Never let it be said that we at Reuters Soccer Blog shirk a challenge. Our attempts at score prediction on the opening weekend produced results that were modest at best but never fear, we’re straight back in for another shot (that’ll doubtless be blasted over the bar).

Once again, please send in your own predictions … they can scarcely be any worse than ours, and if you do especially well, we’ll gladly let you lord it over us here on the blog.

The six matches this week are as follows:

Sunderland v Chelsea: After Chelsea’s scare in the opening game of the season, and Sunderland’s positive start, the predictions for this are a little more circumspect. Mitch Phillips: 1-1; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 0-2; Paul Radford: 0-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 0-2; Martyn Herman: 0-2.

Wigan Athletic v Wolverhampton Wanderers: What a result from Wigan on Saturday, eh? Hardly anyone expected them to beat Aston Villa, but I suppose when you consider how badly Villa finished last season it wasn’t such a shocking result. Wigan to make it maximum points from two? Mitch Phillips: 2-0; Owen Wyatt: 4-4; Patrick Johnston: 3-0; Mike Collett: 1-1; Paul Radford: 1-0; Kevin Fylan: 1-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 0-1; Martyn Herman: 2-1.

Wednesday:

Birmingham City v Portsmouth: Birmingham came close to getting something from Old Trafford on Sunday so that should have done something for their self-belief. Maybe. Another bad day for Portsmouth? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 2-0; Patrick Johnston: 2-1; Mike Collett: 2-1; Paul Radford: 0-0; Kevin Fylan: 0-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 2-2; Martyn Herman: 4-1.

Burnley v Manchester United: It was a tough start for Burnley at Stoke and this is not going to be a cakewalk either, is it? Mitch Phillips: 0-0; Owen Wyatt: 0-3; Patrick Johnston: 1-2; Mike Collett: 0-3; Paul Radford: 0-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-2. Late entries: Miles Evans: 1-3; Martyn Herman: 0-3.

Hull City v Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs made a fantastic start to the season but with a little luck Hull might have pulled off just as big a surprise by taking something off Chelsea. It’s got to be Spurs, though, hasn’t it? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 0-2; Patrick Johnston: 1-1; Mike Collett: 0-2; Paul Radford: 1-2; Kevin Fylan: 1-1. Late entries: Miles Evans: 2-0; Martyn Herman: 1-3.

Liverpool v Stoke City: The temptation to write off Liverpool has been too much for a lot of people after what was, admittedly, a shoddy performance against Spurs. Will Gerrard drop back to midfield? Will Voronin start up front? Will Xabi Alonso’s reputation grow any further in his absence? Mitch Phillips: 1-0; Owen Wyatt: 3-1; Patrick Johnston: 0-0; Mike Collett: 2-1; Paul Radford: 3-1; Kevin Fylan: 0-0. Late entries: Miles Evans: 2-0; Martyn Herman: 2-0.

So, don’t be shy… Give us your predictions in the comments, and tell us where we’ve gone wrong. 

PHOTO: Manchester United’s Michael Owen reacts after missing a chance against Birmingham City at Old Trafford, northern England August 16, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

The days when the details of transfer negotiations were closely guarded secrets could be coming to an end with the advent of the ‘Twitter transfer’.

On Wednesday, U.S. national team striker Jozy Altidore all but announced a move to English Premier League Hull City on the micro-blogging site, keeping his fans updated while Hull remained silent.

Altidore, who is owned by Spanish club Villarreal, alerted followers to a potential move on Tuesday when he informed them he would be up early on Wednesday morning for a flight to England.

After details about his flight and weather on arrival he held back from announcing the deal but gave the game away by posting info of his first game.

“First match is against Chelsea subject to a work permit *wink* *wink* lol thanks for the support and love keep it coming,” he wrote.

While Altidore’s upbeat updates are unlikely to upset anyone, England striker Darren Bent apologised to Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy last month about comments on Twitter relating to his move to Sunderland.

Bent aimed an expletive at Levy and said, “Do I wanna go Hull City? NO. Do I wanna go Stoke? NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland? YES.”

The forward’s wish was finally granted on Wednesday when he completed a move from Spurs to Sunderland for an initial fee of 10 million pounds ($16.98 million).

There was not a tweet out of Bent, though: his account was closed down after the dispute with Spurs.

Twitter appears harmless fun for many, many sportspeople — golfers, tennis players, cyclists, NBA and NFL players — who send snippets of their daily routine out to their followers. The problem, as the Bent case shows, comes when things aren’t going well for the individual.

There is a potential minefield involved with sportspeople broadcasting their thoughts at will — contract negotiations, dressing room disputes, personal problems are all topics that team and PR people would probably hope do not get broadcast to the world.

Those sportspeople using Twitter — and there are thousands of them — seem to regard it is a cool and easy way to keep in touch with their fans. So how can the control-freaks control other than to ban Twitter use? And that’s not going to happen, is it?

PHOTO: Jozy Altidore of the U.S. celebrates after scoring a goal during their Confederations Cup semi-final soccer match against Spain at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein June 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

England’s most popular soap operas thrive on a weekly recipe of misery, doom and gloom that is gobbled up by television viewers seeking some relief from their own trials and tribulations.

In that sense, the final weekend of the Premier League season is quite similar.

With Manchester United already polishing the trophy again after sealing a third consecutive title last week, neutral television viewers are salivating at the prospect of watching the suffering of fans of Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Hull City and Sunderland as their clubs desperately scarp for top flight survival.

Like the inevitable rubber-neckers at road traffic accidents, there is something cruelly compulsive about the raw emotions of relegation D-Day.

For those poor fans at Villa Park, the KC Stadium, Upton Park and The Stadium of Light, fingernails will be whittled down to nothing as their sides hover between survival and exile from Planet Premier League and all its hype and glamour.

Sadly, there is usually one club that the majority of neutral voyeurs want to see fall off the cliff — and this year they play in black and white stripes.

Newcastle are seen as a club suffering delusions from grandeur, a trigger-happy approach to hiring and firing managers and for many, the epitomy of all that is rotten with the Premier League.

Massive salaries for sub-standard overseas players, big debts, big egos. Big fat nothing in the trophy cabinet. It sounds very much like Leeds United of a few seasons ago and look where they are now.

West Bromwich Albion gained tremendous respect this season for their football and their dignity despite already being relegated. They are bound to come back sooner rather than later.

Middlesbrough too have shown admirable loyalty to manager Gareth Southgate, a young English coach who trusts young home-grown players.

Hull have also contributed fully to an interesting Premier League season, their first in the top flight, playing exciting football in the early months and at one stage mixing it with the big boys in the top six.

Newcastle have also added plenty of colour. Kevin Keegan’s shock exit, the fans bitterness to owner Mike Ashley which involved threats to his safety, the recruitment of a manager with a heart condition and a nice touch in Anglo-Saxon expletives, plenty of player strops and finally the recruitment of TV pundit Alan Shearer as coach, yet another Geordie Messiah.

Add in the antics of wildman Joey Barton and the sulking Charles N’Zogbia (named Insomnia by recovering manager Joe Kinnear) and it really is a heady brew.

So thanks Newcastle….it’s been great fun watching you this season and we will all be tuning in for another 90 minutes of black (and white) comedy on Sunday.

PHOTO: Newcastle United’s manager Alan Shearer (R) and his assistant coach Ian Dowie gesture to their players during their English Premier League soccer match against Fulham in Newcastle, northeast England May 16, 2009. REUTERS/David Moir

Speaking as someone who once sat in a brick-built outhouse at the bottom of the garden for five years writing a book about the FA Cup, I have rather a soft spot for the old pot.

And so, it seems, after all these years, do Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and many other managers, some of whom have not always treated the competition with the respect I still think it deserves.

It seems almost every year at about this time, the same stories are run about how the FA Cup has lost its magic and the competition is now a mere end-of pier show compared to the Champions League and Premier League.

The doomsayers point to dwindling attendances at grounds and dipping TV viewing figures to prove the FA Cup is not what it was.

Last season the jump-on-a-bandwagon team proclaimed the cup “was back” because of all the upsets along the way that meant that just one Premier League team — Portsmouth — reached the semi-finals. Portsmouth v Cardiff was an “old-fashioned” final, a throwback to the 1920s and 1930s.

This season the same voices are proclaiming the cup is dead again because Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton are all in the last four with Arsenal set to join them, although Hull City are still involved, and can still of course win it for the first time in their history.

But the critics can’t have it both ways. Some years there are upsets, some years there aren’t — and irrespective of the outcome, an FA Cup match does have a different atmosphere, a different tempo and a different level of excitement to a league match, even if both teams are in the same division and regularly play each other.

I was at Fulham v Manchester United on Saturday and saw a magical performance from Michael Carrick, Carlos Tevez and their team mates as United crushed the home side 4-0.

Despite modern improvements there is still a timeless feel about watching matches at Craven Cottage next to the River Thames, just as there is still a timeless feel about the FA Cup.

Sometimes it ebbs, sometimes it flows. I still believe that for most fans, nurtured on just a little history who still appreciate the romance of the game, you can’t miss it for a moment.

PHOTO: Everton’s Marouane Fellaini (R) challenges Middlesbrough’s Justin Hoyte during their FA Cup quarter-final at Goodison Park, March 8, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

It’s been a great season so far for people living above Germany’s white sausage equator, as fearless Hoffenheim and classy Bayer Leverkusen continue to make Bayern Munich look very ordinary, and very worried, indeed.

Bayern have won their last four games in the Bundesliga but that run has merely been enough to prevent them falling any further behind Hoffenheim, who have won five in a row, scoring 17 goals in the process, and Leverkusen, who have racked up four successive 2-0 victories.

There’s a long way to go, of course, but it looks like these two sides could mount serious challenges for first Bundesliga titles. Even if they fail, it’s fun watching them threaten to upset the established order.

Meanwhile, Hull City are enjoying a great season in England, despite a couple of recent defeats, while second-placed Udinese are worrying the favourites in Italy, AZ Alkmaar are top in the Netherlands and Rubin Kazan have just won the Russian championship.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see some similar upstarts doing well in the Champions League?

Alas, a look at the tables sees the eight groups headed by the same old names: Chelsea, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Juventus and Liverpool (joint top with Atletico Madrid).

The last time the Champions League had a first-time winner was in 1997, when Borussia Dortmund upset Juventus in the final.

We’ll have to wait until next season (at least) to see if Hoffenheim can repeat the trick, but for now … Come on CFR Cluj!

PHOTO: Hoffenheim’s Vedad Ibisevic celebrates a goal with Chinedu Obasi during their Bundesliga victory over Karlsruhe in Mannheim, Nov. 1, 2008. REUTERS/Thomas Bohlen