A New Season Begins

11th of August brought back the English Premier League to our screens and what a beginning it was!!!

I was really happy to see Roy Keane back in the EPL, this time as the manager of Sunderland. A brilliant opening match saw Sunderland edging out the Spurs right at the death, thanks to a stunning goal by Keane's latest buy, Michael Chopra. I was especially happy because now the Spurs will have to think twice about breaking into the top 4. Thanks Michael, all Arsenal fans love you.

Newly promoted Derby County had a good match against Portsmouth at Pride Park, drawing 2-2 with Andy Todd equallising just a minute after Etuhu gave Pompey the lead after 82 minutes.
Harry Redknapp has much to worry about when he meets Sir Alex Ferguson's side this Wednesday.

Another match worth watching was Liverpool against Aston Villa, in which Liverpool just shaved it thanks to a stunning free kick in the 87th minute by Gerrard. Torres seems to be good but will he go the Cisse way remains to be seen. Liverpool are still looking shaky which serves me just fine.

Florent Malouda proved yet again why he is worth 13 million pounds when he scored against Birmingham to put Chelsea up 2-1. The match was a hard fought 3-2 victory for the Blues, and Birmingham showed their strength by giving Chelsea a hard time.

Manchester United were held to a goalless draw by 10 man Reading (Woohoo!!!). Not an auspicious start for the defending champions. Steve Coppel's boys were brilliant as they held on to thwart wave after wave of Manchester's attacks.

At long last, coming to Arsenal. A new start against Fulham. What the hell was Lehmann thinking? He tried to be clever and ended up conceding a goal in the 51st second itself. Arsenal dominated, with some excellent performances by Bakary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Alexander Hleb. The defence was shaky though and there were a couple of scary moments. But as usual, we equalised in the 84th minute thanks to a Van Persie penalty and took the lead in the 87th with a goal by Alex Hleb. Same old story? Hope we win more convincingly next time.

Special mention must be made of Nicholas Bendtner. He came on as a substitute for Rosicky in the 74th minute and was brilliant throughout. He is the man to watch out for this season. Amazing physical presence. I am sure we would have scored in the first half itself had he started. I am hoping for a better performance next week against Blackburn. And I am also counting on Arsenal thrashing Sparta Prague 5-0 this Wednesday

Go Gunners!!!