Even the most hardcore of Manchester United fans would have to be embarrassed by this result, largely engineered by bad referring and bad luck for the gunners. When Rooney made contact with the ball and was subsequently brought down by Almunia, the ball was well on its way into the Stretford End. It was definitely not an impediment to a goal scoring chance as Rooney would not have gotten to the ball anyway.

After Diaby’s horror clearance, the Red Devils’ were sparked to life and started to keep possession better. But in truth, Arsenal created the better chances in the the game and deserved to win at least by a single goal. The gunners were composed and efficient in the attacking third while United seem to run out of ideas when they approach Arsenal’s goal. United did have two clear-cut chances in the dying minutes when Arsenal were chasing game, both of which were missed badly by Berbatov and Nani.

There had been a suggestion that recent clashes between Wenger and Fergie had lacked the usual animosity because Arsenal had ceased to become a credible threat to United’s title credentials. Well, this game clearly shows that the gunners are a force to be reckoned with. Add that to the perceived and perhaps justified sense of injustice that would have plagued Wenger after this game, we have a concoction that could spark this old rivalry back to life.

Fergie isn’t panicking just yet, and I am quite sure of that. Having been pampered with success over the best part of the last two decades, the supporters are the ones having the jitters. The “traditional slow starters” tag doesn’t sit well with most fans. It certainly doesn’t sit well with me. I want to see the Red Devils’ get off the blocks straight away. This despite having seen my adopted club coming back from behind to clinch the title on numerous occasions.

Fergie is always known to reflect on a defeat by saying that he would be looking for a reaction from the team in the subsequent game, but it does not always happen in that way. The 1-4 reverse by Liverpool last season was followed by an abject performance at Craven Cottage. The following game against Aston Villa could so easily have gotten wrong if not for an inpired goal by Macheda.

As far as I am concerned, squeaky bum time starts this weekend against Wigan. If United don’t get a result against the Lactics,they could find themselves languishing in mid table after the first 5 or 6 games. After Wigan, they have got difficult enounters with Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester City. All these 3 clubs have started brightly and they would fancy their chances against the misfiring red devils.

Chelsea laboured to record a fluke win over hard-working Hull City. While the former are the bookies’ favourite to win the title and the latter are a favourite to go down, both failed to meet these expectations. Chelsea just can’t seem to break down opponents at home nowadays, a trend that has arguably started since Mourinho left (The “special one” has only ever lost one home game in his entire career). Stamford Bridge is fast losing that fear factor.

Wigan’s defeat of Aston Villa went a long way in confirming the fears of the blue and claret faithful. With the loss of Gareth Barry to Manchester City, Aston Villa might find themselves back amongst mid-table mediocrity despite having a decent manager in the form of Martin O’neill.

All eyes were on Manchester City and their stars to see whether the money could deliver. Based on that performance against Blackburn, I think it is safe to assume that City can give the Big Four a serious run for their money. Simply put, City played like a big club. Their backline held firm and they were efficient on the break. Players were also willing to chase down balls. If Man City can turn the City of Manchester Stadium into a fortress, they can pose a formidable threat to the hegemony of the top four.

It is that time of the year again when footie fans scramble to assemble their fantasy premier league teams for the new season. The above screenshot is an overview the team that I have registered for the official fantasy game for the Premier League.

While I am no expert in the fantasy football business, I would like to offer a few tips based on my observations on how the game works.

1. Just like financial investments, it is important to diversify or “spread the risks”. Ideally, you should avoid having too many players from one club in your team. If you have 4 or 5 players from the same club and the club gets mauled in that particular week, you obviously won’t get a lot of points. That said, most people would like to have as many players from a top club as possible in their team. But that is nigh on impossible as these fantasy games often have a budget of sorts. So your best bet would be to cherry pick players from different clubs. For me, I try not to have more than 2 players from the same club.
2. Make sure the players you choose are likely to get picked. This might seem obvious but you would be surprised at the number of people who don’t stick to this rule. It is very easy to pick a decent player but not easy to determine whether he will get an extended run in the team. Based on this principle, you would be wise to stay away from having any strikers from Manchester City in your team. With the array of striking talent they possess, it is a tough task to guess Mark Hughes’ favoured strike pair.
3. Though it might sound unrealistic, it pays to study closely the upcoming 2 or 3 fixtures of every club. If you think a certain club can go on a run, you might do well to have more players from that particular club.
4. Have Frank Lampard in your team no matter what. I don’t normally extol the virtues of obssessing over an individual player but this guy is as “stat-friendly”as they come.  If John Terry is “Mr Chelsea”, then Frank Lampard is “Mr Fantasy Football Team”.

Bringing Vieira back into the Arsenal fold might seem a logical move, except that it simply isn’t. Although Vieira might carry with him the stature and experience of a footballing great, he is a spent force, featuring little for Inter over the past few seasons due to his injury problems. I can’t see him as anything beyond a very good dressing room influence, like Gary Neville’s role at Manchester United now.

It would also be interesting to see how receptive Arsenal fans would be to this move, especially considering how Vieira openly admitted that he would consider a move to Spurs, a cardinal sin for any Gunner.

If this move materialises, it would be seen as an admission by Wenger that his policy of putting faith in the youngsters have failed. Even the most ardent Arsenal fan would have see enough by now to realise that the plan is just not working. However,Wenger would be better off investing in players in their prime.

Looking at how the other big clubs are shaping up in the transfer market,the upcoming season can potentially be a window of opportunity for Arsenal to be genuine title contenders. Both the squads of Manchester United and Liverpool have arguably been weakened, while there seems to be not much going on at Chelsea. Manchester City have thrown themselves into the mix by throwing money at other clubs. Even if they do not put up a title challenge, they would definitely have the wherewithal to make lives difficult for the “Big Four”. At this point in time, it seems that the playing field has been levelled somewhat.

Now if Wenger can just bring in some quality players, Arsenal fans would be less reluctant to say “In Wenger we trust”.

Like most of the Old Trafford faithful, when the news filtered through about the signing of Obertan, I was skeptical about this french player. Nobody had heard of this guy. Then again, nobody had heard of Cristiano Ronaldo when Fergie signed him (except for people who spent hours and hours of their lives playing footie sims).

These video montages (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSLIGo_7xGc) have definitely shed some of my doubts. Ronaldo never had the dribbling ability that this guy has at the same age. Obertan is clearly more nimble and there is a certain robustness about his runs despite his slight frame.

Although Ronaldo has improved leaps and bounds in the last five years or so, he never really had the wherewhital to beat players with anything other than his demonic pace. Obertan has the ability to make defenders turn their backs on him, much like the way Giggs did in his prime.

Let’s hope that the video montages won’t go down the road of movie trailers where all the best stuff in the movies are on already on them.

In what promises to be the most classic of El Clasico meetings, Kaka and Ronaldo of Real Madrid will be pitted against Messi, Xavi and Iniesta of Barcelona. Notwithstanding anymore acqusitions of world class players by either club, an impressive total of the five best players in the world at the moment would be on display on the hallowed turf of Camp Nou.

Give or take a few matches, approximately a third of the 09/10 La Liga season would have been played out. By then, we should have had a good grasp of whether the galacticos policy of Real has paid dividends or whether it has imploded in the face of Florentino Perez. The latter would greatly undermine the significance of this much anticipated fixture.

If both are neck and neck in a title race, this has the potential to be a match that is going to be talked about for years to come.

By and large, Hargreaves was off the radar for the whole of last season. The rise and rise of Darren Fletcher meant that his absence went largely unnoticed. It would take the last game of United’s season that his name would be mentioned again. United’s midfield was completely over-run by Barcelona’s fab 2 of Xavi and Iniesta. This was a game where Hargreaves might have excelled in, with his terrier-like ball winning skills. He might not have the distribution of Carrick or the tenacity of Fletcher. But in a game where Barcelona players were playing ping pong around United’s midfielders, Owen’s sense of urgency and nimbleness would have proved invaluable. Of course, it would still be daft to suggest that the inclusion of Owen would have changed the result. Barcelone were playing football from another planet.

The 2007/2008 season in which United won the Champions League was a turning point for United in terms of their European fortunes. It was a season in which United were finally showing signs of being able to hold their own on European soil. And Hargreaves was large part of that. Ferguson plainly admitted that he was brought in to give United more of a tactical advantage in Europe by operating in a five-man midfield.

With the injured Hargreaves out of the picture last season, Ferguson began toying with the idea of playing Cristiano Ronaldo upfront, with Rooney on the wing. This was employed with devastating effect against Arsenal in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final. So enamoured was Ferguson of his newfound tactic that he was convinced that it would be equally effective against Barcelona.

With Ronaldo gone, and with the healthy (hopefully) return of Hargreaves, Ferguson might just be able to return to a more effective albeit conservative European strategy.

In this convoluted football economy, Real Madrid has become the sole purchaser of players. Manchester United were hoping to unload their newfound wealth onto Bayern Munich and Lyon for Ribery and Benzema respectively. As things stand, both players might find themselves at the Bernabeu (Benzema already has). Not only are Real Madrid determined to buy all the best players in the world, they want their name to be linked with any star player who is not already under their wing. Suddenly, all the most coveted players in the world are enticed by the prospect of playing with Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema. All roads lead to Madrid in this transfer market.

In this scenario, the only way for the transfer market to get moving again is for Real Madrid to offload their unwanted players onto other clubs in Europe, which is exactly what Florentina Perez intends to do. By the start of next season, the whole Dutch contingent at Real might find themselves playing for other clubs.

Even Football Manager would not have generated such a thwarted scenario with a thousand iterations.

Just months after being involved in a relegation dogfight and with the media writing him off as a has-been, Michael Owen has been handed a lifeline in his hopes of taking part in South Africa 2010.

While it seems unlikely that Owen will bring the sort of impact that Hendrik Larsson did for Manchester United a couple of seasons back, Owen will at least be a valuable squad player.

It would be absurd to think that Alex Ferguson has signed Owen to fill the void left vacant by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, or even the soon-to-be departed Carlos Tevez. Owen would be better utilised as a scrapper of goals, in the final quarter of an hour, when United struggle to break down stubborn defences. Since the days of Van Nistelrooy, United have lacked the kind of player who can stab the ball into the back of the net in the most crowded of defences [although John O'shea has filled that role admirably].

Owen will only cost the club his wages, and even that would be significantly lower than the rest of his new clubmates.

Off the pitch, he is as clean they come. He is a consumate professional comparable to the likes of Giggs and Scholes. Without the burden of a heavy price tag or even a recent goal-scoring form on his shoulders, Owen cannot ask for a better set of circumstances to ressurect his career.

Bottomline is this: Manchester United have nothing to lose (except for a few tantrums being thrown by hard-core anti-Liverpool fans) if Alex Ferguson has brought him in as a squad player. The Old Trafford faithful only need to be concerned if Owen is the only new arrival from now till the beginning of next season.