Sport & Fitness

This week's matches: Arsenal | Chelsea | Fulham | Tottenham | West Ham

What a strange close season that was, with an excellent (and not coincidentally England-free) Euro 2008 providing the filling in a sandwich of the wildest transfer speculation ever recorded by our shameless tabloids

Kaka to Chelsea! Ronaldo to Real Madrid! Eto’o to Spurs! Robinho to Chelsea! Lampard to Inter! Adebayor to Barcelona! Berbatov to United! Arshavin to anybody! And that’s not including the stuff they made up on the way to work: Roberto Carlos to Chelsea! Obafemi Martins to Arsenal! Keane to Liverpool!

The upshot is that very little has changed: Chelsea remain London’s most likely, having improved moderately and shifted dead wood, with the key addition being a proper manager. However, there are still question marks over wide players and the wisdom of relying on M and Mme Le Strop – aka Anelka and Drogba – up front.

Arsenal, who, lest we forget, came very close to what would have been an extraordinary title last year, suffered for the thinness of their silky squad and haven’t done enough to rectify this. Flamini, Silva, Hleb out; Ramsey, Bischoff and Nasri in – is it progress? Only Arsène knows.
Feature continues

Tottenham are Arsenal Lite and their fans have had a funny old summer. Only the lingering memory of last season’s hyped-up car crash is stopping the usual bravura claims that fourth place is there for the taking. Consolidation seems more likely, unless Bent puts last year’s catastrophe behind him, and King and Woodgate manage to play more than half a season between them.

West Ham have had a quieter time of it and Alan Curbishley could find that what was acceptable at Charlton isn’t at Upton Park. Fulham will settle for anything better than last year’s near-relegation – not so much a flirtation as a candlelit dinner and invitation in for coffee – but they should be okay given they have a decent manager and there are worse teams than them this year.

Now roll on August 31, when the transfer rumours stop and we can devote our full attention to the greatest, funniest and most ridiculously compelling circus on earth.