“Fact Or Fiction” is a series that will be run every Friday. In this series, an assertion will be made regarding an impacting topic in the Premier League. EPL Talk writers Matt Hackenmiller and Earl Reed each offer their views on whether the statement is “Fact or Fiction.”

Fact or Fiction: Wayne Rooney will lead the Premier League in goals scored this season.

MH: Fact. Although Wayne Rooney has been slowed the past few weeks with an injury, he is still the odds on favorite to lead the league in scoring. By the way that Rooney has began the season, the goal-scoring drought of last season seems to be in the rearview mirror. He will continue to be the focus of the Manchester United attack as he remains one of the best players in Europe. Also, some of Rooney’s biggest competition, Carlos Tevez and Didier Drogba, either have personal issues or have fallen out of favor for their perspective clubs. The only other player to match Rooney’s start to the season is Sergio Aguero and he has not been tested over a full season in England. So as long as Rooney can stay relatively healthy, there is a pretty good chance that he will lead the league in scoring.

ER: Fiction. This is a tough one. While Aguero and Dzeko are both in the early running behind Rooney, I’m going to take a long-shot at another Manchester City-owned player: Emmanuel Adebayor. He’s had a tough ride over the last couple of years, with City continually burying him in the depth chart with forward after forward. After a loan stint at Real Madrid last season, I think he’s ready to return to prominence on the Premier League stage on loan with Tottenham. He has 3 goals thus far, and that’s considering he missed a couple of early fixtures before his loan move. He’s starting to bed in with the club, and Spurs have already gotten both City and United out of the way in their first half fixtures. With easier fixture list to close the first half, a club looking to return to the Champions League, and a player who needs to prove he is still a top-class striker, I think Adebayor has a great shot at the Golden Boot.

What do you think, is it fact or fiction that Wayne Rooney will lead the Premier League in goals scored this season?

Manchester City will host Arsenal tomorrow in a game which could be crucial for both sides this season. But for one man the game will be a chance to erase some dark memories of the last time Arsenal visited Eastlands.

Emmanuel Adebayor is in line for a rare Premier League start after an impressive midweek hat-trick against Lech Poznan in the Europa League. The former Arsenal man was in excellent form against the Polish side, and will no doubt be in the mood to hurt his ex teammates.

Last season Adebayor, quite literally did just that, with a crude stamp on Robin Van Persie. It completed a controversial performance which also saw the towering forward run the length of the field to celebrate in-front of the visiting Arsenal fans.

Adebayor admitted he got caught up in the emotion of the game that day, but if he is to make the most of this rare chance to impress Roberto Mancini, he must make sure he keeps his emotions in check this time round.

When the Gunners visited City last season, Adebayor was an integral part of the City attack, but ever since Mancini took charge, the Togo forward has found himself used as a fringe member of the squad.

Mancini’s insistence on a hard to beat side has meant that a 4-5-1 formation is a must, meaning that Adebayor has to compete with Carlos Tevez for a starting place. Unfortunately for Adebayor, Tevez is seen like a talisman amongst the blue half of Manchester, and displacing him has proved very difficult.

But there is no doubting his ability to score goals, and a natural goalscorer is perhaps the only thing that the City squad do miss. However the only way for Adebayor to convince Mancini he is the man to fire City to glory is to make sure he makes the most of the opportunities when they arise.

He did just that with his hat-trick in midweek, and goals like that may just have convinced the Italian manager to include Tevez and Adebayor in the side together. Now it is crucial for striker that the two can combine, because if they don’t he could be set for another long spell on the fringes of the City side.

The pressure on Adebayor has been greatened by the return to the matchday squad of Italian striker Mario Balotelli. The young forward was one of the major signings for Mancini in the summer, and that would suggest that he is probably ahead of Adebayor in the City pecking order.

So this game really could be crucial for Adebayor. Not just because he is getting an opportunity to make people forget about his antics last season, but for his whole City career.

The sale of Robinho has marked the end of an era for Manchester City. The Brazilian arrived with high expectations of taking City to the next level and in a strange way he has sort lived up to the expectations.

City fans will look back fondly to the day of Robinho’s arrival. He signing was the marquee singing on that eventful day and somebody that would make the world take notice of City’s new millions.

While his on the field impact was limited scoring just 16 times during his time at Eastlands ( a cost of over £2 million a goal) the Brazilian served his purpose and was able to help City gradually bring in the better standard of players they desired.

It was at this point that Robinho began to fall out of favour with City’s management. He was no longer required to have an impact on the field mainly because his attitude didn’t fit in with either Mark Hughes or Roberto Mancini’s method.

City no longer needed Robinho and the loan move to Santos only held up the forwards investable departure from Manchester, but as I suggested before I don’t think City will look back on Robinho’s signing as a failure.

He may have come with a huge price and an astronomical wages but he has helped to put City on the map. Without the signing of Robinho on that day back in 2008 you feel that City might have found it hard to attract the likes of Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor the following summer. From then on though Robinho had served his purpose and the fact that City managed to sell him for a reported £22milion is only a mere bonus.

But he has now set a worrying trend for the likes of Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz who look set to move on sooner rather than later. With City’s millions they will always be looking to better the squad. The worry for those players will be that if a top player becomes available, will Mancini or whoever is in charge at the time will opt to move players out once again.

As they approach, once again, the 100 million pound mark in the transfer market, Manchester City and head coach Roberto Mancini still find facets of their team to dislike. Yet, for a team still searching for a striker to add to an already formidable attack, much respect is already deserved to what appears to be the most dangerous attacking third in the Premier League.

For title-winning clubs in the Premier League, the magic number of points is about 90. For the Citizens, not only is 90 a desire in the category points, but a high aim to shoot for in the category of goals scored. While Chelsea managed to hit the back of the net 103 times in 2009, City mustered up a total of 73, six behind fourth place finisher Tottenham. The unwritten answer may appear as a necessity of a more formidable defense, but for Sheikh Al-Mansour, the answer to defensive mishaps is millions of pounds worth of pure shot-firing, free-kick taking, goal scoring material.

With the likes of World Cup winner David Silva added and Robinho back in the squad that so eagerly marooned him last January, a strong attack once helmed by Mark Hughes’ brainchild Craig Bellamy and Sven Goran-Erikkson’s favorite overpriced Brazilian Jo now places the two strikers likely on their way out riding the bench, and possibly not making Mancini’s 25-man registered team.

Depth is something never lacking in a strong team, and the new look City team speaks nothing but the same. Starting with Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez up front, who combined last year to score 43 goals for the Blues, more than half of their total goals in Premier League competitions. If three or even four men are preferred for Mancini’s tactical mind, or maybe just the scarf has been cutting of the circulation, the likes of Roque Santa Cruz, Robinho, and even Silva who has never hesitated to play up front all wait for their cracks at goal. Silva, who played few minutes for Spain in the World Cup campaign, came over to Eastlands for 30 million pounds, but this time plans on not letting himself be outshined by the likes of David Villa, who outscored him at Valencia in 2009, as well as in South Africa. With a determined Silva,  a punishing Bellamy, and rejuvenation seasons from Santa Cruz and Robinho, the attack will be more dominant than ever.

At City, versatility is a key in the strength to attack. As is becoming the trend in most of European football, Mancini prefers to play a game with wingers on their opposite sides and the usual one or two strikers. Most often, an attacking midfielder will end up in the middle, in front of powerhouse defensive midfielder (and dropkick extraordinaire) Nigel de Jong and now the Premier League’s newest brother combination, the Toures.   For the most part, that position is filled by the likes of Gareth Barry, but it seems there is hope for the likes of Stephen Ireland after strong preseason performances, and the acquisition of Villa’s James Milner still could be lying in the waits, as Martin O’Neil’s midfield slowly migrates its entirety to the blue side of Manchester.  From the inside spreads wide where the depth and strength of the title hopefuls exemplifies itself even further. Adam Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Vladimir Weiss fill the wings in, while preseason looks and prior remembrance shows Mancini’s willingness to play Robinho, Bellamy, Ireland, and Silva (his natural position, nonetheless) out wide feeding the ball back inside to duly nicknamed Carlos “Energizer bunny” Tevez and Emmanuel “Fear my goal celebrations” Adebayor. The fun isn’t done there for City, though.

In recent weeks and months, many a name has been thrown around the transfer mill at Eastlands, the most promising of those including Inter Milan wonderkid Mario Balotelli, Don Garber’s favorite lover Landon Donovan, Fernando Torres, and the one last name I can’t pronounce in Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko. The possibility of adding the talents of one of the above to an already formidable attack could put City over the top. With those additions plus the likes of an improving come January, the power of an attacking Manchester City could provide a shock in this year’s Premier League.

• I wanna sleep in one of those tents

As we find ourselves with four matches left in the season, we’re starting to have a pretty clear indication of who’s going home with what and who’ll be playing where next season. A lack luster, Rooney-less Manchester United could only manage a point away to Blackburn and seem to now have enough distance from table toppers Chelsea, who gained 3 points at home to Bolton, to widely be considered out of the title race.

In a conversation with Manchester United supporter, Guardian and free lance writer Rob Smyth, United’s current state was summed up quite accurately, “In many ways, the surprise is not that we have collapsed but that we stayed in the race until April before doing so”.Although I don’t 100% agree, interesting perspective from Smyth nonetheless.

I made a prediction a few weeks ago that Manchester City would end up finishing fourth this year and as of yet, the Citizens have done nothing to disprove my prediction. City have reached a cohesive attacking front having scored 14 goals, yes 14! in their last 3 matches with the likes of Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy and others leading the charge. Again, I must stress the number of important fixtures left to be played in this year’s season, as clear a picture that is attempting to develop in regards to the finish, nothing is final just yet.

There were a number of 0-0 draws this week (more specifically, the Liverpool v Fulham match) as the ever-controversial decision managers have to make of resting players for “more important” matches takes center stage…….is an all English Europa League final in the future?

This week I’m going to leave the winner up to you the readers. What follows will be nominees for Premier League Footballer of the Week. After you read the recaps, feel free to vote for who you think is most deserved of the award. If a player didn’t make the nominees, feel free to leave his name in the comments section.

Nominees -

Graham Alexander, Burnley- It may be a bit too early to tell if Alexander’s double on Saturday v Hull City will be enough to keep Burnley in the Premier League. However, his two emphatically taken penalties were enough to lead Burnley in a 4-1 away win (their first of the season) in the relegation 6-pointer against Hull. When Alexander retires from football, the Scottish right back/defensive midfielder should open a school teaching the finer arts of penalty taking. If you didn’t see the two spot kicks on the weekend, it’s safe to say you missed someone most consider an expert in the field.

Alexander’s inclusion on this list isn’t for scoring two penalties, it’s for how he scored the penalties. Alexander’s unique style has made his penalties quite incredible to watch and unsaveable for opposition keepers. Alexander approaches to strike the ball with a direct and straight run and hits it with the outside of his right foot. The shots are hit with such force and precision that they are in fact almost impossible to keep out, regardless of if the keeper guesses correctly in his dive. Reports across the Internet are sketchy at best, but it seems Alexander’s penalty record is somewhere close to 73 out of 77. Astonishing.

Yuri Zhirkov, Chelsea – Chelsea look to be rightful Champions this year as the 1-0 win on Tuesday night saw them move 4 points clear of Manchester United. There are still some very interesting and tough matches left to play for all three teams involved in the title race, but the tough, grind-it-out 1-0 wins like that of Tuesday night are what make potential champions, Champions. See under Manchester United’s 0-0 over the weekend for a comparison.

Yuri Zhirkov has impressed in recent weeks as he’s deputized for the injured Ashley Cole at left back. Able to defend and move forward to support attacks, the Russian is able to take on opponents at pace and create chances for his teammates. Even a blood-flowing head injury couldn’t keep Zhirkov from contributing to Chelsea’s win as the battered and stitched up Zhirkov continued to apply pressure on the Bolton defense throughout the second half with his runs down the left side of midfield. Zhirkov was definitely man of the match in a game Chelsea may not have impressed in, but were able to solidify their 1st place position and move one step closer to the title.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Manchester City- He’s recently announced his retirement from International duty, which is odd, considering the 26 year old striker could realistically play at least another 5 or 6 years for the Togo team. Regardless of your thoughts on his International career, the tall striker was in blistering form again for City on the weekend winning a penalty and scoring a brace which saw City come out on top of another route.

Roberto Mancini has his squad playing the best football they’ve played all year at the right time of the season. As the Manchester Derby approaches, City are at their high-flying, slug fest best, while United have had one of the worst 2 week runs in recent years. City will also look forward to an important match with the now 5th place Tottenham as both teams will be sure to give it a proper go for 4th.

Adebayor and the City attacking front, when at their best, move with pace and create good chances for each other. Their quick passing and movement without the ball rival top European clubs when they click. Adebayor’s skill in finishing, passing and linking with Carlos Tevez has seen him have another solid year in the Premier League, has scored 13 total goals and looks to be a vital ingredient in City’s race for L4.

Heurelho Gomes, Tottenham Hotspur – Without a win in the league against Arsenal before Wednesday night since 1999, the Spurs keeper produced a number of fine saves in the second half to help Spurs gain a massive 3 points in the quest for L4. Often times considered a bozo the clown-esq keeper, Gomes has found consistent form this season for Spurs.

Two saves from the impressive Robin van Persie and a third off of a Sol Campbell header, Gomes’ quick instincts and shot-stopping ability kept the full brunt of Arsenal’s attack subdued.

Congratulations to Premier League new boy Danny Rose for scoring an absolute blinder of a goal in his League and Spurs debut Wednesday night. The strike is easily in the top three for goal of the season.

Editor’s note: EPL Talk reader Nicholas Buchel shared a series of three drawings he made that I should many of you would enjoy. The first features Fernando Torres who returned to action Sunday against Manchester City. The above picture is hand drawn in ballpoint by Nicholas. Below the fold, Buchel has included a ballpoint drawing of Emmanuel Adebayor (when he was with Arsenal) as well as a drawing of Wayne Rooney. Enjoy.

Here are the drawings of Rooney and Adebayor:

The news started coming through early on Saturday morning and as the information became clearer, it was soon apparent that the whole African Cup Of Nations would now be tainted. When the dust had settled, 3 members of the Togo party were dead and several were seriously injured. Angolan rebels had attacked the team bus as it drove through the dangerous territory of Cabinda. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a miracle that no-one else was killed.

As of now, the Togolese team have now been pulled out by the Togo government and are awaiting a flight back to the capital Lome. After the initial attack, the team were unanimous in their decision that they wanted to pull out, but after discussions yesterday, the team wanted to continue in the competition to honour the dead members of the party. The Togolese government however had other ideas.

With second choice goalkeeper Dodji Obilale airlifted to South Africa for treatment for his injuries, the government feel it would be inappropriate to continue. CAF, the African Confideration, were determined to keep Togo in, but in all honesty, I found it quite galling that the team seemed to be getting pressure to stay in the competition. I understand the teams wishes that they would like to stay to use this incident but I don’t feel that after this, anyone’s mind will be on football in the Togo camp.

There are so many questions that need to be answered, why were they allowed to drive through a known Angolan rebel enclave? Why did no-one know they were going to drive, rather than fly as all the other teams did? Why didn’t they have an escort? It is such a mess of miscommunication and bad organisation that as I said, how no-one else died is a miracle. The team bus was sprayed with machine gun fire for almost half an hour until the rebels ran off.

Emanuel Adebayor, as team captain , has led the interviews with everyone since the tragedy and was instrumental in the decision that saw the team decide they wished to continue as a mark of respect. Yet, no-one can understand what it must be like to survive such a thing and then be expected to play football. It is only a game.

Of course, this now, quite rightly throws doubt on the security of the whole tournament. The Rebel group responsible, Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda or FLEC, have promised that this is only the beginning of an orchestrated campaign that has been planned to coincide with the African Cup Of Nations. The critics who questioned the wisdom of awarding the competition to Angola in the first place will be quick to point out that concerns were raised 4 years ago. This, they say, was a disaster waiting to happen.

Worries that this could impact on South Africa are wide of the mark, Angola is 1500 miles away. It is like comparing a tragedy in Norway having an impact in Italy. It has no merit for comparison. If anything, this will now strengthen the resolve for South Africa to be on the ball throughout the build up to the tournament. Security of the fans and participants will now be crucial for the success of the competition and the future of African footballs position in the world game.

The tournament will continue tonight with Angola kicking off against Mali but it has certainly been tainted. The wisdom of continuing the tournament will be under scrutiny from here on in and everyone will be hoping that the tragedy will be the last incident in a dark day for African football. I truly hope everything else goes to plan.

Four weeks ago, Arsenal’s title challenge was over. The home defeat to Chelsea had seen everyone and their dog line up to kick Arsene Wenger’s team. While they were still licking their wounds, Manchester City snatched a win against the usual collection of youngsters, sprinkled with experience in the League Cup. Not good enough, not strong enough, need another striker they cried.

Well here we are then, on December 30th, Arsenal are tucked in 3rd, with a game in hand, which is against Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates next week. Win that and they go second in the table. Yet as the Portsmouth fans who have witnessed tonight’s thrashing at the hands of the Gunners said, if they had a predatory striker, they’d have scored 20.

For all the failings that Arsenal are constantly accused off, it’s their lack of that predator in the box that seemingly holds them back from killing teams off that their rivals manage to snuff out. Yet, it feels churlish to criticise a side that have score 51 goals in 19 Premiership games and could be second this time next week. Of course, as my fellow EPL talk writer Eric Altshul wrote earlier this week, Arsenal have a crucial 4 game period coming up from January 27th.

The results against the other big clubs do not determine the Premiership title, you only have to look at Liverpool’s result last season to see how little it effects the Premiership outcome. It is the games that you should win, that slip through your fingers that cost you titles and cups. For every emphatic thrashing of Portsmouth, there’s a defeat at Sunderland or a draw at West Ham United. Those are the games, especially the West Ham match when Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead that will keep them from going top next week.

Of course, Wenger is one of the best managers at protecting his players and keeping his cards close to his chest. If he thinks he needs a striker, he’s not the type to come out and say it, he usually just goes out and gets his man. Now, with Arsenal having a real chance to get their hands on the Premier League title, having someone who has an ability to scuff the ball in off his backside is exactly what Arsenal need. Financially Wenger could, within reason, land any striker outside of the Premier League to give them that final piece.

For all the doom mongers complaining when he sold Adebayor and Toure, for a combined £41 million, the dissenting voices seem to have grown increasingly quiet. Replacing Toure with the elegant Vermaelen was a masterstroke that has seen the Belgian weigh in with some important goals from the back. With the injuries to van Persie, Bendtner, Walcott, Denilson and Fabregas and the impending African Cup of Nations taking Song, Wenger may be forced into the market whether he likes it or not.

Of course, the one major bonus to the injuries that have blighted Arsenal is the continued presence of Andrei Arshavin, who has continued to rein in his own attacking instincts for the benefit of the team. The lad has given a real team performance over the last few weeks at the expense of personal glory and has re-affirmed his reputation as an excellent footballer.

So Arsenal finish a year which has seen them continue to play beautiful football, but miss out on the big prizes. Perhaps Wenger has already decided what part of the jigsaw is required to complete the beautiful with a little bit of brawn in the box.

It was quite a contentious match on an unordinary day at Eastlands Saturday as Manchester City held on for a morale-boosting 2-1 win against Chelsea.

What was most obvious about this game is how much it mattered to most teams. I lost count of the number of times Chelsea and City players collided when trying to win 50/50 balls. Plus the workrate of several players, especially Carlos Tevez, was extraordinary. Chelsea hate to lose but this was a match that you have to give a lot of credit to City. As the commentator summed up at the end, “What a win,” and what a win it was indeed.

The most contentious moment in the game was City’s first goal which definitely hit Toure’s arm before landing in the path of Emmanuel Adebayor who slotted the ball into the net. The referee should have awarded a free kick to Chelsea, but he failed to see what the TV replay showed and City got away with it.

The other defining moment of the game was Frank Lampard’s penalty near the end which was saved by Shay Given. You can usually bank your money on Lampard scoring from the spot kick, but Lampard’s accuracy of getting the ball near the corner of the post failed him this time and Given guessed the right way and saved the ball with relative ease.

Overall, this wasn’t a classic game in terms of football skill but it definitely was an unpredictable one where you never knew what was going to happen next. Referee Howard Webb was too involved in this game for my liking and gave away too many unnecessary yellow cards, but it was definitely a difficult game to referee with plenty of aggression shown by both sides.

So much for Chelsea looking like an unbeatable machine, but it shows they are human after all. Not to take anything away from Manchester City, the Citizens battled hard and deserved to get something out of this game. Are they flat track bullies in reverse? Perhaps, but Hughes’s biggest challenge now is to get his City side playing like this against weaker opposition and tightening up his defense.

Before playing Arsenal, former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor said Arsenal supporters are “not real fans.”

“What is good at City is the fans. They love you. Arsenal have a lot of fans who are not fans,” Adebayor said. “Arsenal have fans from America and Jamaica. Today they are Arsenal fans, tomorrow they will be Liverpool fans, after tomorrow they will be Manchester United fans.

“If you boo your player every weekend, I am very sorry, you are not true fans. It hurt me a lot. That was the most difficult moment of my career.”

Ah, the uncritical ravings of a narcissist.

Football fans are the least judgmental segment of the population. They will forgive nearly everything short of murder and rape. Even rape might be forgiven in time.

They only ask the player to feign loyalty and to give his best effort. Emmanuel Adebayor did neither.

After scoring 30 goals in 2007-08, Emmanuel Adebayor and his agent tried to engineer his departure. He was disingenuous, stating one story on TV, then saying the exact opposite to reporters with the cameras off. He was not loyal.

Adebayor was not transferred. Arsenal doubled his salary to £80,000 per week. He then loafed through the 2008-09 season, scoring only 10 goals in the league. He gave so little effort, the club invented an injury to bench him at the end of the season.

Emmanuel Adebayor complains of fans with tenuous loyalties. Fans could make the identical complaint about him, and unlike Adebayor they have evidence.

Manchester City have good fans, who cheer him now. When they don’t qualify for the Champions League and Adebayor’s agent tries to engineer a move next summer, they will boo him, as good fans should.