By Joe Walton

Fabio Capello’s England squads always have a healthy mix of the established, the up-and-coming and those on form. His latest addition to the England squad, Leighton Baines, is a healthy mix of all three.

Baines deserves this chance. He has made 23 appearances for Everton this year and is a typical example of a well rounded modern full-back. In defence he combines a good reading of the game with though tackling; in attack his left-foot is a dangerous weapon, capable of providing strikers with accurate service. While at Wigan he was a regular set-piece taker, proof of his set-piece quality was evident at Fratton Park on Saturday.

But what is most striking about Baines is his lack of ego in a sport so often swamped with big-shots. In an interview with the Guardian conducted shortly after his move to Everton, Baines talked about his battle with self doubt. “I’ve always struggled in terms of self-confidence,” he said, “the whole time I was playing for Wigan in the Championship I was going into games thinking, ‘I’m going to get found out soon, is this going to be the week they see through me?’”

It is understandable that Baines is prone to questioning his ability given that he was rejected by both Merseyside clubs before being picked up by Wigan, who were at that time a far cry from Steve Bruce’s current team. He was lucky to be able to establish himself in the Wigan side as they made their ascent up the football league. After being part of the team that kept Wigan in the Premier League he moved on, because a lack of ego does not mean a lack of ambition.

It will be interesting to see a competition between Baines and Ashley Cole for an England place. While many feel that Cole is the best left-back in the world, Baines offers something extra in attack and it is hard to argue that he gives away too much defensively. And that’s leaving aside the inherent likeability difference.

If Baines had trouble sleeping before Wigan games, I hope he is able to get his head down tonight.

by Joel Abraham

After 117 minutes of turgid, boring football, ITV skip to a commercial break in the middle of the match and miss the only goal of the game, a fine solo effort by young Dan Gosling.

Was that deliberate? Opportunism at its worst? Were they trying to cram in a couple of adverts before the shootout began?

They might claim it was accidental (which the subsequent faults may lend credence to) but the fact that they resumed coverage immediately after the goal is mightily suspicious.

One minute I'm watching a football match, the next minute I'm watching that stupid VW advert of a middle aged man in a suit fighting himself, the next minute I'm watching Everton players celebrating. Utterly shambolic.

To compound that, the commentators gave us a half-arsed apology "if you missed the goal". What do you mean, "if"? Every single viewer in the country missed it, there's no "if".

I really hope somebody gets sacked for that. BBC, Sky, Setanta, anybody, save us.

by Joel Abraham from Block 13 of the Emirates Stadium

Arsenal 3 : 1 Everton

'A game of two halves' might be a cliche, but you'll forgive me for employing it this afternoon.

Arsenal climbed to third place and Everton dropped to 16th, as both teams reverted to type in an entertaining battle in North London.

Everton had the better of the first half; Moyes promised his team would attack, and he was true to his word as Leon Osman gave them an early lead. His neat one-two with Steven Pienaar opened up the makeshift Arsenal defence, with Denilson losing his man and allowing Osman to score.

The visitors' five-man midfield denied Arsenal and in particular Cesc Fabregas space to play in. The midfield was frequently bypassed as a result, as many long balls were aimed towards Adebayor with little success. Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka dealt well with the aerial threat, restricting the hosts to a single first-half shot on target. Robin van Persie squandered Arsenal's best chance of the first half, firing straight at Tim Howard.

Everton played energetically and aggressively, winning most of the 50/50 balls and creating several good chances. Their main tactic were long balls towards Yakubu and Marouane Fellaini, whose knockdowns in particular caused Arsenal problems in midfield. Osman should have doubled their lead after being fed by Yakubu, who skipped past another half-hearted Denilson challenge. Silvestre improved as the game continued, intercepting several dangerous passes, making some crucial clearances and keeping Yakubu quiet. However, large gaps were appearing between Toure and Song that Everton should have capitalised upon.

Arsenal began to focus their attacks down the left-hand side, with the impressive Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri getting in behind Tony Hibbert and putting in several decent crosses that Adebayor and van Persie ought to have done better with. Arsenal were running out of ideas, and the half-time whistle forced a tactical reshuffle from Arsene Wenger.

The introduction of Theo Walcott at half time for Kolo Toure galvanised Arsenal, providing them with the attacking outlet they were lacking. Eboue moved to right-back and Song into central defence, giving Arsenal some genuine width. Walcott's runs raised the tempo and injected some much-needed urgency into their play, as he and Eboue doubled up well on Leighton Baines. Everton were on the back foot, and Arsenal began to dominate.

The visitors were camped inside their own penalty area for much of the second-half, and any attempts to counter were mopped up well by Denilson, who maintained the hosts' attacking momentum. As the sun broke through the clouds overhead, the volume inside the stadium grew and a goal seemed inevitable. Nasri lashed in an equaliser through a crowded penalty area and van Persie nodded in a rebound from Fabregas' saved shot. 

Arsenal continued attacking, and Walcott sealed the win with an angled strike through Howard's legs. The visitors were simply unable to cope with the speed and movement of Arsenal's second-half performance, and will be left ruing their failure to extend their early lead when they had the chance.

Everton fans will be left pondering another squandered lead, whilst Arsenal will be wondering why it took them 45 minutes to start playing.

by Joel Abraham

What's gone wrong at Goodison Park this season?

After finishing comfortably in 5th place last season, Everton are currently languishing in 15th, with eight points from seven games, having only taken a solitary point at home. Early days, but a repeat of last season's achievements already seems unlikely.

You might have expected a shrewd manager like David Moyes to build upon the squad he had last season. Lee Carsley and Andrew Johnson were the only notable departees, and even Johnson's impact last season was minimal. Everton made three of their four signings on deadline day, bringing in the likes of Louis Saha, Segundo Castillo and record signing Marouane Fellaini. 

Similarly, David Moyes only last week signed a new five-year contract. Considering the progress Everton have made over the last six years as well as Moyes' growing reputation, the club certainly took its time over that one.

Why leave it so late?

Is it down to the directors, who wish to sell up? It seems likely that over the summer, Bill Kenwright was searching for a new owner at the same time as trying to keep Moyes at the club.

As they are, Everton cannot compete with the big boys. Maybe the club is worth more with Moyes' future secured; maybe a new buyer would want to bring their own manager in. Moyes himself might have been pondering a move to a bigger club. The two sides therefore dallied over the contract extension. Is that why Everton have made such a poor start to the season?

As for the team, they are lacking any real presence in the centre of midfield. Carsley's rejection of a new contract, as well as the failure to hang onto Manuel Fernandes, cousin of Manchester City's Gelson, has left Everton with a midfield that cannot control a game. £15m Fellaini, six foot five with bags of stamina, was the best box-to-box midfielder in Belgium last year. He might go some way to addressing this problem, but is an unknown quantity in the Premier League.

Scoring goals doesn't seem to be a problem; Yakubu has made a fine start to the campaign, and the likes of Arteta, Cahill and Anichebe will surely chip in with their share. There are bigger questions over the defence, where Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka have not been at their best.

The team are struggling to hold onto the lead, having twice thrown away 2-0 advantages this season, and have already been knocked out of the Carling Cup and UEFA Cup.  They were unfortunate to meet a quality Standard Liege side so early on in the latter, and even then were sent out by a dubious penalty decision. With Moyes now tied down for the forseeable future, will Everton improve?

Their trip to the Emirates tomorrow will certainly be interesting.

by Michael Sinnerton 

With all four Premier League teams either top of their Champions League groups or having taken maximum points it's time for that age old argument about the best league in the world.

The Premier League is the most watched league in the world, has the European Champions, the European runners-up and the top four have all made the Champions League final in the last 3 years.

The League still has a veil of unpredictability with Arsenal already losing to Fulham and Hull, Liverpool being held by Stoke and Manchester United by Newcastle. Admittedly the top four will probably end up the same as last year (Aston Villa may challenge Arsenal) but then Spain's top four is likely to contain at least 3 of Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico and Valencia whilst Italy's will surely contain at least 3 from Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina and Roma.

However the league's second tier sides are where the argument has weakness. With Everton going out of the UEFA cup to Liege, Tottenham bottom of the league and struggling past Wisla. (The two teams to most closely challenge the top 4 in recent years) whilst Valenica and Espanyol (Getafe amongst others) regularly do well in Europe as do AC Milan, Sampdoria and sometimes Lazio.

Having said that Valencia struggled last year, and it may be that Aston Villa and Manchester City may be the Premier League's next strongest representatives rather than an Everton team who may have peaked (at least temporarily). Both Vila and City have the finanical capacity to go one step further something which Spanish and Italian teams probably lack.

The League's wages are higher, the clubs spend more money on transfers and this is bound to attract the best players and managers. If England had Spain's climate there would be very little reason for foreign players not to move.

Despite this there were less goals/game in the Premiership last year than in most of the other European leagues, with the Bundesliga the best value for goals. La Liga still has an element of the unknown and is the breeding ground for young South American talent. The likes of Messi, Aguero, Fernandez and Dani Alves (to name but a few) were always much more likely to join LA Liga, partially due to a technical capacity for football that can arguably not been found in the Premierships  "kick-and-rush" culture.

I am a huge La Liga fan but I don't think you can beat the Premiership for pure excitement and adrenalin.

But my favourite League in the world, despite it's dimunitive size and lack of status has to be the Isles of Scilly (where else) Football League which is a scilly little league with only two teams.

http://www.worldssmallestleague.co.uk/html/league_table.html

The Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers make up the League (a massive 12 game fixture list) as well as having four cup competitions. The league whilst perhaps more predictable than the Premiership (the same two teams make the finals every year) has a charm about it that I can't help but love. Obviously I've never seen a game but the Gunners are running away with the league this year largely thanks to the hugely unheralded Adam May, a part-time retailer who you shouldn't expect to be gracing our shores any time soon despite his impressive goal record.

The Garrison Gunners against Manchester United for a best league in the world title? Don't count on it.

by Stuart Gillespie

So, where are we at? Well so far Cherno More have beaten Sant Julia 9-0 on aggregate, Man City have played about 15 games (all unconvincingly), Young Boys have spunked on some Hungarians at the Wankdorf, and it has been announced that this 38th edition of the mind-boggling competition will be the last.

And we haven't even reached the group stage yet.

Are our teams likely to get there? Let's find out...

Aston Villa (3) v Litex Lovech (1)

Put simply, yes, Aston Villa are likely to get through. It was a kind draw and the Premier League high flyers have gratefully placed one-and-a-half feet in the group stage at the expense of the unknown Bulgarians.

Man City (2) v Omonia Nicosia (1)

Omonia Nicosia may not be a household name, but they are no mugs and City did well to leave Cyprus with a first leg lead. Of course a lot has happened since then, with defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Wigan seeing Sulaiman-ia dampened somewhat. But with that crucial advantage from the away leg and the talent they have at their disposal, City should have no problems progressing to the next phase.

Motherwell (0) v Nancy (1)

Mark McGhee's side did well to hold relative giants Nancy to a one-goal advantage in France, though they remain underdogs going into the second leg. But despite their struggles in the SPL this season, Well have a good group of players and are by no means out of this tie.

Standard Liege (2) v Everton (2)

Everton look to have the toughest task ahead of them if they want to reach the group stage. Their lack of summer spending has seen them eclipsed by rivals Villa, Man City and Portsmouth in the Premier League, and their uncharacteristic defensive frailty this season was evident in the first leg draw with the Belgians. Liege came so close to putting out Everton's city rivals Liverpool in Champions League qualifying and will rightly be confident of piling more misery on already worried Toffees fans.

Vitoria Guimaraes (0) v Portsmouth (2)

Harry Redknapp's men have a good advantage from the first leg, but in that match Guimaraes missed a penalty at 1-0 that would have given the Portuguese an intriguing away goal. As it stands they'll still be a danger at home, though it'll be a surprise if Portsmouth are unable to finish the job.

Wisla Krakow (1) v Spurs (2)

Where to start with Tottenham? Much has been written elsewhere (including on this blog) about their horrific start to the season. Whoever's to blame (and, as usual, it's probably a combination of factors), things won't be any easier in Poland tonight. Between 2001 and 2006 Wisla went 73 matches unbeaten at home, and although they haven't had much success in European competition recently, a tricky trip to Krakow is undoubtedly one of the last things Spurs need at the moment. Of course successful negotiation of this tie could kick-start Tottenham's season. But, on current form, the more likely scenario is the overturning of their slender 2-1 lead and yet more pressure being heaped upon on Juande Ramos.

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So there we have it. Britain should have a few representatives in the asymmetrical group stage, and possibly more than a few. But the competition is in desperate need of next year's long overdue revamp. The Europa League may be more of a gentle tweaking than the rebranding suggests, but the changes should be for the better. The Intertoto Cup will be absorbed into the qualifying rounds and the group phase will come at the beginning of the competition, rather than in the middle, featuring even numbers of teams with home and away legs. 

Cherno More? Unfathomable format no more, with any luck.