Man City face Liverpool in early season blockbuster
BY BEN JAMES, DPA
The new Premier League season bursts into life this weekend with last season's top two, Manchester City and Liverpool, facing each other at Eastlands.
City captain Vincent Kompany warned Liverpool that they will find it harder to challenge for the title this season, with the Champions League also to focus on.
And the Belgian believes home advantage and a good start last weekend, 2-0 at Newcastle, means City will go into the Liverpool game with confidence.
"It's the first time for me that this home fixture comes so early in the season," he said.
"But if we can perform like we did at Newcastle, we will be hoping to get the three points at home. Newcastle was important for us because it takes a lot of pressure away from the Liverpool game.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini described the match as "a big game" and promised to prepare his team well but he knows he has to nurse his World Cup players back to full steam.
"It's normal that the guys who were at the World Cup are tired," he said after their victory at Newcastle.
"At the moment we have players who can't play 90 minutes but we were playing against a strong team like Newcastle in a tough place to go and the first clear chance they had was after 88 minutes."
Liverpool won their opener 2-1 against Southampton at Anfield last weekend and despite a scratchy performance, goalkeeper Simon Mignolet believes they will relish such a chance for an early crack at City.
"It's actually probably as easier game to go into than Southampton at home," he told the Liverpool Echo. "We didn't really know to expect from Southampton as they have a new manager and new players.
"But we know what the City game is going to be all about. It will be totally different. They have some top players and it will be a difficult game but we competed with them last season and hopefully we will get the three points.
"Last season we beat Stoke (on the opening weekend), won a tough game at (Aston) Villa and then beat Man United. We hope to build from a winning start again."
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has promised to keep Thibaut Courtois in goal for Saturday's clash with Leicester, despite rumours that Petr Cech will seek a move away from the club if he is not first choice.
Mourinho was delighted with the performance of Cesc Fabregas on his debut in the 3-1 win at promoted Burnley and expects him to repeat it against Leicester, also new boys, again from the centre of midfield.
"When a player is your first choice, it is very rare you make a mistake and Cesc was our first choice for that position," Mourinho said.
"For most of the last 10 years we have been in the same league, either in England or Spain, and at Barcelona he was playing all over the place – as a false nine, a nine, as the number 10 and as a winger.
"He knows better than me what his best position is and there he can bring other people in the right direction and for that I am really happy."
Aston Villa face Newcastle, managerless Crystal Palace take on West Ham, Southampton host West Brom, Swansea meet Burnley and Hull take on Stoke in the weekend's other matches.
Source : Sapa-dpa /pvr
United aim to quell fears at Sunderland
by Julian GUYER
Manchester United will go in search of their first Premier League win under manager Louis van Gaal when they travel to Sunderland on Sunday.
If there was any doubt about the scale of the task facing the Dutchman, it was demonstrated by last weekend's 2-1 opening day defeat at home to Swansea.
Sunderland, who started the season with a 2-2 draw at West Brom, will fancy their chances at the Stadium of Light despite the fact United signed Argentina World Cup defender Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon in midweek.
But with United having finished a lowly seventh in the table last season, former Old Trafford favourite Paul Scholes believes it will take more than one big-name signing to revive their fortunes.
"The situation now has become ever more desperate for my former club," ex-England midfielder Scholes wrote in his column for the Independent newspaper. "They have to sign some quality players.
"I am scared for United. Genuinely scared that they could go into the wilderness in the same way that Liverpool did in the 1990s."
He added: "What do United need? Five players. Not five players with potential. Five experienced players… for now. Five proper players who can hit the ground running and turn around a situation that looks desperate.
"United's forwards are as good as any team in the league. The problem is what comes behind them."
Meanwhile United's Marouane Fellaini suffered suspected ankle ligament damage in training.
The Belgian, signed by sacked United manager David Moyes following the pair's time together at Everton, has still to score a competitive goal for United.
Fellaini has joined a lengthy injury list that includes Michael Carrick, Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck, Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw and Tom Cleverley, all of whom missed the Swansea defeat.
But star striker Robin van Persie is nearing full fitness and could feature against Sunderland.
Chelsea will look to carry on from where they left off in 3-1 win away to Burnley when they face another newly-promoted side in Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The day's stand-out fixture sees FA Cup-holders Arsenal, fresh from their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, travel to Everton, with Gunners manager Arsene Wenger saying: "We have started well in the Premier League and we want of course straight away to have a good result away from home.
"Everton is always a good opponent that tells you where you are, and for us it is a good test."
Fixtures (1400GMT unless stated)
Saturday
Aston Villa v Newcastle (1145GMT), Chelsea v Leicester, Crystal Palace v West Ham, Everton v Arsenal (1630GMT), Southampton v West Brom, Swansea v Burnley
Sunday
Hull v Stoke (1230GMT), Sunderland v Manchester United (1500GMT), Tottenham v QPR (1230GMT)
Monday
Manchester City v Liverpool (1900GMT)
Source : Sapa-AFP /dm