Soccerlens: Week In Review – 21/08/06

A look at the top stories of the previous week, the premiership weekend and latest transfer news.

Premiership roundup

Two contrasting days, and a whole stack of predictions going wrong. Title contenders Arsenal and Liverpool stumbled in their first matches against Aston Villa and Sheffield United respectively.

It was a sweet sight to yours truly, but also vindication of my belief that Arsenal do not have the squad strength to challenge for the title while Liverpool…the system they are playing doesn’t let them score enough goals.

The Tottenham v Bolton game also produced the best chant of the weekend, with the Bolton fans singing “Champions League, you’re having a laugh” after Bolton went 2-up against Tottenham in the first 20 minutes.

But Sunday was all about class, and the top two teams in the Premiership oozed of it. Manchester United scored 4 goals in 10 minutes to kill off the game against Fulham and cruised to an eventual 5-1 win. And if Chelsea couldn’t match them in goals (3-0 over Manchester City they did show their bench strength, with 5 first-team players out injured and still looking tough enough to beat anyone in the Premiership.

Read the full Premiership roundup

Transfer News

Rumours that Manchester United were after Owen Hargreaves turned out to be true, as Hargreaves revealed in an interview before England’s friendly against Greece. Bayern Munich understandably do not want to sell, considering that they have lost Ze Roberto and Ballack this summer. This won’t be settled anytime soon, and it’s not even certain if Hargreaves will be allowed to leave.

Arsenal continue to hold out for high transfer fees for Ashley Cole and Reyes, engaging in a game of nerves against Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Chelsea agreed to a deal for Boulharouz, and the Dutch defender should clear a medical and sign for Chelsea this week.

Real Madrid are reported to have agreed a 17 mil deal with Lyon for Diarra. Read more about it here. No serious confirmation from Lyon yet, but the move is expected to go through this week with Diarra being Madrid’s fourth signing and leaving Reyes as their next major target.

Oh, and Liverpool singed Dirk Kuyt. Great signing, but will Liverpool be able to get their act together this time?

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