Wednesday Review

Portsmouth 1-1 Man Utd
The talked about starts of this season will be Spurs with two defeats and Man Utd with two draws. Both have been lacklustre and struggled with different line-up problems; Spurs lack a creative midfielder, and here Man Utd missed a centre forward. Tevez looked good on his debut, coming close several times, but United really miss the likes of Rooney or Saha making breaks forward. Perhaps The Purple One will dip into the transfer market before the month is out. An exciting match was marred by two stupid sendings off, Muntary and Ronaldo, both players in my Fantasy team.

Reading 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea looked more attacking, but made heavy work; yet again they went behind to a soft goal by a lesser side. Jose's "attacking philosophy" seems to be of the Keven Keegan "we'll score one more goal than you" school of thought. At least they're allowing the other team to score these days... Reading looked solid, and could've scored another couple - my prediction of them to struggle is looking pretty stupid right now.

Man City 1-0 Derby
A second win on the trot for Sven, courtesy of a Michael Johnson screamer. Derby looked feisty going forward, but looked decidedly Championship at the back. I'm not sure how much to read into Citteh's start, as they've only played a terrible West Ham and an early Derby prototype; Man Utd will prove to be more of a challenge - Ferguson's renowned hatred of Svennis will mean his side won't dare lose, or draw.

Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham
The most 80s match I've seen in years; Garry O'Connor's disgusting hair, Birmingham's badge, and both managers general demeanor are those of blokes not au fait with the Metrosexual 00s. Football-wise, the match was end to end stuff, gritty tackles, shonky defending, and battered goals. Not sure which of these two will fare better yet, but Michael Chopra's bizarrely fantastic form is pointing to the Mackems.

Wigan 1-0 Boro
From two teams who were in the Championship last season, to two who'll be there next season. A dreadful game, Sibierski's tenacity getting his second goal in two games, and giving Wigan all three points; which is more than the number of fans they had. Boro looked dire.

Fulham 2-1 Bolton
After Tony Warner's heroics against Arsenal, he made a Mad Jens-esque howler to allow Bolton to take the lead. David Healy scored a proper goal this time, and was denied a pretty solid penalty, before Smertin's fortunate deflection. Bolton looked poor; the new "on the deck" style of play seems to ill suit the players they've got.