didier drogba's goal against Spurs;

stats;

In this season Arsenal has ...
played 5 games;
won 3 games;
lost 2 games;
scored 17 goals (more than any other team in EPL);
of which only 2 have been scored the bona fide forwards (v. Persie and Eduardo).

one wonders if Wenger sees this as a problem.

remember? no?

Emmanuel Adebayor has no idea why the Arsenal fans are hating him right now... He had no clue why he was taunted and insulted the entire length of the ManCity/Arsenal game. Ummm. Really? Maybe it is because Adebayor blamed Arsenal fans for his departure in the press?

I heard memory can be improved with vitamin E supplements...

eloquence;

speaking of British Parliament... the pm is getting pwned last march.

gael kakuta;

Here it is. The two year ban, personalized. Gael Kakuta, 18:

more money;

this move is called: UEFA wants a lot more abramovich money, a LOT more. If not by fine, then by finance or donation. any way.

andriy shevchenko is coming home;

Andriy Shevchenko, the most successful Ukrainian footballer since Oleg Blokhin is coming home to Dynamo Kiev after an utterly unsuccessful three year spell with Chelsea. Just like Alexander Hleb, Shevchenko should have stayed where he was successful. In his case it was AC Milan where he spent an incredible 7 years.

To Roman Abramovich's credit, Chelsea is letting the 33yo footballer go for free.

Here is a little reminder as to what the 2004 European Footballer of the Year was like when he was in top form:

awkward; in an awesome kind of way;

So a coupla dopey fans of FC Amkar dressed up like Death, and greeted Fulham at the aiport. So, like with the "welcome to your grave!" banner illustrated in a mildly inappropriate fashion. Fulham just kinda walked by all that and didn't acknowledge it. Then a Russian sport's publication calls Fulham's PR department and asks them to comment the apology. Riiiiiight. Wait! What apology? So Fulham PR says: "Oh. We hadn't heard the apology yet, but when we do we will certainly accept it."

NICE! This must be the greatest lame-o prank ever!

everton is getting themselves a russian

Suprise! Diniyar Bilyaletdinov is in Germany, getting ready for his big move to Everton. The creative midfielder suppose to replace Lescott whose departure to Manchester City is a done deal, apparently.

I can only imagine how the EPL commentators are going to mangle Bilyaletdinov's name.

roman to roma?

Roman Pavlyuchenko who has lost his spot in the starting eleven for The Spurs might be moving to Roma. I guess he just can't compete with the likes of

• Robbie Keane -- who can unseat the captain, albeit a briefly traitorous one?
• Jermaine Defoe -- the man is in fantastic form: just look at the double against Netherlands and a hat-trick against Hull City.
• Peter Crouch -- Harry Redknapp will give the Big Bird preference over Pavs any day. That's just not a secret.

What? Manchester City doesn't want him?

how do you say 'Martin Šktrel?'

I was watching Match of the Day the other night, and couldn't figure out who was that new Liverpool center defender that the commentator kept referring to as Skirtle.

Well it was Martin Škrtel, of course. He has been with Liverpool since early 2008. And I should know better because he came into EPL from Zenit St. Petersburg. But why couldn't I get that? Well, that's because the correct pronunciation of his name sounds nothing like Skirtle.

Hey, British commentators (not like you are reading this). Martin's last name is pronounced: Shkrtɛl. Yes, that first letter in his name, 'Š' is pronounced 'sh' as in 'sheep.' And there are no vowels in his name except for the 'e' which is second to last. It is hard to get all those consonants together, but I am sure you can give it a good ol' try. After all: your job is to talk, so you can put some effort into doing it correctly!

EPL quickie

Manchester United got embarrased by Premiership's newcomer FC Burnley 0:1. After getting beaten by Spurs on Sunday, Liverpool was aggravated enough to deliver a 4:0 beating to Stoke City. Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti is settling into his job at Stamford Bridge. It looks like Chelsea is not all mentally there yet, but their 3:1 win against Sunderland brought the needed result. The game will follow, or Ancelotti will follow his predecessors: Avraam Grant, Jose Mourinho, Big Phil, etc. Meanwhile, in contrast to the last year's early season performance, Spurs demolished Hull City 5:1 with Jermaine Defoe earning a hat-trick. The Spurs are now at the top of the league having scored 7 goals in the first two games of this season.

My Spur-peeps are happy peeps.

England's Premiership opening weekend

England's Premiership started up this weekend. Manchester United mustered up a win over Birmingham City. Thank you, Wayne Rooney. In more exciting news, The Spurs managed to cool down Liverpool's ambitions with a 2:1 win at home. The Spurs looked better, and if it weren't were Robbie Keane's bad luck and some fantastic Reina goalkeeping, it might've ended much more poorly for Liverpool.

And finally, in even more exciting news, Everton could not contain Adebayor-less and Kolo Toure-less Arsenal. The Gunners delivered a beating like Everton fans haven't seen at home since the 50s. It was 0:3 at the halftime, and the final score was 1:6. Ouch! Five different players socred for Arsenal. Could it be that Adebayor's departure brought variety into Arsene Wenger's tactical approach in the offense?

Meanwhile Manchester City used both Tevez as a substitute and Adebayor as a starter in their away win against Blackburn Rovers. Adebayor only needed three minutes on the pitch to put one in the net for his new club. On September 12th, Emmanuel Adebayor will get a chance to play against his former teammates in Manchester. But in the spring Manchester City will travel to London, to The Emirates Stadium. The booing of the Togolese striker will be something to witness.

England's soccer talent importation

BBC Says it is like this.

No surprises.

manuel almunia is going british

last month Arsenal's keeper Manuel Almunia had qualified to apply for British citizenship. he is well aware of this fact as he is considering it very carefully. He is 32. His wife is British.

Who is Manuel Almunia's competition for a place in the goal in the Spanish national team?

• Iker Casillas who is the captain of the team. He has been on the national team for ten years, since he was 18. He is a monster.
• Pepe Reina is the Liverpool keeper. He is 26.
• Victor Valdes from Barcelona. He is 27.
  

Who is Manuel Almunia's competition in the U.K.?

• Wandering Paul Robinson. A great find for Blackburn Rovers.
• Robert Green from West Ham.
• A 39 year old David James from Portsmouth
• Ben Foster who is getting ready for his first starting season at ManU

Almunia has the skillz.

That's not a problem.
Job's right there.
He wants it.
My precious.

the guardian writers are on crack

The Guardian is running a series of blog entries as a preview to the upcoming EPL season. The lack of clarity and insight is staggering. here are a couple of examples:

• Profiling Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool within the first week of the transfer window. Start profiling with teams that are coming up from Championship, and then move up the ladder. Leave the "Top 4" for the end!
  
• Suggesting that Liverpool will take 1st. Are you on crack!? They will take 1st with the loss of Alonso, a shorter than required bench, and with a fairly young defense!? If a couple of leaders get sidelined, they might not even make the Champion's League next year.
• Zhirkov is a marquee signing for Chelsea they say. Hell yes, but the man will run out of gas by Christmas. He came from Russia where they play Spring-Fall, so he is in the middle of his season -- of course he has impressed everyone during EPL pre-season.

Dumb & Aggravating. Please Guardian if you can't be insightful about soccer stick to the Rules of Peeing the Shower content.