One word for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea: Respect.

Mourinho has his faults and so do Terry and co, but when it comes to the Premiership this team has turned domination into an art form. The 12-point lead over Liverpool and Manchester United is validation of their efforts because Chelsea have looked much more vulnerable this season, being knocked out of three cup competitions.

It was a match that highlighted the seasons of both teams in fine detail. Chelsea’s three goals showcased their talents and United defensive howlers showcased their fall from the sky, but the scoreline did not tell the whole story. Several times this season Chelsea have looked vulnerable, although of late only Liverpool and Barcelona (and Boro, with that 3-0 win) can say that they have any sort of valid claim to holding their own against the Blues. Most of the time, like today, they defended in packs and took their chances really well – a hallmark of Jose Mourinho’s management skills.

United, on the other hand, looked beaten before the match. The draw with Sunderland had taken the sting out of our supposed title chase, and with Nistelrooy and Brown being confined to the bench there was little doubt at the start that Ferguson was desperately short of ideas – the man has won so much for United and could very well do it again, but we’ve said that for the last three years and he needs to deliver now, not far off into the future.

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The media has a tendency to blow things out of proportion. It’s a natural extension of wanting to capture the emotional imagination of their readers, but for someone looking for just the facts and not drama or entertainment, the whole scene becomes drab and a waste of time.

Rooney’s injury is horrible and devastating, yes. But will it cost England the World Cup? Will it cost them a place in the semi-finals or what not?

I seriously doubt it.

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The hunt for Sven Goran Eriksson’s replacement as England’s manager is turning into a farce.

(fantastic observation mate - where have you been all this time?)

Today, in a press conference in Germany, Scolari announced that he was turning down the chance to become England’s next manager. He complained about the media scrutiny that had sprung up immediately after it leaked out that Barwick (FA’s chief executive) had met with Scolari and that the Portugal coach was in the lead for being the next England manager.

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Alright then, down to what this blog is supposed to be all about – giving you front-row coverage of what’s going down with the best club in the world.

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Serious contenders? We’re having a laugh!

Paris, May 17th. Champions League Final. Barcelona vs. Arsenal. Ronaldinho vs. Henry.

For the romantics, the stage is set to witness two of the most entertaining footballing teams (when they’re on song that is) go head to head. As the Guardian puts it, this is the final everyone (apart from the teams) wanted. I’ve had people tell me (including my colleague here on SoccerLens) that Arsenal is in with a great chance, and that they’re serious underdogs for the win.

Cup football baby. Any dog can win it on his day (Porto 2004, Liverpool 2005, Greece in Euro 2004), and Arsenal must be licking their lips at this fantastic chance to make history.

Unfortunately, Lehmann’s penalty save at the end of Tuesday’s semi-final put gloss over what have been extremely worrying signs for Arsenal all season.

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A recent comment (about 20 mins ago by my watch) asked if I had any pictures of a fan putting Barca’s flag on Henry during the Villarreal-Arsenal Champions League semi-final. As it happens, I managed to uncover the picture (and one more) and thought it would be best if I made a post about it.

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As soon as the media got wind of FA’s excursion into Portugal to meet with the current Portuguese manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, the papers and online media has been flooded with speculation that Scolari will be the next manager for England.

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It’s almost time.

When Arsenal and Villarreal go head to head in two hours time, I can’t for a second imagine which team will fight harder for the win, with Villarreal being in the competition for the first time and Arsenal having suffered heartbreak after heartbreak for so many years. The betting odds (for now) still favor a home win, but maybe this has to do more with Arsenal’s reputation of choking under-performing in the Champions League than with Villarreal’s chances of winning the tie?

And even if Villarreal do end up beating Arsenal, they would have to do so with at least 3 goals because you expect Arsenal to put at least one away in such a high-profile match. And that’s before you think about Arsenal’s defensive record in the Champions League which has been excellent this season, with the Gunners not having conceded a goal for 9 games.

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In some respects, it was bound to happen.

With Manchester United’s form in the last 3 years, it’s asking too much for them to mount a serious challenge for the Premiership this late in the season - even if we had defeated Sunderland, you still wouldn’t bet against Chelsea taking home the title again.

The Chelsea vs Manchester United game is still four days away (Saturday 29th), but since the draw against Sunderland the Man U contingent has been relatively quiet. Defeating Chelsea will not change much, although completing a league double against the soon-to-be champs will give other teams a clear signal that Chelsea is not the unstoppable force / immovable object that they would like everybody to believe they are (we don’t think that of course - we know we can beat them any day).

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This post is in direct response to an earlier piece authored by my Football Soccer Lens colleague.

It was stated that it is a shame that Arsenal fall to such depths of depravity, in an article full of statements that would stir the loins of the News of the World editorial staff. The real shame was that the article misrepresented the positions of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club in a calculated attempt to make them look like the worst thing to ever happen to the world. Before I move on to my analysis, let us first critically analyse the comments and accusations thrown at Arsenal.

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It’s a shame to see such a talented side (managed by a visionary) fall to such depths of depravity now and then.

Remember September 2003, right before Arsenal embarked on that famous unbeaten run of 49 games (that came to a crashing end at Old Trafford, no less, thanks to a Wayne Rooney ‘dive’, as Arsenal fans would have it (I disagree)), there was this drab and downright disgraceful 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Manchester United at Old Trafford. Drab because we expected better.

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Newsflash for Mr. Mourinho - if a team always played according to its potential, then it would be preciously rare for any team to lose.

In the aftermath of Chelsea’s defeat at Old Trafford this season (thanks to that weak looping header from Fletcher), Mourinho managed to keep his composure but hinted strongly that his team had deserved to win because they had played Utd off the park.

Excuse me, did someone cheat you, Chelsea? You missed open opportunities, and then failed to cover a set-piece. I’d call that a fair goal my friend, and a shoddy striking performance. If you miss that much, you should be shot.

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It had to happen - Madrid is (too predictably) going after big names again this summer, with Gerrard on the top of the list.

One wonders, of course, why a star-studded midfield like Madrid would have a ‘problem’. Maybe they need better man-management or a better team atmosphere? What’s that about too many egos spoiling the team, you say?

The outgoing football director, Benito Floro, put Gerrard and Adriano (as well as Getafe’s coach - for laughs, maybe? Not Capello or Wenger?) on a wishlist presented to the new RM president, Fernando Martin. Mr. Martin is definitely old-school and despite his statements that Real Madrid will leave behind the ill-fated policy of buying up galacticos (political spin), this recent news confirms what we expected all along - it’s going to take a lot more than a President’s resignation for Madrid to change.

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In the summer of 2004, fresh off a successful domestic campaign where Arsenal won the Premier League and set all sorts of records, Patrick Vieira was a wanted man across Europe. An inspirational captain and a commanding midfielder who contributed with more than his share of goals, Arsenal considered themselves lucky to “hold on” to him when the summer ended. Real Madrid had been chasing Vieira all summer (a price tag of $25 million or so), and while we’ll never know what really happened, it’s safe to assume that David Dein and Arsene Wenger did everything in their power to keep Vieira at Highbury.

Fast-forward one year - Arsenal come in second, and Vieira, after a disappointing season by his standards, was shipped off to Juventus without much ceremony. Vieira would later go on to say that the Arsenal management didn’t really want him to stay, but that’s Vieira, and maybe all the begging from last summer had gone to his head.

But what has all this got to do with Thierry Henry?

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I’m going to kick off this site by posting the event schedule for the biggest soccer event of the summer (well, I was going to plug Man U v Chelsea but we drew at Sunderland so that didn’t work out too well) - download the official match schedule for Germany 2006 here:

Fifa World Cup 2006 Match Schedule

(right-click, select “save as”, etc etc.)

Update: You can also get the ‘printable’ World Cup wallchart from BBC Sport. Print it out, hang it on your wall and mark off the matches and scores as they happen. You know you want it :).