The Premier League is underway and the two main title protagonists have recorded emphatics wins coupled with extremely impressive performances. Chelsea’s 6-0 victory over West Brom was somewhat of a surprise given their lacklustre pre-season form and disappointing Community Shield display, but Didier Drogba has now declared Chelsea aren’t even ready for the season yet, an ominous warning to the rest of the Premier League.

Title rivals Manchester United though have already captured some silverware and in both competitive matches so far this season have produced two displays of hunger, fight and desire to win. This hunger was typified by Antonio Valencia and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, both pressed high up the pitch against Newcastle winning the ball in the final third with both opportunities leading to goals for their side.

The team though is being led by evergreen Paul Scholes and a rejuvenated Dimitar Berbatov.

Scholes has undoubtedly been the catalyst for the victories over Chelsea and Newcastle; he exudes calm and patience before picking that killer pass. He controlled the Community Shield from start to finish finding acres of space in the centre of the pitch, Essien, Mikel and Lampard couldn’t get near him. Sir Alex Ferguson labelled him ‘special’ after the 3-0 victory over Newcastle in the Premier League and few would argue as at 35 years of age, he can still mix it with the best of them.

His age though will inevitably work against him in the long run; he can no longer be expected to play two games a week at the highest level. Despite starting the season brightly, it would be safe to say Sir Alex will be managing his game time to the minute making sure he is fit when it matters.

United’s other star performer has been Berbatov, the Bulgarian enigma. The moody, lethargic and sometime disinterested £30 million man has seemingly sprung to life scoring a delightful chip against Chelsea and a well taken chance against Newcastle. It has not only been his new found liking for goals, his general play has gone up a level, on the face of it he seems happy and enjoying his football but journalist Andy Mitten followed United on their pre-season tour and noted the Bulgarian’s off pitch attitude is still lacking.

Given this he controlled the final third of the pitch in both matches, dropping deep to collect the ball, moving wide to occupy the full-backs and drag the central defenders from their comfort zone, all this then sewn together by his undoubted touch and vision. His partnership with new signing Chicharito looks promising in addition to his link up play with the improved Nani.

Can this form be sustained? Possibly, as on the pitch Berbatov is playing with a smile on his face, the burden he was saddled – the huge transfer fee – seems to have been lifted somewhat. The belief and desire emanating from Old Trafford is clear to see and on early season form only it would be hard to see the title not making its way back to Manchester.

In the next few weeks, Premier League chairmen will be presented with a couple of options to consider regarding their clubs playing overseas matches in an international competition in the near future.

Two of the options being considered include a mini-tournament being played during a winter break, and a summer friendly competition named the Premier League Cup to replace the current Community Shield.

Here’s how it would work:

The Premier League Cup idea would seed the Big Four teams among five groups of four teams. Each group would feature a glamor side such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal. The other teams featured would be a mixture of Premier League teams and clubs from the Football League who would qualify through a revised version of the League Cup tournament.

Each of the five groups would be stationed in a city overseas with most of the groups situated in Asia. For example, here’s how the groups could look:

Hong Kong group: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, QPR.

Sydney group: Arsenal, Sunderland, Fulham, Birmingham City.

Los Angeles group: Chelsea, West Ham, Bolton, Wolves.

Singapore group: Manchester United, Everton, Newcastle, Hull.

Dubai group: Manchester City, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Spurs.

The cities and groups are hypothetical but they give you an idea of how the tournament could be structured worldwide. The structure of the tournament resembles the Premier League’s Asia Cup Trophy except that it would be played around the worldwide and would feature more teams.

While the Premier League Cup concept is still an idea in its planning stages, the tournament could breathe life into a Carling Cup which is treated like a joke by most Premiership teams. However, two issues are that clubs such as Arsenal may decide to play their youngsters in a Premier League Cup instead of their first team. And the seeding of the Big Four in the Premier League Cup stinks of favoritism and is unfair to the other 16 clubs in the league.

Getting rid of the Community Shield wouldn’t be a huge loss. The charity match seems more like a preseason friendly year after year.

On the plus side, a tournament such as the Premier League Cup would bring out the fans in droves worldwide especially if the games are more meaningful than preseason friendlies that foreign fans are accustomed to. How seriously Premiership teams would take the tournament is yet to be determined, but if the Premier League can get some major sponsors for the tournament then the prize money could be quite significant.

The concept of the Premier League Cup could be an easier pill to swallow instead of the more radical 39th Game idea. If the Premier League Cup was successful, though, it could pave the way to make the 39th Game a reality.

What are your thoughts about the idea of the Premier League Cup? Would you go see some of the matches if they were played near you? And do you feel clubs would treat the tournament seriously? Share your thoughts by clicking the comments link below.

So, Manchester United has picked up another piece of silverware after beating Portsmouth 3-1 on penalties in the annual curtain raiser to the new season.

The game, which ended 0-0 in regular time, was a bit of a sleeper at times with Man United controlling large portions of the match but unable to score. A main reason for that was Portsmouth’s goalkeeper David James who was stellar between the goalposts for Pompey making several crucial saves. In comparison, Edwin van der Sar was rarely challenged.

Carlos Tevez deservedly was awarded the man of the match award after producing a spirited display on the pitch at Wembley. He was quite the troublemaker in attack for United having one shot brilliantly saved by James, being pulled down in the box — which should have been a penalty, and battling and winning many balls in midfield.

Portsmouth showed glimmers of skill now and again especially in midfield and in defense, but they rarely were able to get the ball to Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch. Pompey’s attack seemed very one dimensional with balls floated in to Crouch, but rarely did the ball reach Crouch and instead was defended well by United’s back four.

The difference between United and Pompey rang true during the penalty kicks. United was calm, cool and collected as they knocked in each of their penalty kicks. In contrast, Portsmouth’s Lassana Diarra, Arnold Mvuemba and Glen Johnson missed all of theirs. If Pompey wants to compete against the big boys, they’ve got a lot of work to do.

What are your thoughts regarding the final? Do you think that United looks beatable this season? Will Manchester United be able to play as well as they did last season without Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves for the early part of the season. Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.

This Sunday marks the traditional beginning of the top flight of English football when Portsmouth battles Manchester United in the Community Shield Final at Wembley Stadium in London. If you’re like me, you’re excited about seeing the return of English football after being without it since the end of May.

But the biggest story in the press in the buildup to this Sunday’s match is not anything to do with United or Pompey. It’s referee Mark Clattenburg who has been dropped from the match in favor of Peter Walton.

Clattenburg has been suspended because the electrical company that he owns has gone bankrupt and owes debts of £60,000.

Not only will Clattenburg miss the Community Shield Final, but he’s also expected to miss being in charge on the pitch for the first few weeks of the Premier League season until the issue has been resolved.

Clattenburg will also not officiate in any other games until the issue has been resolved.

With Clattenburg having such large debts, the Professional Game Match Officials feel it’s not appropriate for the referee to be in charge of matches especially when there would be temptations for refs who are facing financial difficulties. I believe the FA and Professional Game Match Officials are making the correct decision.

Let’s hope that Sunday’s final is remembered for something special on the pitch rather than the issues off the pitch.

Fox Soccer Channel will be broadcasting this season’s Community Shield featuring Manchester United against Portsmouth. The game will be televised live and shown at 10am ET on Sunday, August 10th.

The match has been the traditional opener to the new season and pits the winner of the Premier League against the winner of the FA Cup Final. The game will be played at Wembley Stadium.

Meanwhile, Portsmouth and Man United play together today in a friendly in Tinapa, Nigeria. The clubs are reportedly earning between £1.5 to £2 million each.

In last year’s Community Shield, Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties after ending the 90 minutes at 1-1.

What are your thoughts about this summer’s Community Shield match? With Portsmouth playing, does it make the final more exciting because an underdog is involved?