The Malaysian Insider

NOV 7 — A poll in Britain once rated Arsene Wenger the most influential manager in the English Premier League. Not to take the shine away from another successful manager in England, but the main reason that Wenger edged that other fellow was he brought about a structural change to the way a football club is run. Not to mention, he won the league title in his first full season, something that took seven years to achieve by his main rival.

OCT 24 — After all the hope that last season’s title run brought to the red half of  the city of Liverpool, one cannot help but feel sorry for the hapless Reds supporters who are waiting in vain for their first Premiership title.

They know it’s over. Heck, even some of the players know it’s over. So, it’s all about damage control from now on.

OCT 3 — What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago Chelsea were unbeaten and doing a fancy jig atop the good ship Premiership. However, a stunning 3-1 reverse at Wigan Athletic was followed by an equally uninspiring 1-0 win against APOEL Nicosia and all of a sudden the fans are worried and Carlo Ancelotti seems to be nervous.

Chelsea will be aiming to bounce back from their first English Premier League (EPL) defeat of the season when they host a Liverpool side bidding to leapfrog them into second spot.

SEPT 26 — Part of the excitement surrounding this season is the promise of fresh upheaval at either ends of the table. The promoted three are emerging as a welcome threat to the established bottom-half order and the complacency that exists there.

Even before Wolves’ victory over Fulham, the promoted three had, as a collective, already fared better than predicted, with Birmingham City victorious at Hull City and Burnley securing a third win at Turf Moor. The Clarets' run of consecutive home victories stretches back to February during which time only two teams, Crystal Palace and Sunderland, have scored.

SEPT 24 — Back in July, Manchester United fans faced the stark reality that the £80 million (RM540 million) the club received for Cristiano Ronaldo was not going to be used to bring in some big-name players the fans were craving for.

Karim Benzema found Real Madrid irresistible, Franck Ribery was happy to give Bayern Munich another season, Samuel Eto’o was involved in a strange striker-swap between Barcelona and Inter Milan, and even Emmanuel Adebayor found the money more appealing at the blue half of Manchester than the higher potential for success at Old Trafford.