THE FORTNIGHT REVIEW

Two weeks into the Premiership brought some surprises....and has already answered a few questions. One of them being that the eventual winner will be from The Big Four....again. The most likely contenders outside the clique of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and ManU is, or were, The Spurs, the Whitehart Lane Hopefuls. The status quo shows that they might be fighting for a place in the..................PREMIERSHIP. We can't blame Portsmouth for being last, the old geezer Harry has been complaining that he can't bring in new players; and it's not his fault, is it?

As for Arsenal, they've showed us how to play a beautiful game of football.....and still manage not to score. It seems as if they lack experience and creativity in the centre of the midfield without Fabregas pulling strings and Eboue, who was deployed as a rightside midfield winger last season, looks lost playing the role of the anchorman. And Adebayor should have been sold....Arsenal won't get the same price....or the same performance. With all the chances he'd missed, I wouldn't bet on him even if he grew his hair back. Right now, The Gunners look likely to finish fourth.

Liverpool got lucky....twice. A rare moment of brilliance from Torres in the mostly insipid game against Sunderland saved them once and the man of some moments, Gerrard, coming from an uninspiring performance against the Czechs, hit a scorcher against Borough, giving them the six points and a second-place spot. But, still, they don't seem to have the prowess required to take the title back to Anfield. The much talked about Keane-Torres partnership hasn't clicked, yet. Apart from Gerrard, their midfield lacks a killer instinct and do not show a potential to be consistent. I apologize to the Kop, but the only thing the Reds look like bringing back to Anfield is........their traveling fans.

Although Manchester United don't have their best players at their disposal, they still managed to get a point against the Magpies and won against the Pompeys. But, they still lack the fluency they showed in their football last season. Giggs and Scholes both look Fergie's age. They do need an out-an-out striker (read Berbatov), with Saha's departure to Everton imminent. But when Cristiano...I mean.... the stars do come back into action, albeit for only one season, they might pick up the tempo and wrestle with Chelsea for the crown. The only question is: Unlike like last season, will it be too late?

The most formidable outfit in the top four seem to be the Blues, whose talk about Samba football went kaput against Wigan. But, they still managed to get three points from a devilish pitch at the JJB, courtesy an exquisite goal from Deco. They pummeled Portsmouth, who look like the potential punching bags this season, and showed they can play beautiful football, but have to keep their first team players fit. Chelsea's answer to winning this season will be a blank injury list and if they can do that, The Premiership, and maybe the Champion League, will go blue this season.