Mad Dog and Master Class (Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs, respectively) limp into Sunday’s Manchester derby, slumping in comparison to their neighbor’s unbeaten start.

While Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have drawn their opening 2 matches against Reading and Portsmouth, former England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson has prompted a revival of sorts at the City of Manchester Stadium with 2 quick victories out of the gate against West Ham and Derby County.

Despite their summer signings, Man. United have found it hard to jell at this early stage, and are not only hampered by Rooney’s foot injury, but will also have to play without Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, who picked up a red card in frustration in the final stages of the Portsmouth match.

Man. City on the other hand has shown an attacking edge that was virtually non existent under Stuart Pearce. Of course new signings and money spent have not been a problem for the new manager, and the Swede looks determined to put out a side of attacking quality not seen since the days of Kevin Keegan.

Certainly, Man. United is now a monster in waiting and just need that little something to kick-start their title defending season. Putting an end to Man. City’s best ever EPL start is just what Sir Alex has ordered. 

EPL bosses Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez will renew their intense rivalry and word throwing this weekend as Liverpool will host Chelsea at Anfield on Sunday.

With Chelsea near the top of the early EPL table (along with Everton and Man. City) this will be their first real test against another team who consider themselves true title contenders.

In truth Chelsea has had a tough time in their first 2 games as they have had to come back from behind both times on their way to victory. Liverpool, on the other hand, have only played 1 league game thus far (a debatable victory over Aston Villa), having traveled to France in mid-week to face Toulouse in the Champions League Qualifying round.

With captain, John Terry out injured, Chelsea’s usual defensive blockade has been leaky, and even the usually steady Petr Cech has made some early uncharacteristic errors. Chelsea is also determined to play this season with more attacking flair, which could also leave them more exposed at the back this season.

Even with all of Liverpool’s attacking signings this summer, Rafa continues to rely on the lone striker system with the other forwards pushed wide. This reluctance to play all out could have detrimental effects in the league as it usually does for Liverpool as they ended third place last year 15 points behind second place Chelsea.

The importance of this game is illustrated by the fact the Liverpool’s inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard is likely to play even though he suffered a hairline toe fracture in the 1-0 victory over Toulouse.

Still Chelsea will dismantle Liverpool this time around, reminding the Kop faithful that a reserved philosophy is what keeps them from ever winning an EPL title.

Chelsea started the new season with a 3-2 victory over promoted side Birmingham with new signings Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda among the scorers. 

Although the score points to an evenly poised game, Chelsea actually dominated their first home match at Stamford Bridge, setting a new English record of 64 unbeaten home games and counting.

Ex-Bayern and Peruvian striker, Pizarro, filling in for the injured Drogba and Shevchenko, brought the title contenders level only minutes after Birmingham went ahead through Mikael Forssell’s flick header (against the run of play) early in the match.

It was the other new boy, ex-Lyon and French winger Malouda who added to his Charity Shield goal and put Chelsea in the lead before Birmingham scored an incredible leveler through Olivier Kopa before half-time.

Chelsea concluded the affair with an Essien winner, grabbing all 3 points to kick off the season. The result was good for both teams as it showed once again that Chelsea have the quality and the mental character to win and score when coming from behind.

For Birmingham (relegated from the EPL 2 seasons ago), it showed that this time around Steve Bruce’s men will have a better time finding the back of the net, though he may need to think twice about his keeper selection as Colin Doyle was suspect in 2 of the 3 goals.

The EPL kicks off this weekend amid a dull of games that look simple for the taking. True, there have been many changes through the summer, and not everything has settled yet, but it looks to be another race between defending Champs, Man. United and Mourinho’s Chelsea.

Liverpool have made some big money spendings, but will have to totally overhaul their playing style if they really believe to make a run for the title, and Arsenal is only kidding themselves if they believe their 2 pre-season trophies will equate to league leaders come early-,mid-, not to mention end-of-season.

Spurs will hope to avoid a 2nd horrible start to the season, but will know that a finish out of the top 4 will be theirs, and the rest will fighting out for scraps again.

The 2 most meaningful matches of the opening round will be Saturday’s Bolton vs. Newcastle and Sunday’s Man. United vs. Reading.

Big Sam and a re-vamped Newcastle will square off against the Wanderers in Sam’s old home—the Reebox. Bolton has also received a face-lift over the summer and the question is “who brings more class to the usual slug-fest in this one?” Remember Bolton is one better as they will play in the UEFA Cup this season while Newcastle has been struggling for seasons now.

The Man. United game against Reading is also interesting if only for the revelation of how Reading plans to build off the success of their promoted season last year against the team of the land. With the 2-year loan signing of Tevez final complete, another Man. dynasty could be in the making.

Man. United defeated Chelsea in penalties on Sunday in the Community Shield thanks largely to Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

The win gave Man. United their 1st FA Community Shield victory since beating Arsenal in 2003. Of course the win is solely for bragging rights as the real deal (the EPL League Season) kicks-off this coming weekend.

Ryan Giggs opened the scoring in the 1st half, sweeping home a cross by Patrice Evra with his left foot after a nice build up on the left, but new signing Florent Malouda tied things up with an incredible individual goal at the death of the half. The French winger ran on to a through ball, battled off Rio Ferdinand, and struck the ball with the outside of his left boot to the far post past van der Sar.

The match then moved straight into penalties as both teams failed to create a winner in the 2nd half.

Claudio Pizarro (another new signing for Chelsea), Frank Lampard, and Wright-Phillips scratched from the Penalty Kick line. The Man U. number 1 and Ex-Juventus keeper Van der Sar blocked all 3 spot-kicks while Ferdinand, Carrick, and Rooney found their way past Petr Cech into the trophy-case.