Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in, Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas out from the Emirates Stadium!?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Arsenal and Southampton have agreed on a fee of £12million for the England under-21 international.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, contracted at Southampton until 2013, is regarded as one of England's most promising young footballers. The 17-year-old played a key role in helping Southampton secure promotion to the Championship last season, firing nine goals in 34 appearances. Known for his pace and ability to beat defenders, he can operate on either side of the pitch. A lot of people are comparing him to Arsenal’s own Theo Walcott and will give even more pace to the young and talented team.

Cesc Fabregas

Samir Nasri

I must say it’s a strange signing from Arsène Wenger, when what the Arsenal team is in desperate need of is defenders with experience. But of course Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is with out of doubt one of the most talented players in England and a good signing for the future. But I bet this will set more roumers out that Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas can be on the way out from the Emirates Stadium within short time. I bet it will be one interesting week before the premiership kick starts.

Sir Alex Ferguson, what a manager!

FA Community Shield FT: Man City 2 (Lescott 38, Dzeko 45) Man Utd 3 (Smalling 52, Nani 58 & 90).

Sir Alex Ferguson

What a comeback from United in today in the FA Community Shield at Wembley. After being behind 2-0 at half-time, I bet the “hear dryer” from Ferguson was turned on. What a comeback it was in the second-half. Ferguson made 3 suptitutes at the break( Cleverly for Carrick, Evans for Vidic and Jones for Ferdinand), and what an impact it made on the team.  

A lot of experts had little or no hope of seeing a good and open game, and the most likely result would have been 0-0 or 1-1 draw with and ending penalty shootout to separate the teams. But this match had all the dramatic one could hope for. And when United only need 13 minutes to make the score even, one could see start to see it ending with a typical Ferguson victory. And what a finish to the game it was when everybody was talking about penalty shootout, Nani went out from nowhere and made it 3-2.

What else can one say, then what a manager! He never stops to surprise and I bet he will keep it going until his time is up in this life, because Sir Alex Ferguson is MR. Manchester United!

Premiership preview, table prediction: 20. Norwich

Norwich City

Nickname: The Canaries

Ground: Carrow Road

Capacity: 26034

Manager: Paul Lambert

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 1 John Ruddy 13 Declan Rudd ·         Defenders 2 Russell Martin 3 Adam Drury 6 Zak Whitbread 20 Leon Barnett 22 Elliott Ward 23 Marc Tierney 24 Ritchie de Laet 25 Kyle Naughton 28 George Francomb Steven Smith

·         Midfielders 4 Bradley Johnson 7 Andrew Crofts 11 Andrew Surman 12 Anthony Pilkington 15 David Fox 17 Elliott Bennett 18 Korey Smith 19 Simon Lappin 27 Tom Adeyemi 29 Josh Dawkin 34 Matt Ball Stephen Hughes

·         Forwards 5 Steve Morison 8 James Vaughan 9 Grant Holt 10 Simeon Jackson 16 Chris Martin 21 Aaron Wilbraham Cody McDonald Oli Johnson

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 16 vs Gorleston 7-0 – Holt (2), Whitbread, Smith, Jackson, Johnson, Wilbraham

July 21 vs Sparta Gottingen/RSV Gottingen 8-0 – Vaughan (2), Jackson, Francomb, Morison, Bennett, Ward (2)

July 23 vs Nordhausen/Regional Select XI 11-0 – Morison, Hoolahan, Crofts, Wilbraham, Surman, Martin, Jackson (2), Holt (2), Johnson

July 26 vs Crystal Palace 0-1

July 28 vs Southend United 0-0

July 30 vs Coventry City 3-0 Wilbraham, Morison, Bennett

August 3 vs Real Zaragoza 1-1 De Laet

August 6 vs Parma 3-0 – Surman (2), Holt

Manager Paul Lambert and his guys did one hell of a season last year, and were therefore rewarded with premiership football this season. But even with 10 signings during the summer, I can’t see Norwich staying up, in what looks to be the hardest premiership season ever. When you look at the signings Lambert have made it’s not much premiership quality or experience in the players, so if they manage to stay up in the premiership I would say it is one of the biggest achievements in the history of the league.

Players in:

07/11 Tom Adeyemi MF

07/11 Elliott Bennett MF

07/11 Ritchie De Laet DF

07/11 Bradley Johnson MF

07/11 Cody McDonald FW

07/11 Steve Morison FW

07/11 Kyle Naughton DF

07/11 Anthony Pilkington MF

07/11 Steven Smith DF

07/11 James Vaughan FW                               

Players out:

07/11 Owain Tudur-Jones MF

06/11 Rob Edwards DF

06/11 Matthew Gill MF

06/11 Henri Lansbury MF

To make things even harder for Lambert and Norwich they have been struggling with a lot of injuries in the pre-season. “Paul Lambert accepts the loss of striker James Vaughan and defender Elliott Ward for the start of Norwich's Premier League campaign is a blow”. Heading into the premiership against another bottom side from last season, Wigan, they will be needing points straight away to have any hopes of staying up.

Most likely starting line up for Norwich next weekend:

          John Ruddy

Russell Martin             Zak Whitbread        Marc Tierney       Ritchie de Laet

Elliott Bennett             Andrew Surman        David Fox           Wes Hoolahan

                                       Grant Holt            Simeon Jackson              

When you look at the squad and the starting lineup for Norwich you don’t see much premiership experience or much quality. The Canaries have a great home crowd that will help them picking up points at home, and I think Grant Holt will score 10-12 goals this season. But I can’t see them getting enough points away from home. I think Paul Lambert is a great coach, but I can’t see him producing a miracle and make water into whine.  I’m sorry to say but in my opinion the Canaries are just on a short visit to the premiership this season.