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Man City Mancini: Happy Spender
Some fans may be sick of the new English season already but for most, the excitement of the new season is likely to still be alive and kicking. Champions Chelsea started the season the way they ended the last season, sitting atop of the rest of the teams after delivering a thrashing to newly promoted West Bromwich Albion. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti knows that league titles are not won in August but a good start for a team can help to build and develop confidence throughout the ranks.
At the end of the Saturday 3pm matches, Blackpool were top of the league courtesy of their 4-0 triumph away to Wigan Athletic. The seaside club were usurped by Chelsea, putting them back into second place but the task for Blackpool is surely trickier this weekend. The tangerine army have another away trip in the league, due to the club being allowed time to finish their stadium improvements and they don't get much tougher than a trip to the Emirates.
Games away to the big clubs are what every promoted team dreams of so this weekend will be the first major test for Ian Holloway's club. Three points from the DW Stadium has given the perfect platform but anything other than an Arsenal win would be a huge surprise. Arsenal started their campaign with a late equaliser at Anfield and the fans at the Emirates will be hoping to see a first league goal from big summer signing Chamakh.
One player the Arsenal fans will not be seeing this weekend will be Samir Nasri, who will be out for a month after an operation. The French midfielder has not had the best of luck with injuries during his time at the Emirates stadium but Arsenal are well catered for in that position. Blackpool will be buzzing when they come to London and no doubt they will try to ruffle the champion challengers but it would be an almighty shock if Blackpool take any points out of the game.
The other major thing happening at the Emirates on Saturday will be Arsenal welcoming their new clock to the stadium. The club has a huge clock behind one of their goals, which is a larger scale replica of the clock that used to be on display at the Highbury Stadium. This clock is currently located on the external area of the stadium but the new addition to the modern stadium adds a touch of old-fashioned style and grace.
Arsenal are well established as a Champions League team but their closest rivals will be going into their match this weekend after making their debut in the Champions League qualification round.
Spurs will be looking to bounce back from their Champions League qualifier defeat to Young Boys of Berne. A defeat is never good but a 3-2 defeat away from is one of the best results away from home you can get. It looked a Champions League nightmare for Spurs when they were 3-0 down before half an hour but a few changes saw the club in better shape and a goal back before half-time transformed the tie.
Pavlyuchenko hasn't always been flavour of the month under Harry Redknapp but his goal with 7 minutes to gives Spurs an excellent chance of making the big money stage of Europe's top European football tournament. Spurs' first league game after their European tie will be away to Stoke, a team who are sure to bring them back down to Earth with a bump. Although they have established themselves as a top flight club, Stoke still like being able to unsettle teams and Tottenham may struggle at the Potteries.
Whilst we are talking about European football, there is a match this weekend between the last two English teams that reached a European final. It is no surprise to see Manchester United are involved but their opponents will be Fulham, last season's defeated Europa league finalists. It has been all change for Fulham over the summer with boss Roy Hodgson now managing Liverpool and ex United player but former City boss mark Hughes now in charge at Craven Cottage.
There is still talk about Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who is interesting Arsenal, which means there could still be big changes taking places at Craven Cottage but Hughes could turn to former club Manchester City to strengthen his side. He looks to be in a battle with Celtic to sign Shay Given on loan and of course, Mark Hughes has a lot of love for Roque Santa Cruz, with a deal looking very likely to take the Paraguayan striker to London. This will be the third time that Hughes will have picked up Santa Cruz, a player that definitely looks out of favour under Roberto Mancini at multi-million rich club City.
The spending of City has eclipsed every other team, leaving United boss Alex Ferguson to denounce the spending this summer as kamikaze. This has led to many people smirking and laughing at a manager who has spent heavily during his term at United but the Scotsman does have a point.
United have bought modestly this summer but City look to be nowhere near finished with their rebuilding plan. The thing is, with every additional signing, the pressure heaped on Mancini and his team will rise further, and who knows how they will be able to handle the pressure. A big test for City takes place on Monday night.
The game of the week is likely to take place at the end of the week with Manchester City playing host to Liverpool. These matches last season were highly exciting affairs but of course, the situation surrounding both teams was a little bit different. At the time, the Merseyside club were still the dominant team but the rise of City in the past two years has been phenomenal. The money given to Manchester City has seen them completely obliterate other teams in the transfer market but this doesn't always translate into league points.
City and Liverpool both drew on the opening weekend of the season but both clubs have a tricky opening game. Liverpool welcomed Arsenal to Anfield and even though they played over half the game with 10 men thanks to Joe Cole's dismissal, the Reds will be gutted at losing a bizarre late goal.
City took a 0-0 draw from White Hart Lane with goalkeeper Joe Hart in tremendous form. The fact that Hart started and excelled means that Roberto Mancini is likely to let Shay Given leave on loan, with Celtic and Fulham ready to take the keeper from the Eastlands.
With only one game gone, it is very difficult to put any great importance on the points won this weekend but with the final placings being so tight, any points won this weekend could go a long way to deciding the final standings of the season.
by Andrew Reilly
for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk
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Dear Greg,
I've been a member since July 2003, maybe one of the first to join the Silver Circle.
2004 was a good year but I really enjoyed the long run we had in, I think, July 2005. It was exhilarating! 2006-2007 was not as exciting although still quite profitable and so far 2007-2008 looks quite good. I'm wondering if we're going to hit a long one again soon. Anyway, it's been a pleasure as always with your service, Greg. Armstrong and you are one of the few people I trust on the internet. You have made my retirement so much more fun and financially happy!
Best Wishes, Trent Wrayford, Sidney
