Scott Murray's Blog, page 215

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend | Scott Murray and Barry Glendenning

There could be a goalfest at the Emirates; Paul Lambert's Hi Viz army will be out in force; Fernando Torres can continue his form; and Joe Hart faces an anxious wait

1) A goalfest at the Emirates?

Liverpool used to enjoy their trips to Arsenal: five wins in eight seasons between 1993 and 2000, with only one defeat. But after Titi Camara's Celebratory Millennium Skitter at Highbury, they didn't triumph again in the fixture until Luis Suárez set the seal on a 2-0 win in 2011. But after that long wait, the recent trend is currently in their favour. That win forms part of a three-game unbeaten run for Liverpool at the Emirates, although how much one can read into the other two games, which featured a penalty equaliser in the 12th minute of injury time and the comprehensive bottling of a seemingly unassailable two-goal lead from a position of dominance, is a moot point. Still, trends are trends, and while Liverpool are coming off the back of Suárez and Daniel Sturridge's masterclass against West Brom, Arsenal have lost their last two at home, albeit to Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea.

The fact that Liverpool's centre midfield, built carefully around the proud but slowly crumbling Steven Gerrard, doesn't quite have the requisite snap, despite the resolute efforts of Lucas and the increasingly impressive Jordan Henderson, might give the home side succour, especially if Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere are in the mood to run at it. The fact that Arsenal's midfield is without the influential Mathieu Flamini, with the SAS in this unforgiving and upbeat mood, might give the Gunners nightmares. Try to call the result? No thanks! But there were four goals in this fixture last season. There's no reason why a similar tally won't be run up this weekend. SM

2) Aston Villa's luminous shirts

Aston Villa's luminous lime green kit won't take much looking out for this weekend, because it'll be very difficult to miss. Last season's away strip, the lurid shirt prompted a new terrace chant: "We're Aston Villa, we glow in the dark!" This season, the arresting attire has been relegated to third choice kit on the back of the contractual diktat from shirt manufacturers Macron that stipulates the club must wheel out new home and away kits each season. Villa's players get to wear it again at Upton Park this Saturday because the claret quarters in their away kit could clash with the identical colour in West Ham's home shirts and cause confusion among players, officials and supporters.

Whatever their attire, Aston Villa have enjoyed a lot more success on the road than at home this season, having won two, drawn one and lost one of their four Premier League games away from Villa Park. Against a West Ham side that has lost three of its four matches at the Boleyn Ground, Paul Lambert's Hi Viz army (you can have that one, travelling Villa fans) will fancy their chances. BG

3) Manchester United's defence: a new era?

Manchester United always used to use the League Cup as an opportunity to give a few squad members a much-needed run-out. Times change, of course, and while David Moyes doesn't yet have the capital to treat English football's third trophy with such reckless insouciance, the line-up he sent out against Norwich City on Tuesday, set alongside the one he selects at Fulham tomorrow, might prove instructive. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were the centre backs for the Capital One Cup, but Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are currently his preferred pairing in the league. The XI for Fulham could offer further evidence that one of the great partnerships is on its last legs. Few United fans would take issue with that decision, agreeing with a heavy heart. Many more, however, would object if Rafael, named alongside Ferdinand and Vidic in the "second XI" on Tuesday, is disposed with in the league. The best right back at the club, Rafael is popular enough with the support for such a decision to cause waves. If the rumours suggesting Moyes doesn't fancy him and is willing to sell are true, the manager might lose a fair bit of goodwill, a commodity he can ill afford to shed right now. SM

4) Can Sunderland build on last week's win?

Having seen off Newcastle with a thud-and-blunder performance that was more brave than bravura, it will be intriguing to see how Sunderland fare on their travels to the KC Stadium. Despite their long overdue first win of the season, Gus Poyet's side remain deep in the relegation mire but will fancy their chances of securing another three points against a Hull City side that suffered a wearying and dispiriting Capital One Cup defeat on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.

Sunderland, by contrast, have had the week off and will be jubilant after winning their second consecutive derby against their local rivals. Indeed, in an interview that may prompt the drug-testers to scurry to the club's training ground sample jars in hand, Gus Poyet has been busy describing the transformation in the mood among his players. "They have been on a high all week and that has been great, but by the end of Wednesday they had come down a bit," he said. "Thursday is about being calm and composed, and we turn our mind on Hull then for Friday."

In 10th place and having been cruelly robbed of a point courtesy of a ludicrous penalty decision at White Hart Lane last weekend, Hull's mellow has been well and truly harshed in the past week and Steve Bruce will almost certainly have payback in mind after being sacked by Sunderland in 2011. He has had made no secret of his bitterness over the decision to dismiss him and incurred the wrath of fans on Wearside by foolishly suggesting they had "Champions League" aspirations when, towards the end of his reign, they'd almost certainly have settled for paying to watch a team that demonstrated even half the fight shown by Gus Poyet's men last Sunday afternoon. BG

5) Will Martin be smartin'?

Here's a question, then. What exactly is Martin Jol doing that's so wrong? He's the manager of Fulham Football Club, and Fulham Football Club – forgive us, but much as we'd like the following not to be the case, we don't make the rules of modern football – aren't expected to win trophies, but merely survive. So while League Cup defeat to second-tier Leicester City is a bit of a pain in the trousers, it hardly represents a statistical outlier at a club without a major trophy to their name. Meanwhile the team are pootling along in mid-table, playing pretty and occasionally spectacular football, as poor old Crystal Palace will attest. There's a good chance Manchester United, three wins on the bounce, will be too good for his Fulham side this weekend. If so, and if the bookies are worth listening to, which they probably are, Jol could easily find himself out of a job, sacrificed in the pursuit of … well, what exactly? SM

6) How will Mike Dean fare at Cardiff City v Swansea City?

The decision to appoint Mike Dean to oversee this potential powder keg is a weird one. In 2009, the whistle-blower from Wirral was understandably shaken after being hit on the forehead by a coin thrown by some eejit during a Championship match between the two sides at Ninian Park. He went on to upset Swansea fans by awarding Cardiff City a penalty which Roberto Martínez, then the Swans' manager, unwisely described as an "emotional decision" made by the referee in order to appease home fans.

There is no suggestion that the unsavoury incident will influence Dean's officiating in any way during Sunday afternoon's encounter, but his presence will provide conspiracy theorists among both sets of fans a stick with which to beat him and others should any contentious decisions go against their team. In a match where tensions on and off the field are guaranteed to be high, the appointment of a different match official would have been more wise. Then again, perhaps all concerned have forgotten about that particular afternoon at Ninian Park; it was more than three years ago, after all, and it's not like a lot of football fans are renowned for their long memories, paranoia or willingness to hold a grudge. BG

7) Can Torres keep it going?

Fernando Torres was magnificent against Manchester City on Sunday, burning past Gaël Clichy on an embarrassingly regular basis, setting up one and scoring another. The performance came off the back of a two-goal showing at Schalke in the Champions League, and a recent powerful display against Spurs, the plus points of which were kind of forgotten in the wake of his needlessly getting up in Jan Vertonghen's astonished grill. Tack on some important goals at the business end of last season's Europa League, and a Chelsea career that was beginning to look like a complete personal write-off (no, we're not going to count the medals) looks like flickering slowly into life. But if it's ever going to happen for the 29-year-old £50m man, it's now. His winner against City was his first league goal all year. All year! Another quick goal, followed by another, is vital if he's ever to build some proper momentum at Chelsea and revisit the belligerent brilliance of his peak years at Liverpool. Newcastle, a club at civil war, is as good a place as any to maintain it. Receiving good notices every now and then upon hinting at a return to form is no longer enough; the scoring tally has to keep ticking over. SM

8) Can stuttering Spurs make a statement?

Chelsea are the form team of the division – a perfect October, six wins on the spin – but Spurs aren't too far behind them. They've only failed to win three of their 15 matches in league and cups all season, losing just twice. It's a formidable record that sees them sitting snugly in fourth place, three points behind the leaders Arsenal. The fans aren't in carnival mode yet, though, as André Villas-Boas noted to his chagrin, and they have reason to be anxious, because the happy stats aren't everything. While the Big Book Of Hoary Old Football Platitudes states that playing badly but getting results is the mark of a good team, it's also true that scraping past the likes of Crystal Palace, Swansea, Cardiff and Hull will only get you so far. In the big games so far this season, Spurs have signally failed to impress: they lost to Arsenal, might have been defeated by Chelsea had Torres not launched the aforementioned concerted campaign of terror on Vertonghen, and were humiliated at home to the tune of three goals by West Ham, who didn't even bother playing a striker. Tottenham could do with making a bold statement, their first of the post-Bale era. And where better than at resurgent Everton, who have lost only one league game themselves, and have won the last three times these teams have played at Goodison. SM

9) Goals galore between Stoke City and Southampton

Stoke City have scored just twice in four Premier League matches at the Britannia Stadium this season, one fewer than they have conceded at home. This weekend's visitors, Southampton, have conceded an astonishingly paltry three goals in their nine Premier League games at home or away to date and kept clean sheets in five of their last six Premier League outings. A pragmatist could be forgiven for thinking there may not be many goals in this match and put their money on a scoreless draw (7-1) or 1-0 win for either side (Stoke: 7-1, Southampton: 13-2). Idealists, by contrast, might prefer to labour under the logic-free delusion that this trend for parsimony can't possibly continue and look forward to a 10-goal thriller. Hey, a weekly Premier League preview feature can dream. BG

10) Will Pantilimon take Hart's place?

All that there is to say about Joe Hart's career change from title-winning professional footballer to music-hall tumbling act has now been said. There's no point sticking the boot in while the man's down. Still, Manuel Pellegrini's teamsheet on Saturday at home to Norwich could be quite revealing. Selecting Costel Pantilimon in the Capital One Cup tells us nothing – he gets that gig anyway – but if the Romanian doesn't get a run-out against a side in the bottom three, at a stadium where City have scored 13 goals in four matches, in a fixture staged after the latest in a long line of egregious errors by Hart, he may decide once and for all that there's no point waiting around for something that isn't going to happen, and chip off in search of first-team action. If Pellegrini plays his hand badly, he could be looking for not just one but two new keepers very soon. SM

Premier LeagueScott MurrayBarry Glendenning
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Football transfer rumours: Mario Balotelli to Chelsea?

Today's tattle is timely

Give or take 39 hours, we're now halfway through the latest closure of the transfer window. So what have we learned since the shutters went down on deadline day? What have we learned from two whole months of hot trading chat in the Rumour Mill? Apart from the fact that this intro would work better tomorrow? Well, nothing, of course. Absolutely nothing.

That said, we've got space to fill, and you've got time to kill, so we might as well plough on. With only two months and 39 hours until the window opens again, it's clearly the time to start cranking up the old Luis Suárez rumours. It'll be Arsenal tomorrow, and every other day for the next eight weeks, but for now he's off to Real Madrid. They'll offer Liverpool £20m plus Karim Benzema, a player they're presumably valuing at £20,000,001, and on current form is definitely worth the £1.

The last transfer window caused Crystal Palace much emotional tumult. They panic-splurged on so many new players willy-nilly that stressed-out manager Ian Holloway's well of endearing non-sequiturs ran completely dry. His USP gone, he had no option but to resign. Palace have taken heed of this sorry narrative, and are refusing to rush the appointment of Holloway's replacement. They're mulling over the possibility of employing Martin O'Neill, though Tony Pulis remains the favourite for the job, with Neil Warnock an outside bet to oversee a young coach in an advisory capacity. There are also the beginnings of rumblings regarding Chris Coleman, so while Palace don't want to rush things, they probably don't want to take too long just in case those get any louder.

Barcelona are in the market for a new goalkeeper, as anyone who's been following Pepe Reina's agent's career for the last four years will know. Borussia Mönchengladbach's Marc-André ter Stegen may replace the outgoing Victor Valdes in an £8m deal, while Barca midfielder Xavi clearly knows something Roy Hodgson doesn't, and has been making a case for Celtic's Fraser Forster: "When we have played Celtic he has shown that he is a world-class goalkeeper. From what I have seen he has everything to succeed at a club like Barcelona." He's not been saying that about Joe Hart, has he, Roy? Eh, Roy?

Chelsea are after a couple of Premier League old boys in Xabi Alonso and Mario Balotelli. So does José Mourinho really want or need the Real Madrid and Milan stars, or is he simply trying to annoy employees/supporters of Liverpool and Manchester City? It's hard to say for sure.

Liverpool will try to ease the hurt by landing Basel winger Mohamed Salah, but Tottenham are also interested and we know how things usually pan out when they get involved.

Spartak Moscow are after getting rid of Aiden McGeady, who Martin O'Neill once compared to Ronaldinho, which may or may not give Crystal Palace pause. Celtic and Everton are keeping tabs on it.

And a trio of transfer titbits to end today's lesson. Jermain Defoe could be the latest Premier League star to decamp to Major League Soccer; Toronto, managed by his former Spurs team-mate Ryan Nelsen, are interested. Southampton want Internazionale midfielder McDonald Mariga. And Pepe Reina would like to move to Barcelona.

Transfer windowLiverpoolScott Murray
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Premier League clockwatch – as it happened | Scott Murray

Minute-by-minute report: Happy 150th birthday to football, a day of celebration for Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United! Scott Murray was watching

Scott Murray

The Fiver | Striking tedious continental poses | Scott Murray

Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm, or if your usual copy has stopped arriving

SPAIN (SLIGHT RETURN)

The Fiver's stereotypical Spanish cousin, Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan Straw Donkey Acoustic Guitar Olé Olé Olé Eldorado Sun Sea Sand Dust Fiver, enjoys sleeping. A lot. Today, for example, saw him get up at 12.43pm, and after washing down 17 small plates of squid flash-fried in sherry with two gallons of rioja, he was back in bed by 12.48pm for a quick snooze. Usually we let him snore on, but we decided to write something about this weekend's match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, because nobody bothers with the English and Scottish leagues any more as they're too busy striking tedious continental poses which ostensibly make them look sophisticated but in fact reveal dubious celebrity-obsessed attitudes not a million miles away from the ITV mindset employed by folk back in the 1980s who were in thrall to the Big Five at the expense of everyone else and were rightly reviled for it, so at 2.19pm we found it necessary to wake him up and pick his brains.

"Oy! Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan!" screamed the Fiver as we knocked the sombrero off his head to wake him up. "Why are you wearing a Mexican hat?" And after a small scuffle, which ended when the Fiver graciously decided to allow Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan to kneel on our chest while pinning our arms to the ground, we discussed the match. "It's simple, really," advised Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan. "Just parrot phrases you'd never dream of using in everyday conversation, like derbi, El Clásico and morbo, and everyone will assume you're some sort of expert, even though you can't speak a word of Spanish and you've only seen a couple of clips of Lionel Messi on YouTu …"

It was at that point that Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan's crippling narcolepsy kicked in. Not only did his impromptu dozing scupper the Fiver's chances of receiving any further advice re: El Clásico – specifically if Barça, who are welcoming back Messi, would be ditching Carles Puyol for Gerard Piqué, and whether Gareth Bale, now fully up to speed after his substitute appearance against Juventus, would be selected for Real – but it also means we've been trapped under the big fat sod for the entire afternoon. And both of his castanets are hanging just below the Fiver's nose! Wah! Juan de la Juan de la Juan de la Juan, you'd better stop dreaming about opening a restaurant near a golf course with a view to selling egg and chips to ignorant lobster-coloured ex-pats soon! Because the Fiver's beginning to find it difficult to breathe. Gah! This never used to happen when everyone kept it real and just wanted to know about Stoke and Barnsley and Partick Thistle and Manchester United!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

11.37pm, last night: "You bunch of idiots insulting me coz you bet on the wrong result its not my failt if you are stupid." 11.39pm, last night: "I meant its not my fault if you are stupid" – Djinkin' Djibril Cissé fighting the critics and typo pedants one tweet at a time. Seems he should have sent another …

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BITS AND BOBS

Microsoft are reportedly in negotiations with Real Madrid to buy the naming rights to the Bernabéu. Expect the stadium's windows to be redesigned so as to be almost unusable any moment now.

In the least surprising news of the day, CSKA Moscow striker Seydou Doumbia says quotes attributed to him by his club, saying Yaya Touré overreacted to alleged monkey chants, were never made in the first place. Meanwhile, Big Gesturing's Michel Platini has ordered an internal Uefa inquiry into the incident.

David Moyes reckons Robin van Persie should have recovered from niggle-knack in time to be hoofed up in the air by Stoke.

The FA was alarmed to open a card from Fifa to discover that the piece of paper fluttering to the ground was not a handsome £5 note or WH Smith voucher to commemorate its 150th birthday, but rather a note telling them it faces disciplinary action over flares lit by Polish fans at Wembley last week.

Malky Mackay has accused José Mourinho of hypocrisy over his claims Cardiff City were time-wasting against Chelsea. Not that Malky would ever get upset over time-wasting.

And Zlatan Ibrahimovic will lose to fellow shortlist member David Walsh when the William Hill sports book of the year award is announced next month.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Kuwaiti referee's fists and feet of fury, followed by red card rampage.

STILL WANT MORE?

In the first half of a two-part interview, Cesc Fábregas tells Sid Lowe: "Arsenal is in my heart. I'd love to go back one day."

There was and still is only one Pelé – we should not forget it, demands Barney Ronay.

How well do you know your footballers' international eligibility? Get your quiz on.

The stats show Wayne Rooney is (sort of, not quite) back, explains Jacob Steinberg.

And Piara Powar says the idea of a World Cup boycott of Russia should be taken seriously after this week's racist chants at Yaya Touré.

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'SOMEDAY MY PAIN. SOMEDAY MY PAIN …'Scott Murray
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Football transfer rumours: Sami Khedira to Chelsea?

Today's gossip considers the standfirst passé

Southampton, the hipsters' choice de nos jours on account of the fact they don't let in any goals or score any goals, are to spend £10m on Cagliari and Italy defender Davide Astori. Milan and Everton are also interested in the centre-back who, if he moves to St Mary's, will be rebranded as a false 6 or a tackleista, the internet hasn't decided yet.

Barcelona were hip once. But Xavi and Andrés Iniesta are getting on, daddio, and they need some fresh ideas. Jack Wilshere is the very man, trendy, relevant, side parting, fag hanging out of his mouth, he's like a young Humphrey Bogart, and the kids can't get enough of Bogie, they're gagging for a bit of Bogie.

India is the new Australia, which was the new Russia, which was the new America. They're starting up a Super League, it seems, and having already got Peter Schmeichel and Marcel Desailly on board as managers for franchises that don't exist yet, now look to have convinced Kenny Dalglish, director of golf at Liverpool, to join in the three-month jamboree, which starts in January. Golf: the hipsters used to be into that back in the day, too. But they move on. They keep moving on.

So, then, Arsenal, who are looking to beat Internazionale to Barcelona midfielder Alex Song. What would Wilf Copping have thought of this modern hipster movement, do you think? Imagine watching someone explain the concept of a velocista to Wilf Copping. Imagine sitting back and enjoying that unfold.

Chelsea will dangle £32m at Atlético Madrid for Diego Costa, and make off with Real's Sami Khedira while they're in the city, nipping in for the German international ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal, presumably in the manner, yes pop kids, of a velocista. They really exist, apparently.

Liverpool want Verona midfielder Jorginho and Hannover keeper Ron-Robert Zieler.

And Southampton have had their Hipsters' Choice status revoked. People have been banging on about them for nearly a week now, they're old hat. Anyway, the hipsters have revoked their own status as hipsters. The whole scene's over, everyone's into modal jazz now.

Scott Murray
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Champions League: 10 talking points from the latest action

Dortmund's markmanship, why Russia must tackle racism, Neymar's woes and the pleasure of watching Zlatan Ibrahimovic

1) Good old Zlatan

A cynic does not have to look hard to find much that's distasteful about the megabucks gloss of the Champions League and a player who is paid €55m-a-year is distasteful in the extreme. But, it's hard not to raise a guilty smile about someone as ludicrously enjoyable as Zlatan Ibrahimovic. His first-half hat-trick for PSG against Anderlecht was a one-man marketing campaign for the excess and excellence of the competition: the first was a simple enough tap-in, the second a back-heel rabona, and the third a 40-yard screamer into the top corner. As if to point out he wasn't done there, he scored a fourth with the outside of his boot. Ignore the finances involved, and it's simply a pleasure to watch someone play the sort of football the rest of us are only capable of in our dreams. Tom Bryant

2) Do you think Uefa will act sufficiently? Really?

Perhaps the saddest thing about the racist abuse that Yaya Touré was subjected to in Moscow on Wednesday night is that it no longer comes as a surprise. We have been here countless times before, which was a point that Touré made afterwards, when he urged Uefa to take the strongest possible action. Vincent Kompany took a similar line when he tweeted: "Racist chants again in Moscow today.. We've all said enough. @UEFAcom, @GovernmentRF, CSKA, all eyes are on you now.. #StopRacism." Sadly, and depressingly, European football's governing body is weak when it comes to dealing with racism. This is an organisation that believes a player carrying the name of a betting company on his pants is a more serious issue than a footballer being targeted because of the colour of his skin. Touré talked about CSKA being banned from using their stadium for a couple of years – the sort of punishment that would demonstrate Uefa is committed to removing this stain from our game. More likely is that CSKA will be fined a paltry amount. As for Russia, we await the response from CSKA and the national football federation with interest. Stuart James

3) Dortmund's marksmanship undid Arsenal

The official Uefa statistics said that Dortmund had three shots on target but it was difficult to remember the one that Wojciech Szczesny stopped. The Arsenal goalkeeper was a virtual bystander. So, essentially, this was a cold-eyed demonstration from Dortmund in how to convert the big chance when it comes. Jürgen Klopp's team pressed and they fractured Arsenal's rhythm but it was in front of goal where they taught their opponents the hardest lesson. There was not a person inside the Emirates who thought that Robert Lewandowski was going to miss his 82nd minute volley on the counterattack, least of all the Poland striker himself. David Hytner

4) Chiellini costs Juventus

Juventus imploded as a team against Fiorentina last weekend, so at least they can say there were improvements tonight, when only two of their players made a show of themselves against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. Arturo Vidal could have picked up at least three yellow cards for persistent transgressions, but only got the one. Good news for fans of slapstick: were he sent off, the world would have never witnessed his hacking up a divot the size of a small planet while missing the ball itself, tripping over his standing leg, skittering across the turf on his buttocks with an astonished look on his face, then having the chutzpah to claim for a penalty. A treat on so many levels. Don't go changing, Arturo. Giorgio Chiellini's meltdown was more costly for the away team. In the first half he needlessly hauled Sergio Ramos to the ground by the neck, conceding the penalty that decided this match, then got himself sent off for fiddling with Cristiano Ronaldo's face, a flapping nonsense that probably only merited yellow, but was stupid enough to give the referee an opportunity to flash red. Chiellini will want to take a long look at himself, because Juve were definitely the better team when it was 11 versus 11, Claudio Marchisio, Carlos Tevez, Fernando Llorente and Paul Pogba buzzing around in the bothersome manner. If they can just put a stop to the daft mistakes and rushes of blood, they're an exciting enough side to go deep in this season's Champions League. As for Real? Well, they won't fancy the upcoming trip to Turin, a match Juve won't want to lose after their slow start to this group. But first things first: what if they play like they did during the final exchanges here – when Juve went down to ten and passes refused to stick – in Saturday's clásico? Good luck, chaps. Good luck. Scott Murray

5) Neymar still struggling to make an impact

Considering his price tag, the Brazilian forward has not had the kind of impact Barcelona would have hoped. Against Milan he had a very, very quiet game and only flickered twice during the whole match before being replaced by Pedro with 10 minutes remaining. And with Alexis Sánchez also not at his best, Barcelona were left to rely, as with so many times before, on Lionel Messi for the equaliser at the San Siro. The more worrying thing, perhaps, was that they did not create that many clear chances against a pretty average Milan side who were pushed back for the entire second half. Oh, and one more thing to add from the game: Kaká was brilliant. Marcus Christenson

6) It's too soon to hail Fernando Torres's latest return

That Fernando Torres is a confidence player seems very clear: picked for the match against Schalke over Samuel Eto'o –who most had expected to start – he shone with a bustling, powerful performance. José Mourinho has been acknowledged as a master man manager and playing Eto'o against Cardiff City in the Premier League while saving Torres for the Champions League clearly gave the Spaniard some extra strut. Torres is back, was the post-match story. However, we've seen this before. Last December he kicked off Chelsea's 8-0 rampage against Aston Villa with his seventh goal in six matches once again to prompt headlines hailing his return. His next Premier League goal came midway through May, while the only goals he scored in January and February came against Brentford and Middlesbrough in the League and FA Cups. It's probably worth witholding judgment as to his latest return for a while yet. TB

7) Costa a cut above

No wonder the Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is determined not to let Diego Costa slip through the net. The Brazil-born striker is considering registering for Spain despite having played in two Brazil friendlies and Scolari is thunderous about the situation: "I have the legal authority and freedom to call him up whenever I think I should do so and no-one else … and I'm thinking of giving him a call-up." Costa is currently the leading scorer in La Liga with 10 goals in nine appearances and he was brilliant again on Tuesday night as Atlético Madrid hammered Austria Vienna. His first was majestic: a run from the halfway line into the box, through two tackles, and a neat stroked into the corner. Atlético have reportedly put a £35m price tag on him. Expect someone to test their resolve in January. TB

8) Celtic's achievement overshadowed

If Celtic have got any sense, their Champions League training sessions will simply involve leaning against buildings. Because after their unlikely heroics last season, their impressive display against Barcelona this season, and their victory over Ajax on Tuesday night, it seems they are at their best with their backs to the wall. Having lost Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper over the summer, and without their captain, Scott Brown, Adam Matthews and Kris Commons, they managed to fend off Ajax with a performance that may not have been pretty but was resolutely gritty. Ajax's manager Frank de Boer was less than impressed. "Celtic did not create anything but scored two goals," he sniffed, his fury clear. It is a shame for Celtic that he was not more gracious (though hardly unexpected) because his comments and the behaviour of Ajax's fans – who are being investigated after being accused of tearing up seats – grabbed headlines rather than the fact Celtic may yet qualify despite the difficulty of being in a group comprising Barcelona, Milan and Ajax. TB

9) Moyes still struggling to win hearts and minds

Manchester United's win over Real Sociedad will not have changed many people's minds about the club's direction under David Moyes. Those who are convinced the manager is on the wrong track will point to the periods were United lost control in midfield to erratic opponents and defended with panic, while those who think the future holds promise will highlight, in particular, the vibrance of the team's attacking, which was let down only by wonky finishing. Wayne Rooney sure enjoyed the freedom given to him by Robin van Persie's absence but cannot be said to have made the most of it. Paul Doyle

10) Come back Kompany

If Manchester City needed any reminders as to Vincent Kompany's worth to the side, it came against CSKA Moscow. The Russian side had failed to score in six of their seven previous matches before facing City. One look at a back four that had Javi García and Matija Nastasic at its heart, and their eyes lit up. Manchester City were a defensive shambles against CSKA Moscow and were frequently undone by simple, direct passes over the top. It didn't help that neither of the two deep-lying midfielders, Yaya Touré or Fernandinho, tracked back but Joleon Lescott must be wondering just why he is on the bench while someone as defensively inept as García is in the starting lineup. TB

Champions LeagueArsenalBorussia DortmundManchester CityFernando TorresChelseaZlatan IbrahimovicParis Saint-GermainAtlético MadridCelticManchester UnitedJuventusReal MadridReal SociedadDavid HytnerMarcus ChristensonPaul DoyleScott MurrayTom BryantStuart James
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