Match
of the weekend: Liverpool v Arsenal

It is not often two big teams meet on the
opening weekend and both sides would probably rather have a more gentle first
match. It should provide great entertainment, however, with Roy Hodgson looking
to win over a sceptical public at Anfield. He has made a good start by keeping
Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres at the club, and seems to be getting the
dressing room on side in his understated way. Rafa Benitez's lack of
man-management skills cost him his job in the end, but it seems Hodgson is a
much better communicator. Arsenal's weaknesses look to be

Liverpool fans can be
forgiven cautious optimism over the possible takeover by a Chinese billionaire,
but they should remain sceptical until the offer becomes clearer.

It sounds too good to be true: Kenny Huang intends to buy
out the hated Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks, pay off the club's debts
and provide Roy Hodgson with transfer funds.

If true, that is good news for the club, but it is a familiar promise - few people take
over clubs pledging to cripple them financially.

The truth is we do not know enough about Huang, a
stockbroker by trade, and we have to assume he is motivated by

This looks like a make-or-break season for Arsenal.

Four years without a trophy have created discontent in North London, and if they were to lose their top four
position, it would be a disaster.

Although the club's
ownership is in a state of flux, the present situation does not allow them to
throw silly money at transfer targets.

They are finding it increasingly hard to attract new
signings, particularly considering the massive wages on offer at clubs like Chelsea, Manchester
City and Real Madrid.

Without the lure of Champions League football they would
have no chance of attracting top

PLAYER TO WATCH: Andrei Arshavin

The little
Russian is one of the few players in the Premier League who I would regularly pay
to watch.

He was
magnificent against Porto in midweek and you can be sure that there were
envious looks on Tuesday night from other members of the Big Four who did not
want to take a gamble on him when he was available.

Arsene
Wenger did, despite concerns over his ability to adapt to the rigours of the
Premier League, and it has certainly paid off for the Gunners.

He's got
everything you want from a top class player - he's a thinker, he's creative, he
makes goals and

If there is one thing more harmful for a team than speaking out against the manager, it is upsetting the rest of the players and undermining the skipper.

That is exactly what John Terry has done by trying to muscle his way into power within the England camp. While his attempted mutiny may have been quashed, it was still hugely disrespectful and bang out of order.

Terry may still be bitter about the fact that Fabio Capello demoted him as captain, but he needs to get over it because he is causing real damage to the team's morale.

I think it's a classic case of money polluting a team and a player

You have to wonder as to the motives for
arranging an international friendly three days before the start of the new Premier
League season.

I just wonder whether the FA planned the
match with Hungary on the pretext that England would do well at the World Cup.

Their thinking might have gone something
like this: after our boys heroic performance in South Africa this game
will give the fans a chance to welcome back Fabio Capello's side - maybe even
as world champions. Weak opposition pretty much guarantees victory so there'll
be celebrations galore and the chance to make a bit of money from it.

Ryan Giggs
showed his enduring quality at the weekend with a match-winning substitute
appearance for Manchester United against Stoke, but United's reliance on him is
a little worrying.

Giggsy came
off the bench to set up both goals in a 2-0 win, and he - along with Wayne Rooney
- is one of the few truly creative players they have left after the departure
of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

The ball he
squared for Dimitar Berbatov was simple but exactly the sort of incisive play
United had been lacking; you could see how much Berbatov appreciated it because
he went straight over to Giggsy

UEFA might have moved the Champions League to a Saturday to boost TV ratings, but I don't think Bayern versus Inter Milan is a match to make many people in this country change their Saturday night plans.

The simple fact is that neither side is particularly entertaining to watch, and it feels like a bit of an empty occasion without Barcelona who are undoubtedly the most entertaining side around.

That is not to say Inter do not deserve to be there. They do. Even though they hardly touched the ball in the second leg of their semi-final at the Camp Nou, they did enough and deserve credit for the