Yes, the headline is right! It’s not April Fools Day. Manchester City, not Utd are currently sitting pretty at second in the Premiership this morning after their 1 - 0 win over Aston Villa at the City of Manchester Stadium [Eastlands].

With City’s record over the last, hmm I’m trying to think how long, well always really - sitting second in the table is amazing enough [and good to see for a chance] but some idiot [sorry City fans!] have started talking of City finishing in the top four this season! Huh?

God, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that City are doing well. The City fans have had to put up with a lot, especially over the last 15 years or so. So it’s time they had something to cheer and get excited about. But finishing in the top four this season may be a little on the optimistic side surely, even for the most ardent of City fans. I know a few, they laughed! That’s got to tell you something. They are very happy at how everything is going, so far! But as true City fans they know that at any moment and without warning, everything could blow up spectacularly in the faces. So it’s not surprising that their new manager, former England boss Sven Goran Eriksson, has moved quickly to squash and dismiss all this talk of Champions League football next season. he had to nip that in the bud, didn’t he!

It’s thumbs up from Man City manager Sven Goran Eriksson but he knows he’s is going to have to keep everyone’s feet firmly on the ground!

Anyway, this latest win came courtesy of a Michael Johnson second half goal. It extended City’s 100% home record this season and they are now just a single point behind Arsenal and have leap frogged over Liverpool who could only draw away to Portsmouth on Saturday.

So, like I say Sven has move quickly to play down the growing talk surrounding his new club, insisting the head of the Premiership table will carry a familiar look come the end of the season. Sven said yesterday, “I would be very happy if the league was finished now. I don’t feel we should start talking about a top four finish. I think the top four places are for the top four clubs, but in football you never know.

“But I think the league will be tighter this year, even for the big four. A lot of teams have invested heavily and I don’t think anyone will go through the season and lose just one or two games. It will be tight until 10th, 11th or 12th.”

Sven also hailed the display of his match winner Michael Johnson, who is only 19. This was the second time this season that Johnson had scored a match winning goal and you have to say that the teenager has the perfect midfield mentor in the former Liverpool player Dietmar Hamann.

Michael Johnson [centre] celebrates what would be his match winning goal.

Sven said, “Michael Johnson is an all round midfielder. You can’t say he has one speciality, he is good at everything and it is rare you can say that about a young player. And how he took the goal today showed maturity.

“I never saw Man City live last season but when I came here the told me he played the last nine games and said he came into the team and saved them. He’s very confident! It’s good to have a midfielder who can scored goals. It’s absolutely fantastic and the goals he has scored have been extremely important.

“I am positively surprised by Hamann. He seems to be getting younger and younger. You expect him to tire in the second half but he is getting stronger and we need him because his football brain is better than anyone.

As for Aston Villa, their manager Martin O’Neill admitted to his frustration as his side failed to build on the impressive victory over Chelsea two weeks ago before the international break.

O’Neill said, in typical fashion, “We have no excuses because the break was the same for everyone. But as a club manager, I wish we had a game immediately after that. We have plenty of work to do but that doesn’t stop me being excited about the team. John Carew has played with a groin injury. But strikers benefit from scoring goals and I am sure he will get a great lift when he gets off the mark for us this season.”

Well it will be very interesting to see where these two teams end up at the end of the season. They is so much speculation how how good the are going to do. Although I for one won’t be holding my breath about either of them finishing in the top four I do think they will both be trying to get into those Uefa Cup positions come May.

The Soccer Blogger

Is that a taxi I see rounding the corner for Martin Jol? His good mate Arsene must have called it for him after yesterday’s game at White Hart Lane.

Yes, poor old Spurs. Arsenal continued their domination of the North London derby on Saturday (a fixture Spurs haven’t won since 1999)) and with it Arsenal leap frogged Liverpool to go into first place in the Premiership.

It was the Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor who scored twice, either side of a stunning strike by Cesc Fabregas, for a slick Gunners. All this after Gareth Bales had raised hope all around White Hart Lane that Spurs may actually beat their arch rivals for once.

Amazing isn’t it? I mean a striker from Togo scoring two goals because when Spurs last won this fixture back in 1999 I bet most fo the Gunners and Spurs fans had probably never even heard of Togo. They have now!

Adebayor celebrates at White Hart Lane. He’s from Togo, don’t you know!

As we all know, Martin Jol has been under severe scrutiny after his team’s poor start to the season. It can’t have helped that everyone, included me, was saying he’d made some good signings in the summer and Spurs were going to do really well, even perhaps finish in the top four. Well, it’s still early days of course and they still could but they aren’t going about it the right way so far are they?

So Jol must have had a brief smile on his face after 14 minutes when Gareth Bale’s free-kick beat Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia at his near post. Berbatov then missed chances, but so did Arsenal. Spurs lasted until the 65th minute when up popped Adebayor who made it 1 - 1 with a header from a Fabregas free-kick.

It was that man again, Fabregas who then left the Tottenham midfield trailing in his wake before he smashed a stunning goal past the England keeper, Paul Robinson, from 25 yards.

Spurs had brought on substitute Darren Bent and he spurned the opportunity to level the scores for Spurs before it was Adebayor with his second of the game to wrap the points up yet again for Arsenal in the North London derby.

Arsenal’s manager Wenger said after the game, “It is a bit early to talk about being on top, but we are consistent, it’s pleasant to watch. We will never forget Thierry Henry [who? Only joking!] but we have shown the team is growing, there is something exciting about our quality and our mental strength.”

Meanwhile, leaders at the beginning of play, Liverpool, slipped into second behind Arsenal as they dropped two points away to Portsmouth at Fratton Park in a 0 - 0 draw.

Liverpool seemed to be a little below par, a consequence of the recent Euro 2008 internationals I reckon, and they even had a let off after Arbeloa pulled at Kanu’s shirt in the area but the Nigerian couldn’t convert the penalty which was saved by Pepe Reina who has, quite simply, an amazing records of saving penalties.

Liverpool left both Gerrard and Torres on the bench and when they came on the combined to nearly give Liverpool the win but Torres couldn’t keep his shot down and it flew high over the bar. Obviously I’m not a top class football manager, if I were I probably wouldn’t be writting a soccer blog, but I have to say I wouldn’t have left a couple of players of the quality of Gerrard and Torres on the bench. The Reds did come even closer to winning it in the second half though through Voronin who had slightly better aim than Torres but, ultimately still not good enough, as he hit the bar.

The draw maintained Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season but Benítez will be ruing two missed points, even at this early stage in the season.

Chelsea, failed to capitalise on Liverpool’s two dropped points by dropping two of their own at home to Blackburn. I did say yesterday that Blackburn are turning into a good team and are hard to beat. However, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea will probably feel a little hard done by, I know unlike Jose, but Salomon Kalou did score in the second half only for the referee to rule, perhaps a little harshly, that he was offside. Oh well, then maybe partly rectifies the awful penalty decision they got at Anfield a few weeks back which meant they didn’t lose all three points that day! Although I’m pretty sure Jose won’t see it quite like that!

Manchester Utd continued their climb up the table and moved into fourth position after a hard fought win away to Everton at Goodison. It was their third consecutive 1 - 0 win, this one earned by defender Vidic who met Nani’s corner just seven minutes from time. It was a dramatic end to a memorable match and after the game Alex Ferguson said, “It was a great result for us. A lot of teams will drop points here. it was a real battle. It looked to me like it was going to be a draw, but then we got a lifeline with Vidic’s goal.”

It wasn’t such a good game for another Utd defender as Silvestre got carried off in the first half. He will have scans on his knee to ascertain the extend of the injury.

What a difference this year to West Ham after all the trials and tribulations of last season. They swept aside Middlesbrough at Upton Park 3 - 0 which moved them into the dizzying heights of fifth place. All three goals coming in the second half.

Dean Ashton scored his first goal since the 2006 FA Cup final and it was the Hammers first home win of the season. Ashton, who missed all of last term with an ankle injury, had an early goal disallowed before Boro wasted chances to take the lead.

The Hammers went in front right at the start of the second half as Lee Bowyer volleyed home after a well-worked move and it was soon 2-0 as Luke Young turned Carlton Cole’s cross into his own net.

Boro continued to be profligate in front of goal, but Ashton was not so wasteful on 62 minutes when he converted Matt Etherington’s cross at the far post. Times are good at Upton Park!

And what about the rejuvenated England striker Emile Heskey? Well he limped off actually with a suspected broken bone in his foot during Wigan’s 1 - 1 draw with Fulham. What is it with footballers and breaking bones in their feet? Even since Beckham did it back in 2002, it seems you have to break a bone in your foot, it’s like a fashion statement.

So that’s Saturday’s games taken care of. Of course, Man City take on Aston Villa at Eastlands later on Sunday and bottom club Derby play host to Newcastle United on Monday evening and I will be reporting on those games too, here on The Soccer Blog.

See you soon!

The Soccer Blogger

So after an agonising two month, sorry two week, break (just feels like two months) due to the Euro 2008 qualifiers, the Premier League is back with a bang this weekend and there are some really interesting fixtures to look forward to.

For me one of those really interesting games will be at Fratton Park where the current premiership leaders Liverpool travel to take on Portsmouth. The start made by Rafa Benítez’s team this season seems to be starting to win over even the staunchest sceptics, but Portsmouth at Fratton Park are a formidable opponent for even genuine title contenders. However, to be genuine contenders for the title this season this is exactly the sort of game Liverpool have to win and I will be extremely interested to see how this one turns out today.

Can Liverpool’s Fernando Torres keep scoring the goals to lead the Merseysiders to their 19th League Title?

Two of the other title contenders, Arsenal and Man Ute are also in early action today. Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who was apparently attacked by a drunk in London’s Euston train station during the week, will be welcoming back head-butter Cristiano Ronaldo following his 3 match suspension. Utd look like they have missed him out on the wing as Utd travel to Liverpool’s neighbours Everton. Everton are themselves playing well so far this season but Utd have a very good record at Goodison and somehow I don’t see any reason for that to change today. and it will be a relief to call on the services of the Portuguese wide man, ahead of a tough trip to in-form Everton at Goodison Park.

Meanwhile Arsenal have a small task of the North London derby to deal with as they travel the short distance to White Hart Lane, I get the feeling it could be “White Hot Lane” this afternoon! All eyes will be on under pressure Spurs boss Martin Jol. He spent heavily in the summer and Tottenham were many people’s favourites for a really good year. However, after only a few games Jol has been the subject of intense speculation, ridiculous really! But what better way to kick-start your season than putting one over on your nearest rivals who, as usual, have made an excellent start.

Those three games, for some inexplicable reason all all early starts. No hold on. Sorry I’m being stupid, nothing other than money is the reason. God, what happened to every game kicking-off at 3pm on a Saturday?

So all that means that just four games kick-off at the proper 3pm. For me the pick of the crop would be at Upton Park, where, after his transfer from Liverpool, an electric Craig Bellamy will look to replicate his scintillating international form against another rejuvenated side, Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough. Bellamy was a big disappointment for me in his one season at Anfield, however, obviously not as big a disappointment as he was to Benítez! My advice, don’t go to a karaoke bar with Bellamy, especially if he takes a golf club with him!

Up in the north-east, the Stadium of Light plays host to a couple of teams that could struggle this season as Sunderland welcome Reading. Reading had such a good first season but the second one was always going to prove more difficult and Steve Coppell and his men are starting to find that out. Roy Keane’s men knew it was going to be hard, so they can’t be surprised so far and it’s only going to get harder for them too.

Meanwhile, Wigan under their new manager Chris Hutchings, welcome Lawrie Sanchez’s Fulham to the JJB Stadium. Hutchings will be looking to get Wigan’s bright start back on track following a defeat against Newcastle last time out. Fulham are another one of those teams that are going to struggle this year for me!

There is another clash of two sides that would have wanted to get off to better starts at St Andrews where Birmingham and Steve Bruce will be going all out to claim all three points against Sammy Lee’s Bolton who, it has to be said, are still trying to get over the departure of Big Sam to Newcastle. Although I feel Bolton have enough class players to be out of trouble come the end of the season.

The final 3pm kick-off throws up a real juicy encounter as Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea host Mark Hughes’ Blackburn side that look capable of mounting another serious push for Europe this season. Hughes really is growing into an excellent manager and this Blackburn team are starting to look pretty good. If I were going for an surprise away win today, this would be it. I just have one of those sneaky feelings, you know the sort!

So all that just leaves one game top be played on Sunday. And the venue is Eastlands or the City of Manchester Stadium. Whatever it’s called, it is now the home of Manchester City. Anyone know what Maine Road is now? Probably a supermarket car park or “luxury executive apartments”. God help us! Anyway, City host another one of those growing teams in Aston Villa. I always thought Martin O’Neil was a good manager and I think he has really started to find his feet in the Premiership again.

Both these side for me look more than capable of causing the odd upset during this season, as I’m sure Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho will testify to, so this will be very interesting to see which one of these two comes out on top.

All in all, an excellent line-up of Premiership fixtures to get the ball rolling again. Sorry, pun was intended!

The Soccer Blogger

It was only two seasons ago that Barcelona conquered all before them both at home and in Europe when they completed a memorable domestic and European Cup double, culminating in that 2 -1 win over Arsenal in the Stade de France.

Puyol lifts the European Cup in Paris in 2006 after defeating Arsenal 2 - 1

It was Barca’s second European success and it was a fitting reward for, at the time, the most exciting attack minded team in Europe. However, the Catalan giants made a very disappointing defence of those two crowns the following season and they frittered away that hard earned and well earned reputation.

They exited the Champions League at the first knock out stage after wilting to the competitions previous holders, Liverpool, who were far more determined and focused . They then went on to surrender what was a comfortable lead in the Primera Liga, which to make matters even worse, was grabbed by the arch and fierce rivals, Real Madrid. It doesn’t get much worse than that for Barcelona! So having wrested the initiative away from Real the previous season, Barca simply followed up by seemingly adopting some of their own worst failings.

There were serious defensive flaws. There were dressing room rifts and what looked like a belief that skill alone could substitute totally for good honest hard work. It all contributed to their downfall and any chances of maintaining their previously hard-earned success and in so doing, prompted a major overhaul of the squad during the summer.

The former Arsenal striker and talisman, Thierry Henry, was the most high-profile new recruit and it is hoped that his signing wil help to make up for the loss of Samuel Eto’o who currently has a serious thigh injury. Of course, it was believed, at least their was a huge amount of speculation, that Henry would leave Arsenal for Barca following their Champions League final. However, Arsenal lost of course and there appeared to be a little bit a “bad blood” after the game between Henry and some of the Barcelona players.

Anyway, Barcelona also have two supremely talented young forwards waiting very impatiently in the wings. Firstly their is Mexican Giovani dos Santos and the under 17 Spanish international Bojan Krkic.

Perhaps more importantly for the team’s prospects for Europe this season, is last season’s wobbly defence. They have reinforced the defence with new signings Diego Milito from Argentina and France’s left back Eric Abidal. There is also the Ivory Coast international Vaya Toure who has been brought in to bolster the midfield. Are they all called Toure? There seems to be a least one Toure in every team these days!

Part of those dressing room squabbles that seemed to so disrupt Barcelona last season was Frank Rijkaard, the Dutch coach. There was certainly something going on behind the scenes (and quite often blatantly in public) between him, Ronaldinho and Eto’o. Maybe it was some sort of love triangle?! But there was huge speculation as to which of the three would leave the Camp Nou in the summer. It was definite that at least one of them, if not two, would move onto pastures new. However, they have confounded everyone and all three are still there!

Anyway, in the Champions League Rijkaard’s team have been handed quite a tough draw in the group stages. The group also has Olympique Lyon, who have dominated the French league in recent years and were actually some people’s tip for the Champions League last season, Stuttgart, who won the Bundesliga last season and Glasgow Rangers. You can’t bet there will be no room for slip ups in that group if Barca want to make it back to the knock-out stages!

Barcelona’s Sporting Director and their former player Txiki Beriristain said about the group, “With the champions of France and Germany and one of the two big teams from Scotland we’ve got three very strong rivals. The strength of the group means we will have to be completely focused for every game.” He’s not getting any argument from me on that!

So, it is going to be really interested to see how Barcelona can bounce back this season following their disappointment of the year. Just trying to win the title back off Real should be motivation enough for the Catalans!

The Soccer Blogger

4 days, 6 goals, 6 points!

No surprise then that Steve McClaren the England boss was delighted with his team’s 3 - 0 win over Russia at Wembley just 4 days after beating Israel there by the same score. These were two games that England could not afford to screw up and they didn’t. Rio Ferdinand will be happy and won’t be worried about going into club training!

McClaren said after the game on Wednesday night, “”They were both great wins but it was also about the performances and the way we did it. I think we blew the two teams away. “I am delighted with the players’ performances and their attitude. “The squad has knuckled down and when it was time to deliver, we did. We should not be afraid of anybody. We will celebrate the win because it was a great result but we still have three games to go and we can get better. ”

Steve McClaren is smiling at the moment, can it last?

All this means that England are now second in their Ero2008 qualifying group, Group. They are 3 points behind the group leaders, unbeaten leaders Croatia and two ahead of Russia. England still have to play Estonia and Croatia at Wembley with a trip to Russia falling between the home fixtures.

About that return fixture in Russia McClaren added, “It is going to be a tough game in Russia, that is going to be the key match. But we still have more games left and have not qualified yet. However, the last two performances are encouraging - it has put down a marker for everyone else.” Hmm, not so sure it is a marker to everyone else but they were good wins.

The former Liverpool striker Michael Owen scored two more goals against Russia, adding to his excellent goal against Israel. Owen gave England the lead after just seven minutes. Owen then doubled that lead advantage just after the half hour mark. The England scoring was completed by the defender Rio Ferdinand. See I told you he’d be looking forward to going into club training now!

After the game on Wednesday Owen said, “It has been a great few days. Two massive, important games and we performed when it mattered. [Shame from England's point of view they can't do it in more games that matter. You'd think every England game would be a game that matters!]

“It is nice to win over the critics. We know we have quality in the side but we have not shown it often enough. It’s lovely to give a good performance and kill games off so quickly. In these last two games, we’ve blown people away in the first 20 minutes, half an hour, and not even had to play to our maximum in our second half. It’s not often you get an enjoyable game with England, where you can take your foot off the gas, and it was certainly enjoyable today.”

Meanwhile the Russian coach, Dutchman Guus Hiddink who so brilliantly lead South Korea to the World Cup Semi Finals opn home ground in 2002, feels that his side still have a big part to play in the outcome of the group. Particularly as he seemed to think that his team were unfortunate to lose at Wembley. Hiddink said after the game,

“The way we played was OK, but we lacked a cutting edge - while England did finish off their chances. If we had scored after half-time when we were putting pressure on England, maybe it would have been a different game. We forced England to play on the counter-attack at their home ground, but we could not finish off our chances. It is a lesson for my team, who are still in development.”

So McClaren now has a little bit of time to enjoy these two quick victories and relax that he has saved his job for the near future. But the next few games will be even more important than the two just played. No rest for the wicked!

The Soccer Blogger