“Map out the road to Premier League glory by predicting the scores for all the games this season. See how your guesses fare against other supporters and pundit Mark Lawrenson, plus get feedback from BBC Sport’s team including Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.” BBC

“How to hang around the top of the Premier League while grabbing plenty of neutral support along the way? Five games into the season, the answer appears to be: ‘Get yourself a tricky winger.’ So far, Swansea and Leicester City have combined for five wins, four draws, and one loss — all while playing some of the most fun-to-watch soccer in England. Riyad Mahrez has led Leicester, a team that came into the season looking like possible relegation fodder (oops), to the only undefeated record outside of Manchester City. Eleven points from five games is one heck of a haul, and it’s probably enough to permanently remove them from relegation talk. Meanwhile, Andre Ayew has helped propel Swansea to a draw against Chelsea and a win against Manchester United.” Grantland (Video)

“Just a couple of months ago, Manchester City were a team hovering underneath the cloud of long-term decline. Yaya Touré couldn’t do it all anymore, Vincent Kompany no longer looked like a rock in central defense, and even David Silva, the team’s creative hub, was pushing 30. A year after winning the tile, City finished eight points back of first-place Chelsea — and were it not for a late-season winning streak and bunch of games in which Chelsea had nothing to play for, the gap could’ve been even larger.” Grantland

“Chelsea cake-walked its way to the Premier League title last year. All the usual challengers were either in a state of transition (Manchester United and Liverpool), apparently lacking motivation (Manchester City), or being Arsenal (Arsenal). Having kept all the important pieces of the same squad together, and with questions still hovering over its rivals, Chelsea is (was?) heavily favored to repeat as champions. But judging by the evidence on display in preseason and in the Blues’ first two performances in the league, we should probably pump the brakes on those predictions.” Fusion

“England: Premier League [1st division], location-map with 14/15 attendances, all-time seasons in 1st division + major titles listed   Links… -Teams, etc…2015–16 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).  -News, fixtures, results, table, etc…Premier League page at BBC. -My fav site for articles on the Premier League, etc…The Guardian.com/football (theguardian.com/football). -Table, fixtures, results, stats, etc…soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league. -Kits…Barclays Premier League 2015 – 2016 [home, away & alternate kits] (historicalkits.co.uk).” billsportsmaps

“The phoney wars of pre-season friendlies and the Community Shield are over and the real business of the Premier League begins this weekend. So it is once again time to dust off the crystal ball and take a guess on how the top flight will unfold over the next nine months. Can Jose Mourinho and Chelsea’s grip on the crown be released? Can Arsenal finally turn promise into a Premier League title? Can Brendan Rodgers rebuild Liverpool from the wreckage of that 6-1 humiliation at Stoke City on the final day of last season? The safety net is, of course, that clubs still have plenty of time to alter the odds by making a landmark signing before the window closes, but here goes…” BBC

“Two months — that’s all we get this year. The 2014-15 European soccer season concluded with the Champions League final in early June, but we’re already back at it, as Chelsea’s Premier League title defense starts tomorrow. Last summer’s World Cup delayed the start of the previous season and next summer’s European Championships have pushed up the start of this one, so the summer was short.” Grantland

“The January transfer window ended not with a bang, but with Aaron Lennon being loaned to Everton. Usually, the first month of the year is good for at least one panic buy from a big team looking to turn its season around — and occasionally, those moves work. It seems almost comical now, but when Mario Balotelli went from Manchester City to AC Milan in January 2013, he put that team on his back, scoring 12 goals down the stretch to propel the Italian giants into the Champions League. More often, though, the moves end up saddling a team with an overpriced, awkwardly fitting piece like Juan Mata at Manchester United. And every once in a while, a January signing will result in a Fernando Torres–size disappointment that, yes, in fact, you can see from outer space.” Grantland

“In theory, the FA Cup gives England’s minnows a chance to upset their big Premier League brethren, but that’s so rarely the case. In reality, small teams give their fans a chance to watch their favorite club play host to some of the world’s best players. Or if it’s an away game, the club scores a nice cash infusion with the shared gate money from a big-time team’s big-time stadium. And then they lose and go back to grim Saturdays in the third division. This weekend, though, reality was turned upside down — and Middlesbrough and Bradford City stuffed it into a rocket and kicked it into outer space.” Grantland (Video)

“As you may know, soccer dating is a topic I find particularly funny, and potentially lucrative. Internet dating is as close to mainstream as its ever been, with a variety of options to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for in a prospective soul mate. Why can’t we apply this to soccer? There’s JDate and Christian Mingle for religiously inclined. Black People Meet and Latino People Meet for folks with a ‘type,’  too afraid to luxuriate in the racial deliciousness of our nation. Farmers Only for people who really aren’t down racial deliciousness, but prefer to say so in coded language, and Tinder, for people who want to pretend that the possibility of sex isn’t the only reason they’re leaving the house that night.” Soccer Gods

“Exaggeration seems to be common place in modern day football doesn’t it? For example saying Manchester City are a club in crisis after going two games without a win or calling Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard England greats after consistently failing to make an impact at a major tournament? Actually, throw hypocrisy into that opening line. Can the FA really blame grassroots football for underachievement at the top level when there is a serious lack of real investment in the game at that level? Or can top clubs really bemoan the attendances at FA Cup fixtures when they use the greatest domestic club competition in the world as a reason to play fringe players in their squad?” The Football Pink”>Football Pink

“As recently as a few weeks ago, you could hardly open a newspaper refresh a website without seeing a feature proclaiming Chelsea as champions-in-waiting. There was no shortage of premature comparisons to Arsenal’s Invincibles™ of 2003-2004, casting José Mourinho’s against history instead of the rest of the Premier League. Fast-forward to the start of 2015, and Manchester City have quietly crept up and caught the Blues. Ahead of both teams’ Saturday matches, City and Chelsea are level in ever category. If the season ended today, the two would head for a play-off.” Soccer Gods

“Let us spare a thought for the little guys. These denizens of the bottom half of the Premier League table don’t get much pub. And when they do, it’s always as a foil for one the big boys. Burnley’s back-to-back draws against Manchester City and Newcastle haven’t spawned thousands of words of tactical analysis about their effective, underdog tactics, nor have they resulted in any glowing interviews with Danny Ings or George Boyd and his beautiful hair. No, they’re just the temporarily immovable object against the ultimately unstoppable force. What’s wrong with Manchester City always ends up being more important than what’s right with Burnley. But, well, stuff actually happens at the bottom; it’s a place where some people even carve out a reasonably comfortable existence. So, now that we’re just more than halfway into the season, let’s take a look at how the other half has been living.” Grantland