Merseyside, BT derbys
This is busy weekend of appetising football here at home and abroad. The Blantyre derby between Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers returns to its traditional home, Kamuzu Stadium this afternoon.
Bullets have a psychological advantage over their rivals because they won the first-round encounter 2-1 and are at the summit of the TNM Super League with 38 points from 16 games. The Nomads are in unfamiliar seventh position with 26 points.
The Nomads are failing to transfer their live scintillating form in cup games into the TNM Super League where they have been inconsistent. The Lali Lubani outfit is also haunted by a long injury list going into this match with players like Rafiq Mussa, Jabulani Linje, Ishmael Thindwa and Francis Mlimbika reportedly unfit. The once feared net-buster Muhamed Sulumba is out of sorts. The Nomads need a miracle to banish their Super League demons.
I hope the quality of the match will improve this time; otherwise, fans will feel cheated after paying K1 000 if the standard of football does not improve from the mediocrity witnessed in the first encounter.
However, my main interests are in the English Premier League where there is a line-up of mouth-watering fixtures beginning with Man City versus Newcastle on Saturday. Newcastle’s signs of revival were evident when they held defending champions Chelsea to a 2-2 draw. In fact, by the first-half, Steve McClaren’s men had already coasted to a 2-0 lead. Chelsea had to come back in the second-half after substitutions.
City who have now lost three consecutive matches against West Ham, Spurs and Juventus, returned to winning ways on Tuesday when they scraped a laboured 2-1 victory against Borussia M’gladbach. Emmanuel Pellegrini will need to freshen his squad with the return of David Silva from injury.
In the late kick-off, inconsistent Chelsea will play against stubborn Southampton. Although Mourinho dismissed claims by journalists that his third seasons at any club are often troubled, the way things have unfolded so far, it is only fair to agree with the English media. Position 15 after six matches is embarrassing for defending champions with an outspoken manager who revels in a lofty nickname as ‘special one’. Southampton enter into this match knowing well that Stamford Bridge has lost the aura of a fortress and could just steal the three points this evening.
