EPL Outlook After 3 Matches

The EPL season 2019-2020 shows early signs that it will be a 2 horse race all over again.

Liverpool showed much hunger and consistency leading the league with 3 wins out of 3 wins, including one over Arsenal.

Defending champions, Manchester City are in second place, with 2 wins and one hard fought draw with Tottenham Hotspurs, showing much commitment.

Arsenal at third place appear the only worthy contender being the lone team with two wins out of three games, losing to Liverpool for the top spot.

There were only 4 unbeaten team left after three matches; Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

          

All other 15 teams have loss at least one game.  Most disappointing of the lot are Manchester United who lost to Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspurs who lost to Newcastle United. Both have to show more commitment if they want to be title contenders.

 

Manchester United 4 Chelsea 0

   4   :   0   

 

What an opening match for Manchester United? No one would have ever predicted the score line. Manchester United has only won 3 of the last 13 encounters with Chelsea, making the task looked impossible. Even die hard Red Devils fans wouldn’t have bet their money for a 4 goals thumping of Chelsea.

During the first 15  minutes, it looked like Chelsea was more likely going to thrash the Red Devils at home with Tammy Abraham hitting the post as early as the 4th minute. Chelsea was the more aggressive side running all over the park. However,  stroke of luck favoured the Red Devils when Marcus Rashford was clumsily fouled at the edge of the box in the 18th minute. Credit to Rashford who put the penalty away for a 1:0 lead.

The goal calmed down nerves but Chelsea continued to be the more dominant side forcing De Gea to save a Barkley goal bound shot. But when Emerson hit the post a second time in the 40th minute, signs were there that it wasn’t going to be Chelsea’s night. Both sides appeared relieved with the half time whistle.

Chelsea started the second half just as dominant but Manchester United was more organised and soaked in the pressure mounted by Chelsea. De Gea again had to pull off a save, this time from an Emerson shot in the 56th minute.

The game changer came in 65th minute, Maguire stole the ball from Emerson just outside Manchester United’s box, moves it up-field and passed to Lingard. Lingard runs with the ball and slipped it Pereira. Pereira crossed it into the box and Martial met the cross perfectly to score goal number 2.

Two minutes later, Manchester United attacked again past a hapless and shell shocked Chelsea, with Pogba sending a perfect pass into the middle which Rashford collected and scored his second goal with ease.

3 goals down at 67th minute, Chelsea was already a spent side and eagerly waiting for the final whistle but Manchester United had other ideas introduced debutant Daniel James in the 76th minute and five minutes later, James scored his 1st and debut goal making it 4:0 for Manchester United.

It was a perfect night out for the young Manchester United team. The season just started and it is only match 1 but it was still a night to cherish and remember.

 

 

EPL Transfers 2019-2020

August 8 was the deadline for EPL transfers and for the season 2019-2020, the clubs collectively spent more than  £ 1.4 billion. 5 clubs spent more than £ 100 million with the top spender being Arsenal, spending more than £ 155 million, followed by Man City £ 150 million, Man United £ 150 million, Aston Villa £ 125 million and Everton £ 110 million.

Spending big money doesn’t necessary means numbers especially in the case of Manchester United, where their  £ 150 million bought them only 3 new signings compared to Aston Villa who spent  £ 125 million 12 signings.

Aston Villa and Norwich City had almost a full overhaul of their teams with 12 new signings/loans. At the other end of the scale is Chelsea with only 2 as they have been banned from signing new players this season. Man United and Liverpool have only 3 new additions which might not give much improvements to the teams especially the Red Devils who finished 6th last season. Unless Man U’s 3 new signings are able to given them the much needed boost, they may just struggle like they did last season.

Clubs	Signings/Loans
Aston Villa	12
Norwich City	12
Wolverhampton	11
Sheffield United	9
Brighton	8
Leicester City	8
Burnley	7
Everton	7
Watford	7
Arsenal	6
Newcastle United	6
West Ham United	6
Bournemouth	5
Crystal Palace	5
Manchester City	5
Tottenham Hotspur	5
Southampton	4
Liverpool	3
Manchester United	3
Chelsea	2

From the numbers of new signings, Man City and Tottenham Hotspurs looks most likely to make the most of their optimum signings of 5 each. If one fails to impress, they have another 4 to fall back on, if 2, still have 3. More than likely, at least 1 will shine.

We will have to wait it out to see how much new numbers can help a team.

 

Match of Opening EPL Season

20 clubs will kick off the start of the English Premier League 2019/2020 season this week end  (Saturday, 10th August 2019) but the Big Match of the Opening season would definitely be the Manchester United versus Chelsea game at Old Trafford.

 versus

It would be an interesting match with an unsettled Manchester United and an unchanged Chelsea side.  Manchester United may have won all their pre-season friendlies but it was in rather unconvincing fashion. Chelsea also has been unbeaten in pre-season friendlies but has the boasting rights of beating Barcelona.

Manchester United has 3 signings; Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire. Much is expected from Wan-Bissaka and Maguire as they form the most expensive defence in the world with a total £ 130 million between them. They should help to tighten the defensive lapses the Red Devils suffered in the 2018-2019 season.

Chelsea has been banned from any new transfer and has only one signing, Mateo Kovacic. The transfer ban may prove to be Chelsea’s Archilles Heel this coming season.

Two traditional strong teams go head to head on 10th August 2019. I would fancy Manchester United to beat Chelsea by a slim 1:0.

Locations of the English Premier League Clubs 2019-2020

The English Premier League 2019-2020 kicks off on 10th August 2019 with 20 clubs covering all over England. London has the most clubs with a total of 5 while Manchester and Liverpool has 2 clubs each.  The rest of 11 clubs are scattered in other cities/town ranging from Newcastle in the north to Southampton in the South.

2019-2020 promised to be an exciting season to come.

New English Premier League 2019-2020 Season

The new English Premier League season 2019-2020 will kick off on 10th August 2019 and promises to be more exciting with the return of three traditionally good teams.

Aston Villa stands out as the most outstanding of the newly promoted teams. Aston Villa will be playing their 25th season out of this English Premier League’s 28th season which ties them with Newcastle in 7th spot as the teams with the most EPL experience. In comparison, defending champions Manchester City is in 9th spot, playing their 23rd season. Aston Villa has won the European Cup (before it evolved to be the Champions League Cup) in 1982 and has been the English First Division Champions (before it became English Premier League in 1992/1993) a total of 7 times ahead of Manchester City and Chelsea who had only won the top English title a total of 6 times. Aston Villa has also won the FA Cup 7 times and the League Cup 5 times. Apart from football honours, Aston Villa will stand out as the oldest English Club playing in the EPL. Established on 1874, Aston Villa is the eldest brother of them all, ahead of Everton and Manchester United who were established in 1878.

Sheffield United rejoins the EPL for their 9th season with a record of having won the English top flight once and the FA Cup 4 times.

Norwich City makes up the third promoted team with 2 English Cup honours and will be joining the EPL for the 4th season. However, they were promoted as the winner of the EFL Championship League and should prove to be a worthy addition to the EPL.

With the three new illustrious additions to the EPL, 2019-2020 should prove to be an exciting season.

Perak’s Best Wildlife Nature Park

Located 50 km south of Ipoh lies Perak’s best kept secret, the state’s best Wildlife Nature Park. It is a quiet and serene bird sanctuary along the Kinta River side accessed only via a 7 km dirt road from Batu Gajah or a through a maze of mini paved kampung roads from Kota Bahru along route A 110.

Two rangers are posted at the Kinta Nature Park or Taman Alam Kinta and they have done a good job maintaining the park premise.

Kinta Nature Park is very nice place to relax and have a picnic. Since it is quite difficult to access, you can have the park practically to yourself.

There is even a watch tower to watch the surrounding vista.

According to the ranger on duty, the lake has an abundance of fish and birds. It is also a watering hole for migratory birds. Apart from that crocodiles have been spotted in the adjoining lake.

Definitely a must do for nature lovers and bird watchers.

 

 

Best Restaurant In Mentakab

In Mentakab, there are only a hand full of restaurants and the undisputed best restaurant in town is the Juimoon Restaurant which is located outside town in the industrial park of Taman Perindustrian Temerloh. It is only 6 km from the town centre so it is a 10 minutes drive if you wish to check the best restaurant in Mentakab.

What makes this the best restaurant? Basically, it is the most expensive looking one and they have a very comprehensive menu which can be more than what is offered by all the other restaurants in town combined. Juimoon is ideal for business lunches, company and wedding dinners. It is the meeting point for who is who in town. Prices are pricy by Mentakab standards but still reasonably lower than KL.

Juimoon is famous for their banquet style ‘four season dishes’ which they have quite number of rich variety.

In line with their best restaurant in town, their ‘four seasons’ are actually good.

They also make very good meat dishes.

The food presentation is definitely top of the class in Mentakab.

Juimoon is also the only restaurant in town serving “Poon Choy”.

There are also an endless variety on the Menu. So if you wish to check out the best restaurant in Mentakab, check out Juimoon.

For directions, check out the GPS link here.

Best Pan Mee in Mentakab / Temerloh

The absolutely best Pan Mee or Mee Hoon Kuih in Mentakab/Temerloh can be found in  Restoran Dou Qian 多香麵粉粿 located in Taman Bahagia, Temerloh. Dou Qian’s Pan Mee is head and shoulders above any other similar fare within Pahang.  The only Pan Mee possibly comparable in standard with Dou Qian’s Pan Mee is Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih at Taman Berkely, Klang.

However, please be forewarned of the limited opening times, Dou Qian’s Pan Mee is only opened between 10.00 pm to 12.00 pm and 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Queues are common and it is normal to wait at 20 minutes to half an hour for your food.

We normally order their chee cheong fun while waiting for their Pan Mee (Mee Hoon Kuih). This comes pretty fast. as compared to their Pan Mee which is individual made, bowl by bowl. They also have curry mee, mee soup and fried keow teow. But I always visit Dou Qian only for their Pan Mee (Mee Hoon Kuih).

Their address is at 23, Jalan Bahagia 7, Taman Bahagia, 28000 Temerloh.

It is the main entrance road into Taman Bahagia, located in the row of shop lots facing the Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Bahagia school.

For directions, best to check out this GPS link.

Cheap & Good Food in Mentakab

Fancy a place where you can order cheap and good food at night? Look no further than a local favourite joint called Roma. Located at the Jalan Mata Hari, look for Public Bank as a landmark. Roma is located on the opposite site at the far end of the road.

The food is pretty good and the prices are the cheapest in Mentakab.

My favourite are the fried chicken wings. Truly top class, fried just nice with enough crisp on the out side and the inside tender and juicy.

The fried rice is quite decent while the steamed fish is equal to any good restaurants.

Roma also serves a local watering hole and reputed to be the highest consuming outlet for Carlsberg in the state of Pahang. It would be an interesting place to local people watch as it will be full every night from 8 pm up to late.

For a GPS link, check here.