Today, with at least two-thirds of the Premiership’s opening programme set to be played before full houses, it will be as if the country shared Glenn Hoddle’s delusion that England had a successful tournament.
The elite division is now so powerful and so popular that it matters not that Hoddle’s side fell alongside Paraguay and Nigeria without reaching the last eight. WORLD CUP summers once had a knock-on effect on the English season’s big kick-off. If the national team had flopped, attendances suffered, and vice versa After 1966 and all that, crowds soared. Liverpool: Robbie Fowler.SUSPENDED: Southampton: Francis Benali (four matches) Liverpool: No first team players.. The American goalkeeper Brad Friedel will keep out David James.INJURED: Southampton: David Hirst. Patrik Berger could form a front partnership with Owen, while Jason McAteer is expected to play in midfield. Ince (groin) and Heggem (back) both picked up injuries in the recent friendly victory over Internazionale while the Irish defender Staunton has a toe problem.
We’ve had a good pre-season and there is a buzz of excitement about the place.”There is hope at The Dell that the Saints can do more than simply survive their perennial battle against relegation and with debuts likely to being given to Mark Hughes, David Howells and Stuart Ripley tomorrow, confidence is high. “Playing Liverpool in the first game of the season is a great way to start and I’m glad we’re at home,” Jones said. “It will give us the chance to get off to a good start,” he added.Liverpool’s captain, Paul Ince, plus the new signings Steve Staunton and Vegard Heggem, are all expected to recover from injuries to be fit for the match. “Owen is going to be under more pressure than most because of what people are now expecting of him. And even though manager Dave Bassett could be without three key midfielders, Gemmill is unlikely to play.INJURIES: Not confirmed.SUSPENDED: No first-team squad players on either side.Match analysis by Nick HarrisTOMORROW’S TELEVISED MATCH (4.0)Southampton v LiverpoolLast Season: 1-1DAVE JONES, the Southampton manager, believes Michael Owen faces a tough season ahead as his team prepares to meet Liverpool at The Dell in their first Premiership game tomorrow.”Everyone in the Premiership will be under pressure to produce after the way the summer has gone and all the excitement of the World Cup,” Jones said. Scot Gemmill yesterday pleaded with Forest to include him in their plans for Monday. The 27-year-old Scottish international has found himself left out by Forest after refusing to sign a new contract.
His failure to strengthen the squad during the summer could come back to haunt him, not least because Pierre van Hooijdonk now has no future at the club The trouble does not stop there. The majority of last season’s squad is still intact and Monday’s game will give a good taste of what can be expected this term.Dave Bassett did superbly to lead Forest’s promotion last season but now comes the acid test. It will be the only occasion since the start of the Premier League in 1992 that the reigning champions of the top flight have met the winners of the First Division in the first fixture of the following season.Wenger has one of the safest jobs in the Premiership, and if last Sunday’s 3-0 Charity Shield win is anything to go by (it’s not, but that’s a different matter), he will have another successful season ahead. Tottenham: Steffen Iversen, Andy Sinton, John Scales.SUSPENDED: Wimbledon: Ben Thatcher (four matches). Tottenham: None.MONDAY’S TELEVISED MATCH (8.0)Last Season: No fixtureArsenal v Nott’m ForestARSeNE WENGER’S Double-winners begin their Premiership title defence in a `first of its kind’ encounter on Monday. Otherwise Kinnear has a fully fit squad to chose from.In contrast, Christian Gross, the Tottenham manager, has the luxury of an almost injury-free squad and takes 18 players to Selhurst Park.Striker Steffen Iversen, winger Andy Sinton and defender John Scales are the only senior players ruled out by injuries – a far cry from the past two seasons which Spurs began with a string of top players on the casualty list.Les Ferdinand and Chris Armstrong will be the front-line pair in a 4- 4-2 line-up and both Darren Anderton and David Ginola look certain starters in midfield, but Gross then faces a choice between Ruel Fox, Nicola Berti, Allan Nielsen and Moussa Saib for the two other positions.Ramon Vega, Sol Campbell and Colin Calderwood are all competing for two central defensive spots, and Paolo Tramezzani, the pounds 1.5m Italian signing makes his debut at left-back.INJURED: Wimbledon: Brian McAllister.
West Ham: John Hartson (one match), Samassi Abou (one match).Wimbledon v TottenhamJOE KINNEAR, the Wimbledon manager, starts off with a crisis as Ben Thatcher’s suspension stretches his already thin defensive resources. Also missing is Brian McAllister, who will have a scan on a heel he damaged in the friendly against Fulham last week. New signings Wim Jonk and Juan Cobian should play.INJURED: Sheffield Wednesday: Ian Nolan, Jon Newsome, Goce Sedlosk, Niclas Alexandersson West Ham: Paul Kitson.SUSPENDED: Sheffield Wednesday: None. Javier Margas, the pounds 2m Chilean defender, will be on the bench.Danny Wilson, the Sheffield Wednesday manager, will include striker Andy Booth in the starting line-up after dismissing reports the Owls were ready to offload him to Nottingham Forest as bait in a deal to capture rebel Pierre van Hooijdonk. All the lads love him and he wants to join in everything.”When he scores a goal in training he is so excited that it is rubbing off on the other players, and a few of the quiet lads are coming out of their shells.”Wright, who scored on his debuts for Crystal Palace and Arsenal, his former clubs, will partner Trevor Sinclair in attack as John Hartson is suspended and Paul Kitson injured.Of the new signings Shaka Hislop will play in goal and Neil Ruddock in the centre of defence.
“Every single morning he is in here an hour before everyone else. Charlton: None.SUSPENDED: Newcastle: David Batty (five matches). Charlton: None.Sheff Wed v West HamHARRY REDKNAPP, the West Ham manager, can’t wait for Ian Wright to make his debut at Hillsborough.The bubbly Wright has set Upton Park buzzing and Redknapp has had to order him not to train on certain days for fear that he might overdo it.”Ian is so enthusiastic he is like a two-year-old,” said Redknapp. He damaged his back during Alan Curbishley’s testimonial against Hearts, but was declared fit yesterday.INJURED: Newcastle: Stephane Guivarc’h. The pounds 3.5m signing has a twisted ankle.Newcastle had an excellent pre-season campaign, including a defeat of Juventus, and Dalglish said: “We had a very hard pre-season and got some good results, but what was more important was that the training and the performance we produced in those warm-up games left us in a positive frame of mind.”Nolberto Solano, a pounds 2.5m buy from Boca Juniors, is unlikely to play.Charlton, back in the top flight for the first time in six years, did have an injury doubt about Clive Mendonca, last season’s top scorer.
