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.

With Euro Qualifiers and International tournaments on the rise, a slew of International Friendlies have also come into focus–the brightest of course being played yesterday, England vs. Brazil.

In anticipation of this game (based solely on names), even with the recall of David Beckham, Brazil was fancied to deconstruct an England side, floundering in Euro Qualifiers, in the 1st game in the renovated, famous Wembley Stadium. Just going by names, however, in soccer takes you no where, and if you haven’t noticed lately Brazil stopped being Brazil last year.

To add to Dunga’s embarrassment, David Beckham was not the only new face in Steve McClaren’s side–Michael Owen and Alan Smith made it in after long-time injury lay-offs while obscure Reading defender, Nicky Shorey, made a full debut against the Samba men.

Brazil it seems, however, were in no mood to dance and looked as sluggish, and uncreative as England at times, in a less then enthralling match. With both teams cancelling each other out, Becks finally hit one of his signature pin-point crosses (from a free-kick), to the back post in the 68th min., for captain John Terry to head home. Beckham was able to cap a solid performance (not by any means outstanding) with the assist to emphasize his quality and England’s need for it.

With Brazil not playing well, and then with the prospect of losing, Dunga’s face matched his tight red shirt, and I thought I made him out giving in his resignation, as he forgot for just one moment to cup his mouth mic in his disappointment. Even Diego’s last minute leveller was not enough to restore Brazilian pride.

The FA Cup Final kicks off tomorrow morning and though both clubs didn’t get to the the cup final [Champions League] they really wanted, the match tomorrow in the new Wembley stadium will be the last chance for Man Utd. and Chelsea to add to their cabinets this year.

Chelsea has already won a cup final this year having defeated (2-1) a youthful Gunners side in the Carling Cup. Though outclassed througout the match, Chelsea’s experience and discipline finally bailed them out when their quality of play was pulled into question.

Of course, Man Utd. has the more important EPL league trophy, as Ronaldo and Co. finally put an end to Chelsea’s choke hold on the EPL and captured another title for Sir Alex.

So, that leads us to the ultimate showdown tomorrow where the two Giants will do one last battle to put their lasting mark on the season. My only question is–what will happen to next season’s Charity Shield kickoff when Man Utd. puts another dent in Mourinho’s shield?

Having already wrapped up the Championship last week, Man Utd were probably the only team in England with nothing to play for on the last fixture date of the league season and went into their game against relegation-likely West Ham with no real instinct to claim victory–even though, Robert Green and some goal line defending had a lot to do with West Ham’s 1-0 victory at the Theatre of Dreams.

The West Ham stand was led by Carlos Tevez. He provided the 80 million pound strike past Van der Saar, as the little Argentine combined with Zamora to ghost through the United defense and roll one under the giant Dutch keeper at the death of the 1st half.

Then it was all hands on deck as Man Utd. came close a few times in the 2nd period, but truly played as if they had one leg tied behind their backs. I think Rio had something to say at half time to keep his brother’s team in the top flight.

Chelsea, on the other hand, scrapped back a draw against Everton at Stamford Bridge. Unbeaten at home for 63, Chelsea are poised to break Liverpool’s long record at the start of next season. It was fitting that “The Drogba” finished for Chelsea after Moyes’ boys, who went 6th place and are back in Europe, took the lead. Chelsea were lucky in this one though as Everton’s go ahead goal was disallowed for a questionable offsides.

Liverpool edged out Arsenal on goal difference for 3rd place with a 2-2 draw against already relegated Charlton Athletic. The result should have favored Arsenal, but the Gunners put the bad stamp on their season with a draw nil-nil versus Pompey. Liverpool, at the end of the day, had a stellar, break out league performance with a team that any English squad needs to be weary of. As for Arsenal next year, are the fans, yet again, looking at a rebuilding year (as they pale in comparison to their once Invincible form)?

Although starting poorly, Tottenham climbed all the way to 5th and another year in the UEFA Cup behind the inspiring play of their Bulgarian striker, Berbatov, who had the type of year Shevchenko would have been wishing for. Bolton round out the last spot in Europe, just nipping out new boys Reading (comparably to West Ham last year) and Harry Redknapp’s rejuvenated Pompey.

At the end, it came down to the relegation battle between Sheffield United and Wigan Athletic to separate the Sunday leaguers from the class. Wigan came out winners 2-1 to send Neil Warnock and the lads back to the Coca Cola League. The irony in this one was the final penalty was taken by former Blades player David Unsworth, who had just come to Wigan in the January transfer window, ensuring Wigan another run next year at the top flight.

With Man Utd going on Wednesday to Stamford Bridge to what Jose Mourinho had once earmarked as a “game” of contention for the title, it was ironic how a few penalties finally put an end to Chelsea’s string of championships before the game was ever played.

With Man Utd winning on Saturday (0-1) in the Manchester derby, Chelsea went into their game with Arsenal on Sunday knowing that only a victory at the Emirates would be enough to keep the pressure on Man Utd.

It was fitting that Cristiano Rinaldo provided the means to the sole goal of the game when he drew and converted a penalty from Michael Ball (who also got away earlier with a stomp on the chest of the Portuguese winger). Of course, Van der Saar had to come through with a penalty save of his own (against Vassell) before Man Utd could begin to celebrate.

But surely it was the penalty given away by Boulahrouz (who was also shown the red), that had Sir Alex beaming with joy as Gilberto stepped up on Sunday to slot Arsenal into a 1-0 lead before halftime, and with Arsenal dominating much of the proceedings of the 2nd half, Sir Alex must be thankful that that dread feeling (Essien’s equalizer) that Chelsea started to orchestrate in the later stages of the game has been vanquished for this season with two games to spare.

No matter how the result ends up on Wednesday though, Mourinho and Ferguson will meet one last time this season with another win-only situation on Saturday, May 19th, in the FA Cup Final.

Coming off their heart break at Anfield, Chelsea limp into this weekend’s match against Arsenal knowing that the FA Cup final against Man. Utd is their only real chance to add silverware to this season’s cabinet.

Unless something incredible happens at the City of Manchester Stadium in the Manchester derby, Chelsea will end 2nd in the league. Having already slipped in the draw against Bolton last week, Mourinho’s team may be fully primed for a defeat at the hands of the Gunners to finalize the Red Devils as the new EPL Champions.

Not that Wenger will want to be doing Sir Alex any favors; however, the young guns will be hoping to make amends for their Carling Cup disappointment with a victory for themselves at the Emirates on Sunday as well as try to leap frog Liverpool for a 3rd place finish in the league. Liverpool, however, travel to easy-pickins Fulham with the easiest of matches at Craven Cottage.

If Arsenal lose on Sunday, then they will go into their last game against Pompey knowing that have resigned themselves to 4th spot and no metals this time around. But looking at the bright side of things, they will still start out next season in the Champions League.