Tottenham offer Scolari first taste of London rivalry
LONDON: Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari should enjoy his first taste of a London derby on Sunday, with the Premier League leaders hosting unsettled Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.
The Brazilian’s side have yet to concede a goal in two league games while Spurs, undermined by Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov’s determination to leave, have suffered two stinging defeats.
With champions Manchester United playing the UEFA Super Cup with Zenit St Petersburg in Monaco on Friday and absent from the weekend’s domestic programme, the spotlight falls on early pacesetters Chelsea and Liverpool.
“I am happy because we have played two games and won two games, but it is difficult,” Scolari told Sky Sports News on Wednesday.
“We now have a big derby on Sunday and all the teams are very good.”
Chelsea thrashed Portsmouth 4-0 in their opening match of the season but were more restrained in winning 1-0 at Wigan last weekend.
Pending the signing of Brazilian forward Robinho from Real Madrid, and following the departure of Andriy Shevchenko to AC Milan, the West Londoners remain short on strikers although Didier Drogba could be back from injury to play at least a part in Sunday’s game.
Liverpool, who scraped past Belgium’s Standard Liege 1-0 with a late extra-time goal on Wednesday to secure their place in the Champions League, are level on points with Chelsea and travel to Aston Villa in a later match on Sunday.
They will be without captain Steven Gerrard, who is due to undergo groin surgery and will be out for up to two weeks.
Despite maximum points from two games so far, Liverpool have looked far from convincing in the league and manager Rafa Benitez will be expecting his men to show more passion.
By the time United are back in action, they could be five points adrift and in mid-table but Ryan Giggs said the rescheduling of Saturday’s game with Fulham might prove a blessing in disguise for a team with several players receiving treatment.
“Hopefully we’ve got all the injuries at the start of the season and we can get everyone back fit, more or less, after the international break,” he told the club website (www.manutd.com).
In tomorrow’s games, Arsenal hope to make amends for their surprise 1-0 defeat at Fulham last weekend when they entertain Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United.
Paul Ince takes Blackburn Rovers to troubled West Ham, his first club as a player and the one he supported as a boy growing up in east London. Victory for Ince’s men would send third placed Rovers top of the table for at least a day, unless promoted Hull City pull off an even bigger win at home to Wigan Athletic |
發表於 2008-8-29 08:35 PM
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