The pies have it at Wigan

Posted by Jon Champion on 17/12/2009

I would venture to suggest that this Barclays Premier League season is setting new standards for unpredictability. The sides that apparently want to win the title are making a good fist of appearing ambivalent about it.

Aston Villa's first win at Old Trafford in 26 years and Chelsea's aversion to defending set-pieces transferred the spotlight onto Arsenal at the start of the week. Arsene Wenger was quick to declare that his charges were back in the picture after coming from behind to heap more misery on Liverpool. Three days later, a performance of baffling mediocrity at Turf Moor made his assertion ring hollow.

Worse still, his leading scorer Cesc Fabregas succumbedto a hamstring injury, so the Spaniard – who with 12 assists has created more Premier League goals than any other player this season – will be sorely missed when ESPN broadcasts Saturday's visit of Hull City to the Emirates.

Just as damaging is the absence of Robin Van Persie. The rapier that is Arsenal's attacking play has become a blunt instrument without the Dutchman. However incisive their passing, however inspired their movement, the Gunners appear to have no-one capable of adding a finishing touch to their art work.

Andrei Arshavin may be a terrific footballer, but at 5'6" he's hardly going to be the focal point that all teams need. Eduardo offers slightly more physical presence, yet he appears a shadow of the rampant goalscorer that terrorised defenders prior to his horrible injury. The leg may have mended but I'm not convinced the mind is back to what it once was.

Of course, Hull created one of the shocks of last season by winning at the Emirates. Geovanni's swerving 25 yard drive remains indelibly etched in the memory, so too the disbelief an Arsenal faces in the wake of Daniel Cousin's winning header.

Yet the meeting that created the biggest headlines was the stormy FA Cup quarter-final in March. Arsenal came from behind to win with an offside goal from William Gallas. Arsene Wenger went AWOL when there was a risk of having to shake Phil Brown's hand, whilst Fabregas – not involved as a player that evening – marched onto the pitch in hoodie and sneakers at the final whistle to add fuel to the fire of Hull's frustration. Allegations of a spitting incident involving the Spaniard in the tunnel were unedifying and unproven. No-one emerged from an unsavoury occasion with much credit.

So it's to be hoped that both camps decide a fresh start is their best course. Arsenal have played twice since Hull last took to the field. That should offer the Tigers some hope, but the bookies are offering odds of 18-1 against an away win.

ESPN's other live Premier League offering this weekend is Monday night's Lancashire derby between Wigan and Bolton. Mere mention of the Latics brings us back to the theme of unpredictability, whilst Bolton do seem to have rediscovered some semblance of form. A difficult one to call, this. The only certainty is that the pies will be outstanding – in that category, Wigan has no peer!

Confrontation a part of management

Posted by Jon Champion on 10/12/2009

As we career headlong towards Christmas, some members of the footballing fraternity have clearly forgotten about the season of goodwill. As if the coming together of manager and star striker at Stoke wasn’t bad enough, Monday brought another confrontation between Queens Park Rangers’ Jim Magilton and his mercurial Magyar, Akos Buszaky.

Such disagreements have always been a part of dressing room life. That’s not to justify them, merely to put these latest incidents into some sort of context. Latest reports suggest Magilton may lose his job for losing his temper. In truth, there wouldn’t be too many managers in work if every bust-up ended in disciplinary action.

Any ex-pro will regale you with tales of far more serious bust-ups that simply went unreported, but times have changed and player power has increased dramatically. A clip round the ear may be tempting for a frustrated manager, but its consequences could be career-threatening. A point for Richard Bevan and his staff at the League Managers’ Association to ponder.

Of course, if such scrutiny had always existed, the career of British football’s most successful manager might never have got off the ground. Popular rumour suggests Sir Alex Ferguson has never been averse to a confrontation. Players at East Stirling, St. Mirren, Aberdeen and – for the last 23 years – Manchester United have been kept in line by a man with a hair-trigger temper. Yet crucially, Ferguson has used the threat of an explosion as much as the temper itself when dealing with the precious commodities who make up his teams. As a result, he commands enormous respect.

When he addresses his depleted forces ahead of ESPN’s live Premier League match against Aston Villa this Saturday, Ferguson will emphasise the importance of the next couple of months. This is his favourite time of the season when, with the Champions League and international calls out of the way for a while, his team can move through the gears.

The first signs that the reigning champions were finding their feet came in their unlucky defeat at Chelsea. Since then there’s been a growing sense of conviction in their performances. The biggest threat to them on Saturday would appear to be from their own injury list. The absence of seven defenders tests even the deepest of squads.

The other issue for them this weekend will be dealing with the pace and exuberance of Aston Villa. The return to fitness of Stewart Downing has allowed Martin O’Neill to field James Milner in central midfield, and in the past two games he’s been a revelation. The former Leeds United ball-boy is one of six candidates for England’s World Cup squad likely to start at Old Trafford.

It’s 26 years since a Villa team won there. Of 34 Premier League meetings home and away, Aston Villa have won just two. History suggests a Manchester United victory, so does the time of year, but there is no better motivator of players for a challenge than Martin O’Neill, so this game should produce the sort of dust-up that no-one will see fit to complain about.

Chelsea game a measure of City progress

Posted by Jon Champion on 04/12/2009

The view you take of Manchester City’s recent form probably reveals a great deal about your personality. Is the glass half full or half empty? Seven consecutive draws is a Premier League record Mark Hughes could have done without, but the fact remains that City are the hardest team to beat in English football.

Only Manchester United have managed it this season - and even then they relied on a goal so late it bordered on the posthumous - so when the Premier League leaders pitch up at Eastlands on Saturday teatime, they can expect their title credentials to be fully examined. It is without question the game of the weekend and is live only on ESPN.

Kevin Keegan will be on duty in the studio. He remains the last City manager to taste victory over Chelsea. The player who earned that win for the light blues back in 2004 was Nicolas Anelka, now leading the opposition line with the newly focused Didier Drogba and aiming to prove that dark blue will be this season’s colour.

Reading the reviews of Chelsea’s win at Arsenal last weekend, you could be forgiven for thinking the title race is already over. I was lucky enough to be at the Emirates, and I thought the way the game unfolded was entirely predictable. Arsenal played pretty football; Chelsea showed power and pragmatism and were rewarded with three goals and three points.

Whilst I would agree with those who say Chelsea have been the most impressive team in the Premier League this season so far, I would sound a note of caution. Even though they beat Manchester United with a fortuitous John Terry goal at Stamford Bridge last month, the reigning champions made them look distinctly ordinary. Nor did they look the part at Wigan or Aston Villa. They have been beaten and they will be again. With two-thirds of the season still to play I would hate to think that their rivals regard them as invincible.

It’ll be fascinating to see whether, at this point in their development, Manchester City are strong enough to do their neighbours a favour. Even with the financial muscle of Abu Dhabi behind them, City haven’t yet been able to attract the very best players.

Only when they have Champions League football to offer as well as Champions League money will they find the stellar names willing to come. For the time being, they have some very good players - but make no mistake, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge only swapped west London for east Manchester because Chelsea decided they could manage without them.

Essentially, Manchester City are following a similar path to that trodden by Chelsea when Roman Abramovich first invested part of his fortune in the club. Expectations are inflated, so are the transfer fees and wage demands of potential recruits. There are occasional peaks but still some troughs. Nonetheless, this Saturday’s fixture is a measure of how far City have come and how far they still have to go. For once, they might even be happy with a draw.

Carlo's 'Indestructibles' in ominous form

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 03/12/2009

The ESPN cameras travel to Eastlands on Saturday for Manchester City against Chelsea and, without a doubt, the visitors from London already have the look of champions. Someone spoke about them recently using the word ‘indestructible’. Arsenal were once ‘The Invincibles’ and now Chelsea seem to be ‘The Indestructibles’.

I think that their defeats earlier in the season - to Aston Villa and Wigan - were possibly the best things that could have happened to them. You kind of got the feeling that, before that, they were starting to believe their own press a little bit and their defence was looking a bit shaky. Since those defeats, it has been back to basics. That is what I have been told by Carlo Ancelotti himself - that he has gone back to basics with the defence. Since that Villa defeat, they have been fantastic and haven’t conceded a goal in the past five league games. I think you do win the league if you are the best of the best and it certainly looks that Chelsea are that team at the moment. They have all the hallmarks of champions.

I don’t think that they will be unduly worried about being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn. Obviously they never want to lose because it stops their momentum, but it was on penalties, so it officially goes down as a draw. They will be saying that it was a draw and that penalties are a lottery and I don’t think they will be worried at all. I don’t think being knocked out of the Carling Cup will have any effect at all on Saturday and I fully expect them to perform as we have seen in the past ten weeks of the Premier League.

I really like Carlo Ancelotti. I really warmed to him the first time I met him. His English is still improving and when I first interviewed him, for the Burnley game on August 29, he was still quite unsure about the language. I think the problem with that is, when a player or manager isn’t confident with the language, they are concentrating so hard on getting it right that their personality is kept behind. They can’t possibly have a more interesting conversation so they just try to get the crucial points across. I think he sometimes comes across a bit dour and doesn’t smile very much, but I do think that is down to the language difference because I am told that he is not like that in real life. As the season goes on, and he gets more comfortable in the role, I think we will see what kind of man he is, but I found him a real gentleman and it was an honour to interview a man who has won the European Cup as a manager and as a player.

Ancelotti’s opposite number, Mark Hughes, secured a win over Arsenal on Wednesday night and that will lift some of the pressure off his shoulders. The 3-0 win took the club into their first domestic semi-final since 1981 but, while we say they beat Arsenal, Arsene Wenger naturally played a very young team in the Carling Cup and I don’t know how much you can really draw from it. City should be winning 3-0. It has taken pressure off as on paper it is a good result, but the real test will come in the next few weeks and starting with Saturday’s game at home.

A few months ago people were saying this fixture could be a game between the first and second clubs. That isn’t the case, but I spoke to Nigel de Jong on Thursday morning and he thinks that City are as good as Chelsea. They have got to prove it.

Actually, City deserve a lot of praise for only losing one game in all competitions - and that was to a last-gasp Michael Owen goal in the Manchester derby - and they can’t win every game. The expensive recruits have only just met each other, relatively speaking, so I really think that they will improve - they just need time. I hope the team and Hughes get that because nothing successful is built on rash decisions.

Do you want to ask ESPN's Premier League co-host, Rebecca Lowe, any questions about life behind-the-scenes at England's elite clubs or any wider issues affecting the game? Leave all your comments and queries below and we will ask Rebecca a selection of the best in the next few weeks.