to the price-tags with Eden Hazard quickly becoming one of the most dangerous players in the Premiership, his start to the season was also phenomenal as he scored or assisted every Chelsea goal they scored in their first three games.

2. Manchester City have started as people would have expected but it was overall a disappointing summer for Roberto Mancini and his men, when they were linked with players like Eden Hazard, Robin Van Persie & Daniele De Rossi, they had to settle for Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell & Maicon, who of course aren't bad players.. but they don't stand up to the class of the first three names. But how much more would you have to do to that title winning squad? Maybe a few more big names would need to be brought in after losing out on Van Persie and Hazard to title challengers but Mancini's squad seems to have more of a settled feel about it this season without the Tevez & Balotelli sagas going on anymore. They have picked up where they left off nevertheless, staying well in touch of Chelsea at the top of the table.

3. Manchester United have also made a solid start to the season despite an opening weekend loss to Everton and a shock 3 - 2 loss to Tottenham at Old Trafford, after snatching Robin Van Persie from rivals Arsenal it looked to be a promising season for Sir Alex's men and at the moment it still seems on course for that with Van Persie picking up where he left off at Arsenal with 7 goals in 9 appearances so far this season. The only worrying point for Man United will be Wayne Rooney's run of no goals for the club this season but they will be hopeful that after two goals for England in the win against San Marino that he will have the taste for goals and can try to catch up with team-mate Van Persie. Another jewel in the Manchester United crown is the emergence of summer signing Shinji Kagawa who looks set to be the replacement to Paul Scholes once Scholes (finally) retires. A notable worry for Man United this season is the ease in which their defence has fallen apart in games, with another injury looking set to keep Vidic out for a couple of months and Rio Ferdinand looking shaky so far this season and Rafael often neglecting his defensive duties for forays forward it seems some work will need to be done if they are to plug their uncharacteristically leaky defence.

4. Everton have been the standout team for me so far this season, usually they have poor starts to the season but this season they have hit the ground running. Leighton Baines has put in his shout for the permanent England spot with some outstanding performances at left-back during the whole Ashley Cole/F.A fiasco. Marouane Fellaini has proved to be one of the most consistent midfielders in the league with some dominant performances in central midfield, it seems as if the man is almost unbeatable in the air (either with his hair,head or chest) despite some continued use off throwing his considerable elbows. David Moyes seems to have unearthed another bargain gem with Kevin Mirallas showing some potential and adding to the seemingly neverending conveyer belt of Belgian talent at the moment. Nikica Jelavic has continued his fine form from last season with 4 goals in 7 games so far. If Everton push on from this good start, with a team of their quality I can see them grabbing a Europa League spot come the end of the season, consistency will be the key for them this season.

5. Despite Tottenham not winning for their first three games and pointing the finger at AVB yet again, Tottenham have gone on a four game winning streak which included their first victory over Man United since 1989. The additions to their squad of Adebayor (permanently), Clint Dempsey, Moussa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen & Hugo Lloris have added some depth up front, in midfield after the losses of Luka Modric & Rafael Van Der Vaart. Vertonghen was a noted target of North London rivals Arsenal but Tottenham managed to snatch him up as well as France captain Hugo Lloris - both of who have made promising starts to their Spurs careers, notably centre-back Vertonghen who has quickly captured the heart's of Spurs fans.

6. West Brom are another team who have overachieved this season so far, The Hawthornes has been made into something of a fortress so far this season with West Brom grabbing victories in every game they've played there so far, including a 3 - 0 drubbing of Liverpool on the opening day. Shane Long has become an integral part of West Brom's team and that has continued this season with his industrial style giving the Baggies a lot of chances. Gareth Macauley and Jonas Olsson have created one of the best centre-back partnerships in the league and the introductions of Goran Popov & Claudio Yacob have added some steel to the defensive side of their games. The addition of Romelu Lukaku on loan up front has also given them depth and his fearsome build has added an extra dimension up front for West Brom.

7. Arsenal have made a solid start to the season despite two 0 - 0 bore draws against Sunderland & Stoke in the first two games of the season. Their defence has considerably improved from what it was this time last season, with players like Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker & Laurent Koscielny stepping up their game. The signing of Santi Cazorla has been lauded as one of the best so far this season as nearly everything good that Arsenal do in a match goes through the diminuitive Spanish playmaker. Olivier Giroud finally broke his league goal-scoring duck with a fine centre-forwards goal against West Ham in a 3 - 1 win. Arsenal have only lost one game so far this season and with Steve Bould as assistant manager it seems that they have tightened their defence, a title challenge is probably a bit far-fetched but Arsenal can definitely challenge for some silverware this season.

8. Newly-promoted West Ham have performed the best of the promoted teams so far, with Big Sam as their gaffer this was always likely to happen as he has the pedigree to survive in the Premiership given the right amount of time as he showed time and time again with Bolton. With the signing of Andy Carroll on loan from Liverpool, he has made a nuisance of himself in games against Fulham & Arsenal. If West Ham can rally around him and use him as a focal point, their size advantage over most other teams could prove pivotal, especially with captain Kevin Nolan's partnership with Carroll proving to be successful when they were at Newcastle, now that Big Sam has reunited them it could be a recipe for success. Matt Jarvis' signing from Wolves for a considerable £10million fee was questioned at first, was he only signed for that much because English players are over-priced? Nevertheless, he has made a good start to his West Ham career with his good delivery and direct style causing defences problems, now Carroll is back from injury it could be the perfect catalyst for West Ham success.

9. Fulham have continued their tradition and reputation as a consistent and reliable team. After the sales of Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey to Tottenham it was thought that Fulham might struggle to replicate any kind of form which saw them hit the heights of last season but they have started in a solid fashion, winning 3 of their first 7 games. The signings of Dimitar Berbatov and the enigmatic Hugo Rodallega have added some depth upfront and despite not having the likes of Dempsey & Dembele it seems that Fulham will have another one of their solid seasons without creating too much fuss.

10. Newcastle have started the season in a way which some would see as under-achieving because of their terrific end to last season, Demba Ba has over-taken Papiss Cisse as the goal-scoring hero of St James' Park (not the Sports Direct Arena) yet again, with Cisse having not scored in the league yet this season and Ba scoring 6 in 8 appearances so far. In their next game they will be looking to recover from the 3 - 0 humbling they received at home to Man United but if players like Cisse, Ba & Ben Arfa are on form there will be no doubt that Newcastle can push for a Europa League spot again this season. Considering they were in The Championships a few years ago, the resurrection of Newcastle as a team & club under Alan Pardew has been nothing short of phenomenal.

11. Swansea have continued their tradition of exciting and fast-flowing football under Michael Laudrup after the departure of Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool. Laudrup has continued the philosophy of football which Rodgers instilled into the Swansea players and despite the losses of Scott Sinclair & Joe Allen it seems that Swansea have managed to compensate, the signing of Michu has been an impressive piece of business as he has scored 6 goals in 8 games from attacking midfield and he has integrated himself into the Premiership's style seemlessly. If Swansea could tighten up their defence, which was impressive last season, they could work on their mid-table finish from last season because going forward they are outstanding, scoring the joint second highest amount of goals in the lower half of the table (12), unfortunately due to the amount they've conceded they only have a goal difference of plus one.

12. Stoke City have continued their no-nonsense style of football, which isn't pretty to watch but obviously it is effective seeing as they've been a consistent team in the Premiership since they were promoted back in 2008. During their time in the Premiership they've also appeared in an FA cup final and had a campaign in the Europa League so their class as a Premiership team can't be doubted. The signing's of Charlie Adam & Michael Kightly have added some on-ball class to Stoke's industrious midfield and with Michael Owen waiting in the wings, surely his partnership with Peter Crouch will bear fruit for Stoke fans? Stoke have performed well in games this season, grabbing draws against Man City, Arsenal & Liverpool but their battering ram style of play will need to have a touch of class added to it if they hope to climb any higher come the end of the season.

13. Sunderland have started well under Martin O' Neill, the signing of Steven Fletcher from Sunderland has been a masterstroke so far as he has scored all five of Sunderland's goals so far this season and his form has led him to grabbing September's player of the month award. Sunderland will be another one of those clubs whose season won't hold anything significant but they will do well, having hung on to the likes of James McClean & Stephane Sessegnon over the summer they can have another steady season, maybe looking to put a cat among the pigeons during the title race and cause a few shocks because Sunderland are that kind of team.

14. Hm, now where do I start with Liverpool? After having another lacklustre summer, of which the highlight was the signing of the tidy Joe Allen from Swansea, it seems as if Liverpool have taken a step back even from last season. Last season was overcome with the racism row between Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez, it now seems that Suarez has a crosshairs on his forehead, a crosshairs which he can't help but place himself. There's no doubting Suarez's class as a footballer but I'm not sure what goes through his mind sometimes, unfortunately for him, whenever he goes down for a penalty a ref will always think 'Hm, it's the boy who cried wolf' and his reputation will precede him. A positive for Liverpool so far is the emergence of youngster Raheem Sterling who has looked impressive on the wings with his speed and direct style of play. Lately Liverpool have played much better than in the earlier games of the season but it still seems like there is something lacking for Liverpool, with the news of Fabio Borini's broken foot they are lacking even more in the striking department which is a department they could have filled with the hefty frame of Andy Carroll but probably due to his style of play, Brendan Rodgers couldn't see a place for him in the team, which is unfortunate because at the end of last season Carroll was really starting to show promise.

15. Wigan have started with a struggle, which is surprising considering the barn-storming run they had to escape relegation last season and the form they were in towards the end of the season. Their only win of the season so far has come against Southampton, but some of their play has deserved better. Despite losing Victor Moses to Chelsea they still have a quick and direct style of play, Franco Di Santo has a new strike partner in Arouna Kone who has started life in the Premiership well and they look to be a potent partnership for Wigan. I think that Wigan will struggle against relegation but how they perform against the teams around them will ultimately hold their fate.

16. What happened to Aston Villa? A few seasons ago they were fighting for a Champions League spot, with the likes of Ashley Young, James Milner & Stewart Downing performing well. Now they are on the verge of another relegation threatened campaign. The burden of them surviving will unfortunately fall on the shoulders of Darren Bent who needs to have a good season in order for Villa to survive I think, the signing of Chrisian Benteke has given Paul Lambert another option upfront and the young Belgian striker can provide the same play as Bent with his pace and power, he just needs to be calmer in front of goal which should come with experience. The youth of the Villa squad could either work in their favour or work against them in their fight, their lack of experience could work against them or the vibrance of youth could shine through and pull them up the table, only time will tell for the Villa Park inhabitants.

17. Southampton have been the unluckiest of the promoted clubs, their style of play has seen them perform well in games but they haven't been able to see out victories. They were 2 - 1 up against Man City and Man United but unfortunately ended up losing both games 3 - 2, if Southampton could have seen out both of these games they would have caused huge upsets and the confidence would have led them to being a huge force in the Premiership this season. Talismanic striker Rickie Lambert has started life in top-tier well as he has caused every defence he has come up against a problem. Jason Puncheon and club captain Adam Lallana have aided Lambert's cause with excellent service and support for the target-man. If Southampton can keep up this style of play I have no doubts that they will be rewarded with good results and their status in the Premiership will stay for at least another season. Surprisingly they have the worst defence in the league but due to their style of play going forward they have made up for it with the amount of goals they have been scoring.

18. Reading have impressed pundits with their industrial style of play on the pitch, unfortunately in some games their effort hasn't been rewarded. They have failed to find a victory so far this season, drawing 3 and losing the other 3 of their 6 games so far. Being 2 - 1 up against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, 2 - 1 up against Newcastle at the Madejski and 2 - 0 up against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium they haven't found a victory in any of those games. Their squad has a good pedigree with the likes of Danny Guthrie, Pavel Pogrebnyak & Nicky Shorey and the impressive Gareth McCleary also showing promise it seems if Reading can find some luck then they will be fine to avoid relegation, just.

19. Norwich have failed to impress so far this season, maybe a touch of second season syndrome has kicked in. After keeping hold of Grant Holt it seemed that if Norwich could build a stronger squad that they would perhaps keep tabs with Swansea and try to build on their solid mid-table finish from last season, unfortunately it hasn't quite worked out like that with 4 losses and 3 draws coming in their first 7 games and performances haven't really hit the dizzying heights of last season.

20. What happens when you go and buy so many players that you could create a new first-team? QPR 's situation at the moment. They have signed so many players that at the moment their squad lacks a bit of cohesion and they haven't gelled yet which is unfortunate because their team has the potential to be very good. The signings of Julio Cesar, Esteban Granero, Ji-Sung Park, Junior Hoilett, Fabio Da Silva & Stephane M'bia have all shown that QPR are showing ambition. Alejandro Faurlin and Granero have formed an impressive partnership in midfield but goals have been drying up for Rangers with Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora's partnership not quite clicking into gear yet. QPR have the players and quality to avoid relegation in my opinion and they should find themselves out of the relegation in no time.