5,000 Brazilians play football for money in countries other than Brazil - it's a long-standing and self-fulfilling joke that any respectable team is not really respectable until they sign a Brazilian, irrespective of that player's actual quality. It's the history, the flare for the game, the trickery on the ball that create this impression. But being Brazilian doesn't necessarily ensure success in the British leagues. Several "flops" have featured only briefly in the Premier league - Julio Baptista being one. He once famously complained about the cold nights in Bolton where brutish defenders didn't allow him to play his "beautiful" game. Either that, or he was just missing traditional Brazilian beans.

The Sun recently published a list of the top ten Brazilians who've played in the Premiership. I found this out thanks to a Brazilian website that had picked up on it. Unsuprisingly, Juninho topped the list followed by Gilberto Silva. Robinho didn't make the grade as he's only just arrived. At number 10 featured a certain Geovanni.

This journeyman of Brazilian football has always flirted with greatness but never quite produced for club or country. But now, in the unlikely gold and black stripes of Hull City, he has already secured cult status - the scorer of Hull's first Premiership goal and, thanks to two goal-of-the- season contenders, the main reason Hull were able to raid an unlikely 6 points on their travels to north London. Surely, he's set to advance up the list beyond Alonso Alves at no.7? One things for sure - he's accomplished something already that Robinho can only dream of: scoring the winner in a Manchester derby.

The extra load of Brazilians in the Premiership has created unprecendeted interest back in Brazil as well. The EPL is avidly followed and news of Robinho's move to Manchester City sent shockwaves through the footballing public here. Scolari's presence is also of interest. I recently watched a lengthy TV interview conducted with him in Portuguese in which the Brazilian journalist firing the questions tried to coax Big Phil into commenting on whether he might return to managing the Brazilian national team. Scolari didn't rule it out, but his priority seems to be Chelsea for now.

It seems to me only a matter of time before EPL clubs start doing pre-season tours in the emerging markets of South America. Goodness knows, they would be well recieved if they did.

The influx of Brazilians to the Premier League is also having an unlikely effect on British employment in one or two sectors. Not only are black beans imports on the up but English teachers who speak Brazilian Portugese are suddenly in high demand. This applies to myself (although I live in Brazil) and some friends of mine based in the UK, two of whom are already involved at Chelsea teaching the irregular past tenses to players, their families and the coaching staff. From time to time I get an email with a vocab list to translate. As an Arsenal fan, it's very tempting to send back some potentially confusing and misguided details of football lexis in the hope that it might sabatoge the Blues...

So, raise your "caiprinhas" to the Brazilians in the Premiership, and long may we see them bring the beautiful game to England's shores.

Last year I seem to recall, Spurs were going to finish above Arsenal!

So, who do you think will finish top this season?

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So here are the results :

No more than £600 - 13%
£600 to £1000 - 32%
£1000 to £1250 - 13%
£1250 to £1500 - 8%
£1500 to £2000 - 5%
I'd pay anything to watch my team 29%

So whilst I'm not surprised that 32% wouldn't pay more than £1000, I'm surprised that 29% of you said you'd pay anything to watch your team.

So, while many ticket holders are thinking of giving up their season ticket, because for them it's becoming far too expensive, there will always be a large number of fans that are willing to pay, what ever the club demands!

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We're always on the look out for new writers. So if you fancy writing about your team, please get in touch.

Scolari is a huge risk for Chelsea. It's true he is proven as a manager in various countries and is considered to be the man with the golden touch in cup competitions taking Brazil to glory in 2002 but I forsee teething problems at Chelsea. Scolari, ever since his bullish playing days as a central defender nicknamed 'wooden leg', is not a subtle character. He's not Arsene Wenger. Neither is he charismatic, and he probably won`t be learning English in a hurry. He's not Jose Mourinho. Furthermore, one criticism of the recent Chelsea squads is that they are a lifeless machine who've won without the flare or charm of, say, Arsenal or the present Manchester United squad. But, Scolari's teams, while successful, have always been a bit brutish and dogged and prone to the odd pitch-side brawl. If you want quality with style, he's not Sir Alex Ferguson. Also, his choice may be all about taking Chelsea to the prize of European glory - surely Abrahamovich's sole reason for pushing for his appoitment - but he has rarely turned teams into domestic league winning material for the long haul. His successes have been in the knock-out stages of cups where he seems to inspire - by sheer angst from the touchlines - teams to give 110%. But, can he replicate this for European and English club football? Nobody knows.

So, even if the Champions League is Abrahamovich's coveted target, expect tensions when Scolari rubs up against the media, Chelsea's fans, opposing managers and maybe even his own players. I stand to be corrected, but I predict a fireworks display.

Update from last entry:
1) Paraguay 2-0 Brazil in a WC qualifier. A very limp display from the men in yellow last Sunday has the press asking questions about manager Dunga once more. The general consensus: they preferred him when he was the WC winning captain fantastic he once was and not the rather vacant coach he now is. They face Argentina tomorrow in another qualifier.
3) Sport amazingly overturned Corinthians 2-0 at home to win (on away goals) the Copa Brasil for the first time in their history!
4) Nautico have been ordered to play their home games in another stadium for the forseeable future, the Botafogo player was charged and the Botafogo Director denied the charges against him and so his case rumbles on...

Perhaps Uefa watched this video (from the makers of "Balls of Steel"), to formulate their guidance!

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IT was a case of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’ for Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo as the Madeiran Magician conjured his 31st goal of the season for a 1-0 victory against a dogged Derby County, which took the Reds back to the summit of the Premier League following Arsenal’s draw with Middlesboro later in the day.

The Portuguese star spurned a hatful of chances, as United failed to make their dominance at Pride Park count, before finally converting a Wayne Rooney cross 14 minutes from time to spare the champions’ blushes.

Given the cost and how difficult it can be to get tickets to see a match, I think if you're luck enough to get to a game, then you should stay and see your team through the bitter end.

Anyway, if your guilty of not staying, what's your reason?

Why?

1) They've shown such grit, determination and belief, something the other clubs would do well to emanate, including Arsenal!
2) They've defeated both Liverpool and now Chelsea, they've had the toughest run in.
3) The last time they reached the semi was in 1912
4) My son managed to win a few quid backing Barnsley :)
5) We'll be hearing a lot more from "Dickie Bird", much to the annoyance of one Barnsley fan!

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Had I been asked to predict at the start of the season where we'd be at this point in time, I wouldn't have said top. Last year we were 4th at this point. If I recall, some pundits were even predicting Spurs to be sitting above us! So it just goes to show how wrong even the pro's can be at gazing into the future. But given what I know now, like Cesc Fabrigas, I believe Arsenal can win the league.

Why?

1) Despite the frustration that Wenger didn't buy any new players, (or ones that would make a difference this year!), the likes of Almunia, Clichy and Senderos are coming good and are really upping their game. A couple of months ago I'd have quite happily seen Senderos on the transfer market, but not now! Wenger has options, but I guess he knew that all along!

2) Adebayor - He's improving with every game. Already this season he's scored 18 goals, that's 10 more than he scored in total last year in the league. Since we still have to play Man United and Chelsea away, which could well be the league deciders, there's nothing to suggest that the goals wont keep coming. How does the song go?

"Adebayor, Adebayor, give him the ball, and he will score" or something like that!

3) Flamini has tremendous passion and as demonstrated against Newcastle, he can cross the ball with pin point accuracy and has a blinding strike power. If he can replicate that kind of performance until the end of the season, we'll be un-beatable!

4) And with the imminent return of Toure, Rosicky and Robin Van Persie - well!

So the team may be young, we may have some way to go and may need to hit the 90 point mark to win the league, but the team believes they can do it, Wenger certainly does, so why shouldn't I?

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"Ashley Cole is getting a lot of stick. You've got to expect that when you're playing away from home."

Priceless.

I particularly enjoyed watching the guys football skills on the bridge and look out for the dangerous kick - ball off top of the head!

Watch the video and you'll see what I mean!


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I live in Brazil where the news coming out of Stamford Bridge was watched with eagle-eyed interest by football fans here. The word on the street: Mourinho is to be given the Portuguese National team. The current manager is Scolari whose credibility took a dip when he was involved in pitch side skirmishes with Serbia's Dragutinovic following the last round of European Championship Qualifiers. The flamboyant Brazilian faces a four match ban and could be out of the door and on a plane back to his home country, if the rumours are to be believed.

Meanwhile, despite winning the Copa America with a side lacking Kaka and Ronaldinho and despite wins in their recent friendly matches, Dunga's position as Brazilian manager is under threat. His team have received criticism for playing without "soul" or "flare", a high insult in Brazil. And, some question his lack of managerial experience. Scolari, who can do no wrong after leading Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002, would be welcomed back at least by a sizeable chunk of the press and fans. Felipao, as they call him, would be seen as just the man to take the famous yellow shirts to success in South Africa.

Mourinho, for his part, has ruled himself out of the Portugal job. He insists he is "very, very clear" about this. And he has hinted he would like to learn a new language (he already speaks Spanish and French) and enter management in Europe, not the UK. And, as we know, his departure from Chelsea was declared "mutual" between the club and himself. But, Brazilians point out that all of the above is to be expected. They pay no credence to official statements or the best intentioned public pronouncements of managers. They sniff a bigger story. Whatever the outcome, the tremors of Mourinho's shock departure from Chelsea last week are being felt across the footballing world.