The Premier League – Month of August Review

The international break could not have come at a better time. After such a pulsating start to the 2009/10 Premier League season, the two-week break between league games will serve as a breather for both club managers and fans (of course, for most of the players it’s business as usual with the World Cup qualifiers).

Barely four games had gone in the league and the media is already labelling teams as “strong title contenders” and “relegation favourites”. Fair play to them, the four games had given everyone opportunities to view the players and tactics, instead of judging them on paper. Still, there are 34 games to go – at least 102 points to play for.

Chelsea kicked off this season with a 2-1 home win over Hull in an early game on 15 August. They went on to win their three other league games and currently lead the table on goal difference. Carlo Ancelotti’s new “diamond” formation for the Blues was subject to much debate, but the proof is that Chelsea is by far the smoothest and most clinical team in the league that I have seen thus far. They are now the bookmakers’ favourite for the title, in front of title holders Manchester United.

Besides Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester City are the only other teams to have a 100% win record. Spurs impressed particularly with their style of attacking football, scoring 11 goals in the 4 victories so far. City, on the other hand, have yet to concede a goal. Their multi-million strike force was the talking point in every match preview, but it is their backline which had excelled. Shay Given had three superb games and the team deserved every of their clean sheets.

Amongst last year’s top four, Liverpool appeared to be most at risk to lose out on a Champions League spot this term. Two losses already in the month of August represents the worst possible of starts for the Reds and key players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have yet to miss games.

At the bottom of the pile at the end of August lies Portsmouth. The club’s decline had begun last season when Harry Redknapp jumped ship to Spurs and four losses in four means it is likely to be season of relegation dogfight. Good news for Pompey is that their club takeover finally completed, but the bad news is that they had already lost considerable talent in the summer and will be unlikely to shake up their wafer-thin squad until the winter transfer window.

Manager-of-the-month
My vote goes to Harry Redknapp. Spurs had exceeded most expectations and the team is playing fluently despite in the ins and outs of the summer. Their win over Birmingham showed that the team had both guile and determination. It will be interesting to see how they can cope without Luka Modric for six weeks.

Player-of-the-month
Jermain Defoe is the player of the moment. A superb hat-trick at Hull and a stroke of good luck at West Ham puts him as the current Premier League top scorer, an award he will no doubt be eyeing for come May next year. To top up his unstoppable goal scoring form, he also found the net twice for England in a friendly against Netherlands to lay a strong claim to a spot in the national team squad come the World Cup next year.

Flop-of-the-month
The choice may not be entirely related to on-pitch performance, but my vote goes to Joleon Lescott. So far Lescott had appeared in two league games – one for Everton and one for Manchester City. His last game for Everton was somewhat of a shocker – he looked distracted, lethargic and uninterested as his transfer saga loomed. It revealed how unprofessional he can be and his move to Eastlands had left a very bad taste in the mouth for everyone associated with Everton.