Big season for Lukaku.

Romelu Lukaku has made it clear this week that he would like to stay at Chelsea to prove his worth under Jose Mourinho. Lukaku, who had a terrific season last year for West Brom, had found it hard to break into the Chelsea side the season before last and I believe he'll have more luck next season (bar a huge Cavani bid).

Drogba Similarities 

The style of centre forward that Lukaku is will be to the liking of Mourinho as it resembles the former Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba. Big, powerful, agile and devastating finishing could be a list of things that Chelsea lacked last season in their strikers Fernando Torres and Demba Ba. Lukaku was surely bought as the future star striker for Chelsea, whereas I believe the acquisition of Ba was certainly a quick fix signing to provide support for a certain misfiring £50m player. Lukaku will provide an out and out target man for the wingers such as Mata and Hazard.

He's got the lot

I believe Lukaku has got enough pace to play on the shoulder of the last defender as well as the ability to hold the ball up and play to the oncoming support. He provides an aerial presence in the box that Chelsea lacked last season but the big question lies to whether Mourinho will opt to spend big money on a new striker in his quest to bring the Premier League title back to Stamford Bridge. 

My Verdict

I believe Lukaku will again play second fiddle this season he chooses to stay in London (to who, we don't know quite yet) but will force his way into the team if he shows form of last season. 

An uncertain future for Wenger

Having not delivered any trophies since 2005, could this be Arsene Wenger’s last season as Arsenal manager?

As the fans grow more and more impatient with the Gunners' failure to deliver any glory in seven seasons, could now be the signs of the beginning of the end of Wenger?

Undeniably the Frenchman has earned his legendary status within the English game where he is the most successful foreign manager in Premier League history, but his enterprising, exciting football has become ineffectual in producing any kind of silverware success.

An exhilarating football philosophy

Wenger (pictured) was a close friend of club vice-chairman David Dein when arriving at Highbury in 1996 as Arsenal looked to replace dismissed manager Bruce Rioch.

The Frenchman was unknown by many and the selection was seen as a disappointing appointment for Arsenal, having missed out on the acquisition of Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff.

He led the Gunners to a third place finish in his first season followed by a Premier League title and FA Cup glory in season 1997-98.

His football philosophy consisted on bringing exhilarating, attractive football to Highbury and he successfully produced a brand of football that made the Gunners the most exciting team in the Premier League for a number of years.

His brilliant eye for talent has been in full display throughout his time in London, as he brought in the likes of Patrick Vieira, Marc Overmars, Robert Pires and of course the great Thierry Henry.

He gained a reputation of being an expert at unearthing young unknown talents and creating them into world class footballers.

He transformed players like Cesc Fabregas, who he had bought from Barcelona as a 16-year-old for a fee of £500,000.

The Spaniard became the heart of the Arsenal midfield and the best player for the club in recent seasons before he was eventually sold back to Barcelona for £25.4m in the summer of 2011.

The greatest achievement by the Frenchman came in the 2003-04 season where Arsenal completed the campaign as unbeaten champions of England.

26 wins and 12 draws saw Arsenal enter the history books and were later branded as ‘The Invincibles.’

The Gunners last final was in 2011 where they faced Birmingham City in the League Cup final.

Wenger’s men were overwhelming favourites going into the game but Nikola Zigic scored in the 28th minute as the Blues took a shock lead.

Robin van Persie cancelled out the underdogs early advantage before half-time as Arsenal began to dominate the game.

The match seemed to be heading for extra-time but in the 89th minute a fumble by Wojciech Szczesny presented the ball to Obafemi Martins for a simple tap-in.

What has changed?

In recent years, Arsenal have struggled to keep hold of their best players and have become a provider club for several top European sides.

Wenger lost Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure to super rich Manchester City who not only left for mega wages but for the ambition to win trophies.

This summer, Wenger tried in vain to keep Van Persie at the club by bringing in big name signings such as Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud.

It wasn’t enough as Manchester United prized away the Dutch international. As more speculation arises about the futures of other Arsenal stars, it seems that the belief of the players may be fading in the ambition and ability to win trophies.

This season has produced a mixture of great football and poor performances. The team won emphatically at Anfield, destroyed Southampton 6-1 and earnt a superb point at Manchester City.

However, they were outclassed by Chelsea, lost in a meek performance at Norwich and lacked the quality last Saturday, which ended in defeat to Manchester United.

Seventh place in the Premier League, below the likes of Everton and West Brom is simply not good enough. In fact, the 15 points tally recorded so far is the worst start the club has made in the top flight since Wenger took over.

Champions League progression is likely despite a home defeat to Schalke 04 recently and they are through to the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup but it feels like Arsenal have reached a crossroads as a top football side in England. 

So, who could possibly fill the big boots of Wenger in bringing success to Arsenal as well as keeping the fans happy by playing entertaining attacking football?

Pep Guardiola would be the obvious choice with his brilliant track record at Barcelona and he would be a choice that would excite the fans and attract top players to join the Gunners.

The time has come for Wenger to deliver trophies on a regular basis or face the ultimate consequence in football management. 

By Kuvan Sidhu - Follow me on Twitter @Kuvinho08

Chelsea turn to Benitez

Just hours after Roberto Di Matteo was sacked by Roman Abramovich following Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League, Rafael Benitez was appointed as the interim first-team manager until the end of the season.

The former Liverpool boss has been seeking a job in the Premier League since the summer and was heavily linked with the Chelsea job in the summer before Di Matteo was appointed on a permanent basis.

The majority left upset 

Benitez has become the ninth manager during the Russian billionaire’s reign at Chelsea.

Di Matteo’s sacking came after a five game winless run in the Premier League which included a controversial 3-2 defeat against Manchester United and a 2-1 defeat to West Brom.

A 3-0 defeat away in Turin against Juve, a place where the home side have lost just one game in two seasons, was deemed to be the last straw as the Chelsea board claimed that “the team's recent performances and results have not been good enough.”

The decision to replace RDM with Benitez has upset the majority of Chelsea fans with the past history Benitez has had with Chelsea but it is a move the sees the Spaniard reunited with his former star striker Fernando Torres.

The fans believe the appointment has been made to bring out the best in the Spanish striker who has misfired and underperformed since his £50m move from Liverpool.

Torres, who became the fastest Liverpool player to reach 50 goals in the club's history under Benitez, has struggled to rediscover his best form at Stamford Bridge but Abramovich has been reluctant to sell his investment as he has looked to build around his marquee signing.

In Benitez’s time at Liverpool, he successfully won the UEFA Champions League in his first season which was a thrilling campaign, concluding with arguably the greatest Champions League final against AC Milan in Istanbul.

Here the Spaniard had his finest moment where he delivered a famous half-time team talk to his deflated Liverpool team who were 3-0 down against an immensely talented Milan side.

Liverpool went on to score three goals within six minutes in the second half and then went on to win the contest on penalties with the heroics of Jerzy Dudek.

In the following season, the boss brought the FA Cup back to Anfield after another thrilling 3-3 final against Alan Pardew’s West Ham United.

Second choice option 

Another win on penalties was enough to see off the underdogs, as a glittering display from Liverpool’s inspirational captain Steven Gerrard carried the Reds to a second consecutive season with silverware.

The 2008-09 season saw Benitez become a genuine title contender as Liverpool came as close as they have ever come to winning the Premier League.

The Merseysiders were beaten only twice in the whole season and ended with a points total of 86.

It wasn’t enough though as Manchester United reigned as champions again.

The season included dramatic affairs against the then proclaimed top four with the toppling of Chelsea’s incredible home unbeaten run and an eye opening 4-1 away at Old Trafford.

Aside from Liverpool, Benitez (pictured) won the UEFA Cup and La Liga in 2004 with Valencia.

Valencia still remain the only team to have won the Spanish league apart from Real Madrid or Barcelona in the 21st century.

It’s understood that Pep Guardiola was Chelsea’s first choice to take over at Stamford Bridge but the former Barcelona man refused to come out of his year off from football, as he felt he needed to find his love for the game again.

It is rumoured that Benitez’s contract is a short-term deal with Abramovich keen to bring in Guardiola in the summer as Chelsea’s long-term manager of the future.

The Spaniard now needs to prove after two years out of the game that he is the Russian billionaire's man of the future at Stamford Bridge. 

By Kuvan Sidhu - Follow me on Twitter @kuvinho08

Villa must stick with Paul Lambert

Aston Villa reached new lows this week with a loss against League 2 Bradford City in the Capital One Cup and tonight they have been defeated by Championship side Millwall in their FA Cup 4th round tie. As the pressure grows on Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert, I believe that they must persist with the ex-Norwich manager regardless of if they do get relegated this season.

Aston Villa lay in 17th position and are only a single point off dropping into the relegation zone but I believe that poor management is not the cause of Villa's problems. I believe the problems lie within the failure of the previous boss Alex MacLeish combined with the tight spending of American owner Randy Lerner.

In Villa's last game of last season against Norwich, their starting line-up was: Given, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Lichaj, Ireland, Herd, Clark, Warnock, Agbonlahor, Heskey.

This team has an average age of 26.1.

In Villa's last Premier League against local rivals West Brom, their starting line up was: Guzan, Clark, Vlaar, Baker, Lowton, Westwood, Delph, Bennett, Benteke, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia.

The average of this team is 24.

I know it doesn't seem like much of a difference but if you are look at the experienced head from last seasons team, they had 5 players above the age of 30 whereas this season they do not have any player who is a regular in the team above 28.

There has also been a drastic change in philosophy and tactics since the reign of Alex MacLeish. His team above shows a complete lack of ambition with the inclusion of 7 defensive players in the starting line-up with only Agbonlahor providing any sort of flair to the team.

Lambert's side shows so much more positivity a versatile selection which allows his team to play 3-5-2, 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. It enables Villa to switch to plan b if the initial tactics prove to be ineffectual.

Aston Villa's style of play last season was very rigid and disciplined with very little coming in the way of creativity. A huge reliance on set-pieces was required as the aerial presence of this Villa team was vast.

The Midland's side this season have shown that are capable of much more than that with glittering performances at Anfield and for the first hour of their home match against Man United. With the involvement of a young team, they have been playing a more expansive game with more expressive passing moves and a striker who gets more involved in the attacking build up in Benteke. Instead of heaping massive reliance on to Darren Bent, they now play with powerhouse Benteke and the flairy Weimann who together create more problems for defences than Bent alone.

All in all I believe Paul Lambert has changed Aston Villa's image as a football team. Now they try and play exciting football but currently lack consistency and a couple of signings who can add more control in midfield areas.

The team isn't too good to go down but I believe they will have just enough to keep afloat.

Follow me on Twitter @Kuvinho08

Anfield Revolution

The Anfield revolution

Brendan Rodgers has made it clear to the board at Liverpool FC that he’s going to run his team his own way, and he's doing it the right way.

Rodgers stressed to supporters and the board that he needs time, and that the Liverpool project is not one of quick fixes.

His focus is the acquisition of talented young footballers and the reintroduction of Liverpool's 'pass and move' style, which the club modelled throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

As the second youngest manager to have ever managed the club, Rodgers has shown a preference and a great deal of trust in the younger players and the results in recent weeks especially have been astounding.

With an average age of 23.38 years, Liverpool now has the youngest team in the Premier League.

This season Rodgers (pictured) has introduced Raheem Sterling into the first team and the 17-year-old England youth international has excelled against the bigger clubs and has certainly shown his class.

After four games of the new season, Sterling earned an England call-up, where he was an unused sub against Ukraine.

Untested reserves

Rodgers made a bold move in the opening UEFA Europa League game against Young Boys, electing to play his fringe players with many untested reserves in the starting line-up and on the bench.

Spanish player Suso, a talent only known by the most hardcore supporters, particularly impressed in the 5-3 thriller.

The side seemed to be struggling at the hour mark trailing 3-2, but the introduction of 20-year-old Jonjo Shelvey and Sterling gave the Reds a boost which saw them score three more goals and win the game.

At the start of the season, captain Steven Gerrard struggled to adjust to Rodgers’ methods, but has shown in recent weeks that he’s beginning to adapt.

Since taking the captaincy in 2003, Gerrard has been the heartbeat of the Liverpool midfield.

In simple terms, if he doesn't play well, more often than not the team don't perform.

The introduction of the new tactical form has taken the load off the 32-year-old, and has allowed other players to come into the limelight.

In conclusion, there will undoubtedly be a lot of fans who scoff at ‘another Anfield revolution,’ but this is the first time the club has been revolutionised throughout and that's not just the starting line-up.

Including younger talent instead of a reliance on underperforming big names introduced prior to Rodgers’ tenure, Stewart Downing being a prime example, has given the team an extra dimension and vibrancy to their footballing philosophy.

It is a tactic that is paying off as Liverpool move through the season. The youngsters will get another chance when dangerous Russian side Anzhi visit Anfield in the Europa League on Thursday night.

By Kuvan Sidhu