West Brom: A Case of Fluke or Actual Ability?

11 games into the new Premier League season and West Brom look to have made remarkable progress in the short period of time Steve Clarke has taken charge. Having reached 17 points already this season, it could be suggested that West Brom are nearly halfway to completing their first target: Avoid Relegation. People continue to claim that this run for West Brom is nothing more than a 'fluke', but I am going to convey why I strongly disagree in this post.

The Biggest El Clasico Yet?

This Sunday, the two superpowers in world football, Real Madrid and Barcelona will take to the pitch at the Nou Camp, in what has been labelled 'The match to define Real Madrid's season'. Whilst there have been some massive 'El Clasico' fixtures in the past, I think this compares in importance to them all. With only 6 games gone so far this season, the champions already find themselves trailing Barcelona by 8 points in the league. This is an incredible number of points to be behind by already when you take into account that Real Madrid only dropped a total of 14 points through all of last season.

Premier League Club By Club Preview: Fulham

Last Season: 9th
Another solid season from Fulham last year. With the managerial change taking place last summer which saw Martin Jol take over from Mark Hughes, it calls into question how far Fulham can progress. With Clint Dempsey ending joint 4th in the Premier League top scorer chart last season, it seemed like he was a player who Fulham heavily relied upon. The attacking football which Martin Jol plays must surely please the fans but surely they must feel that the efficiency of Mark Hughes' Fulham side the season before last, may have led them to a higher finish last season.

Premier League Club By Club Preview: Everton

Last Season: 7th.
Everton rarely start their league campaign well and last season was no different. With a severe lack in creativity and somebody to finish off the chances when they did arrive all the way until January, Everton looked flat and rarely looked like a team managed by the strong motivator, David Moyes. In January, Everton signed Darron Gibson, Nikica Jelavic, Steven Pienaar and Landon Donovan on a short term loan to replace players like Louis Saha and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. This turned out to be an extremely good decision from David Moyes as Gibson scored the only goal in a victory over Manchester City and Nikica Jelavic led Everton to a 4-4 draw against Manchester United. These 2 games were, for me, Everton's best displays as they rocketed up the table. 7th was a very good display from Everton last season and to make it even sweeter, they finished above Merseyside rivals, Liverpool.

Premier League Club by Club Preview: Chelsea

Last Season: 6th.
Well to say Chelsea's league performance was poor last season would be an understatement. Having started the season with Andre Villas Boas in charge, Chelsea began the season incredibly poorly. A major reason for this was AVB's desire to rid of leaders like Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. Upon the departure of AVB, Chelsea were in massive trouble in the Champions League as they saw themselves 3-1 down to Napoli (who had already knocked Manchester City out of the Champions League). Villas Boas' replacement, Roberto Di Matteo was put in charge for the rest of the season and when the 2nd leg of this Napoli tie came around, Di Matteo masterminded a 4-1 victory (A.E.T). Chelsea went on to beat Benfica, Barcelona and Bayern Munich in last season's Champions League campaign and were the eventual winners of the competition. Di Matteo also led Chelsea to glory in the FA Cup, beating off strong opposition like Tottenham and Liverpool on the way to doing so. Chelsea qualified for this season's Champions League by winning it, despite not finishing in the top 4, much to the surprise of the general public who could not have seen this happening when Villas Boas was in charge.

Premier League Club By Club Preview: Aston Villa

Last Season: 16th.
Well, what can I say? That season was one of Villa's worst in a long, long time. Following Gerard Houlier's departure as manager, he was replaced by former manager of Villa's close rivals Birmingham, Alex McLeish. Having lead Birmingham to League Cup glory and the ignominy of relegation in the one season, many Villa fans expressed concerns about the appointment by breaking into and vandalising the training ground. Whilst I do not condone those actions of the fans, I must admit they were probably right, taking performances from last season into account. McLeish didn't have lady luck on his side with the quantity of injuries his side suffered, however, this doesn't account for the amount of times N'Zogbia was seated on the bench even though he was fit. McLeish also never played the quick counter attacking 'Villa Way' and was more keen on 'Route 1' football, much to the disgust of the fans. Having not delivered any long cup runs to compensate for poor league form, it wasn't a surprise to anybody when Alex McLeish was relieved of his duties at the end of the season.

Premier League Club by Club Preview: Arsenal

Last Season: 3rd.
Having started last season incredibly poorly and having lost Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the Summer Transfer Window 2011, Arsenal fans began to fear that Europa League action may face them this season, but with the smart signing of Mikel Arteta and the magnificent goal tally of Van Persie, Arsenal were able to retain their Champions League spot, whilst also finishing ahead of close rivals Tottenham (which of course is an added bonus).

Zinedine Zidane: A Tribute To The Best.

One of my first memories of watching football is seeing Zinedine Zidane float effortlessly past Manchester United in the 2002/03 season of the Champions League. As a United fan this hurt greatly to see but I only realise now: What I was watching then was a footballing legend in the making. It was this game where it was most evident that when a Madrid player was in trouble on the ball they would search for Zinedine Zidane and he would always be there waiting to take control of the match even further.

The Manchester Derby: The Winner Takes It All.

At the start of the season many people believed this was going to be the year that Manchester United were finally going to be shown up by their 'Noisy Neighbours'. The season was started with a Community Shield match up between the two sides. Whilst the Community Shield is not widely respected many people believed both sides may try and get an upper hand in the title race over their fiercest rivals by winning the first competition of the season.

Jonny Evans: The Best Young Defender in Europe?

When you think of quality, young Centre Backs players that spring to mind are: Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Marcelo and Phil Jones. This is only natural as these players are from big name countries. But hailing from Northern Ireland, Johnny Evans has become quite possibly the best defender from the above list.

How Do We Approach The Europa League?

At the start of the season, had you informed me both Manchester United and Manchester City would find themselves in the Europa League, I would've informed you that you would need to go to your local doctor and get your head examined. As you sit here reading this article, we are both fully aware of both Manchester clubs' weaknesses in Europe. I don't ever like to be harsh on my beloved Manchester United, but to be honest I can't be harsh enough on the record 19 time Premier League winners.

Chelsea: One Manager Too Many?

Since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea in June 2003 Chelsea have had many well known names managing their football club. When Abramovich took over the club current Inter Milan boss Claudio Ranieri was in charge. On the first year after the takeover Ranieri lead Chelsea to 2nd place in the Premier League and also reached the Semi-Final of the Champions League. Ranieri was dismissed and replaced by current Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho. Mourinho had won the last season's Champions League with F.C Porto. In Mourinho's first season he led them to a Premier League. Mourinho won a second league the next season and left through mutual consent soon after also. After Mourinho's departure, Avram 'Can't' took charge  His points per game were quite high. He lead Chelsea to second in the league, losing out to United on the final day. He also lost the Champions League final to United after John Terry missed a penalty which could seal the cup for them and Anelka missed a crucial penalty in Sudden Death. Avram Grant was sacked and replaced by Scolari, who did quite a poor job in charge of the club and was sacked in February of his first season. They had Guus Hiddink for a short period of time. Hiddink did well bringing a Cup and having an average of 2.43 points per game. Hiddink's reign as Caretaker manager ended and he was replaced by current PSG manager and former AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti. In his first season he won the league and the FA Cup. In his second season he purchased Liverpool forward, Fernando Torres for a British Record transfer fee of £50 million, in the January transfer window. Chelsea still struggled to win games and Ancelotti was dismissed after that season.