The Champions League is back and our reporters are currently wringing out their wet things (Mitch Phillips at Chelsea)/basking in the evening sunshine by the River Manzanares (Iain Rogers at Atletico) and undergoing all climactic variations in between.

Tonight’s first tranche of eight matches includes a repeat of the very first Champions League final, with AC Milan visiting Marseille, plus the European debut of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka for Real Madrid, with the Spaniards visiting Zurich.

We also have Manchester United at Besiktas, Wolfsburg hosting CSKA, Atletico at home to APOEL, Bayern Munich visiting Maccabi Haifa and Juventus against Bordeaux.

We’ll have every goal as they go in here, plus a few bits of commentary from me, and our reporters if the comms hold up, along the way.

I really appreciate comments, so please give your views in the comment section below. And can you name the player in the photo…?

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FC Zurich 2 Real Madrid 5: Cristiano Ronaldo responded to some less than flattering chants among the home fans by scoring from a free kick from the edge of the area. 1-0 in the 27th minute and Real Madrid are on their way to, well, Madrid. Seven minutes later and it’s 2-0 Real. This time Raul, who tapped in Gonzalo Higuain’s shot and is closing in on that record for goals in the European Cup. Let me have a rifle through the stats book… But in the mean time, Higuain has bagged the third himself. Too easy for Real… or is it?

The crowd livens up again with a 64th minute penalty from Xavier Margairaz and a minute later Silvan Aegerter makes it 2-3. Game on? Well, it got nervy for Real bu another free kick from Ronaldo sealed matters, with Guti’s effort in the 95th minute the cake icing.

Marseille 1 Milan 2: First goal of the 2009-10 edition of the Champions League goes to Milan, and Filippo Inzaghi. A superb cross from Seedorf for Inzaghi, left unmarked at far post, and he taps in from close range. 1-0 to the Italians in the 27th minute. Marseille level four minutes after the restart through the former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze, who heads home a Benoit Cheyrou free kick. 2-1 to Milan with another Inzaghi goal with 16 minutes left on the clock.

Wolfsburg 3 CSKA 1: Wolfsburg have taken to the Champions League like a duck to water. The Brazilian Grafite, a much underrated player I remember well from my time in Germany, scored the first two goals, the first after 35 minutes, the second a penalty five minutes later. Alan Dzagoev pulls one back with 13 minutes to go. But Grafite completes his hat-trick three minutes from time and surely this is over now!

Chelsea 1 Porto 0: Don’t know what happened to my earlier udpate. Chelsea are ahead in the second half after Nicoals Anelka saw his first effort stopepd and then managed to fire on from a tricky angle.

Juventus 1 Bordeaux 1: Vincenzo Iaquinta puts Juventus up in the 63rd minute but Jaroslav Plasil evens things up with 15 minutes to go.

Maccabi Haifa 0 Bayern Munich 3: It’s raining goals now. The Germans are away thanks to a goal from Daniel van Buyten. Most of these matches going to form now and Bayern duly wrap up the win with two late goals from Thomas Mueller. Not a bad week for Mueller, who also scored two as Bayern beat Dortmund 5-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Besiktas 0 Manchester United 1. United are finally awake. It was a powerful shot by Nani that led to the goal in the 77th minute. The keeper parried it and Paul Scholes nodded in off the post, from a reasonable way out. Good header that.

The only match to finish goalless is Atletico Madrid v APOEL.

PHOTO: A mystery Chelsea player at training in Cobham, south of London, September 14, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Now we’ve got that pesky international interlude behind us (it’ll all end in tears, you know it will) we can get back to the serious business of predicting the scores in the Premier League.

Remember how it works: We, at Reuters Soccer Blog, publish our individual predictions for the weekend Premier League matches here on a Friday. You, laughing snidely at our pathetic efforts, send in yours in the comments section below the post.

As the weekend goes by, we get embarrassed and you get to poke fun. You get a point for predicting the right result, and make that a whopping five points if you get the exact score. Simples.

And if you’re thinking of joining in for the first time now … go ahead. The scoring has been so low that with a couple of correct scores you’ll catch up in no time. Really, we don’t seem to be very good at this here at RSB.

Even better, The Contest is operated on the honour system, in the great tradition of Seinfeld, so feel free to keep your own score. I do sometimes award bonus points, though, so keep checking back to the home page at Reuters Soccer Blog to see how you’re doing.

The Reuters scores so far: Paul Radford 31, Justin Palmer 28, Patrick Johnston 25, Simon Evans 25, Miles Evans 24, Kevin Fylan 23, Mitch Phillips 16, Mike Collett 14, Neil Maidment 11, Asia Sports Desk 5, Mark Meadows 5 (last three on debut)

The Rest of the World: Insert your score here (or in the comments).

So, without further ado, here are this weekend’s matches, and the predictions we have so far. I’ll update the post as we get more.

Blackburn v Wolves: Patrick Johnston: 1-0; Mike Collett: 0-1; Asian Sports Desk: 1-0; Kevin Fylan: 2-0; Miles Evans: 1-1; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 0-1; Neil Maidment: 1-1; Mark Meadows: 1-1; Paul Radford: 2-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Julien Pretot: 1-1

Liverpool v Burnley: Patrick Johnston: 4-1; Mike Collett: 4-2; Asian Sports Desk: 4-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-1; Miles Evans: 3-0; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 1-1; Neil Maidment: 2-0; Mark Meadows: 2-0; Paul Radford: 3-0; Mitch Phillips: 2-0; Julien Pretot: 4-0

Manchester City v Arsenal: Patrick Johnston: 1-2; Mike Collett: 1-0; Asian Sports Desk: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-2; Miles Evans: 1-0; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 1-2; Neil Maidment: 1-2; Mark Meadows: 2-2; Paul Radford: 1-0; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Julien Pretot: 1-1

Portsmouth v Bolton: Patrick Johnston: 1-0; Mike Collett: 0-1; Asian Sports Desk: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0; Miles Evans: 2-2; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 0-0; Neil Maidment: 1-0; Mark Meadows: 0-0; Paul Radford: 3-1; Mitch Phillips: 0-1; Julien Pretot: 1-2

Stoke v Chelsea: Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 2-1; Asian Sports Desk: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 1-2; Miles Evans: 3-1; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 0-3; Neil Maidment: 0-0; Mark Meadows: 0-2; Paul Radford: 1-1; Mitch Phillips: 0-0; Julien Pretot: 0-3

Sunderland v Hull City: Patrick Johnston: 3-0; Mike Collett: 2-3; Asian Sports Desk: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0; Miles Evans: 1-2; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 1-0; Neil Maidment: 2-1; Mark Meadows: 1-0; Paul Radford: 2-0; Mitch Phillips: 2-0; Julien Pretot: 3-1

Wigan v West Ham: Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 0-2; Asian Sports Desk: 2-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-0; Miles Evans: 0-1; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 1-1; Neil Maidment: 0-1; Mark Meadows: 0-1; Paul Radford: 1-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Julien Pretot: 0-2

Spurs v Manchester United: Patrick Johnston: 1-2; Mike Collett: 3-1; Asian Sports Desk: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 1-4; Miles Evans: 1-3; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 2-1; Neil Maidment: 2-1; Mark Meadows: 1-1; Paul Radford: 2-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-3; Julien Pretot: 2-2

Birmingham City v Aston Villa: Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 2-0; Asian Sports Desk:2-0 ; Kevin Fylan: 2-2; Miles Evans: 2-0; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 1-1; Neil Maidment: 1-3; Mark Meadows: 2-2; Paul Radford: 1-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Julien Pretot: 2-0

Fulham v Everton: Patrick Johnston: 2-1; Mike Collett: 2-0; Asian Sports Desk: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 1-2; Miles Evans: 0-0; Justin Palmer: ; Simon Evans: 2-1; Neil Maidment: 2-2; Mark Meadows: 1-0; Paul Radford: 0-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Julien Pretot: 1-0

PHOTO: Germany’s Miroslav Klose scores against Azerbaijan in their World Cup qualifier in Hanover September 9, 2009. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

Premier League club Chelsea have been banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows, FIFA said on Thursday.

“Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision,” a FIFA statement said.

The decision effectively means the English club cannot register any new players until January 2011. The next transfer window is in January followed by another in 2010.

The punishment was handed out by FIFA following a contractual dispute involving the transfer of Gael Kakuta from French club Racing Lens in 2007.

Following a complaint from Lens, FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber ruled that Kakuta had breached his contract with the French club and that Chelsea had induced him to do so.

Do you feel you’ve been sitting on the bench too long this season? Are you itching for a chance to get out there and show what you can do? Confident you can show all those pundits how little they know about the game?

Well, my friends. Now. Is. Your. Chance.

Scores have been so low in our modest little predictions slot that one good week — one! — could see you overtake the vast majority of the Reuters Soccer Blog panel.

With one point for a correct result but a whopping five for a correct score — and untold bonus points on offer for predicting the apparently unpredictable — you could find yourself top of the league in no time.

And considering that The Contest is run on the honour system, you could even award yourself points for style.

The bar being so low here among the Reuters Soccer Blog panel has prompted a few new entries from our bloggers this week, including a combined effort from our Asian Sports Desk, fronted by Ossian Shine. Good luck, newbies.

Right, here are our predictions. Please enter yours in the comments below and keep us posted on how you’re doing score-wise.

Saturday:

Chelsea v Burnley: Two great wins for Burnley in their last two outings. Never two without three, they say in Spain, but this is England and it’s got to be Chelsea. Patrick Johnston: 3-1; Mike Collett: 3-1; Asian Sports Desk: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 3-1; Miles Evans: 2-1; Justin Palmer: 3-0; Simon Evans: 0-0; Neil Maidment: 2-0; Mark Meadows: 2-1; Paul Radford: 2-0

Blackburn Rovers v West Ham United: I thought West Ham were a bit unlucky against Spurs last weekend and a lot of people seem to fancy an away win on this. Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 0-1; Asian Sports Desk: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 1-2; Miles Evans: 1-3; Justin Palmer: 1-3; Simon Evans: 1-2; Neil Maidment: 2-2; Mark Meadows: 0-1; Paul Radford: 2-1

Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool: Two defeats for Liverpool already and this is a fixture that has caused them problems when they’ve come in looking short of form. Patrick Johnston: 0-3; Mike Collett: 0-2; Asian Sports Desk: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 2-1; Miles Evans: 0-1; Justin Palmer: 0-1; Simon Evans: 1-3; Neil Maidment: 1-2; Mark Meadows: 0-2; Paul Radford: 0-1

Stoke City v Sunderland: Stoke had a pretty formidable home record last season and only one member of the panel, newbie Neil, has been brave enough to predict a Sunderland win. Patrick Johnston: 0-0; Mike Collett: 1-1; Asian Sports Desk: 3-1; Kevin Fylan: 2-0; Miles Evans: 1-1; Justin Palmer: 2-2; Simon Evans: 1-1; Neil Maidment: 1-2; Mark Meadows: 1-1; Paul Radford: 1-1

Tottenham Hotspur v Birmingham City: Three out of three for Spurs and this looks a winnable game as well (except from the point of view of the Asian Sports Desk…) Patrick Johnston: 4-0; Mike Collett: 3-1; Asian Sports Desk: 1-3; Kevin Fylan: 3-1; Miles Evans: 3-0; Justin Palmer: 2-0; Simon Evans: 2-0; Neil Maidment: 3-0; Mark Meadows: 3-0; Paul Radford: 3-0

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Hull City: 14th plays 15th, and Justin Palmer has gone for 4-0 to 15th. Bizarre, eh? Patrick Johnston: 2-1; Mike Collett: 2-1; Asian Sports Desk: 2-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-0; Miles Evans: 2-0; Justin Palmer: 0-4; Simon Evans: 2-1; Neil Maidment: 0-0; Mark Meadows: 1-0; Paul Radford: 1-0

Manchester United v Arsenal: This is what I had in mind with the predicting the unpredictable headline. United got their mojo back with a 5-0 win over Wigan but even then they had to wait a long time for the first. Arsenal have had the pundits weeping with joy but they haven’t played anyone of United’s calibre yet. Patrick Johnston: 1-4; Mike Collett: 1-2; Asian Sports Desk: 0-2; Kevin Fylan: 2-1; Miles Evans: 0-0; Justin Palmer: 1-0; Simon Evans: 2-2; Neil Maidment: 0-2; Mark Meadows: 0-0; Paul Radford: 1-2

Sunday:

Portsmouth v Manchester City: City have just signed “the best centre-back in the Premier League” so this is a foregone conclusion, no? Patrick Johnston: 0-2; Mike Collett: 0-2; Asian Sports Desk: 0-3; Kevin Fylan: 1-1; Miles Evans: 0-0; Justin Palmer: 2-3; Simon Evans: 0-1; Neil Maidment: 0-2; Mark Meadows: 0-2; Paul Radford: 0-2

Everton v Wigan Athletic: Everton are rock bottom but they’ve only played a couple of games, remember. Can Wigan recover from that caning by United and pile on the agony at Goodison? Patrick Johnston: 1-2; Mike Collett: 3-1; Asian Sports Desk: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 2-0; Miles Evans: 2-2; Justin Palmer: 2-1; Simon Evans: 2-1; Neil Maidment: 2-1; Mark Meadows: 3-1; Paul Radford: 3-2

Aston Villa v Fulham: Villa helped themselves to the three points at Anfield but then suffered a rude awakening in the Europa League play-off, making this another very tricky one to call. Good luck, sports fans! Patrick Johnston: 0-1; Mike Collett: 1-1; Asian Sports Desk: 2-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-0; Miles Evans: 2-1; Justin Palmer: 3-1; Simon Evans: 4-0; Neil Maidment: 1-1; Mark Meadows: 1-1; Paul Radford: 2-1

So there we have it, please give us your predictions and thoughts in the comments and keep checking back.

PHOTO: A football is rests on the pitch during the English Premier League soccer match between Burnley and Everton in Burnley August 23, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

UPDATE: Have added the panel predictions that were emailed to me on Friday night/Saturday before kick-offs. (Mike Collett loses 10 points for shamelessly trying to predict Saturday’s scores on Sunday morning … and getting them all spot on.)

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So come on, be honest, who was expecting Burnley to beat Manchester United in the Premier League on Wednesday?

That shocker on the midweek programme really threw our panel, as did Wigan Athletic’s home defeat… See here for our original predictions.

Read em and weep. I know I did.

So, with one point for the right result and five for the exact score, plus the odd bonus point added pretty much arbitrarily, here are our scores after two (or one-and-a-half) rounds of matches:

Miles Evans - 17 points, Owen Wyatt 14, Patrick Johnston 10, Mitch Phillips 9 (including one bonus point for being the only person not to put Man Utd down for a win), Kevin Fylan 8, Paul Radford and Simon Evans 7, Mike Collett 6.

Shamefacedly, I must admit that I got no points at all this week. Are you keeping up your own score at home (or, let’s face it, at the office)? If you had Burnley beating Man Utd, award yourself an extra five points for being so clever.

Chipking, showing us up badly in the comments, gets at least one bonus point, and possibly five or six, for tipping Spurs to beat Hull 4-0 with a Jermain Defoe hat-trick. It was actually 5-1 but with Defoe indeed bagging three that was a spectacular effort.

Maid also did well, getting the right score on Birmingham-Pompey, and getting pretty close with Liverpool-Stoke as well.

Anyway, looking to the future, here are the weekend’s fixtures, with the laughable predictions of our panel at the end… or at least they will be, when they get round to filling them in:

Saturday:

Arsenal v Portsmouth: Awesome Arsenal against the early season crisis club… A no-brainer, no? Mitch Phillips:1-0 ; Owen Wyatt: 3-1; Patrick Johnston: 3-1; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 4-0; Miles Evans: 2-0; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 5-0; Simon Evans: 3-0.

Birmingham City v Stoke City: Stoke were mauled by Liverpool at Anfield. Birmingham picked up a first win. Could this be the first draw of the season? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 0-0; Patrick Johnston: 0-1; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 2-1; Miles Evans: 2-1; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 0-0; Simon Evans: 2-1.

Hull City v Bolton Wanderers: Hull are just about everyone’s tip for the drop this season. Watch them prove people wrong here… Mitch Phillips: 0-1; Owen Wyatt: 1-1; Patrick Johnston: 2-2; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 1-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0; Miles Evans: 0-1; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 0-1; Simon Evans: 1-1.

Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers: City beat Barcelona 1-0 in a friendly in midweek. Things really are looking up. Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Patrick Johnston: 3-2; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 3-1; Kevin Fylan: 3-1; Miles Evans: 1-1; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 3-2; Simon Evans: 4-2.

Sunderland v Blackburn Rovers: Sunderland had a bad second half against Chelsea but this should be a much more comfortable outing, shouldn’t it? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Patrick Johnston: 2-0; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 1-0; Miles Evans: 0-0; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 1-1; Simon Evans: 0-0.

Wigan Athletic v Manchester United: United need to show a bit of character after that Burnley defeat. Surely they won’t produce another Lancashire hodge-podge of a performance… Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 1-4; Patrick Johnston: 0-1; Mike Collett: ; Paul Radford: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-2; Miles Evans: 0-2; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 1-2; Simon Evans: 1-2.

Playing on Sunday:

West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs are the leaders after two games. How long before the bubble bursts? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 2-1; Patrick Johnston: 1-3; Mike Collett: 1-3; Paul Radford: 1-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-1; Miles Evans: 3-1; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 2-1; Simon Evans: 1-1.

Burnley v Everton: Burnley performed heroics in midweek, while Everton atoned for their opening day shocker with a good European League display. Tricky one to call. Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 1-2; Patrick Johnston: 0-0; Mike Collett: 2-1; Paul Radford: 1-2; Kevin Fylan: 0-1; Miles Evans: 0-2; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 1-3; Simon Evans: 2-1.

Fulham v Chelsea: 100 percent Chelsea to maintain their advantage over United and Liverpool? Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Patrick Johnston: 0-2; Mike Collett: 0-3; Paul Radford: 1-3; Kevin Fylan: 1-2; Miles Evans: 0-3; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 0-2; Simon Evans: 0-1.

Playing on Monday:

Liverpool v Aston Villa: Liverpool found some form to beat Stoke handily in midweek and with Villa starting poorly this looks like another home win, doesn’t it? Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Patrick Johnston: 4-0; Mike Collett: 4-0; Paul Radford: 3-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0; Miles Evans: 2-0; Martyn Herman: ; Justin Palmer: 1-0; Simon Evans: 2-1.

That’s as far as we’ve got so far … give us your predictions in the comments section, and feel free to lord it over us on Monday.

PHOTO: The Burnley mascot poses with a photographer’s camera ahead of their English Premier League soccer match against Manchester United in Burnley, August 19, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

How did you get on? I expect it was better than most of us… As a look back to Friday lunchtime’s post will attest, our efforts at predicting the score on the opening weekend of the Premier League covered few of us in any glory.

A lot of people overestimated Chelsea and underestimated Arsenal, but the general feeling that Liverpool would come unstuck at Spurs proved well founded.

As a general guide, I’ve given one point for a correct result — except for those who had Chelsea or Man Utd winning by a hatful — and five points for a correct score. There were precious few of those. I’ve totted it all up very roughly, but the score so far looks more or less as follows…

Owen Wyatt, Miles Evans – 10 points (FROM A POSSIBLE 50!!), Patrick Johnston 9, Kevin Fylan 8, Simon Evans 7, Paul Radford 4, Mike Collett and Mitch Phillips 2.

That includes a bonus point for me as the only person to predict a goal for Hull City. Fair? Well, maybe. Anyway, appeals welcome, as every time I add it up it seems to come to something different. The problems of an arbitrary scoring system…

Let us know if you did much better/worse… and Tune in later for more predictions…

Kevin Fylan, Canary Wharf

PHOTO: Arsenal’s Eduardo (R) celebrates his goal against Everton during their English Premier League soccer match at Goodison Park in Liverpool August 15, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

UPDATE: Now with added rollcall of shame! Click here for full details of just how badly our panel did…

The new Premier League season is upon us and this year we at the Reuters Soccer Blog have decided to stick our necks out as never before.

Instead of the usual season previews, picking one of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool to win the league and the new arrivals to struggle, we’re doing this the hard way and giving our predictions on a match by match basis.

So without further ado, here are the predictions from a random group of Reuters bloggers. Couldn’t agree more? Couldn’t agree less? Give us your predictions too and see if you can do better than our own modest efforts. We may even keep a running score…

Chelsea v Hull City: Hull escaped relegation despite a disastrous run in the second-half of last season. That was down to their great start but surely they’re not going to come up with another shock here, are they? Worryingly for Hull, Chelsea looked in tune with Carlo Ancelotti’s diamond formation in the Community Shield win over Manchester United.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 3-0; Miles Evans: 4-0; Mike Collett: 3-0; Mitch Phillips: 2-0; Patrick Johnston: 3-0; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Simon Evans: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 4-1

Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic: Two sides that have suffered in the close-season. Villa lost captain Gareth Barry to Man City and defender Martin Laursen to retirement; Wigan lost their manager Steve Bruce and midfielder Lee Cattermole to Sunderland and winger Antonio Valencia to Manchester United and there are fears for their survival this year. New manager Roberto Martinez has a big job on his hands.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 1-0; Miles Evans: 1-1; Mike Collett: 1-0; Mitch Phillips: 2-1; Patrick Johnston: 2-0; Owen Wyatt: 1-1; Simon Evans: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0

Blackburn Rovers v Manchester City: All eyes will be on Ewood Park to see how Man City, the Galacticos Lite, do in their opening fixture. Sam Allardyce made Blackburn a tough nut to crack in the second half of last season. Robinho, Tevez, Adebayor, Wright-Phillips and co must fancy their chances, but their pre-season form wasn’t great, was it?

Predictions: Paul Radford: 1-2; Miles Evans: 1-1; Mike Collett: 2-3; Mitch Phillips 0-0; Patrick Johnston: 1-2; Owen Wyatt: 1-0; Simon Evans: 0-2; Kevin Fylan: 3-3 (humdinger)

Bolton Wanderers v Sunderland: A new manager and a record signing add up to high hopes at Sunderland but this is a fiddly fixture to begin their campaign. Bolton never make life comfortable for visiting teams.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 1-2; Miles Evans: 1-1; Mike Collett: 1-0; Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 0-0; Simon Evans: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-1

Portsmouth v Fulham: Portsmouth fans were overjoyed at the prospect of a mega-bucks new owner but with players leaving and few new faces it could be easy pickings for Fulham on the opening day.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 1-3; Miles Evans: 0-2; Mike Collett: 0-2; Mitch Phillips: 0-0; Patrick Johnston: 0-2; Owen Wyatt: 1-3; Simon Evans: 2-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-4

Stoke City v Burnley: Stoke offered Burnley the blueprint of how to survive last season but beginning your first top-flight campaign in 33 years without three first choice defenders through injuries is a bit unfortunate. James Beattie, who made an instant impact after joining Stoke in the January transfer window, must be looking forward to the opening day.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 1-1; Miles Evans: 3-1; Mike Collett: 1-1; Mitch Phillips: 0-0; Patrick Johnston: 3-0; Owen Wyatt: 1-0; Simon Evans: 1-1; Kevin Fylan: 2-3

Wolverhampton Wanderers v West Ham United: Wolves are back but how long will the yo-yo club survive this time? Mick McCarthy has a good track record of getting teams into the Premier League but surviving is another matter.  Gianfranco Zola managed a ninth place finish with West Ham last year despite money problems but can they push on?

Predictions: Paul Radford: 3-2; Miles Evans: 1-3; Mike Collett: 1-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Patrick Johnston: 2-2; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Simon Evans: 1-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-2

Everton v Arsenal: This is a tough ask first up for an Arsenal side without a big name signing but they do have a proud opening day record under Arsene Wenger and were leading scorers away from home last year. And Everton are struggling with injuries in attack and defence…

Predictions: Paul Radford: 0-1; Miles Evans: 0-1; Mike Collett: 2-1; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Patrick Johnston: 0-2; Owen Wyatt: 0-3; Simon Evans: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 1-1

Sunday:

Manchester United v Birmingham City: Cristiano Ronaldo is gone, so has Carlos Tevez, but United still looked pretty dangerous in the Community Shield last weekend. Birmingham’s promotion to the Premier League was built on a solid defence - but they didn’t have to face Rooney, Berbatov and Owen last year.

Predictions: Paul Radford:1-1; Miles Evans: 2-0; Mike Collett: 4-0; Mitch Phillips: 3-0; Patrick Johnston: 4-0; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Simon Evans: 3-0; Kevin Fylan: 3-0

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool: Liverpool begin life without Xabi Alonso, and with an injury crisis affecting their defence this could be an uncomfortable start. They lost at Spurs 2-1 last season, in Harry Redknapp’s first game, and you can bet Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane will be looking to prove a point.

Predictions: Paul Radford: 2-2; Miles Evans: 2-1; Mike Collett: 1-2; Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Patrick Johnston: 2-1; Owen Wyatt: 1-1; Simon Evans: 1-0; Kevin Fylan: 2-2

So go on then … give us your predictions.

(Mini-previews by Patrick Johnston)

PHOTO: Michael Ballack wins friends at the Community Shield, Wembley Stadium, August 9, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Has John Terry got a bit big for his boots by questioning whether Chelsea’s ambition matches his own?

The defender and club captain said that was the reason for the delay in him nailing his colours to the Chelsea mast in the wake of Manchester City’s reported 200,000 pounds per week offer to take him away from Stamford Bridge.

Nothing to do with money. Nothing to do either with the fact that he has peaked as a player and with injuries niggling away at his joints, the England skipper is likely to find it more and more difficult to excel at the highest levels of the game.

Fans of the club will take some convincing that Terry still has his heart fully at the club despite his words to the contrary.

They might also argue that losing Mr Chelsea for an enormous fee to a club not even in the Champions League would have been a good piece of business and not the disaster some predicted.

Terry is still a world class defender but is certainly replaceable. He is no Cristiano Ronaldo after all. He will be one of the first names on Carlo Ancelotti’s team sheet as the new season kicks off but City are unlikely to have been totally put off the scent.

Terry said he hoped to have a good season and then sit down and talk to the club about a new deal….any loss of form, however, and club owner Roman Abramovich might just decide that Mr Chelsea is expendable after all.

PHOTO: Chelsea’s John Terry keeps his eyes on the ball as he falls on the pitch during the second half of their 2009 World Football Challenge soccer match against AC Milan in Baltimore, Maryland, July 24, 2009. Chelsea won 2-1. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the ultimate soccer enigma.

He scores goals for fun when playing Bologna, Chievo and Palermo but often goes missing against AC Milan, Manchester United or Liverpool (which is why he is never in the running for the top awards despite the incredulity of Inter fans).

The tall-yet-skilful attacker has been racking up Serie A titles but the Champions League seems a distant prospect and with all due respect to Sweden, he is not likely to win any honours in international football.

If you want someone to outrageously chip the keeper, Ibra is your man, but don’t expect him to always score that tap-in.

Judging how much these sorts of players (Antonio Cassano? Dimitar Berbatov?) are worth is very tricky, especially after he admitted at the end of last season that he fancied a new challenge.

Inter president Massimo Moratti slapped a 70 million euro price on his head which scared off Barcelona and Real Madrid. If Kaka cost 67, can Ibra really be worth more?

Without a bid forthcoming, the forward returned to pre-season training with Inter last week saying he was “happy”. Moratti then said the player was off the market.

Now English newspapers say Manchester United and Chelsea have come sniffing. Chelsea’s reported offer would be 50 million plus Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, two players Inter coach Jose Mourinho wants.

A move is suddenly back on the table but like everything with Ibrahimovic, any transfer is bound to be complicated, especially as he has just jetted off on a U.S. tour with Inter.

What’s your bet on where Ibra will end up? I reckon he’ll still be at the San Siro come September…

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring against Lazio in their Italian Serie A soccer match at San Siro stadium in Milan, May 2, 2009. REUTERS/Stefan Rellandini

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has interrupted his holidays to remind soccer fans what they have been missing in the month since the end of the season.

The outspoken Portuguese, whose side are favourites for a fifth straight scudetto this term, has far from mellowed while lying on the beach.

Here’s his latest amusing rant from the Gazzetta dello Sport about the discipline of different nationalities in soccer.

“The Brazilians are the most difficult and ill-disciplined. If you organise a meeting for 10, they don’t care if you let them enter or not. The English arrive at 9.55, the Italian, even if he comes at 10.01, arrives in a hurry and is fed up.

The Portuguese are there at 10 or 9.59. A Frenchman, who is always right, comes at 10 but thinks there was no actual reason to be punctual. Russians arrive at 10, not a minute before and not a minute after. They need to be guided.”

Looking at who he worked with at Chelsea and Inter, can you guess who he is referring to?

Roll on the new season…