An excellent day of soccer today.

Arsenal utterly squashed poor Sheffield United 3-nil, who were outclassed and knew it. I watched all of the first half and portions of the second, and every minute was in favor of Arsenal. Arsenal's first goal was a delightful five yard standing chip by Henry that Fabregas knocked down in front of goal and Gallas finished. Pretty goal. Fabregas' play is simply brilliant. A man-child maestro.

Reading tied Man U, a game I saw little of. I certainly don't like United, but I think the handball on Neville that led to the penalty was a bit harsh. I'm pleased with the result, though.

Liverpool beat Spurs 3-0, which is excellent. The non-excellent part is that Liverpool continues to win only when I am not watching, which is annoying, but I'll take it. Kuyt scored, which makes it two in a row for him, which must please Benitez.

FF

Liverpool won today. It was on Setanta, so, naturally, I missed it. Would have really liked to have seen Alonso's goal...

FF

Liverpool lost 1-0 at Chelsea. A tough defeat. Chelsea's winner was a brilliant something-out-of-nothing swivel shot by Drogba. Other than that, Chelsea did not look particularly dangerous, even when they had 11 men. Ballack got sent off in the 51st minute, and that extinguished any threat in the second half.

Ballack's departure emboldened the Reds but led to nothing. Liverpool spent a lot of time using Pennant to cross balls that Chelsea easily defensed. Gerrard did not distinguish himself, and in fact was notable mostly for missing an open shot against Cech from 10 yards. Stevie shot it right at him. Later in the half Crouch turned a nice cross into a gentle header directly at Cech. Snap your body into it, Crouchinho!

I remain unimpressed with Kuyt. The Bigsoccer.com folks seem delighted with his pace and energy, but merely fast and lively does not a successful striker make. Kuyt was regularly dispossessed of the ball by the Chelsea defense, and created little for other players when he received the ball with his back to the goal. I prefer the Bellamy-Crouch pairing.

My Liverpool = Premiership Champion prediction is looking more and more silly. I'm keeping my day job.

FF