Arsenal 0 - Manchester City 1

I could feel this coming. Due to the vagaries of Sentanta Sports programming I did not see the match but I predicted its outcome. Arsenal seems a bit unsettled, the club lost many players this year, there's a few injuries, two cry babies who will not honor their contracts and a new stadium in the mix.

This week powerhouse Chelsea also lost to Middlesboro after taking a 50 minute vacation. I've seen all this before when I was rabidly following NHL hockey. Big time superstars get exhausted and frazzled when competing for their countries in international tournaments and then the regular season hits. Watch for a spate of injuries this season. Perhaps sensing this, one French international star on the Chelsea squad, Claude Makelele has attempted to pull out of his national team but the French national coach threatened to invoke FIFA regulations which would have resulted in a 3 game ban for Claude. I like the French side, especially Makelele, Henry and Ribery but the French coach is an insane pagan (pic at right). He totally believes in astrology and does not even allow anyone with the birth sign of Cancer onto the French team. This got me thinking. Makelele should have declared himself a Cancer, but true professional that he is, he sucked it up and will play.

Meanwhile, Manchester United is on a steady roll, attacking every team, every minute. They are also affected by the exhaustion and injury problem and lowly Watford almost beat them this weekend by they seem to be on a mission.

Liverpool seem okay but somewhat overrated. They need to watch out for the Tottenham Hotspurs (my back-up favorite) as they have been acquiring talent and had relatively fewer players to the World Cup this summer.