Strengths They remain the most aesthetically pleasing side to watch in the divsion and on their day they represent the premier leagues answer to the catalan majesty of barcelona. With Fabregas succesfully kept out of the clutches of the la liga outfit, and with Marouane Chamakh brought in to add the mettle to their frontline that has been missing since Adebayors departure it seems wenger has almost found the final pieces to his jigsaw. A growing segment of their support continues to bemoan the professors reluctance to delve into the transfer kitty at the emirates and bring in the marquee signings they crave, but having the services of Van Persie again for the entirety of the season will feel like a multi million pound signing in itself. Goals will not be a problem for the gooners.

Weaknesses Arsenal will have to address their catipultaion against their big four rivals and question marks remain over their wafer thin defence, with the defections of campbell, gallas and silvestre resulting in the single replacement of an unproven Koscielny. The lack of a top class goal keeper could continue to be their downfall, and the error prone duo of Alumina and Fabianski will not inspire confidence within the backline.

Key man. – Marouane Chamakh The free transfer of Joe Cole to liverpool was lauded as one of the vintage bosmans of recent times but wenger may well have topped that with his capture of the morrocan hitman on a free transfer. A player who will feel has comfortable conforming to the free flowing intracacy of their famed footballing ethos as he his rolling his sleeves up and using his physical presence at places like stoke and bolton, chamakh could provide the bite to the arsenal frontline that has been missing in recent seasons.

Chelsea

Strengths After a historic double last time out Ancelotti appears to have finally laid the spectre of Mourniho at Chelsea to rest. The side remains littered with winners, with Lampard, Terry, Drogba and Ashley Cole all characters who posses the quality and experience to deliver when the heat is on. The return to Essien to full fitness will feel like chelsea have splashed the cash on a star midfielder, and just for good measure they actually have splashed the cash on a start midfielder landing ramires to replace the ageing Ballack. The champions league remains their holy grail but Chelsea will once again prove formidable at home and unstoppable when in full force.

Weaknesses -  Their erratic dealing with set pieces was key facet of the surrendering of pressure league points in their title surge last season and it remains to be seen wether this has been fully tackled. The club have also seen former mainstays of the side in Carvalho, Ballack, and Joe Cole seek pastures new and the loss of key figures in the dressing room could pave the way for a spell of transition and adjustment. Ashley Cole and John Terry are sure to remain under fire from the press and ongoing public vitriol could spark a further loss of form in two key components of their defence.

Key Player- Frank Lampard. Can expect a rough time from opposition fans as the fall out from Englands dismal world cup will contiune in the form of a public backlash in the prelimanry stages of next season but lampard sadly for england, remains world class in the confines of his cosy club environment.

Manchester City

Strengths Whatever happens next season at Eastlands it certainly wont be boring. While the rest of the league have contrived to create a relatively dormant market, city have continued to bring in big stars with stratospheric spending as theyve blitzed the window once more. Mancini seems to have a structure behind the glut of superstars rolling through the door at city however and hes forming a side that is on paper a sight to behold. The side has an abundance of flair and goalscoring prowess in Tevez, Silva, Adebayor, Johnson et al, while Barry, Kompany , De Jong and the exorbiantly paid Ya Ya Toure provide a backbone and some steel to the artistry. They took 12 points off the big four last year, including a double over champions chelsea, and have proved they can beat them all when it matters. 5th to title contenders in one season is a leap from out of an odinary, but out of the odinary is exactly what this project at city is.

Weaknesses
How do you keep a swathe of superstars happy? Mancini will be under pressure from the word go, and with reported rifts with Bellamy and Given surfacing before a ball has even been kicked in anger, it seems disharmony and abberations in team morale could be one thing citys money will not be able to stave off. Far too many games were drawn last season and city will have to be able to cope with the pressure of being expected to win handsomely, of being able to break down sides who will park the bus at eastlands and of having a manager who will feel he is a couple of bad results from the sack all season. On paper the greatest season in decades seems possible for city, but this isnt football manager and things could get farcical at city.

Key Player- Carlos Tevez Last seasons star player for City will have a another huge role to play in providing some of his famed hunger and desire to a team of pampered millionaires. Not to mention the moment of brilliance he can provide to turn draws into victories.

Manchester United

Strengths They remain defensively flawless at the back, and a regaining of full fitness from Ferdinand could see a backline bordering on the impenetrable. The likes of Nani and Antonio Valencia will take their games up a notch further next season and Wayne Rooney will be looking to put to bed a summer of discontent for him. The signing of Hernandez is cause for excitment and he can provide the surprise factor to a united frontline that could be a potent threat if Rooney picks off from last season, if Berbatov lives up to the indications in pre season that hes ready to finally step up to the mantle and Michael Owen remains fit enough to play fergies super sub slot to devastating affect.

Weaknesess Undoubtedly over reliant on Rooney, who is going into the season with his confidence surely affected after a world cup in which he was a shadow of his true self. The midfield appears alarmingly weak, and injuries in that area could derail their season. Will age finally catch up with Giggs, Scholes, Neville and perhaps even Van Der Sar?

Key Player- Dimitar Berbatov Rooney will be expected to be the main man again but its a huge season for the bulgarian, perhaps the last chance for him to not go down as an unmitigated flop. If Berbatov can find the form of his spurs days, then a partnership with Rooney could win them the league.

After checking the odds comparison table on odds1×2.com, Cheslea are favourties to win the league at 5/4, Manchester United are second at 9/4, Arsenal thrid favourites at 11/2 and they are closely followed by Man City at 9/1.

He has agreed to turn out in Jamie Carragher’s testimonial a week on Saturday.

Owen’s motives are honourable, of course, as his appearance against an Everton XI will help to raise money for Carragher’s chosen charity.

Nevertheless, hardline United fans will be less than impressed. The rivalry between the two clubs is as fierce as ever, despite Liverpool’s recent struggles, and many United supporters will take a dim view of the fact that he has agreed to wear a Liverpool shirt.

It is understood that Owen will play 45 minutes in front of the Kop at Anfield on September 4 after his former team-mate personally asked for his presence in his Liverpool XI line-up.

The former England striker has been given permission by his United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to play in the game and the Scot will hope that the run out will help Owen find some kind of form, says the Daily Mail.

It is clear the former Real Madrid man is going to have to find some form and fitness if his contract at Old Trafford is to be extended beyond the current campaign.

Many United fans have never really taken to Owen, largely because of his association with Liverpool but also because his contribution to the United cause has been so modest since arriving on a free transfer from Newcastle United.

A club statement said: “Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri will today undergo minor surgery on his knee following a meniscal injury sustained during the match against Liverpool on Sunday.

“Nasri, who has been in impressive form, will be out of action for a month.”

The versatile midfielder, who missed out on a place in France’s World Cup squad, will probably be absent for the next five games and could miss the start of the Champions League campaign, which kicks off in mid-September.

Arsenal are currently without captain Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song, Denilson and Aaron Ramsey, who is still recovering from a broken leg.

The Gunners salvaged a point against Liverpool on Sunday due to a stoppage-time own goal by Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina.

England’s miserable campaign came to a shuddering halt in the second round when they were humbled 4-1 by Germany to suffer their worst-ever World Cup defeat.

Goalkeeper Robert Green was the lowest ranked player in the Index, scoring 51.67 out of 100 following his blunder in the opening game against USA which saw him dropped for the remainder of the tournament.

Out-of-form striker Wayne Rooney scored 58.87 for his efforts over the four games, with Emile Heskey managing 60.15 and Jermain Defoe – who scored the winner against Slovenia – managing 62.47.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was regarded as England’s best midfielder with a tally of 61.09 while captain Steven Gerrard scored 60.98 and Frank Lampard 58.58.

The leading player in the Capello Index was Uruguay forward Diego Forlan, who scored 65.77.

Clearly Fabio Capello is probably wishing he never got involved with this web venture and one wonders the legality of the use of his name after the England boss has made it abundantly clear he is in no way responsible for the ratings on the site.

That said, the ratings seem about right although naming Robert Green as the worst player in the entire tournament is a bit of stretch, especially when you take into account all the French and Italian players who partook in the South African adventure.

Will Fabio stay in charge of the england team after this shocking revelation, the football odds seem to think so, what about you?

If both teams play there own style of the beautiful game there will be only one winner, Spain haven’t let any of the teams they have played against have a kick of the ball for the majority of the match and they will do to Holland what they have done to Portugal, Paraguay and Germany on their way to the final and pass them into submission, by just wearing them down over the course of the 90 minutes using their famous tippy-tappa style of play.

Key Battles

Ramos/Capevilla v Robben
Arjen Robben is possibly the most effective player on the football pitch at the moment and it will be down ot either Capedvilla or Sergio Ramos to stop the flying Dutchman. In the last game Uruguay played their right back at left back and their left back on the left wing to try and stop Robben but he still managed to cause havok. Spain will surely be weiry of the 24 year old, but if they can keep the ball from getting to Robbe they should have no problems. On the other hand when Spain have the ball (which will be most of the match) one of the full backs should be free as Robben doesn’t like defending.

Xavi v Sneijder
Possibly the 2 best midfielders will go head to head in Sundays final, Wesley Sneijder has had a fantstic season with Inter picking up the treble and being tipped to be the World Player of the Year, but what will he cope like without much of the ball, no doubt he will have to defend more than attack. Xavi on the other hand will probably be the player to see the majority of the ball and it will be down to himself, Iniesta and Xavi Alonso to open up the Dutch defence.

Villa v Mathijsen

What mre can be said about David Villa, he performs on the biggest of stages as well as at club level, he is currently joint top scorer at this years competition with Seijder who both have 5 goals. Villa has scored 3 of the the last 4 Spanish goals which ahve got them through to this final, if he get a sniff of a goal you can bet the Barcelona striker will take it and with it the world cup. Mathijsen is possibly the weakest player in the dutch team and he will dred facing the inform spaniard, no doubt having nightmares of the problems he gave him in the Europa League earlier in the season.

Good Luck to both teams and i hope they put on a great Spetical for the football fans across the world.

So that’s that. C-Ron’s a Daddy, and that’s all he’s going to say on it. I’m the third-farthest person from a Cristiano Ronaldo fan in all of football, but I have to give him credit. He announced what sounds like a somewhat … complicated arrangement in a fairly simple anti-Paparazzi way. And with Portugal out and a bit over a month until La Liga starts up for his Real Madrid side, he can hopefully take a few weeks and get some quality time with Winker Jr.

The questions are (because I personally don’t care who the mama is), 1) is he sincere about wanting to keep the kid out of the spotlight? and 2) can he do it?

We don’t know the babys name but after Ronaldo’s Portugal are out of the world cup he can set his sights on looking after the little tot beforehe gets back to playing in La Liga, here are the early football odds for the winning of the la liga title.

In a strange twist, Hurst’s extra time shot, which like Lampard’s effort came off the cross-bar, instead seemed not to have crossed the line. It was, nevertheless, adjudged a goal and it paved the way for England’s ultimate 4-2 win in Wembley.

Sunday’s event in Bloemfontein came 44-years afterwards and amid increasing calls for the use of goal line technology, including sensors, to guide referees and their assistants. However, world football’s governing body FIFA has steadfastly refused to install the technology.

‘We want to keep football as a game of the people with a human face, so we don’t want technology on the field of play because we want to maintain the spontaneity of football – played, administered and controlled by human beings,’ FIFA President Sepp Blatter said before the start of the 2010 World Cup.

The world football supremo additionally said he thought the ‘tremendous preparations programmes’ that World Cup referees had endured in the run-up to the tournament would avoid big errors being made.

Yet the Bloemfontein error by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda and his assistants may now serve to hasten the introduction of sensors as well as other technology-assisted measures.

These could include instant video replays allowing referees to review incidents during the course of a match.

It may help that Larrionda’s mistake instantly reverberated around the world media.

‘Scandal of the World Cup,’ said Spanish sports daily Marca’s website – a sentiment echoed, using the same phrase, by Italian daily La Repubblica.

Even the Germans could do nothing but confess the Uruguayan match official’s mistake.

‘The referee’s assistant should have seen it, it was clearly a goal,’ said former team boss Franz Beckenbauer on German television.

In the World Cup final 44 years ago, Hurst scored for England with the ball bouncing out having come down on the goal line but Azerbaijani linesman Tofik Bakhramov said the ball crossed the line and granted the goal.

Fortune favoured England in 1966 but this time the luck was against them with Der Spiegel saying: ‘Wembley is back, only the reverse of 1966.’

Despite his talk of accepting human imperfection, Blatter has not closed the door entirely to the use of technology.

‘Technology on the field of play is put on ice. It is not out forever,’ Blatter said.

The World Cup Bets have neen changing dramtically since England have  been knocked out, with Germany shooting up the list of favourites.

The Liverpool veteran had last played for England in June 2007 but was lured out of international retirement by Fabio Capello amid injury concerns in defence.

Carragher replaced Ledley King at half-time in the Group C opener against the USA, when the Three Lions had to settle for a 1-1 draw before turning in a dismal display against Algeria.

A 0-0 draw on Friday means England, among the pre-tournament favourites, must now beat Slovenia to be sure of just reaching the second round.

Carragher is suspended for the game having picked up a second booking against Algeria, but the 32-year-old joked that could be a blessing following England’s stuttering start.

“It’s very difficult to put your finger on,” he said.

“We did really well in qualifying so I think maybe I’m the problem coming back!

“They seemed to be fine when I was watching the qualifying. It’s just not happening at the moment.

“Obviously we have a chance to put it right after two disappointing results and two disappointing performances. There’s still all to play for.”

England face Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday and a point would be enough for the surprise group leaders to book their place in the last 16 having beaten Algeria 1-0 before drawing 2-2 with the USA.

Here are the world cup odds after the 1st round of group matches

9-2 Brazil
5 Spain (from 7/2)
11-2 Argentina (from 6)
15-2 Germany
15-2 Netherlands
8 England
14 Italy
25 France
28 Portugal