Premiership Diary's Not That Easy

Manchester United and Arsenal, now fourth and fifth in the table are only 10 and 11 points behind Chelsea and both chasing clubs have a game in hand on the leaders.

The table doesn't lie and the traditional strengths of the English game are represented by the muscular, robust and determined teams from Wigan and Bolton Wanderers who are second and third.

The season is less than a third old and there is splenty of time for the gap on the leaders to close and for early challengers to fall away under the weight of tough fixtures at the top clubs.

The true test of the strength of the game in England comes in the summer of 2006 when the World Cup takes place in Germany. England begin their preparations for the finest football tournament of them all with a showdown in Geneva with the South American greats from Argentine.

The fixture might be nothing more than a friendly in theory but when the players get face to face on the pitch they are rekindling a sporting rivalry that has locked the two national teams in riveting 90 minute combat on many previous occasions.

This time there may not be any greater prize at stake than pride but the game generates a special interest as the South American tradition meets the European and the tacticians and analysts compare the progress and chances of two strong squads.

Diego Maradonna was an unstoppable talent for his country and delivered the World Cup back to an adoring Buenos Aires. After a serious affair with cocaine the maestro seems to be back functioning and making his contribution to the game in Argentine.

The boy who was a street entertainer before starting a professional playing career at 15 has forever marked the world stage with his brilliance and stellar confidence. The footballer who promised and delivered a World Cup also delivered a first ever Italian Championship to Naples.

The English players who took the pitch at Wembely in 1966 would never recover their lives back from the two hours of football they played that day. Maradonna has had to walk, talk and be the national hero for all of his life.

As the new generation of England players set out towards the great adventure in Germany they too can chance to be forever one the heros of the national game. It may be everything that all boys aspire too but its also a palpable burden for the ordinary man to be wearing the shirt of their natiional team.