Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expects big-spending Manchester City and much-improved Aston Villa to turn the Premier League's established big four into a big six this season.
Chelsea have made the first major transfer move ahead of next season after reaching an agreement with Germany's highly-rated RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner. The Premier League club announced on Thursday that they had struck an agreement with Leipzig on a transfer fee and on personal terms with the player, who had been strongly linked with a move to European champions Liverpool.
Bolton Wanderers secured a priceless three points in their bid to escape relegation on Saturday, winning 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
Champions Chelsea begin title defence at home to Swansea City, while runners-up Manchester City kick-off at West Bromwich Albion
Hamburg led a trio of former European champions into the UEFA Cup knockout phase on Thursday and previous winners Valencia also secured a last 32 place. Aston Villa and Ajax Amsterdam progressed from Group F along with Hamburg, whose 2-0 victory at Slavia Prague meant Villa qualified despite a 2-1 home defeat by Slovakia's Zilina.
A preview of Saturday's matches in the English Premier League.
Bolton Wanderers moved off the bottom of the Premier League and out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 home defeat of Manchester City on Sunday. A poor game was settled by two late goals, the first a close-range effort from Ricardo Gardner and the second an own goal from City defender Richard Dunne.
Chelsea gave departing coach Guus Hiddink the perfect leaving present when they came from behind to beat Everton 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.
Newcastle United's euphoria after their win over Middlesbrough on Monday turned to despair on Saturday when a 1-0 loss at home to Fulham left their Premier League status hanging by a thread.
Aston Villa secured their place in Europe next season and Hull City remained dangerously close to the relegation zone after John Carew gave the Midlanders a 1-0 Premier League victory Monday.
Liverpool duo Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were both unexpectedly passed fit on Friday for Saturday's Premier League game against champions Manchester United at Anfield. Gerrard has recently undergone groin surgery and, though manager Rafa Benitez said he thought his captain would make the game, the player himself said last weekend he would prefer more time to get back to full fitness.
The Football Association has rejected appeals by Chelsea left back Ashley Cole and Aston Villa defender Zat Knight for wrongful dismissal in the 4-4 draw between the teams in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Chelsea and Liverpool, the only teams to start the English Premier League season with two wins, lost their 100 percent records on Sunday when they drew with Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa respectively. Chelsea had scored five goals and conceded none in their opening wins, while Spurs lost both theirs but they drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge after Darren Bent cancelled out Juliano Belletti's opener for the home side.
Federico Macheda came off the bench to save Manchester United for the second week running on Saturday when the 17-year-old Italian got the decider in a 2-1 win at Sunderland with his first touch seconds after coming on.
Federico Macheda's debut goal for Manchester United is the result of a cattle market where young players are snapped up by rich foreign clubs, Lazio president Claudio Lotito said on Monday.
Teenager Federico Macheda marked his Manchester United debut with an astonishing stoppage-time winner to give the defending champions a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa and keep them on course for the Premier League title. The 17-year-old substitute, who replaced Nani after 61 minutes, showed tremendous composure to turn Villa defender Luke Young and curl the ball past Villa keeper Brad Friedel.
Manchester United fought back to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday with an injury time winner from 17-year-old substitute Federico Macheda. United lead the table with 68 points from 30 matches, one point more than Liverpool who had gone top on Saturday after their 1-0 stoppage time win at Fulham.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Yossi Benayoun struck in injury time to give Liverpool a hugely important 1-0 victory at Fulham that took them top of the Premier League on Saturday. The win takes Liverpool to 67 points, two ahead of champions Manchester United, who have two games in hand and host Aston Villa on Sunday.
The English Premier League title race was thrown wide open with leaders Manchester United losing a second successive match and Liverpool thumping Aston Villa 5-0 to close the gap at the top to one point. Barcelona maintained their six-point lead in Spain, while a double from Zlatan Ibrahimovic ensured Inter Milan stayed seven points clear in Serie A.
Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick as Liverpool maintained their stunning recent form by crushing Aston Villa 5-0 at Anfield on Sunday to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester United to just one point.
Manchester United won 2-1 at Crystal Palace to consolidate fourth spot.
Three consecutive draws for Chelsea allowed Manchester United to stride into 2007 six points clear at the top of the EPL table.
Christian Benteke's superb hat-trick rescued a potentially priceless Premier League point for Aston Villa.
Manchester United crushed Derby County 4-1 away while Everton beat Aston Villa 3-1 at Goodison Park on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. United were pushed all the way by the Championship (second division) strugglers in the League Cup semi-finals last month but cruised home this time with goals by Nani, Darron Gibson, Cristiano Ronaldo and Danny Welbeck.
New Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink said Thursday he was excited at the prospect of managing a club challenging for three major trophies.
Everton moved up to fifth in the Premier League on Sunday with a 2-0 home defeat of Middlesbrough.
Holders Chelsea advanced to the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a 2-0 home win over Stoke City while Aston Villa joined them after coming from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Reading with a John Carew hat-trick on Sunday.
A Kamil Zayatte own goal two minutes from time gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win at Hull City on Tuesday and lifted them to fourth place in the Premier League.
Liverpool stayed top of the Premier League on Sunday after an emphatic 5-1 win at Newcastle United gave them maximum points from their two Christmas fixtures.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United celebrated the festive season with victories on Friday while Arsenal, the other member of the 'big four', squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Aston Villa. Liverpool beat Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at Anfield with Robbie Keane scoring twice to give the leaders 42 points, one ahead of Chelsea as the Premier League season reached the halfway point.
Chelsea missed the chance to top the table at Christmas when, after having captain John Terry sent off in the 34th minute, their 11-game away English Premier League winning streak ended with a 0-0 draw at Everton on Monday. Terry was shown a straight red for a wild lunge at Leon Osman, taking the steam out of the Londoners, who had dominated until the dismissal but were then forced to hang on in the second half.
Aston Villa took full advantage of the absence of the other Premier League high-fliers on Saturday, winning 1-0 at West Ham United to climb to third. A deflected James Milner shot 12 minutes from time gave Villa 34 points from 18 games and pushed them above Manchester United (32).
Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League was cut to one point on Wednesday when they lost 2-1 at Everton with Louis Saha continuing his scoring jinx over them. Second-placed Manchester United drew 1-1 at Aston Villa while Arsenal stayed in the hunt after beating Liverpool 1-0.
Premier League leaders Liverpool stumbled again at home on Saturday, needing two Steven Gerrard goals to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with Hull City.
Bolton Wanderers illuminated a dull day in the Premier League on Saturday with a 4-1 victory at Sunderland that lifted them to seventh in the standings.
The top four failed to muster a goal on Saturday as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United drew 0-0 while Arsenal went down 3-0 at Manchester City. Premier League leaders Chelsea could find no way through Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool had the same problem at home to Fulham and third-placed Manchester United were held 0-0 in a lively game at Aston Villa.
Obafemi Martins scored twice as Newcastle United produced a stirring second-half performance to beat Aston Villa 2-0 on Monday to move off the bottom of the Premier League.
Chelsea also begin the new English season at home, against promoted Birmingham City.
Everton went ahead of Liverpool into fourth place in the Premier League on Monday with an impressive 2-0 victory at Manchester City.
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