Power Rankings: Palace on the Rise, Liverpool Fall Again

1. Chelsea (1): Another easy win for Chelsea who dispatched of Aston Villa easily at home.  Diego Costa now has eight from six premier league matches, and Jose Mourinho celebrated his 250th match in charge of the club.  Chelsea will look to take advantage of Arsenal’s injury troubles next weekend and replicate the last meeting between the two London clubs.

2. Southampton (2): Since losing at Anfield on opening day, Southampton are undefeated in all competitions (seven matches), riding the high of Ronald Koeman’s brilliant philosophies.  Graziano Pelle’s strike could be the goal of the season already, and Ryan Bertrand looks keen to jump ship from Chelsea permanently.  

3. Manchester City (3): The top three remains unchanged here, given Southampton’s form in September.  City won 4-2 at Hull City, but made it harder on themselves than necessary; Eliaquim Mangala will want to forget this day which saw him conceded a penalty and put one in his own net.  

4. Arsenal (4): Arsenal only stay in the top four of the rankings by virtue of the four teams behind them losing.  Saturday’s North London Derby was a disappointing result for the Gunners, with fans scratching their heads wondering why Alexis started on the bench.  The Chilean has been Arsenal’s best player in the young season, and his introduction changed the game late on.  A full 90 from Arsenal’s big signing could have seen a different outcome.  

5. Crystal Palace (9): Crystal Palace’s rise in the last two weeks has been meteoric; two wins in six days an a recent home victory over talk-of-the-town Leicester will put to rest any doubts about Neil Warnock’s pedigree for now.  Mile Jedinak continues to log impressive shifts in the middle for Palace; there are probably a host of top teams wishing they had a player of his solidarity.  

6. Leicester City (5): Leicester couldn’t continue the blistering pace with which they dispatched of Manchester United last Sunday, and subsequently fell to Crystal Palace 2-0 on the road.  Nigel Pearson is a manager who, however, ‘gets it,’ and they should look to impress more moving forward. 

7. Aston Villa (6): That’s two losses from two for Aston Villa, but this one won’t sting like last weekend’s 3-0 home loss to Arsenal.  Chelsea are in a different class, and it’s important for Paul Lambert and Roy Keane to refocus their efforts toward more winnable fixtures ahead.  

8. Swansea (7): For the second week in a row, Swansea drop a spot in the rankings.  Lukasz Fabianski was a busy man on Saturday, and also for the second weekend in a row Swansea ended the game with 10 men.  This time it was Angel Rangel who received his marching orders, but credit Sunderland for making it very difficult for Swansea to find chances throughout.  

9. Everton (13): Everton stood firm in the season’s first edition of the North London Derby.  Phil Jagielka’s pile-driving effort assured a point for Roberto Martinez, but today’s here for Everton was American Tim Howard.  Howard had a disastrous outing last Sunday, making two unforgivable errors.  On Saturday, Howard was Everton’s best player, making several impressive saves even while falling victim to Steven Gerrard’s brilliant free kick.  

10. Stoke City (12): Another club on the rise for the second week in a row, Stoke City easily dispatched of sputtering Newcastle United.  This could be the last nail in the coffin for Alan Pardew.  

11. Hull City (8): Steve Bruce will applaud his side’s resilience after going down 2-0 so early, but won’t be happy with some of the lazy marking which allowed Sergio Aguero to open the scoring.  Had it not been for Eliaquim Mangala’s day to forget, it could have been much worse for the Tigers.  

12. Manchester United (15): 19 year old Paddy McNair was handed his debut by Louis Van Gaal, more papering over the cracks than a must-see first start.  However, credit the debutant for holding his ground and managing a near-physically impossible clearance down the stretch from a dangerous West Ham cross.  Wayne Rooney’s sending off only adds to the laundry list of questions directed toward the Red Devils’ captain.  

13. Liverpool (11): Liverpool missed an opportunity to springboard into a run of excellent form, as they did last year when they dismantled Everton 4-0 at Anfield.  Brendan Rodgers’ side took 37 or the next 39 available points after that, and a team struggling to find it’s post-Suarez identity won’t look to this one for any encouragement.  

14. Tottenham (14): Tottenham scored against Arsenal, something they didn’t manage once last season, so that has to be a huge positive coming away from this one.  

15. West Brom (17): West Brom dismantled Burnley, thanks to a brace from Saido Berahino.  Berahino’s impressive start to the season continues, and Fabian Delph’s call-up gives the youngster hope of seeing action in Roy Hodgson’s England squad.  

16. West Ham (10): Taking a closer look at this game, West Ham missed an opportunity to snatch a point from Old Trafford.  Enner Valencia blasted wide from a Daley Blind error, United capitalized on a terrible error for their second and game-winning goal, and Wayne Rooney's sending off should have boosted the Hammers coming off their win over Liverpool last weekend.  

17. Sunderland (18): Sunderland are also still searching for their first win of the season.  A draw to Swansea isn’t the worst thing that can happen, but Gus Poyet may see pressure from above if he continues to go winless.  

18. Newcastle (18): If cats have nine lives, Alan Pardew surely has hundreds and is by now running out.  Newcastle lack inventiveness, organization, and fighting spirit.  Only a matter of time now until SackPardew.com can finally be deemed irrelevant, but while it’s not, check it out; lot of interesting facts about the Pardew era on there.  

19. Queens Park Rangers (20): The only thing keeping Queens Park Rangers out of the DFL zone is Burnley’s unworldly poor form.  However, had it not been for Graziano Pelle’s unworldly strike, Harry Redknapp could have walked away with a point from the South.  

20. Burnley (16): Ironically enough, Burnley had three bids for Michael Dawson rejected over the summer.  Dawson scored from Chris Brunt’s corner to only worsen the 4-0 defeated handed to them by West Brom, while Burnely are currently riding a 526 minute streak in which they have not scored a league goal.  

Arsenal's Turkish Test

Arsenal face an early season test in Turkey tomorrow, as they face Besiktas in the UEFA Champions League playoff which leads into the group draw.  Arsenal handled Fenerbahce nicely last year in the same playoff, but this year will likely be more difficult.  

Arsenal were far from a polished product on Saturday, albeit they won the game against a scrappy Crystal Palace side.  Arsene Wenger will take no chances in this game, since departing the competition at such an early stage would set an awful for the season.  

I expect the Frenchman to name a strong starting XI for this tie, regardless of the fact that the squad is still recuperating from World Cup duty.  None of the German trio will feature for the Gunners, while Kieran Gibbs picked up an injury against Crystal Palace and could miss several weeks.  

Nacho Monreal could help the Gunners approach, since at times Gibbs and Debuchy would both be caught well up the field.  Monreal, more of a defensive fullback than Gibbs, is a very capable deputy while the young Englishman recovers. 

Laurent Koscielny appears to have recovered from the achilles injury he picked up in training last week, but with Mertesacker still regaining fitness and Thomas Vermaelen now in Barcelona, Wenger will again turn to Calum Chambers who has proved himself to be an excellent acquisition early on.   

Mathieu Flamini should feature in the middle of the park, his tireless work ethic and energy being the reason.  Mathieu Debuchy will likely feature again, but don’t sleep on Wenger throwing Hector Bellerin into the mix in a big game, as he did with Yaya Sanogo against Bayern last year.  

Mikel Arteta’s leadership would be missed if Flamini were to start, but Aaron Ramsey is taking it upon himself to adopt a more significant leadership role and that shouldn’t be a problem.  Ramsey will likely get the nod ahead of Jack Wilshere in midfield, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain possibly earning the start. 

Olivier Giroud should be guaranteed a start after watching the first 60 minutes from the bench Saturday, while Santi Cazorla could be one of the players who won’t start consecutive games for Arsenal.  Cazorla looked rusty on Saturday, definitely not at his sharpest and lacking fitness.  To add insult to injury, the referee’s malfunctioning vanishing spray can decided to erupt like a fireman's hose in the Spaniards face.  

Alexis will likely feature in this big game for Arsenal, and although I’m not nearly as harsh as Steve Nicol in my criticisms of the Chilean after Saturday, there is definitely room for improvement from the new boy.  Alexis needs to get on a better wavelength with his new teammates, while surely the German reinforcements on their way are encouraging to the winger.  

Away from home, Arsenal were very good in the Champions League last year, but also the year before when they beat trebel-winners Bayern 2-0 at the Allianz Arena.  Mentally, Arsene Wenger will have his men ready for the early season test. 

It all seems rather routine that Arsenal would advance, but in Europe there are never such guarantees.  An away game in the Champions League is never easy, let alone in the hostile Besiktas environment.  It will be an intense contest, but I still see Arsenal earning a similar victory to last years 3-0 win at Fenerbahce.  2-0 Arsenal here.