What Exactly is Happening at the Emirates Stadium?

With just days to the 2013-14 English Premier League, it is certainly not a good time to be identified as a Gooner. Arsenal fans around the world are closely monitoring the summer transfer window, perhaps much more than anyone else. They scurry from one soccer website to another in a vain search for the latest transfer news news about the club. But instead of hearing cheering news about the latest high-profile player in Arsene Wenger's summer shopping list, all they hear of is the protracted Luis Suarez transfer debacle.

How Much Is Gareth Bale Worth?

How much will you buy him if you were desperately in need of his services? Is he really worth the amount current suitors, Real Madrid, are willing to pay so that he swaps the white shirt of White Hart Lane with that of the Santiago Bernabeu? Should he cost more than Cristiano Ronaldo who currently holds the record as the costliest sports star ever bought? The best way to find out is to place his achievements side by side with that of the Madrid no 7 - who has netted a whooping 201 goals in 199 appearances in 4 years since his arrival in the Spanish capital.

Who Pairs Rooney Upfront?

... of course that's assuming Wayne Rooney joins Chelsea, which to me is a done deal by the way. It's one of those dilemmas you pray for as a coach and it's one of the benefits that comes with being a coach at a top club. You not only challenge for honours, medals and laurels every season, but you also get to make some decisions other not-so-lucky managers out there can only be jealous of. The fate of world-class footballers are in your hands and the whole world is watching and waiting to see how you will handle the situation. This is the case at Chelsea right now and it's the dilemma facing the Special One; the whole world is watching to know how he would pull this one off. With Rooney's arrival looking imminent, I guess the question on the lips of everyone at the Cobham training complex is who will pair Wayne Rooney upfront? It's a collective nightmare for the strikers at the Bridge. But that's if anyone would pair him there at all.

Malaysia XI vs Chelsea FC: Test of Mourinho's Progress

Chelsea will line up in the new white addidas away kit that was launched earlier this summer for the first time today as they face the very best Malaysian football has to offer in form of the Malaysia XI. The whole of Malaysia is abuzz with the arrival of the Blues in the Southeast Asian country for this preseason match. The match will take place at the Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia and the kickoff time is 9.45pm Malaysian time / 2.45pm (UTC + 1). The Europa League champions' match against the Malaysians takes place four days after the lads secured a 1-0 victory over the Singha XI in Thailand in what was the first of three engagements in their preseason tour of Southeast Asia.

Today's fixture against the Malaysian All-stars won't be the first time that Chelsea would be playing such a match in Malaysia. It is a replay of an earlier end-of-season match in 2011 which Chelsea won courtesy of a lone goal by club icon, Didier Drogba. They were known then as the Keputusan Malaysia and played with the Blues in front of a capacity crowd of 85,000.

Today's match also provides the opportunity for Chelsea fans all over the world to see how far Jose Mourinho has gone with the rejuvenation of the squad. Malaysia XI vs Chelsea will be televised live all over the Middle East (Al Jazeera), North America (GolTV), Southeast Asia (Kompas TV, etc), Brazil, England, France (BeIN Sport 2), Portugal, Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, India, China, Africa (Supersports) and in many other countries.

The starting eleven for Chelsea features very few changes from the side that faced the Thailand Eleven on Wednesday. Josh McEachran will likely play in place of Frank Lampard who sustained a minor knock in training.

Chelsea FC fans in Malaysia

Stamford & Bridget

These are some of the Chelsea fans in Malaysia cheering the Blues in training as they prepare for this evening's (Malaysian time) clash with the Malaysia Eleven. In the smaller picture are the Chelsea mascots, Stamford (the lion) and Bridget (the lioness). Lol! The other picture shows ecstatic Blues fans posing for some camera shots. Over 40,000 of such fans are expected to crowd into Malaysia's biggest stadium in Kuala Lumpur to catch a glimpse of some Chelsea stars like the likes of Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres, John Terry and Super Frankie, as well the charismatic Mourinho and the Europa League trophy.

Countdown To The EPL (2): Tottenham Hotspur in Focus

Can Tottenham win the Premier League? Do they stand any chance of being crowned the EPL champions by the end of the upcoming season? Find out here as I x-ray their preparations for the upcoming English Premier League season.

Two days ago I promised that I would be reviewing a couple of EPL teams that I felt were the top six clubs in contention for the title (Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester United) and analyze them in readiness for the new league season which is exactly four Saturdays away today.

Today in this series I will review Spurs and predict where they are likely to end up next season if statistics from the past three seasons and the current preseason are anything to go by.

Rooney In, Who Out?

Who goes if Rooney comes?

Nothing has been confirmed yet, at least not at the time of writing this post, but let’s assume Wayne Rooney swaps the Red Devils shirt for the iconic Blue uniform of the Southwest London outfit, who and who might be on their way out of Stamford Bridge? Which player or players are Chelsea willing to sacrifice? That remains the big question as there are some playing departments in the team which are not the way they should be, but if the worst comes to the worst, one or more players would have to look for another club in order to make room for any big summer signing that is to join the lads at the Cobhams training ground. This is what I will be looking at in this post.

Just yesterday it was revealed in the

Rooney To Chelsea?

A relationship that has increasingly become strained over the past seven months has now reached a point where it could be described as a state of no return. Wayne Rooney’s beleaguered relationship with his Manchester united employers seemingly reached a point of total breakdown today after it was reported that the former Old Trafford darling and fan favourite is angry and confused at Manager David Moyes' declaration that Rooney would still have to settle for a role as a backup to Robin van Persie. Rooney’s woes at Manchester United can be traced back to their champions league round of 16 second-leg cracker with a Jose Mourinho-tutored Real Madrid side at old Trafford which was billed at the time as the biggest match of the season for United.