barclay's premier league
The Champions League has seen some exemplary performances through three matches with some teams clearly solidifying themselves as early contenders. The group stage is only halfway finished and a lot could still change, but it is still a good time to look at the most impressive teams in the tournament thus far.
Wednesday's round of UCL matches included a plethora of shockers that have completely altered the nature of the tournament to date.
Staring at last place in the Group of D, Manchester City and Ajax Amsterdam may play one of the most interesting matches of the day.
Arsenal has had a tough time in the Premier League, but their struggles have not yet translated to the UCL.
Chelsea comes into Tuesday's match tied for first place in the group with Shakhtar Donetsk. The winner of this match will have opened up a comfortable gap in the standings after the matches. A draw however could potentially open up a three way tie. Chelsea started the tournament in disappointing fashion with a 2-2 draw to Juventus. Chelsea held a 2-0 lead after two first half goals from Oscar, but then the Italian side ran back and tied the match 10 minutes from time. They rectified that mistake with a dominant 4-0 win over Nordsjaelland in early October where Juan Mata added two goals and gave Chelsea a +4 goals differential.
The marquee match of the Premier League on Saturday features Chelsea and the Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United is just four points behind Chelsea for the top spot in the premier league and they have a prime opportunity to close the gap on Saturday when they take on mediocre Stoke City.
Back in September, Manchester United made 38 million Euro bid on Santos superstar Neymar. The star refused as he had promised to remain with his Brazilian club until after the 2014 World Cup.
However, with the January Transfer looming, it is possible that the 21-year old could be making his move to Europe. He has stated interest in Chelsea, Paris St. Germaine, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.
England will look to get back to form on Friday as they take on San Marino at the Wembley Stadium in London.
Barcelona's interest in Brazilian Superstar Neymar is obvious. The Brazilian almost completed a deal to move to Barcelona last year, but claimed that he was not prepared to move to a big club.
Manchester United suffered a historic defeat last week on home turf at the hands of Tottenham Hotspurs. With the loss they dropped four points behind first place Chelsea and now have some serious ground to cover as the leaders play a dreadful Norwich squad.
Arsenal lost to Chelsea in their last Premier League match, but made up for it with a strong 3-1 win over Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League. Now they get a chance to get back on track against West Ham.
Chelsea is off to a tremendous start that should not be slowed down in their Saturday matchup against Norwich City.
Manchester City has had a tough few weeks since losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Last year's Premier League champs have since lost one in the Carling Cup, tied Arsenal, barely beat Fulham, and then tied Borussia Dortmund in the UCL. In their last four matches that is a record of 1 win, 1 loss, and two draws.
Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney team up to lead Manchester United to a 2-1 victory over Cluj-Napoca in the second match of the UCL.
