With league fixtures into double figures, the autumn’s general-excuse-me overture has finished and the long winter slog is really underway. The eightsome reel at the top of the Premiership comprises natch the four usual suspects (Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea) and a fresh quartet of determined pretenders girding up to press on from highly promising starts: Manchester City, Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. The eight are managed by a Frenchman, a Scot, a Spaniard, an Israeli, a Swede, a Welshman and two Englishmen. The last brace are contrasting guvnors: Newcastle’s plonking praesidium-pompous Sam Allardyce could have been created by Arnold Bennett, while Portsmouth’s perkily engaging and philosophic been-there-done-that Harry Redknapp might be straight out of Dickens. I know with which I’d prefer to share a few convivial Saturday night sherberts.
This weekend, Arsenal vs Manchester United will hoover up the blanket coverage, but I fancy Portsmouth’s Newcastle safari might be the more relevantly significant contest.
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