THE ENGLISH Premier League will continue to support the idea of a fair-play handshake despite preparing for more controversies surrounding the pre-match ritual and the possibility that John Terry could be blanked on two separate occasions in little more than a month.

A series of matches in the early part of the season has led to the issue being raised behind the scenes but the Premier League has decided the good still outweighs the bad despite officials being acutely aware that the routine, introduced in 2008 as a gesture of goodwill, may be turned into something very different.

Uppermost among those concerns is the game between Chelsea and QPR on September 15th, the first match involving the west London rivals since Terry was acquitted of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road last October. Terry, who still faces an English FA disciplinary hearing into the same allegations, will find Ferdinand and possibly some other QPR players have no intention of shaking his hand. Terry’s own intentions are unclear.

Chelsea then host Manchester United on October 28th, bringing together Terry and Anton’s elder brother, Rio. The pair were once the bedrock of England’s defence but their relationship has been broken by the events of the past 10 months.

A week later Liverpool play United at Anfield when the focus will fall on what happens between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra. Suarez and Liverpool were forced into an apology after he declined to shake Evra’s hand, in the first match against one another since an independent FA commission found the Uruguayan guilty of racially abusing United’s left-back.

Guardian Service

ROUND ROBIN: Arteta knows the score

ARSENAL are not the only club yet to notch a Premier League goal in these early days of the season, but the disquiet is greater at the Emirates than it is at Sunderland, who have played just one match.

Following the deadlock between the two sides, there is a temptation to link Arsenal's second goalless draw, at Stoke, to the sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United.

The Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta is candid about the effect of the move. "You can't replace Robin," he said. "He scored almost every time we played last year."

Arteta could only ask for patience in the case of new attackers Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, as well as the midfielder Santiago Cazorla. "Personally, I'm happy because they look good," said the Spaniard.

Guardian Service