Manuel Almunia believes Arsenal have all the qualities necessary to mount a serious title bid. Written off by many at the start of the season, the Gunners opened their campaign with a sensational win at Everton. A 6-1 victory at Goodison Park has raised morale in the Arsenal camp and helped eradicate any lingering doubts following the high profile summer departures of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor. Goalkeeper Almunia is confident the unity prevalent within the Arsenal camp can only aid the club's bid for silverware, with new boy Thomas Vermaelen having made an immediate impression. The defender followed up an impressive debut at Everton with another assured display in midweek against Celtic. "The things we had to improve were the communication, our positions on the pitch, how to work as a unit and as a team. There were many things to improve," said Almunia. "All the team is defending well. The midfielders and strikers are defending all together and Thomas Vermaelen is a good signing for us. He's a very good player, a good defender, great left foot, good in the air. He is complete. But we have to keep going. Thomas looks like he's been at the club for more than a few months. He's a very calm player. He's a very tough player, a great defender. He is very relaxed and that makes the people around him relaxed as well. Not only William Gallas, but me Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna as well. We have confidence about this player."

 Stiliyan Petrov has confidence in manager Martin O'Neill to bring in more signings before the transfer window closes and boost the club's chances of glory on domestic and European fronts. The Bulgaria international said: "The manager is trying to make sure we have enough players to cope with this year in domestic cup games, Europe and the Premier League as well. Other teams in Europe have big squads and we must do that as well. I think before the window shuts we will have a few more signings. I hope so."

 Alex McLeish says Birmingham are unlikely to complete the signing of Sporting Gijon midfielder Michel in time for Saturday's home match with Stoke. McLeish is keen to sign the Spanish player and talks are taking place over a possible deal in the region of £3m. But no definite agreement has yet been reached. McLeish said: "The dialogue continues. It would be doubtful if we will have him for the weekend. I need to wait and see if everything gets agreed by all parties. At the moment it is up in the air. It is definitely not a done deal."

 Blackburn reserve-team striker Nick Blackman has joined League One side Oldham Athletic on a month's loan. The 19-year-old, who signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Rovers last season after impressing on trial, has joined in time to be in contention to make his debut against Swindon Town on Saturday. Blackman spent a month on loan at Blackpool in March and was part of Blackburn's pre-season training camp in Austria but is seen as a player for the future by Rovers maager Sam Allardyce. 

 Gary Megson admits the negotiations to sell Danny Shittu and Gavin McCann to Portsmouth are proving "difficult and long winded". Shittu has been tipped to leave the club before the close of the transfer window, while McCann has also been linked with a move despite starting Bolton's opening day defeat by Sunderland. Portsmouth manager Paul Hart has confirmed his interest in signing defender Shittu and midfielder McCann, with Megson willing to let the duo go. However, Megson concedes that he would have to bring in replacements in order to allow the duo to join the Trotters' Barclays Premier League rivals. "We know what we would want to do if anybody left, not just those two," said Megson. "That's the kind of club we are. We can't continually keep bringing them in, bringing them in and bringing them in. We need to move people on to try and agitate it a little bit and get some movement. There are negotiations, but they're difficult and long-winded at the moment, so we'll see. If the lads end up leaving and joining Portsmouth, or anywhere else, or if any other player is going, then we will need to bring people in." 

 Robbie Blake hopes Burnley's amazing 1-0 win over Manchester United last night has shut the mouths of a few of his club's critics. Already favourites to head straight back down to the Championship following their play-off triumph at Wembley last term, the Clarets looked even more certain to take the big drop after their opening day defeat at Stoke. Yet Blake felt such comments did not take into account Burnley's performance at the Britannia Stadium, or their hunger to succeed on their return to the top flight after a 33-year absence. In defeating the Barclays Premier League champions last night, Burnley have certainly made everyone sit up and take notice, with Blake enjoying the last laugh. "It is nice to shut a few people up," he said. "Certain people have written us off so quickly. We were by far the better team at Stoke on Saturday but let ourselves down with a couple of defensive errors. Yet we got slated. Hopefully we have surprised a few people with this result and maybe there will be more to come."

 Frank Lampard is pleased Chelsea have hit the ground running this season after claiming back-to-back Barclays Premier League wins. The Blues fell behind in both their matches against Hull City on the opening weekend of the season and Sunderland in midweek before running out deserved winners. "Hull was a very difficult game and Sunderland was potentially very difficult too. Steve Bruce was always going to have them flying," he said. "It's a long way to go (in the League) and it's just a good start. Of course you want to get your noses in front early on and if we can get a good start and not have the mid-season we had last year then we'll have a great chance."

 David Moyes believes he had no choice to axe Joleon Lescott for Thursday night's Europa League tie, believing he could risk further damage to squad morale following Saturday's 6-1 mauling by Arsenal. Moyes said: "Joleon's attitude has not been right these past days, he has disappointed me and he has disappointed his team-mates. He is not in the right frame of mind." But Moyes insisted he still does not want to sell the player, saying: "I hope this will all be sorted out, after the deadline." 

 Damien Duff, who played under Roy Hodgson when the 62-year-old was at Blackburn Rovers in the 1997/98 season, says he rates his new manager very highly. "Roy was the first manager I had a full season in the Premiership with so I have very fond meories of him," said Duff. "We got on like a house on fire so I know what he's all about and I'm looking forward to working with him. He's a top-notch coach. I don't know how close he ever was to becoming England manager but it's always shocked me he's never had a mention."

 Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has played down speculation linking Hull with a move for right-back Luke Young. Young is currently mourning the death of his half brother, who died when on holiday last week. And O'Neill insisted he has had no contact with his Tigers counterpart Phil Brown. O'Neill said: "It's news to me. Personally, he has a lot of things to consider at this minute. I would have thought a move would be the last thing on his mind." 

 Assistant manager Sammy Lee has been charged by the FA with improper conduct after a clash with fourth official Stuart Attwell during the defeat to Tottenham on Sunday. Lee has until 26th August to respond to the charge under what are new fast-track regulations relating to technical area misconduct offences.

 Mark Hughes has refused to comment on Everton's decision to drop Joleon Lescott. The England defender is a target of ambitious City and the Eastlands outfit had two bids for the 27-year-old turned down over the summer. Lescott has been dropped from Everton's squad because of a "poor attitude", according to manager David Moyes, sparking rumours he is edging closer to an exit. Hughes, though, declined to answer questions regarding the Everton centre-back after a 1-0 friendly win at Barcelona courtesy of Martin Petrov's first-half goal on Wednesday. "Let's not discuss that, we've talked about that at length," said the Welshman. "He is an Everton player, there is no more to add. I would rather concentrate on the events of this evening."

 Assistant manager Mike Phelan says Manchester United did not underestimate Burnley in the 1-0 defeat on Wednesday night. Instead, he says, the Reds simply did not do enough to win the match. "(Burnley's win) will surprise some people but when you come to Turf Moor you're never going to get an easy game," he said. "We expected them to come at us and put us on the back foot - we just didn't handle it as well as we should have done. This is Burnley's night and they've worked very hard to get to this position. We didn't take them lightly and I don't think anyone will now that they've beaten Manchester United on their own patch."

 Paul Hart is aware of the need to strengthen his squad before the transfer window closes if Portsmouth are to have a realistic chance of top-flight survival. He said: "We've got targets and it doesn't necessarily mean we are spending money. Will there be money if there is a takeover? I've not had those detailed talks yet."

 Matthew Etherington says even the world's best defender would have been mesmerised by Steven Gerrard's superb assist in Wednesday night's 4-0 victory at Anfield. The Stoke winger was filling in at left-back when Gerrard produced a stunning high-speed turn on the edge of the box to create the space to set-up Liverpool's third goal for Dirk Kuyt. Etherington said: "Liverpool have got world-class players, especially when you see what Gerrard did for their third goal. I do not think the best defender in the world would have expected him to do that. It was certainly the last thing I was expecting."  

 Lorik Cana says Sunderland should not dwell on Tuesday's defeat to Chelsea after starting the season with victory at Bolton. He said: "We still have confidence and, as long as we continue to give what we have, we will be OK. We have a lot of new players and we cannot expect to be 100 per cent from the start."

 Tottenham are sweating on the fitness of goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes after he picked up an injury in the win at Hull. Gomes was forced to limp off in the first half of Spurs' 5-1 victory at the KC Stadium after sustaining a thigh injury. The Brazilian is due to undergo scans on the problem and it is feared Gomes could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is short of options between the sticks having sent Ben Alnwick and David Button out on loan this summer, leaving Carlo Cudicini as the only experienced keeper available. Redknapp has hinted he may have to move to bring in cover if Gomes is ruled out for a substantial period. "We will have to wait and see if he is going to be out long term," said Redknapp. "If he is we will have to look at that because that only leaves me (Carlo) Cudicini."  

 Tony Pulis remains hopeful of agreeing personal terms to sign West Ham defender James Collins. The Potters have agreed a £5m fee for the Wales international, however, Collins has yet to accept a move to the Britannia Stadium, with Pulis admitting the two parties are "a little bit apart". The Stoke manager is not giving up his pursuit of the centre-half, though, and is optimistic of concluding a deal before the close of the transfer window. "I think both sides are only a little bit apart on that one," Pulis said. "I just hope we can all get around the table again. I certainly don't think it's dead and he's a player I would like, along with others before the end of the transfer deadline."

 Chris Kirkland says Wigan must bounce back from the midweek defeat to Wolves when Manchester United visit the DW Stadium on Saturday. "It was a disappointing night, we just weren't at the races," said Kirkland. "But you have to give credit to Wolves they didn't give us any space, closed us down all over the park and were extremely hard to break down. If a team's closing you down and you're finding it difficult to manoeuvre then it becomes frustrating and you try to make passes that aren't there. They got their goal from a set-piece which they'll be delighted with, but from our point of view there's a lot of room for improvement. I don't think we really looked like scoring all night, but we'll keep going at it and get in the right frame of mind for the weekend."

 Brighton & Hove Albion have signed winger Elliott Bennett from Wolves for an undisclosed fee. The 20-year-old has put pen to paper on a three-year contract at the Withdean Stadium and goes straight into the squad for Saturday's visit of Stockport. "Elliott is somebody we've been after for a while and he is certainly one for the future," said Seagulls manager Russell Slade. "Wolves were reluctant to let him go but he spent last season at Bury and got the taste for playing each week, and he was keen to come to Brighton where he will get more opportunities to do that."