English Clubs

A glance at the current Premier League table reveals an improvement of sorts for Chelsea. Their catastrophic title defense last season resulted in them finishing 10th, while their defense, so renowned for their frugality, shipped 53 goals — more than 15th-place Crystal Palace.

This season, Antonio Conte has been charged with returning Chelsea to their domineering displays of old. The problem for Conte is that Chelsea are nowhere near their peak personnel wise. John Terry, while still a force, will turn 36 in December. 

One of the most fun things about the EFL Cup is when big clubs get upended by Championship and lower-level clubs, like Everton going down to Norwich City earlier today. Watching giants get humbled by minnows is a delight to everyone not a fan of that particular giant, and it's of particular amusement to fans of giants that made it through to the next round.

Apparently, after twelve seasons with the Red Devils, the bell has finally rung for Wayne Rooney.

Every once in a while, we can still catch glimpses of the old Rooney, making a difference in critical moments of a close game for United. And yet, despite those few moments of genius, Rooney is plain and simply playing badly. 

His start of the Premier League season was a flash of hope for United supporters as he scored in the opening game against Bournemouth and dished assists on the two subsequent outings. 

Week five of the English Premier League is now behind us, and the ‘club in crisis’ tag can already be firmly affixed to Manchester United. After starting the season with three successive victories, things have quickly come undone over a brief period of eight days for Jose Mourinho and his charges.

The 2016-17 Premier League season is still young, but we don’t want to let that little detail keep us from making a few early predictions about who might fill the shoes of Riyad Mahrez and take home the EPL Player of the Year trophy. 

People can hope and cheer but, judging by the way things look at Leicester City right now, a repeat is about as far from happening as Tim Howard becoming president. 

Taking that into account, we can rule out two of last year's front runners for the EPL's ultimate individual accolade, Mahrez and Jamie Vardy. 

Liverpool announced their top-four candidacy with a good-but-not-overwhelming 2-1 win against Chelsea at Samford Bridge Friday.

 Dejan Lovren, of all people, opened the game up with an easy finish in the 17th minute.

Dejan Lovren puts @LFC in front of @ChelseaFC 1-0! #PLonNBC https://t.co/OpBrMAO4Tq