I was at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and it was wonderful to see a Chelsea team right at the top of their game.
They dominated from start to finish, had total control of things and I just love watching Deco. At times it seems as if there's a forcefield around him so nobody can tackle him.
One of the reasons why Frank Lampard is playing so well is because he trusts Deco. As soon as Deco gets the ball then Frank's on his way because he knows Deco will find him out. As a former midfield player myself, I sometimes knew I wasn't going to get the ball because the people I was playing with didn't have the ability, but Lampard doesn't have that problem.
Stoke: fine win
Luiz Felipe Scolari will be pleased to bounce back after a bit of a blip last week. If Liverpool had lost at Stamford Bridge you might have said their title chances were gone - but not the other way round. In the past the title race has been a two-way issue, but that's opened up now with Liverpool in there with Chelsea and United.
The bottom is even more open and I think it will take a record number of points to stay up. Everybody is beating everybody else and the boys at the bottom are capable of beating the teams at the top - as we saw with Stoke City against Arsenal.
Stoke City have an Indian sign over everybody before a game even kicks off.
Chris Kamara
Quotes of the week
E-mail him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com
People have always commented on how exciting the Championship is, but the bottom of the Premier League is just as open and exciting these days because everyone is picking up results.
Kammy's picks of the weekend...
GAME - Stoke City 2-1 Arsenal
The Chelsea game was an exhibition match because of the quality of their football. Man Utd v Hull City was possibly the game of the day, but it might be patronising to Hull because they were 4-1 down, so I'll give it to Stoke. I think they deserve all the plaudits for what they did against Arsenal.
GOAL - Frank Lampard
There were some nice goals, but I'm going for Frank Lampard. Joe Cole produced a nice bit of skill down the right-hand side to set up a header for Frank and to score your 100th league goal in the fashion that he did was fantastic.
SAVE - Ross Turnbull
People were surprised, myself included, that Middlesbrough didn't buy a goalkeeper this summer, but Gareth Southgate wanted to give Brad Jones and Ross Turnbull a chance and they are proving him right. Turnbull's made a few mistakes but he rescued two points with his late double save.
PLAYER - Rory Delap
He's a little bit more than just a throw-in, but those big throws have caused havoc in the Premier League this season. They've worked quite a lot throughout his career, but Tony Pulis has honed it to perfection and that's why every team in the Premier League is scared of conceding a throw-in against them. They have an Indian sign over everybody before a game even kicks off.
GAFFER - Tony Pulis
They beat Arsenal at home and it never really looked in danger. Throw-ins aside, did Arsenal rip them to pieces? No they didn't. Forget the circumstances of the goals, Stoke didn't allow Arsenal to do what Arsenal like to do, which is to scare teams with their football.
TEAM - Chelsea
It has to be that Chelsea team. As a neutral it was wonderful to see to see those top players performing. Deco was outstanding, Alex was outstanding, Joe Cole was outstanding and Nicolas Anelka loved it because balls were coming across the box and he wasn't having to fight and battle with defenders up the middle. It was a joy to watch.
GRIPE - Atkinson's offside blunder
In the Chelsea game, Martin Atkinson and his assistant didn't seem to know the laws of the game. Sunday League referees would have disallowed Nicolas Anelka's second goal because once Alex touched it then Anelka couldn't touch it. He realised and looked across the assistant, I was sat in the stands waiting for a whistle and an offside flag - but somehow they contrived to get the decision wrong. Roy Keane questioned the decision at half time and was sent to the stands. There should be no further action against him and the FA should come out and apologise for a basic error. But that won't happen.
Kammy answers your e-mails...
Got a question for Kammy? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page.
WORTH THE TICKET PRICE?
Hi Kammy. With the credit crunch and talk of a recession, signs are that attendances might drop soon. It's important that the product is entertaining for people so they will be inclined to part with their hard earned cash, With this in mind, apart from the usual suspects in the top four, who would you pay to see every week? Ronan Kirwan (Manchester United fan)
KAMMY SAYS: You can get something out of most football matches. It's nice to go to a match like I did on Saturday and see top players performing at their best, but I also wouldn't have minded if Sunderland had defended like Trojans and got a 0-0. That would have given me as much pleasure. You simply never know what you're going to get in this league. Just look at the last weekend - Hull delighted everybody again; Liverpool played well but Tottenham won; Blackburn came back against the odds; Wigan took the points after being so bad in midweek; Middlesbrough came back to draw after West Ham dominated the first 45 minutes; and Louis Saha scored a late winner for Everton against his former club. Football's back in a big way and I'm not going to pin my colours to any mast. I just love football.
DRASTIC MEG?
I was just wondering Chris, what do you think about Bolton at the moment? I went to the game against Tottenham and we all turned on Gary Megson, nobody wanted him and I heard his time could be up, so I was wondering do you think we should get rid of him? Mark Smith (Bolton Wanderers fan)
KAMMY SAYS: I presume Bolton fans expected their team to lose against Man City but hopefully that result will have eased some of the pressure after the week they'd had. I don't expect Newcastle and Spurs to be in that bottom three come the end of the season so there's West Brom, Bolton, Wigan, Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke City and maybe one other to be involved down there. There's maybe seven teams fighting it out and you could have said before the season started that Bolton would be involved in a relegation scrap. Nothing's changed under those circumstances, but hopefully Gary can get the results. He and I go back a long way, he was my first assistant when I was manager at Bradford, so I'm keen for him to do well.
Got a question for Kammy? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page.
Comments (6)
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Patrick Ndegwa (Arsenal fan) says...
Mr. Wenger needs to stop giving excuses and do his job. In response to Stoke's tactics, he said that they narrowed the pitch and made it difficult. Well, I anticipate a much tougher task awaits Mr. Wenger this weekend. Give Fabregas a true Midfield partner, or he's gone for sure! Sell Gallas and Eboue back to Chelsea or anywhere else away from Emirates. Discipline the strikers. Lets pray that they don't lose to Man U!
Posted 06:14 4th November 2008
Graham Rhodes (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
This may sound self-absorbed but how can all of your highlights not include one mention of the bottom of the league side beating the unbeaten league leaders. Although I took great joy in Stoke City pounding the Arsenal surely their staunch defending and long throw-ins don't deserve ALL of the plaudits!
Posted 20:28 3rd November 2008
Pete Cope (Liverpool fan) says...
Hi Kammy with me coming from Stoke, i remember you playing before you joined Leeds then having a crack at management. With you watching so much football now, would you not want to get back into management again? It would be great seeing you screeming and shouting from the dugout.
Posted 18:08 3rd November 2008
El Noel (Crystal Palace fan) says...
Do you think that Arsenal will qualify for Europe this season?
Posted 16:18 3rd November 2008
Adam James (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
Dear kammy, firstly your a legend, please take the soccer am job next season (not that i have anything against max,...you would just be better) secondly, i normally agree with you totally but feel that spurs should of had some credit this week (after all as well as stoke did, and i love them for that. arsenal were probably not at there best because they are still upset about what we did to them wednesday) we won against an unbeaten liverpool side that were on top form, yes we certainly rode our luck for the majority of the game but kept plugging away and won the game against all the odds. outstanding stuff from a revived tottenham side who are only going up the table from now on. (with the exception of tonight perhaps because newcastle are a game in hand) PLAY UP TOTTENHAM, TOTTENHAM PLAY UP! all we need is a tattooed idiot in a hat.
Posted 15:42 3rd November 2008
Benny Brownlee (Leeds United fan) says...
Kammy do you think that leeds will reach the premiershiop again, due to the amount of quality teams in the campionship. because i think that they should have no problem going up this year
Posted 14:10 3rd November 2008
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