Weekend full of surprises

The weekend started with Ferguson getting Manager of the Month award and Torres running away with the Player of the Month award but these were not the surprises this week.

Bolton 2-2 Tottenham

Tottenham have been flying really high this season with exceptions of their games against Manchester United and  Chelsea. They have been ruthless to all other opposition they have faced but against Bolton it was another story. Bolton took the lead twice and all Spurs could manage was a draw.

Burnley 2-1 Birmingham

Turf Moor has already got the reputation of a fortress this season but Birmingham have not been beaten on this ground since 1976. The record was broken finally with Fletcher and Bikey giving Burnley the win.

Hull City 2-1 Wigan

This was a contrasting change of fortunes for both teams. Wigan won last weekend against Chelsea while Hull were demolished by Liverpool. Yet, Hull managed to win this one.

Wolves 0-1 Portsmouth

Played 7 lost 7. Scored 3 conceded 13. This was Portsmouth story before this game. But finally they are off the mark with a win. Hassan Yebda, a loan signing from Benfica breaking the deadlock.

Manchester United 2-2 Sunderland

Who would have thought that a team with 9 consecutive wins in all competitions under their belt would come so close to losing all 3 points against Sunderland. The first half was all Sunderland. Nani, Wellbeck were not even visible. Scholes’ passing was wayward. Rooney and Berbatov were not getting any time on the ball. And Bent’s quickness caused them to concede pretty soon into the game. There was no shot on target by United in the first half. Second half saw them equalize through Berbatov’s brilliance but then Jones restored the lead with little help from Foster (who again disappointed in goal). It was Manchester United’s resilience that paid off finally when Evra’s shot which was going off target was deflected by Anton Ferdinand into his own net robbing Sunderland of the 3 points.

Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn

Blackburn took the lead twice before Arsenal placing the ball into Blackburn goal as and when they wanted to. It was a scintillating display from the Arsenal team who after going down made the scoreline look as if the 2 goals from Blackburn were just consolation. Vermaelen seems to have invented another position in football – Central Attacking Defender.

Everton 1-1 Stoke City

Everton went behind in this one before Osman equalized. Everton are unbeaten in 6 games now.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

The first half was good play by Liverpool but all their balls in the box were being cleared well by the Chelsea defence except once when Torres came really close to scoring. Chelsea on the other hand were causing trouble for Liverpool defence from set pieces getting free headers twice or thrice. But 2nd half saw Chelsea take the lead and ensure the win which takes them to the top of the table.

Sevilla 2-1 Real Madrid

Many thought that Madrid’s run till now didn’t have any real tests and this was the first time they are facing real quality opposition. If this was the case the result has failure written all over it for Real Madrid. With Barcelona winning again this weekend, this means Madrid are now 3 points adrift the pace.

Athletico Madrid 2-1 Real Zaragoza

Finally, Athletico Madrid manage to win. But they were lucky as Zaragoza got two penalties and missed one. Its surprising though that a team with talented strikers namely Aguerro and Forlan are barely able to register a win the Liga.

And now we are headed into the internationals break. Hope the internationals continue the same excitement as the leagues have.

Giggs and Nani do it again

You never listen, do you?

I disagree with anyone who says that Nani is inconsistent. I think he is very consistent. When his team needs him to pass, he shoots and when his team needs him to shoot, he passes. He continues to disappoint in every game he plays. What more level of consistency can one expect from him? His display against Stoke City proves it. When Berbatov and Rooney were unmarked on the edge of the box, he decided to shoot for goal himself and missed in the process. I think it was wrong of Rooney to expect a pass from him in this situation and he was wasting his time showing his anger at him.

All Manchester United fans are hoping that Nani can replace Ronaldo to some extent but Nani is doing is best to prove them wrong. I am just wondering how long will it take for Sir Alex Ferguson to get rid of him.

Giggs on the other hand showed what a simple game football is. He made a simple pass that created a goal for Berbatov (who rightfully acknowledged Giggs’ effort) and then produced a beautiful delivery from the free kick for John O’Shea to score.

Valencia on the other hand looks little above average if not great. He knows he has to run behind defenders and created passes and cross for the strikers and that is what he does. His delivery though will improve as he gets more playing time.

Fletcher and Scholes looked their usual self with their tackles. Fletcher good with them while Scholes bad with them. No one in the world can understand how come a player of Scholes talent never got his tackling right. But anyways good to see him avoid the red card. The handball was accidental and was not yellow card worthy.

It was a frustrating game till Giggs’ introduction and I was left with a question in my mind – If Nani is playing like he is, who’ll play when Giggs’ is injured or needs rest? Till I get an answer to this one, lets hope Nani does some wonders.

Everywhere else it was goals galore:

• Portsmouth 0-1 Everton: What a surprise?
• Birmingham 1-2 Bolton: Really not interested.
• Blackburn 2-1 Aston Villa: That was really a surprise.
• Liverpool 6-1 Hull City: The surprise was not Torres hattrick but Babel scoring two. One of my friends who is a Liverpool fan used to say Babel is worse than Nani, I beg to disagree. Details views are available here. Not on Babel/Nani words but the game.
• Tottenham 5-0 Burnley: Normal business resumes at White Hart Lane.
• Wigan 3-1 Chelsea: Perfect records goes away. Cech red card. But lack of character show by Chelsea.
• Fulham 0-1 Arsenal: A game that could have sprung a surprise but Arsenal did their business.
• Sunderland 5-2 Wolves: Goals galore.
• Man City 3-1 West Ham: Tevez scores against his old club.

Spurs do it again

How many times have we seen Spurs flatter to deceive? They tend to give promising starts which somehow don’t turn into positive form throughout the season. This season is turning into the same old story.

Spurs started the season with a win over Liverpool in a convincing fashion which made football pundits write off Liverpool’s title challenge and made Spurs a top 4 threat along with Man City.

Then came the taming of Hull City who were good against Chelsea on the opening weekend. Hull ended up conceding 5 goals in the game. 2-1 victories against West Ham and Birmingham were usual business before Manchester United came calling at White Hart Lane.

Till this point it was all going pretty well for them. The defensive injuries to Woodgate and Dawson were well covered by Bassong and King (surprisingly). But Luka Modric, who was a driving force till now in the midfield was now injured. Surprisingly as soon as injuries start plaguing Tottenham, all sense tends to go away. Harry Redknapp started the game against Manchester United with Keane in the right of the midfield and Peter Crouch starting alongside Defoe. It looked an attacking line up on paper but the result didn’t show the same thing. A goal in the first minute gave them the lead but then Man Utd controlled the game well to push them to their first defeat of the season. The sad part was the lack of ideas for Spurs. They barely got any ball throughout the game. Harry sat on the sidelines like a sorry figure.

Then it was a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. Robbie Keane returned to his striking role alongside Defoe. But it was a dominating display by a Chelsea side who are quietly doing their business of winning games while all the limelight is on performances of other top 4 teams. The injuries to King and Bassong left them weak in the defense and Chelsea capitalized on that weakness beautifully.

Spurs always look a world beating side against smaller teams but when it comes to big games somehow they tend to disappoint. Liverpool game was a really good performance but games against Man Utd and Chelsea show that work still needs to be done for them to be a real contender to Champions League spot. Injuries have never been kind to them and now they barely have anyone to play in center half positions.

No matter how attractive football Spurs tend to play, luck seems to be never on their side.

Owen wins Manchester Derby

When Owen came on in place of Berbatov I had a feeling that this is going to be his day but when Bellamy equalized in the 90th minute, I thought maybe its too late but Owen had to make my day. Owen had to prove himself and he scored the vital winner in an amazing Manchester derby. Who would have thought that one day Michael Owen, a Liverpool player, would be there to win the Manchester derby for Manchester United.

Michael Owen scoring the winner in the derby

Man Utd took the lead thrice only to see City draw level due to their defensive errors. It was smart work by Evra as he got in behind City defence from a throw in to setup Rooney for the first goal. But Foster wanted to make the game interesting. A long ball from Lescott came down to Foster who wanted to pull it into his penalty box instead of clearing it only to Tevez to pounce on it and make a pass for Barry to equalize. Foster’s antics reminded me of Barthez’s days when he never wanted to clear or pick the ball. And this was after Vidic gave Foster a warning when Foster’s clearance hit right at Tevez.

Soon after restart, Fletcher jumped high and headed a Giggs cross into the net. But Bellamy had other ideas. He took Tevez’s pass, cut inside O’Shea and hit a shot past Foster. This time Foster was not to be blamed. Fletcher thought he had a win when he agains powered a header past Shay Given from a Giggs cross but Ferdinand made a blunder to give Bellamy another goal and an equalizer in the 90th minute.

Then in the 96th minute Michael Owen scored from a Giggs’ pass to win it all for Manchester United.

There were questions by Mark Hughes as to how so much extra time was allowed to be played when only 4 minutes were added on. The 4th official said that their celebration for the goal at 90th minute made them add an extra minute and I assume since United made a substitution in extra time, 30 seconds got added on for that which makes it close to 6 minutes of extra time and Owen scored within that time. It was a good move by Fergi to replace Anderson with Carrick not for tactical reasons but only to get extra time.

Manchester United could have won the game easily if it had not been for their defensive mistakes. Also, Berbatov came really close to scoring around 3 times only to be denied by Given’s awesome goalkeeping. Tevez returned to Old Trafford and also came close to scoring only to see the post denying him.

Rooney keeps his record of scoring in almost every game with Fletcher getting a couple with his head. I remember him missing a few sitters with his feet in couple of previous games. It was good to see Owen scoring an important goal and a good one as well. This should be start of good things for him.

Overall a good win which could have been easier only to be complicated by United’s own mistakes. But City showed their intent with the game. But it would have been good to see how City responded without United’s mistakes.

In other games over the weekend:

• Burnley recorded another home win against Sunderland 3-1. This is their 3rd straight home win in EPL this season.
• Arsenal had a convincing 4-0 victory against Wigan.
• Aston Villa scored a 2-0 victory against Portsmouth.
• Bolton and Stoke played a 1-1 draw.
• Hull City lost 0-1 at home to Birmingham.
• West Ham lost 2-3 to Liverpool
• Wolves 2-1 to Fulham
• Everton scored 3 past Blackburn
• Chelsea had a convincing 3-0 victory against Spurs.

Time for Manchester derby..doesn’t get better than this…

12 November 1881 – West Gordon (St. Marks) hosted Newton Heath. Result was Newton Heath winning by 3 goals to nothing. It was described as “a pleasant game”. West Gordon (St. Marks) went on to become Manchester City and Newton Heath went on to become Manchester United and the games between these two were no longer pleasant.

so much for pleasantness

In the 152nd derby meeting between these two, Manchester United (un)welcome Manchester City with there multi million $ signings to Old Trafford. Previous 151 meetings have resulted in 49 draws with United wining 61 times and City winning 41 times.

This is a hugely anticipated clash since Manchester City have given themselves the big club tag with their star signings namely – Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Barry, Toure, Lescott (not sure how exactly these guys are stars, they are good players though). Manchester City are expecting themselves to be knocking on the top 4 door and with their display last weekend against Arsenal, everyone is thinking that they might just. But Arsenal are one thing and Manchester United are another. Arsenal are an amazing team but are many times undone by their own flamboyancy while Manchester United get the job done when needed to even if means without their usual style of play.

Manchester City are without their star players – Tevez, Robinho, Santa Cruz, Ireland (all injured) and Adebayor (out due to suspension for the tackle on Van Persie). Without these players, City look the same as last year with the exception of their defence – which conceded two over the weekend. Its difficult to see where the goals would be coming for City considering their major strike force and creative midfield missing. Their only hope is to prevent United from scoring and getting a 0-0 draw or probably try and nick 1 on the counterattack using the pace of Bellamy and Wright Phillips.

It would have a good booing exercise for United fans if Tevez would have played who snubbed United to join City.

I won't be sitting in this chair this weekend

Manchester United dispatched another top 4 contender in Spurs over the weekend and got an away win in Turkey in the Champions League. This is a chance for them to show Manchester City that they do not belong in top 4. Paul Scholes is ineligible for this game due to his red card in the game against Spurs. Ryan Giggs has played the most derby games and would be relishing another chance to run at City defence. Ferdinand should be back to full fitness after missing the game against Besiktas. Fletcher was rested during midweek fixture and should be starting this one. His steel in the midfield would be an important asset for United.

Line up that I would like to see on the pitch would be:

Foster

O’Shea – Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra

Valencia – Fletcher – Anderson – Giggs

Rooney – Berbatov

Man Utd have an incentive of going top with a win (since Chelsea are playing after United game) and also opening up the gap against City while City can leapfrog United into 2nd place with a win.

I expected a fast paced game with United being too good for City. 3-0 to United for me.

Watch it live this  Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

Other games this weekend:

• Burnley v Sunderland – Sunderland win. Live Saturday 17:10 IST on ESPN
• Arsenal v Wigan – Win for Arsenal. Live Saturday 19:25 IST on ESPN
• Aston Villa v Portsmouth - Easy win for Villa. Watch it Live Saturday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Bolton v Stoke City - Bolton win. Watch delayed telecast Saturday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Hull City v Birmingham - Scored draw.
• West Ham United v Liverpool - Liverpool win but West Ham would make it difficult for them. Watch it Live Saturday 21:55 IST on ESPN
• Wolves v Fulham - Should be an easy win for Fulham. Watch delayed telecast Sunday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Everton v Blackburn - Buoyed by their win in Europa League, Everton should win this one. Watch it Live Sunday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Chelsea v Tottenham - Another big four test for Spurs. They dispatched Liverpool at start of the season but were beaten by Manchester United. Spurs would be looking to get better of Chelsea to make a statement that they can still be considered a threat for the top 4. Chelsea have quietly kept winning points and this would be their first big test. Spurs are capable of beating anyone on their day but its always the question of which Spurs comes out to play. Scored draw for me. Watch it Live Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

Man Utd off to a winning start

Manchester United won their opening Champions League fixture against Besiktas 0-1 with Paul Scholes getting on the scoresheet.

I still can't tackle after so may years but I can still score

I expected Scholes in the starting line up since he is anyways going to miss the Manchester derby due to the red card he received during the weekend game against Spurs. And he didn’t disappoint with his goal. Nani hit a blistering shot which was palmed away in the air by Besiktas goalkeeper only for Scholes to head it into the goal. I saw Scholes in the penalty box after a long time. He has stopped making those darting runs into the penalty area and is satisfied making the killer passes sitting deep in the midfield.

The most interesting thing in the match to me was the formation United were playing. It was 4-5-1 with Wayne Rooney the lone striker and Nani and Antonio Valencia trying to make the runs on the wings and provide crosses ably assisted by Evra and Neville. United seem to be operating in difference formations against different opponents. Fergie generally has a separate formation when playing away from home in Europe but I have seen this in EPL as well this time around. He is putting out a formation as per the opposition.

But did it work? Nani and Valencia had some good runs in the game down the byline but the end product was not coming through. But it does look promising.

There was poor behavior by some Besiktas fans with one putting a laser eye on Jonny Evans. But the stewards handles them well. But its a noisy place to go to. I was really surprised by the noise the fans were creating. I have never seen such noise anywhere.

It was good to see Owen getting some time on the pitch and he had a couple of decent chances which he missed but I think he will get his scoring touch back as he gets more games under his belt.

Rooney was angry at being substituted but considering Man City’s visit to Old Trafford over the weekend, its was a good move specially since he was doing so much hard work for the best part of 1 hour.

It wasn’t a very beautiful match but Manchester United got the points they needed considering that Wolfsburg have started well and it would be tough to take points off them. Turkey is not a really productive place to go to in terms of points.

In the other game of the group Wolsburg beat CSKA Moscow 3-1 with Grafite getting a hat-trick.

Same old story for Spurs…

Yet again, Spurs took the lead against Manchester United and yet again they ended up losing. What is with this fixture? Time and again this fixture tends to entertain but Spurs somehow always end up losing.

Tottenham Hotspur started with Defoe, Crouch and Keane in attack and King and Bassong in defence. Harry Redknapp showed his intent to attack with the starting line up he chose. Manchester United’s starting line up looked a bit cautious. Berbatov started against his old club alongside Rooney. Midfield starters included Giggs, Scholes, Anderson and Fletcher. It was an early return from injury for Rio Ferdinand who was partnering Vidic in the defence.

Combination of Crouch, Defoe and Keane was always bound to cause problems for the United defence and boy, didn’t they start well. Within 30 seconds Crouch forced Vidic to make a defence clearance which Defoe converted into a goal via an overhead kick. It looked as if Spurs meant business and they are going to prove their metal this season. First Liverpool were tamed and it looked now its Manchester United’s turn.

But United had other plans. Slowly and slowly they started taking control of the midfield and the game. Berbatov was causing all sorts of trouble for Spurs as he was dropping in the hole between Palacois and defence of King and Bassong. Palacios was only able to stop Berbatov by giving away a free kick which was converted by Ryan Giggs to bring United level. After that it was all United driven by Paul Scholes. Some of their play was really beautiful. Spurs were creating chances but were unable to convert the. Anderson got a chance before half time and he converted it into his first goal for Manchester United in the premier league.

Spurs introduced Jenas after the break and he created a good chance only to see Foster make an excellent save. Later United got reduced to 10 men as Scholes got his marching order after receiving a second yellow card. Fergie replaced Berbatov with Carrick to keep the midfield dominating. United got a good break on counterattack and Rooney converted it into a goal. Coolly done through the legs of Cudicini. Rooney showed no signs of being tired after playing 2 games during the international break.

The win sends Man Utd to second place in the table behind Chelsea. They area ahead of Man City and Spurs on goal difference.

The most surprising things that I found during the game was the way Harry Redknapp looked dejected as if he had no answers to United’s dominance. The changes he made were surprising. Jenas for Palacios made some impact. But Hutton for Corluka made no difference. And Kranjcar for Keane? If things are not working for you why not change the system a bit. Why only go Route 1? Why not throw in Pavlychynko in place of Crouch and see if something happens.

For United, it was a good game. Apart from the first minute where they conceded, they dominated a lot throughout the game. They scored from free kick and were creating chances from open play and scored an awesome goal from counter attack. And even with a man down, showed a lot of character in the win. Scholes had a good game, the red card was a bit harsh but the kind of tackles he makes always tend to attract those. Anderson finally scored and that would finally shut the media up about his bust up with Fergie. Berbatov had a good game. Really wanted to see him perform well. It was good to see Ferdinand back in action. But I am really impressed with Evra this season. He is improving at a really fast pace. One moment he is doing defensive duties and within a flash he would be in opposition half creating a chance for his team or probably scoring one himself (side netted a chance close to the end). I am worried about Nani though. He continues to disappoint me whenever he plays.

Overall a win showing class of the champions and no signs of missing Ronaldo yet.

In other major games

• Liverpool thrashed Burnley 4-0 at home – Yossi Benayoun got a hat-trick and assisted Dirt Kuyt to a goal.
• Manchester City beat Arsenal 4-2 at home – Adebayor scored against his old club as Man City made a solid statement that they mean business this season and want a top four finish.
• Chelsea beat Stoke City 2-1 away from home – Chelsea scored very late in both halves but the goal they conceded was shabby. It looked everyone paused and only Faye was moving.

Man City tame Arsenal

What a game. What a game. If anyone has not seen this match, they should get it from any source possible and watch it immediately. This has to go down as the match of the EPL season so far. It was way better than any other game. I have to admit, I expected a good match but not this good.

Mark Hughes had every right to think -  its just the 4th game of the season for them. Its too early to make a jab at a top 4 team. Lets just play easy and get an appropriate result. But he had other ideas. He wanted to make a statement with this one and didn’t he do it in style.

First half did not brighten the game much. Richards header hit the bar and bounced on the back of Almunia into the Arsenal goal. 1-0 to Man City.

Into the 2nd half and Arsenal were level via  a fabulous Robin Van Persie goal. He overcame a challenge by Lescott, turned around and hit the ball past Shay Given into Man City goal. Man City 1-1 Arsenal. Till then I was wondering how would Man City respond to this. And what a response. City struck 3 times in 10 minutes to take the game away from Arsenal. First Bellamy converted a cross from Richards into goal. Then Adebayor towering header from a Shaun Wright Phillips’ cross went past Almunia and then Wright Phillips turned scorer when he converted  Bellamy’s pass on the break.

Rosicky’s late goal made it 4-2 but it was too late for Arsenal though they did have really good chances towards the end. But it was Man City and Adebayor’s day. They wanted to perform against Arsenal and they did. But the game did have its negatives. Adebayor celebrated his goal in front of Arsenal fans almost enticing them. And he stamped on Robin Van Persie’s face. He did not need to do these things since his game did the talking all the time. But he should be punished for these. These things bring bad name to game and everything should be done to eradicate these.

For Arsenal the positive was return of Rosicky after a long absence. But on the negative side, Bendtner had a poor game and so did Almunia. IMO, Almunia is still not Arsenal class.

But Man City will take confidence from this game. They were able to tame one top four team and are visiting the champions, Manchester United, next weekend. Wouldn’t they want to tame them as well and show their dominance not just in Manchester but in EPL as well.

EPL season… review till now…

There have been some surprises and some usuals in the EPL season till now. Here is a run down of every team.

• Chelsea: Sitting on top of the table. Perfect record till now. Surprised? I am not. They did not sell anyone in the transfer window and added a couple of players which actually makes them stronger considering most of their rivals sold out their star players. They do have the criticism of having players on the wrong side of 30 but their starting XI generally has a mix of players on both sides of 30.
• Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Redknapp had a good run with them since taking over. Season has started with a perfect record in 4 games. They always had the money and were very active in the transfer window. In my opinion Harry is a great manager. He did wonders at Portsmouth. Then why were they not expected to do well? They generally are very unlucky with injuries and they will hit them sooner or later. (They have started with Modric going out).
• Manchester United: The traditional slow starters of the EPL. And they do tend to give a surprising result every season (Liverpool 4-1, Burnley 1-0). They are like a marathon runner. Slow to start with and then pick up pace and surprise everyone with there run while everyone else starts getting tired. Their squad depth always gives them an advantage and it is already being tested this season.
• Manchester City: 3 wins in 3 games. The big spender tag. Supposedly big star names though in my opinion Tevez, Santa Cruz are not exactly big stars. Very active in transfer market. Nobody expected their ‘star players’ to gel in so quickly. But they did start well. And Mark Hughes is a good manager. He showed that with Wales. He can make a team perform well even without the stars. So considering that he got some ‘stars’ why was it a surprise that they are performing well? Also, they barely have been tested till now.
• Stoke City: There 7 points from 4 matches have been against Sunderland, Burnley and Birmingham. Liverpool beat the hell out of them. To survive in the premiership they have to get points off these teams and that is exactly what they did.
• Arsenal: 6 points from 3 matches. Only loss being against Manchester United. They always play with amazing style no matter who is on pitch. Lost Toure and Adebayor during the summer. But they have always relied on youth to perform. Then why is everyone shocked to see their young team perform admirably. Though in my opinion they would start tiring off and then the results will start going against them.
• Liverpool: 2 losses from 4 matches. They lost just 2 games entire last season. Lost Alonso to Real Madrid. Barely any new signings and the ones that they did sign are injured. They rely too much on Gerrard and Torres and like last season are predictable. When you lose your spine, you are bound to be in pain and they definitely are in pain.
• Aston Villa: 3 games 6 points.  Loss against Wigan but win against Liverpool. They had Europa League distraction and don’t have a huge squad. To add to it, they barely have a defence. Laursen retired, Knight sold off. Not properly replaced. Lack of squad depth would always haunt you. Though better support from fans can do them some good.
• Sunderland: Currently lying at 9th place but would usually be expected to be in bottom half of the table. They are close to that, aren’t they. Lost to Chelsea which was expected but their loss to Stoke was probably a surprise. But the games which the teams at the wrong end of the table have to win can always spring a surprise.
• Burnley: They were tagged giant killers last season for their performances against big teams and they have a good manager in Owen Coyle. Wins against Manchester United and Everton have given them 6 points and 10th place. They are pretty much unchanged from last season and considering they are newly promoted team, can always cause a surprise or two and didn’t they surprise with their results.
• West Ham United: 4 points from 3 games with a loss against Spurs (who are in an amazing form). Zola has gelled this team well but they were not very active in the transfer window. They are currently 11th and they are expected to be languishing mid table or close to bottom half.
• Birmingham: They won against Portsmouth (who hasn’t), lost to Spurs and drew with Stoke. The 6 pointers at the wrong end of the table can always go either way. They are expected to be in the bottom half of the table and are currently 12th.
• Wolves: They are not expected to be any giant killers or spring any surprises. But they can surely cause trouble in the 6 pointers and they have got their 4 points from those. Losses against Man City and West Ham were barely a surprise.
• Hull City: Whoever was linked with them over the summer, would run away. They were barely able to sign anyone during the transfer window. Currently 14 and are expected to be in fight for relegation.
• Fulham: Aston Villa game was a 6 pointer for them considering that Villa would be one of their rivals for Europa League spot. Roy Hutchinson did a good job last season with them and added a few decent players to the squad. Loss is 1 game they would be expected to get points in should not be a worry for their fans.
• Everton: They wouldn’t have been expected to win Arsenal game but it was the manner of defeat which surprised everyone. Loss to Burnley was again a surprise but considering giant killing form of Burnley they can do stuff. Good for them that the Lescott saga is over while their new signings might take some time to gel in but David Moyes should be able to get them back on track.
• Wigan Athletic: They started off well with a win over Villa but 3 defeats against Wolves, Man Utd and Everton pushed them back. They have a good manager in Martinez but bottom half of the table should be there place.
• Blackburn: They are not getting points off their 6 pointer opponents. Sam Allardyce is a shrewd manager and can get scrappy wins but somehow it hasn’t yet started working for them. Relegation dog fight is their game and that is what they would be preparing themselves for.
• Bolton: Yet to get off the mark. Another team losing their 6 pointers. They play the same way season and season again and rely too much on set pieces and Kevin Davies. Sunderland and Hull are opponents they should be getting points off if they want to stay up.
• Portsmouth: Involved in the takeover saga all summer. Sold almost everyone from the team and tried to sign everyone available on loan. This is where they will be entire season.

Pick of deadline day deals

David Nugent to Burnley: 4.5/5

Finally, he goes to a place where he would get regular playing time.

I personally like him since his Preston North End days. He performed really well for them. When he moved to Portsmouth I considered it a good move for him and thought he would get good premier league experience but somehow he didn’t get as many starts as I expected. He has moved to Burnley on loan for 6 months with a view of making the move permanent. Burnley would be really happy to sign him since he is a proven goalscorer. He has scored regularly in Championship, netted a few in premier league and score for England under-21 as well as the senior team. With this signing Burnley can surely hope to kill few other giants as well and hopefully stay up.

Teemu Tainio moves to Birmingham: 2/5

I have seen this guy play for Tottenham Hotspur but I was not really impressed by him. Haven’t seen him perform for Sunderland so not sure how this would shape up. I think its an ok-ok signing.

Kranjcar moves to Tottenham: 3/5

Another Portsmouth players moves to Tottenham. Harry connections I guess. Kranjcar has come in as direct replacement of Modric who is out injured currently. He shouldn’t have much trouble settling in considering that he has earlier worked with Harry Rednapp and there are couple of other Croatian players in the team including Modric.

Heitinga to Everton: 4/5

This seems to be a really good catch to me. David Moyes has an ability of finding out obscure talent. Remember Lescott. He has made good business from him and made him a good defender. Heitinga can play in variety of positions – central defender, right back and defensive midfield. Seems to me a Phil Neville type player. Should work well for the Toffees. I am surprised though that they were not able to get the loan signing of Banega from Valencia.

James Collins, Dunne to Aston Villa: 4/5

Collins is a Wales international and had an effective partnership with Anton Ferdinand during 2006/07 season after which he got a 9 month injury layoff. Villa needed a couple of defenders badly after retirement of Laursen and sale of Zat Knight. They have also signed Dunne from Manchester City which is subject to clearance by the Premier League. Collectively these two signings would be a boost for Villa specially after their Europa League exit.

Ben Haim to Portsmouth: 3/5

He is a good defender and was in the form of his life during his time at Bolton which prompted his move to Chelsea where he barely got any playing time. Later he moved to Manchester City and now to Portsmouth. There is no doubt that he lacks the ability and talent but would he regain his best form, that needs to be seen. Worth a gamble though.