The summer transfer window in the Premier League slammed shut on Wednesday night after the usual deadline day shopping carnage. According to Deloitte, the management consultants, whose figures, it must be said, include an element of guesswork; the 20 clubs spent a total of £485 million ($786M). That is a leap of 33 percent on last summer. The total was below the £500 million ($811M) spent in the summer of 2008, but the £225 million ($365M) spent in January make this a record year. Five clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United each spent more than £50 million ($81M) and between them accounted for 66 percent of the total spend. Of course, research shows that the truest predictor of a club's success is not its transfer spending but its wage bill. In that, the three clubs that don't seem to care what wages they pay, City, United and Chelsea, have a clear edge.
Manchester City's designs on the English Premier League title were dealt an early blow as an injury time penalty from Darren Bent handed Sunderland a shock 1-0 win.
Birmingham City avenged their FA Cup quarterfinal defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday, beating the English Premier League bottom side 2-1 to nudge them closer to relegation on Tuesday.
Title hopefuls Manchester United and Arsenal were both held to draws on Saturday as Chelsea retained their English Premier League lead despite being snowed out of action.
Manchester United are level with Chelsea at the top of the English Premier League after a comfortable 3-0 home victory over an under-strength Wolves side.
Runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea are given a shock by lowly Huddersfield Town before scraping into the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-1 home victory.
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