Portsmouth host Stoke for the first time since the 2002/03 season this weekend since both clubs were in the Championship. The South Coast club have actually won their last 3 home League encounters with the Potters without conceding a goal but the clubs have changed so much in this time it’s a statistic that should have no bearing on this match.

(more…)

These two clubs have not met in a League match since an old Division Two clash in 1988/89 when the Bangles were number one in the charts with ‘Eternal Flame’. Both clubs have changed since then but Chelsea’s transformation has been far more dramatic. Luiz Felipe Scolari takes his team to the Britannia Stadium to face the Potters aerial bombardment but if there was one of the big four sides that can handle a scrap, it has to be the Blues.

(more…)

These two clubs have not met since a League Cup clash in November 2000 when Liverpool triumphed 8-0 at the Brittania Stadium. Unfortunately for Stoke they face the Reds just as they have begun to hit some form to add to some great results. In fact, confidence could not be higher at Anfield after finally ending their poor run against rivals Manchester United.

(more…)

It was a great day for my old club Liverpool on Saturday as they finally ended their poor run against Manchester United. This was significant for a number of reasons namely that not only did the team achieve a great result but they also played well too. Rafa’s team hadn’t played well in their opening 3 games so this was a huge improvement particularly in the second half.

(more…)

For me, too much has been written about how great Manchester City’s record £32.5m Brazilian signing is. People would think Robinho was Ronaldinho the way he has been hyped up in the past week but in my opinion he is well overrated. I don’t remember him being a huge hit at Real Madrid though he did have his moments. In fact, the lad was a substitute for long periods in Spain so I wouldn’t expect too much of him.

(more…)

Dimitar Berbatov’s move to Old Trafford was one of the major signings on deadline day but the Manchester City story blew that one out of the water. There’s a lot of noises coming out at Eastlands of how they want to take the world by storm but unfortunately football is not that simple. However, the future does look good for Manchester City because they’ve got an investor but it also looked good for them when Thaksin Shinawatra came in and that didn’t turn out to be so good so we’ll have to wait and see what happens there. Obviously there can be no more recruits until January but the future of the football club at least financially looks very healthy.

(more…)

There has been a number of new strikers joining the Premier League this summer with the likes of Xisco joining Newcastle, Roman Pavlyuchenko joining Spurs and Jo joining Man City. These players come with good reputations but remain unknown quantities in terms of how they’ll adapt to the physical nature of the English game.

(more…)

The last transfer deadline day ended with the usual flurry of signings and excitement as Manchester United finally got their man Dimitar Berbatov and Man City’s new owners made a £32.5m statement of intent.

(more…)

Just two weeks into the season and a number of critics have already made their minds up over certain club’s fate. For me, it’s far too early to make sweeping assumptions but I must say I have been impressed so far by all three club’s from the North-East.

(more…)

Just 2 weeks into the new Premier League season and already the fortunes of the three North-East clubs looks far brighter than the last campaign. In fact, they’ve all done well. Middlesbrough were desperately unlucky against Liverpool as were Sunderland.

(more…)